[New-bugs-announce] [issue21506] Windows MSI installer should mklink (symlink) python.exe to python2.7.exe

[Ed Morley]

New submission from Ed Morley:

A python.org 2.7.6 release of the Windows MSI installer, results in only the following python binaries in the installation directory:
C:\Python27\python.exe
C:\Python27\pythonw.exe

In Mozilla bug https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=957721 we would like to be able to force our 'mach' script to use Python2.7 (due to the assorted Python versions present on our CI machines), however doing so via the script shebang line breaks local developer workflows on Windows, since the default Python install doesn't include python2.7.exe and so the binary isn't found.

As such, it would be great if python.exe could be symlinked to pythonX.Y.exe (and also I guess pythonX.exe) as part of the Windows installation/build - giving us parity with Unix based platforms. 

This can be done on Windows using mklink (http://ss64.com/nt/mklink.html), eg:

c:\Python27>mklink python2.7.exe python.exe
symbolic link created for python2.7.exe <<===>> python.exe

c:\Python27>mklink python2.exe python.exe
symbolic link created for python2.exe <<===>> python.exe

c:\Python27>dir python*

10/11/2013  19:24            26,624 python.exe
14/05/2014  12:04    <SYMLINK>      python2.exe [python.exe]
14/05/2014  12:04    <SYMLINK>      python2.7.exe [python.exe]
10/11/2013  19:24            27,136 pythonw.exe

Alternatively, just a plain copy of the binary prior to creating the MSI would be just as helpful for us too.

I searched for a while to see if there were any bugs filed for this already, but the closest I could find was:
* http://legacy.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0397/ - which is about a smart launcher that uses the shebang lines to run the correct Python version when multiple are installed (and thus is quite a different request to that in this bug).
* and https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2011-March/108850.html which suggests the idea as in this bug summary here, but it seems like a bug for it was never filed.

Many thanks :-)

----------
components: Build, Installation, Windows
messages: 218521
nosy: edmorley, loewis
priority: normal
severity: normal
status: open
title: Windows MSI installer should mklink (symlink) python.exe to python2.7.exe
type: enhancement
versions: Python 2.7

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Python tracker <report at bugs.python.org>
<http://bugs.python.org/issue21506>
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