[DB-SIG] How can I detect 64 bit versions of Python?

[M.-A. Lemburg]

Vernon Cole wrote:
> This is a reworded re-post of a question which I just placed to the
> IronPython list.  I repeat it here, because I hope to get a general answer
> which will work on CPython, too, since the database driver I support works
> on both implementations.  [Note: this applies to Windows only, *nix users
> can stop reading now. (Lucky dogs.)]
> 
> I am testing adodbapi using my new laptop which I have set up as an
> everything in 64-bit test bed.
> 
> My default test database is an .mdb (so-called ACCESS database) file.
> Microsoft has decided that the JET engine, which has historically been used
> to read and write that format is to be deprecated, so there is no 64 bit
> version of it.  It is replaced by the Access Database Engine 2010
> redistributable.<http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=13255>Of
> course, the new software requires a different connection string, one
> containing "Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;".
> 
> So, how can I tell which "width" of Python I am running, so I know which
> connection string to use?

The safest bet is to have a look at sys.maxsize. If it's > 2**31,
you have a 64-bit Python version, otherwise a 32-bit one.

sys.maxsize is only available in Python 2.6 and later. If you
support older versions, using the struct module can help: check
the size of a pointer to find out which bit size the Python
interpreter is using.

-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
eGenix.com

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