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Commit bc453ca8 authored by Brian Curtin's avatar Brian Curtin
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Fix #14901. Update some sections of Windows FAQ. 

Patch by Ashish Nitin Patil.
parent 124ee8b1
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Doc/faq/windows.rst
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......@@ -13,9 +13,7 @@ How do I run a Python program under Windows?
This is not necessarily a straightforward question. If you are already familiar
with running programs from the Windows command line then everything will seem
obvious; otherwise, you might need a little more guidance. There are also
differences between Windows 95, 98, NT, ME, 2000 and XP which can add to the
confusion.
obvious; otherwise, you might need a little more guidance.
.. sidebar:: |Python Development on XP|_
:subtitle: `Python Development on XP`_
......@@ -32,7 +30,7 @@ confusion.
Unless you use some sort of integrated development environment, you will end up
*typing* Windows commands into what is variously referred to as a "DOS window"
or "Command prompt window". Usually you can create such a window from your
Start menu; under Windows 2000 the menu selection is :menuselection:`Start -->
Start menu; under Windows 7 the menu selection is :menuselection:`Start -->
Programs --> Accessories --> Command Prompt`. You should be able to recognize
when you have started such a window because you will see a Windows "command
prompt", which usually looks like this::
......@@ -42,23 +40,27 @@ prompt", which usually looks like this::
The letter may be different, and there might be other things after it, so you
might just as easily see something like::
D:\Steve\Projects\Python>
D:\YourName\Projects\Python>
depending on how your computer has been set up and what else you have recently
done with it. Once you have started such a window, you are well on the way to
running Python programs.
You need to realize that your Python scripts have to be processed by another
program called the Python interpreter. The interpreter reads your script,
program called the Python *interpreter*. The interpreter reads your script,
compiles it into bytecodes, and then executes the bytecodes to run your
program. So, how do you arrange for the interpreter to handle your Python?
First, you need to make sure that your command window recognises the word
"python" as an instruction to start the interpreter. If you have opened a
command window, you should try entering the command ``python`` and hitting
return. You should then see something like::
return.::
Python 2.2 (#28, Dec 21 2001, 12:21:22) [MSC 32 bit (Intel)] on win32
C:\Users\YourName> python
You should then see something like::
Python 2.7.3 (default, Apr 10 2012, 22.71:26) [MSC v.1500 32 bit (Intel)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>
......@@ -78,7 +80,7 @@ key down while you enter a Z, then hit the "Enter" key to get back to your
Windows command prompt.
You may also find that you have a Start-menu entry such as :menuselection:`Start
--> Programs --> Python 2.2 --> Python (command line)` that results in you
--> Programs --> Python 2.7 --> Python (command line)` that results in you
seeing the ``>>>`` prompt in a new window. If so, the window will disappear
after you enter the Ctrl-Z character; Windows is running a single "python"
command in the window, and closes it when you terminate the interpreter.
......@@ -86,8 +88,7 @@ command in the window, and closes it when you terminate the interpreter.
If the ``python`` command, instead of displaying the interpreter prompt ``>>>``,
gives you a message like::
'python' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
'python' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
.. sidebar:: |Adding Python to DOS Path|_
:subtitle: `Adding Python to DOS Path`_
......@@ -116,115 +117,33 @@ then the command ::
dir C:\py*
will probably tell you where it is installed; the usual location is something
like ``C:\Python23``. Otherwise you will be reduced to a search of your whole
like ``C:\Python27``. Otherwise you will be reduced to a search of your whole
disk ... use :menuselection:`Tools --> Find` or hit the :guilabel:`Search`
button and look for "python.exe". Supposing you discover that Python is
installed in the ``C:\Python23`` directory (the default at the time of writing),
installed in the ``C:\Python27`` directory (the default at the time of writing),
you should make sure that entering the command ::
c:\Python23\python
c:\Python27\python
starts up the interpreter as above (and don't forget you'll need a "CTRL-Z" and
an "Enter" to get out of it). Once you have verified the directory, you need to
add it to the start-up routines your computer goes through. For older versions
of Windows the easiest way to do this is to edit the ``C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT``
file. You would want to add a line like the following to ``AUTOEXEC.BAT``::
PATH C:\Python23;%PATH%
For Windows NT, 2000 and (I assume) XP, you will need to add a string such as ::
;C:\Python23
to the current setting for the PATH environment variable, which you will find in
the properties window of "My Computer" under the "Advanced" tab. Note that if
you have sufficient privilege you might get a choice of installing the settings
either for the Current User or for System. The latter is preferred if you want
everybody to be able to run Python on the machine.
