[Python-Dev] Installing Python 2.6 alpha1 on Windows XP

["Martin v. Löwis"]

> That's odd. In theory, having msvcr90.dll in C:\Python26 should be
> sufficient, as once python.exe is loaded, its directory is added to
> the DLL search path. Maybe it's something to do with the "side by side
> manifest installation" stuff (or whatever it's called).

Yes, with VS 2008, the DLL search path becomes irrelevant (or so it
seems).

> Martin, can you comment? It looks like the 3.0 installer uses 2 copies
> of msvcr90.dll, where the 2.6 one doesn't. I would have thought that
> only one is necessary, but Gregor's experiments seem to demonstrate
> otherwise.

I haven't figured it out myself; it's a complete mess, and Microsoft
is heavily wasting our time.

It seems that you absolutely *must* have the manifest file in each 
directory that has a DLL which links with the CRT. Whether or not
separate copies of the DLL are then also necessary, and whether or
not that causes two copies to be loaded into the address space,
I don't know. HELP!!!!

To reproduce the problem, you probably have to test on a machine
which doesn't have the CRT redistributable installed centrally
(neither through VS 2008 installation, nor by running the
standalone CRT installer, nor by having installed any other software
that provides an SxS copy of the CRT).

Regards,
Martin