[Python-Dev] DLL in the system directory on Windows.
Gordon McMillan
gmcm@hypernet.com
Tue, 4 Apr 2000 11:39:52 -0400
[Guido]
> I'm waiting for Tim Peters' response in this thread -- if I recall he
> was the one who said that python1x.dll should not go into the system
> directory.
Some time ago Tim and I said that the place for a DLL that is
intimately tied to an EXE is in the EXE's directory.
The search path:
1) the EXE's directory
2) the current directory (useless)
3) the system directory
4) the Windows directory
5) the PATH
For a general purpose DLL, that makes the system directory
the only sane choice (if modifying PATH was sane, then
PATH would be saner, but a SpecTCL will just screw you up).
Things that go in the system directory should maintain
backwards compatibility. For a DLL, that means all the old
entry points are still there, in the same order with new ones at
the end. For Python, there's no crying need to conform for
now, but if (when?) embedding Python becomes ubiquitous,
this (or some other scheme) may need to be considered.
- Gordon