If you aren't confident doing any of these manipulations yourself, ask for help!
At this stage you may want to reboot your system to make absolutely sure the new
setting has taken effect. You probably won't need to reboot for Windows NT, XP
or 2000. You can also avoid it in earlier versions by editing the file
``C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\CMDINIT.BAT`` instead of ``AUTOEXEC.BAT``.
You should now be able to start a new command window, enter ``python`` at the
``C:\>`` (or whatever) prompt, and see the ``>>>`` prompt that indicates the
Python interpreter is reading interactive commands.
Let's suppose you have a program called ``pytest.py`` in directory
``C:\Steve\Projects\Python``. A session to run that program might look like
this::
C:\> cd \Steve\Projects\Python
C:\Steve\Projects\Python> python pytest.py
Because you added a file name to the command to start the interpreter, when it
starts up it reads the Python script in the named file, compiles it, executes
it, and terminates, so you see another ``C:\>`` prompt. You might also have
entered ::
C:\> python \Steve\Projects\Python\pytest.py
if you hadn't wanted to change your current directory.
Under NT, 2000 and XP you may well find that the installation process has also
arranged that the command ``pytest.py`` (or, if the file isn't in the current
directory, ``C:\Steve\Projects\Python\pytest.py``) will automatically recognize
the ".py" extension and run the Python interpreter on the named file. Using this
feature is fine, but *some* versions of Windows have bugs which mean that this
form isn't exactly equivalent to using the interpreter explicitly, so be
careful.
The important things to remember are:
1. Start Python from the Start Menu, or make sure the PATH is set correctly so
Windows can find the Python interpreter. ::
python
should give you a '>>>' prompt from the Python interpreter. Don't forget the
CTRL-Z and ENTER to terminate the interpreter (and, if you started the window
from the Start Menu, make the window disappear).
2. Once this works, you run programs with commands::
python {program-file}
3. When you know the commands to use you can build Windows shortcuts to run the
Python interpreter on any of your scripts, naming particular working
directories, and adding them to your menus. Take a look at ::
python --help
if your needs are complex.
4. Interactive mode (where you see the ``>>>`` prompt) is best used for checking
that individual statements and expressions do what you think they will, and
for developing code by experiment.
an "Enter" to get out of it). Once you have verified the directory, you can
add it to the system path to make it easier to start Python by just running
the ``python`` command. This is currently an option in the installer as of
CPython 2.7.
More information about environment variables can be found on the
:ref:`Using Python on Windows <setting-envvars>` page.
How do I make Python scripts executable?
----------------------------------------
On Windows 2000, the standard Python installer already associates the .py
On Windows, the standard Python installer already associates the .py
extension with a file type (Python.File) and gives that file type an open
command that runs the interpreter (``D:\Program Files\Python\python.exe "%1"
%*``). This is enough to make scripts executable from the command prompt as
'foo.py'. If you'd rather be able to execute the script by simple typing 'foo'
with no extension you need to add .py to the PATHEXT environment variable.
On Windows NT, the steps taken by the installer as described above allow you to
run a script with 'foo.py', but a longtime bug in the NT command processor
prevents you from redirecting the input or output of any script executed in this
way. This is often important.
The incantation for making a Python script executable under WinNT is to give the
file an extension of .cmd and add the following as the first line::
@setlocal enableextensions & python -x %~f0 %* & goto :EOF
Why does Python sometimes take so long to start?
