Installation problem (or not...)

[Tim Peters]

[Mikael Olofsson]
> ...
> I have been using python at work for quite a while (under unix), but I
> have never tried to install it - until yesterday. I decided to install
> python on my Pentium II machine at home (Win95). I downloaded version
> 1.5.2 and related stuff from python.org, from the "Download Python for
> Windows 95/98 and NT" page. So far so good.
>
> Later, when I installed it I got an error message complaining that some
> DLL file assumed WinNT and not Win95. The same thing happened for the
> win32all installation. This made me worried. As I have understood things,
> the installation is supposed to work in all NT/95/98 environments. I
> have not tried any tests yet, but I don't think I would trust my
> installation under these circumstances - even if all tests went well.
>
> Q1: Should I be worried?
> Q2: If so: What should I do?
>
> Thanks in advance,

All that, and you never got around to naming the DLL <wink>?

Try it again and make note of the specific DLL it's griping about.  Then do
a web search on that name.  Chances are good it's one of a handful of
notorious Microsoft DLLs (like CTL3D32.DLL) that you'll find mentioned on
(literally) thousands of web pages, in installation complaints about
hundreds of programs.

What happened:  Some previous installation of something else put the wrong
version of this DLL on your system.  Few programs load this DLL, though, so
you never noticed.  But in a wonderful irony that only Bill Gates can truly
appreciate <wink>, many *installation* programs use this DLL to display
parts of their own GUI.  This makes it look like the installer itself is
busted, or doing a bad job of installation, when in fact it's merely the
case that some previous installation screwed the current installer in a
minor way.

If this is what's happening to you, you have two choices:  (A) Ignore it --
it really doesn't matter.  (B) Repair your system, by getting the correct
version of the DLL for your OS.  The web search suggested above will turn up
many links to the correct binary or your OS.

python-can't-fix-it-cuz-python-didn't-cause-it-ly y'rs  - tim