[Python-Dev] intallation & help system

[Vladimir Marangozov]

I've just installed the latest Gnome release (http://www.gnome.org) and I
must say that I was really pleased (not to say, impressed) by two things:

1. Installation

All I had to type was:

~> lynx -source http://go-gnome.com | sh

This went on downloading and executing an installation script, which
figured out automatically the system I am running on (RedHat 6.2), then
asked me to select the nearest mirror and downloaded and installed
the right set of packages for RH-6.2. Very cool!

I'd like to see something similar for Python.

2. Integrated Help System

You guys should definitely try out the Gnome help browser, if you haven't
seen it already. This is a very good source of inspiration for implementing
and integrated help for Python.

The gnome-help browser is a unified interface to man, info and HTML docs.
It introduces some 'magic' naming schemes (explained in ghelp:help-browser)

For instance:

a) http:  ...  The usual http: naming conventions for accessing
               documents through HTTP

b) file: ...   The usual file naming scheme for accessing local files)

c) whatis: ... Do a substring search of document names

                   Examples - whatis:ls
                              whatis:xman

d) toc: ...    Load a table of contents of available documents

                   Examples - toc:
                              toc:man
                              toc:info
                              toc:ghelp

e) man: ...    Load a manual page

                   Examples - man:ls
                              man:ls(1)

f) info: ...   Load a GNU info page

                   Examples - info:emacs
                              info:emacs#Top

g) ghelp: ...  Load a Gnome help page for an application

                   Examples - ghelp:help-browser

If you're still unclear on how to implement an integrated help system
for Python, replace 'ghelp' by 'python' or 'pyhelp' and steal everything
else from the Gnome help system <0.5 wink>.

happy-with-open-source'ly y'rs
-- 
       Vladimir MARANGOZOV          | Vladimir.Marangozov@inrialpes.fr
http://sirac.inrialpes.fr/~marangoz | tel:(+33-4)76615277 fax:76615252