[Python-Dev] Python merge module

[Hoyt, David]

> If Python was starting at ground zero, and the choices were to create
> a library or to use WiX, the answer might have been different. 
> However with a mature enough library to suit all the needs that anyone 
> has been willing to author, it's certainly more work to create the WiX 
> install and maintain it than it is to merely maintain the existing
> scripts.

Sounds reasonable.

> As far as the possibility of distributing Python as a merge module?
> I'd recommend against it. Shared location merge modules are a
> maintenance nightmare, and private location merge modules may not
> offer the benefit you need. Better to just install the main Python msi
> as part of a suite with your installer, whether you build that
> installer in WiX and burn, or not.

I'm not familiar w/ shared location merge modules vs. private location merge modules. Are you referring to the possibility of having multiple python apps trying to use their own python versions? How relocatable is python? The maintenance nightmare isn't on your end (in my case), it would be on me to provide patches/upgrades. I do agree that patches w/ merge modules are a pain/nightmare. But what about providing both a merge module and msi so developers have a choice? I work on open source projects myself, and we always provide both a merge module and a normal msi installer. It's very little extra work (in WiX at least) to create both. But I can tell from this discussion that it would require changes in msilib and since I don't have the time to work on it, it would most likely not happen. Perhaps I could generate enough fervor in the community for a merge module, though, to drive msilib development. :p

At any rate, where could I find the script used to generate the msi package? Perhaps I can translate it into WiX if I thought it'd be used (but why bother if no one's interested?).