can't pass command-line arguments

[Trent Mick]

> You're welcome, and thanks for following this through.  I still have 
> machines around that have PATHEXT=.pyc;.py;... and will now remove .pyc 
> from all of them.  It would probably be nice to trace this back to the 
> origin, find whether there was a good rationale for it being that way in 
> the first place, and either update a FAQ somewhere or get the problem 
> fixed once and for all.
> 
> I don't think the standard install messes with PATHEXT, so my bet is on 
> ActiveState right now.  Can anyone confirm?  Trent, if you're reading 
> this and it is from ActiveState's distribution, do you know where that 
> PATHEXT=.pyc;.py choice came from and whether it might have been an 
> ill-advised decision that should be undone?

Yes, I can confirm as well. This is a bug in ActivePython.  Definitely
not an intended decision. That is: having .pyc (and/or .pyo) before .py
(and/or .pyw) on PATHEXT is definitely a bug.  The ActivePython MSI just
added the .pyc, .pyo, .py and .pyw extensions to PATHEXT *backwards*. My
apologies for not having caught this.

    http://bugs.activestate.com/ActivePython/show_bug.cgi?id=33311

As to whether to have .pyc (ditto .pyo) on PATHEXT at all: ActivePython
has been doing so since time immemorial. I think that ActivePython
should stop doing that (as implied by Duncan) unless someone can suggest
a reason why to keep it. The only use case would be for calling a Python
script on Windows without specifying the extension *and* for which there
is ONLY a .pyc or .pyo. That seems to unlikely (or uncommon) a scenario
to justify it.

I'll get a new ActivePython for Windows out soon to take .pyo and .pyc
off of PATHEXT.

Trent

-- 
Trent Mick
TrentM at ActiveState.com