Python 2.7.15 Windows MSI removes previous 2.7.x binaries?

[Terry Reedy]

On 5/1/2018 1:48 PM, Paul Moore wrote:
> It's intended behaviour (to my knowledge). Or at least, we don't
> intend for people to install two different patch versions in parallel
> (at least not with the official installers). I thought this behaviour
> was always the case. It may be related to the installer technology
> involved, though, so it may have changed when we switched to wix.
> 
> You're right it doesn't seem like the details are well documented. It
> might be worth raising a docs bug on bugs.python.org asking for the
> details to be clarified.
> Paul
> 
> On 1 May 2018 at 18:28,  <phennings at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I downloaded the 64-bit Windows MSI for Python 2.7.15 and upon finishing the installation, I noted that prior Python installs had effectively been removed, only leaving a Lib and Scripts folder in the directory to which said prior version had been installed.  For what it's worth, it appears this is only true if I install for 'All users' rather than for 'just this user'.

I believe the installer warns that it overwrites previous releases of 
the same x.y version.

>> I can't find anything in the release notes, docs or on this mailing list that describes the motivation for doing this.  I personally find that having multiple versions installed on Windows is very helpful for being able to target distribution version for the purposes of constructing virtualenvs.
>>
>> Can anyone say whether this is intended behavior?
>> --
>> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list


-- 
Terry Jan Reedy