Python for Windows -- what to install?

[Tim Peters]

[posted & mailed]

[Hrvoje Niksic]
> I'd like to install Python for my younger brother (age 16) on the
> Windows machine that he uses.

Python is suitable for brothers of all ages <wink>.

> I've never installed Python on Windows, I'm not sure what components
> I need to prepare.

Relax!  The presumption is that Windows users won't be able to compile
anything, so *everything* comes in one box.

> I'd like him to be able to use the stuff that is normally distributed
> with Python 1.5.2, plust IDLE under Tkinter.
>
> I assume I'll need `py152.exe' for the basic functionality.

That contains all of the above -- jusr run it.  I strongly recommend one
deviation from the defaults, though:  when it asks for the Python
installation directory, force it to "c:\python15" (where "c:\" is the root
of his boot drive, almost certainly exactly "c:\").  The default is some
monster with embedded spaces in its name, and that just makes life harder.
Python 1.6 will suggest a space-free path by default.

> Do I need `win32all.exe' for the above mentioned things to work?

No.  Those are Windows-specific *extensions* to Python (for things like
getting at Microsoft's Win32 API).  Make your lives easy and don't install
these at first.

> If so, does it supersede py152.exe?

No, it's an add-on.

> Do the above files include documentation, or do I have to download it
> separately?

It's all in py152.exe.

A probable problem and a suggestion:  depending on which version of Windows
he's running and the phase of the moon, the Scriptics Tcl installer (which
comes with and is invoked by py152.exe -- one big reason that's bigger than
the Unix Python distributions) may not set up Tcl correctly.  The cure for
that is to get rid of pre-existing tcl*.dll and tk*.dll files, and/or to set
the PATH in his autoexec.bat to include Tcl's bin directory.  After Tcl is
working, IDLE will work too, and at that point you should visit python.org
and grab a more-recent version of IDLE (IDLE has improved a lot since the
1.5.2 release).

he's-in-for-a-treat-ly y'rs  - tim