[Distutils] Windows installer.

[Michel Van den Bergh]

Hello Thomas,

I see that you are the author of bdist_wininst. I didn't want to say
anything negative about bdist_wininst. It looks very cool.
It is just that it doesn't want
install anything outside the Python distribution unlike for example
bdist_rpm, which I am using for Linux .

What is "Gordon's windows installer"? I am sorry but I am new
to this list.

Thomas Heller wrote:

> > Hello,
> >
> > I have been looking at the windows installer coming with distutils. It
> > seems
> > fine for installing python extensions but not for what I would call
> > "python applications" e.g. a games. For the end user the fact that an
> > application is written in python is basically irrelevant (except that
> > python
> > needs to be installed to run it).
> The issue is that distutils (currently) only cares about installing
> python _extensions_, not python _applications_.
>
> >
> > An application will typically be installed in "C:\Program Files".
> > Furthermore the user will   expect a desktop shortcut, a start menu
> > entry and an uninstall program. The current windows installer does not
> > seem to be capable of installing, let alone generating such things.
> >
>
> The windows installer could easily be modified to create shortcuts,
> say, for the scripts arguments to setup(), and provide
> uninstall facilities. The hooks are there.
>
> Typically, for a professional looking 'application', you would
> first run the 'main script' through something like Gordon's windows
> installer, and pack the output into a windows installation program
> like wise or inno. BTW, I have a similar package like Gordon's installer
> which is integrated into distutils.
>
> Regards,
>
> Thomas