Windows porting questions

[Rune Hansen]

Hi David. Can't really answer you on if Py2EXE or McMillan's Installer 
(my personal favorite) is "smart" enought to do what you want. They aim 
to though..

 >>Is Py2EXE really the best approach for dumbing down the Windows 
installation process?
Well, there is freeze, squeeze, dist-utils,Py2Exe and McMillan's 
installer...and there may be other tools as well. I prefer McMillan: 
http://www.mcmillan-inc.com/install1.html

 >>What's the best cross-platform GUI toolbox for Python?
Again, multiple choices. Those who IMHO stand out are:
Tkinter, wxPython and PyQt. I've never used wxPython but I understand 
that it is a very mature and complete GUI.
Tkinter is easy to come to terms with, well documented and has high 
quality addons like Pmw .
PyQt is my personal favorite, a bit costly but you can buy a licence 
from www.thekompany.com for around $400. PyQt is very well documentet, 
very stable and mature. Qt's Open Source licence only applies to the 
Unix/Linux version. There's a free version for Windows but it's lagging 
a bit behind the commercial releases.

regards
/rune

David McNab wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Up till now I've been happily hacking with Python on Linux.
> 
> Cushy environment for programmers, especially since users are willing to
> take responsibility for ensuring the requisite bits of 3rd
> party software are present on their system - graphics toolkits etc. Makes
> the release process easy.
> 
> But now, I'm looking at releasing some stuff on Windows.
> 
> I'm critically aware that the average Windows user expects everything to
> install and work straight out of a single EXE file - this is what they're
> used to. I've been there myself. If a software author expects Windows
> users to install 3rd party code - even if they provide brilliantly clear
> directions for how to do this - the average Windows user's eyes glaze
> over, and this user goes elsewhere for software.
> 
> Also, I'm aware of the Py2EXE program which can generate a turnkey
> executable binary from python code. This seems great, but there's a couple
> of concerns:
> 
> * Does Py2EXE build in all the needed binary modules? For instance, if I
> have a graphical toolkit written in C++, with Python bindings (eg FLTK),
> is Py2EXE smart enough to link in all the binary modules as well as the
> pure Python ones?
> 
> * Does it guarantee a single-file turnkey output, or can there be
> situations where the generated EXE requires some other software to be
> present on the target Windows box?
> 
> * Is Py2EXE really the best approach for dumbing down the Windows
> installation process? If not, then what other approach would let me make a
> hunk of Python code, plus Python and 3rd party modules, easy to install
> and run for the average person's computer-illiterate great-aunt?
> 
> * And, what's the best cross-platform GUI toolbox for Python programmers.
> By 'best', I mean things like:
>   - well documented
>   - not assuming TCL knowledge
>   - doesn't need 95 lines of code or weird abstractions just to open up
>     a window
>   - approachable and simple enough for newcomers, but more advanced
>     features available once the programmer is more up to speed
> I've thought of using FLTK, with the pyFLTK bindings, but can all this be
> wrapped by Py2EXE?
> 
> Sorry to have rambled on somewhat.
> All help appreciated.
> 
> Cheers
> A
>