Possible install bug in Python 2.3b1? (Python 2.2 still in the registry)

[Tim Peters]

>> Why is this surprising?  For example, installing 2.3b1 does not
>> uninstall 2.2.  Did you uninstall 2.2?

[Matt Shomphe]
> Yes, I uninstalled Python version 2.2.2 (the only instance on my
> machine).

How was it installed (e.g., PythonLabs installer, ActiveState installer,
something else)?

> I found this behavior surprising because going from 2.2 to
> 2.2.2 caused no such behavior -- probably since it's located in the
> same directory (Python22\).  I guess I shouldn't have found this
> surprising given that 2.3b1 installs into the folder Python23\.

...

>> Whether one or more of those should have gotten overwritten depends
>> on things you haven't told us, such as whether you clicked on the
>> Advanced options button when installing, and, if so, whether you did
>> an Admin or Non-Admin install, and whether you chose to associate
>> file extensions or not.

> (1) I did not click on the Advanced Options button when installing,
> (2) I was logged in with admin priviliges on my machine, and
> (3) I did not choose to associate file extensions.

File extensions get associated by default; that's something you would have
had to go out of your way to stop.

>>> This does not seem to affect the behavior of the latest install.  (I
>>> noticed the error only when I tried to install eGenix.com's mx
>>> extensions.  It requires Python 2.2 and I noticed a garbage entry
>>> when it was about to install.)

>> Sorry, don't know what that means.

> Sorry, I should have been clearer.  When trying to install the mx
> extensions from the windows executable
> (http://www.egenix.com/files/python/eGenix-mx-Extensions.html#Downlo
> ad-mxBASE, and scroll to the "Windows" section), a distutils GUI popped
> up.  The installer was (I assume)looking for Python v2.2 in the registry
> and found some errant entries. When the installer window popped up
> indicating where the path to python was and where the files would be
> installed, there was, instead of "C:\Python22\....", some non-ASCII
> characters in its place.

Know where they came from?  That is, where they are in the registry?  Nobody
else has reported anything like this (AFAIK), so I'm afraid you're going to
have to dig into it, and more than you'd like <wink>.

> This was not the problem, just an indication that there may be a
> problem.  (mx doesn't have a version for 2.3 yet, and I can wait).
>
> The larger problem seems to be that the Python23\ path is not in my
> Windows %PATH%.

The PythonLabs installers never alter your PATH -- never did, don't, and
never will.  If you want Python23 in your PATH, you have to put it there
yourself.  Don't know about other installers.

> As I indicated previously, there is no problem *running* Python.  This
> just seems to indicate that the uninstall of the old version & install
> of the new version may not be clean.

Maybe so.  I can't reproduce any problems uninstalling 2.2.2 or installing
2.3b1 here, so it's hard to discern a pattern.

> I hope this clears things up.

Not a bit, but it was a good try <wink>.

> Please let me know if you need additional information.

By default I'm going to forget this, just because I don't have a problem
here I can reproduce, nor one that has been reported by others.  You may
wish to record your observations in a bug report on SourceForge, hoping that
someone else will hit the same kind of problem and add their clues.