[XML-SIG] windows installer for XML package failing on Windows 95

[Martin v. Loewis]

> I tried to install the XML package onto a Windoze 95 box a few days
> ago and it does not work.  The installer crashes without unpacking
> source or opening any window.  This may be a distutils issue.

It certainly sounds like one. I recommend to contact the author of the
bdist_wininst command, Thomas Heller; or to post a message to the
distutils SIG. I believe I've used distutils 1.0 to create teh
installer.

> First: I can successfully unpack the executable with winzip and move
> the package directory into Python20/Lib.  This seems to work, but I
> am not sure if I should also patch any existing files.  Is there a
> script inside the installer that I should run after unpacking?

No, nothing. The installer does not support any post-processing, AFAIK.

> I did not find a setup.py; the source package won't help me because
> I would have to install a compiler for the extensions, right?

Right.

> 1. The installer crashes only on this one Libretto 50ct Laptop with
> Windows 95, second edition.  I have successfully used it on other
> Windows computers.

Unfortunately, this is a multi-level bootstrapping. The installer GUI
might use some Windows DLLs or Windows API in the wrong way. However,
the installer itself is compressed with an auto-uncompression program,
which might also fail.

> 2. Before installing the XML package, I first removed Python 1.5.2, then
> removed the TCL/TK that came with 1.5.2, then installed Python 2.0.  I did
> not have Python 1.5.2 on the other systems I installed the package on.
> I also have an older (don't rememver the exact) version of Winzip on the
> Libretto - can the Winzip DLL be the source of my problem?

Unlikely. The installer has the InfoZip library statically linked.

Regards,
Martin