[Distutils] bdist_wininst and install directory.

[Thomas Heller]

Martin Blais <blais at furius.ca> writes:

> Hi
>
> I tried using bdist_wininst to generate a self-extracting executable,
> and it works great except for one thing: I cannot change the
> installation root default, and when it runs the user cannot change the
> value either.  My target users --at a client site, intranet, small
> private tool-- will not have administrative privileges and will not be
> able to use that.
>
> I tracked down the source of this setting and it is hardcoded in the
> source code for wininst-7.1.exe, in the variable new_scheme.
>
> 1.  Is there any particular reason for this state of affairs?  Why
> isn't the default value from [install] used?  If I made a fix for this
> to work, would anyone have objections/
>
> 2. Why can't the user change the directory name where the files are
> going to be installed?
>
> Without this ability, this otherwise very pleasant setup target is
> useless to me, and I would assume to many others.

Martin,

as the bdist_wininst author I should give you a response.

I don't have the time (nor any plans) to develop bdist_wininst any
further.

You could try to cook up a patch and convince a Python developer to look
at it and hopefully commit it.

One other ideas would be to use Martin v. Loewis bdist_msi instead.

Thanks,

Thomas