Pushing Python to Windows workstations

[C42]

If you wouldn't mind posting the script that would be great. I've been 
trying to get this to work all afternoon and so far haven't had much luck.



Peter Hansen wrote:
> C42 wrote:
> 
>>Peter Hansen wrote:
>>
>>>C42 wrote:
>>>
>>>>I need to install Python and win32all to all of the PCs on my
>>>>Windows domain (100+). 
>>>
>>>Can you consider not installing it on all machines, but running from a
>>>network install?
>>
>>Can you tell me more about how you accomplished this? I have often
>>wondered if there was a way to have Python run from a network share.
> 
> 
> Well, first step is to install everything you need to a single machine,
> in the usual way.  That's necessary even for extension modules because
> many installers *insist* on installing only into Python installations
> that are listed in the registry.  Kind of a shame, since it would probably
> be pretty easy to let a user enter a path to override, but for pretty
> much everything is anal about this in the same way so it's just a fact of life.
> 
> After everything is installed, and tested :-), just do an XCOPY from
> the c:\python22 (or whatever) folder to the network drive.  We have our
> stuff under i:\sw\a\python for example...
> 
> Next step (in our case, probably not necessary in general) is to have a
> single network folder where various batch files run: i:\sw\utils in our
> case.  Here we have a "python.bat" file which does two things only:
>  
>   @echo off
>   set pythonhome=i:\sw\a\python
>   %pythonhome%\python %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
> 
> Yes, DOS batch files are ugly as sin, but it works adequately so long
> as you don't have a zillion(*) command line options.  (* where zillion
> is defined as "greater than nine...)
> 
> Now that handles the basic Python stuff.  Next step is win32all.  It
> might look like everything is working fine at this point, but you may
> be running on a machine where some DLL files were copied into the 
> c:\windows folder.  If those are not present, not everything will work
> as well.
> 
> Our solution was to use a sitecustomize.py file to ensure that pythoncom.dll
> and pywintypes.dll are always imported at startup, and with a bit of code
> that ensures they are found by loading them with imp.load_module() using
> sys.exec_prefix as the path.
> 
> I don't entirely recall sure why this latter step is necessary, but I think
> it was because some of the win32all stuff (like win32com) finding its own
> location by looking at the path from which pythoncom and/or pywintypes were
> loaded.  If they are loaded from some other location, win32com can't find
> itself and barfs.
> 
> I can post the current script for doing this magic if someone is interested.
> (Please be prepared to test once I post though... I'd hate to have this 
> cruft stuck in the archives without it having been put through the ringer
> by someone outside of my group.  What works for us might be a disaster for
> someone else, a year down the road.)
> 
> -Peter