[Python-Dev] Utility scripts (Was: '-m' option)

[Tim Peters]

[Paul Moore]
> ...
> Accepting that Unix is generally not an issue, let's look at Windows.
> On cmd.exe, at least on Windows 2000 and up, the following makes .py
> files "executable" by python:
>
>    assoc .py=Python.File
>    ftype Python.File=C:\Python23\python.exe "%1" %*
>    set PATHEXT=%PATHEXT%;.py
>
> Can anyone test this on COMMAND.COM on Win9x?

PATHEXT has no special meaning on 9x; you can set PATHEXT on 9x, but
it has no effect.
...

> - Change the Windows Python binary to add .py (and .pyw, maybe) to
> PATHEXT

I don't like that.  The Python Windows installer doesn't add, or
modify, any environment variables now.  It's anti-social to muck with
them.  Anyone using "a DOS box" should know how to do that themself --
if that's what they want.  I'll note that I spend much of my life in a
WinXP DOS box running Python programs, but I haven't set PATHEXT. 
Since cmd.exe's path completion fills in the trailing .py on a .py
file all by itself, setting PATHEXT wouldn't save me any typing.