Upgrading to 2.3 from 2.2, questions

[Peter Hansen]

Robert Oschler wrote:

> (Note: if there is a FAQ that covers this issue just give me the URL.  I
> checked python.org's General and Windows FAQ's and didn't see anything.)

I think it's a frequently asked question, but it's not a FAQ...
> 
> I am about to upgrade from Python 2.2 to 2.3.  Here are a few questions:
> 
> - Do I need to uninstall 2.2 first?

I don't know if there's an official answer other than "yes".  I don't
know if there's a safe answer other than "yes".

> - Are there any paths I should add to my Win 2k PATH environment variable?

Same as whatever you have with Python 2.2....  I try never to put
apps in my PATH, but use lots of .BAT files to run things and put
all those in a single \BIN folder that is in my PATH.  Seems to
work out much cleaner that way.

> - I am running on Windows 2000 and I have several site-packages installed.
> These were installed using individual one-click installation programs (thank
> you module writers).  Do I need to rerun each of the installations again,
> after I upgrade?  Or, is there a directory or two I can simply copy over?

While it might work, it's not guaranteed.  Extensions need to
be compiled for the specific version, while pure Python packages
will generally run as-is if you just copy them (generally they
are all in python/lib/site-packages).  No guarantees again.

> - Anything I should do before upgrading to preserve my current setup, or
> other caveats?

Basically, nothing other than uninstall and full install of new
version plus all extensions is guaranteed to work, IMHO and IME.
On the other hand, I've often gotten by without uninstalling
and by copying or just leaving site-packages as-is, with the
exception of getting new versions of anything that has a .pyd
or .dll (C extensions).

-Peter