Python 2.2 unwise.exe

[Tim Peters]

[Jimmy Retzlaff]
> ...
> Any chance some package is also using Wise and treating unwise.exe as
> its own?

It's unlikely, unless it *overwrites* the existing Python unwise.exe as part
of its install.  Wise doesn't special-case "unwise.exe" on an uninstall,
it's exactly like any other file then.  The only reason it gets deleted
during an uninstall is because it's explicitly listed (along with all other
files the install created) in install.log.  For example, here's its line
from the Python 2.2.1 install.log:

File Copy: C:\Python22\UNWISE.EXE | 05-24-2001 | 12:59:30 | ...

The uninstaller deletes the files named in "File Copy" lines, using the full
path recorded there.

It's possible that a poorly written installer is leaving behind a "File
Tree:" line in its install.log, deleting *all* .exe files.  For example, the
PythonLabs Windows installer injects these lines in install.log:

File Tree: C:\PYTHON22\*.pyc
File Tree: C:\PYTHON22\*.pyo

to get rid of compiled Python files when you uninstall Python.  But if
someone were doing that with *.exe, then python.exe and pythonw.exe would
get deleted too -- but every time unwise.exe has gone missing on me,
python.exe is still there.

BTW, I never saw this happen before we upgraded to a new version of the Wise
installer builder, and one thing did change in *my* treatment of the
uninstaller:  the uninstaller file used to be named UNWISE.EXE, and we
installed it under that name.  In the newer Wise system, the uninstaller
file is named UNWISE32.EXE instead, but in order to foster the illusion
<wink> that nothing had changed, I *rename* that to UNWISE.EXE as part of
the install process.  This has been nagging me for a year, but as I've never
been able to *provoke* the problem at will, I don't have a conclusive way to
test whether the renaming somehow confuses Windows.

I have noticed that unwise.exe is at least much more likely to vanish if
Win98 crashes between the time I do an install and get around to doing a
normal reboot.  That suggests Wise is doing something special with it --
although I've no idea what (or, really, even "if").