------------------------------------------------
......@@ -242,22 +161,11 @@ McAfee, when configured to scan all file system read activity, is a particular
offender.
Where is Freeze for Windows?
----------------------------
"Freeze" is a program that allows you to ship a Python program as a single
stand-alone executable file. It is *not* a compiler; your programs don't run
any faster, but they are more easily distributable, at least to platforms with
the same OS and CPU. Read the README file of the freeze program for more
disclaimers.
You can use freeze on Windows, but you must download the source tree (see
http://www.python.org/download/source). The freeze program is in the
``Tools\freeze`` subdirectory of the source tree.
You need the Microsoft VC++ compiler, and you probably need to build Python.
The required project files are in the PCbuild directory.
How do I make an executable from a Python script?
-------------------------------------------------
See http://www.py2exe.org/ for a distutils extension that allows you
to create console and GUI executables from Python code.
Is a ``*.pyd`` file the same as a DLL?
--------------------------------------
......@@ -288,7 +196,7 @@ Embedding the Python interpreter in a Windows app can be summarized as follows:
be a DLL to handle importing modules that are themselves DLL's. (This is the
first key undocumented fact.) Instead, link to :file:`python{NN}.dll`; it is
typically installed in ``C:\Windows\System``. *NN* is the Python version, a
number such as "23" for Python 2.3.
number such as "27" for Python 2.7.
You can link to Python in two different ways. Load-time linking means
linking against :file:`python{NN}.lib`, while run-time linking means linking
......@@ -372,47 +280,6 @@ Embedding the Python interpreter in a Windows app can be summarized as follows:
object that supports read and write, so all you need is a Python object
(defined in your extension module) that contains read() and write() methods.
How do I use Python for CGI?
----------------------------
On the Microsoft IIS server or on the Win95 MS Personal Web Server you set up
Python in the same way that you would set up any other scripting engine.
Run regedt32 and go to::
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W3SVC\Parameters\ScriptMap
and enter the following line (making any specific changes that your system may
need)::
.py :REG_SZ: c:\<path to python>\python.exe -u %s %s
This line will allow you to call your script with a simple reference like:
``http://yourserver/scripts/yourscript.py`` provided "scripts" is an
"executable" directory for your server (which it usually is by default). The
:option:`-u` flag specifies unbuffered and binary mode for stdin - needed when
working with binary data.
In addition, it is recommended that using ".py" may not be a good idea for the
file extensions when used in this context (you might want to reserve ``*.py``
for support modules and use ``*.cgi`` or ``*.cgp`` for "main program" scripts).
In order to set up Internet Information Services 5 to use Python for CGI
processing, please see the following links:
http://www.e-coli.net/pyiis_server.html (for Win2k Server)
http://www.e-coli.net/pyiis.html (for Win2k pro)
Configuring Apache is much simpler. In the Apache configuration file
``httpd.conf``, add the following line at the end of the file::
ScriptInterpreterSource Registry
Then, give your Python CGI-scripts the extension .py and put them in the cgi-bin
directory.
How do I keep editors from inserting tabs into my Python source?
----------------------------------------------------------------
......@@ -456,116 +323,6 @@ with the additional feature of being able to send CTRL+C and CTRL+BREAK
to console subprocesses which are designed to handle those signals. See
:func:`os.kill` for further details.
Why does os.path.isdir() fail on NT shared directories?
-------------------------------------------------------
In order to work correctly, :func:`os.path.isdir` requires a ``"\\"`` at the
end of the shared drive::
>>> import os
>>> os.path.isdir('\\\\rorschach\\public')
0
>>> os.path.isdir('\\\\rorschach\\public\\')
1
It helps to think of share points as being like drive letters. Example::
k: is not a directory
k:\ is a directory
k:\media is a directory
k:\media\ is not a directory
The same rules apply if you substitute ``"k:"`` with ``"\\conky\foo"``::
\\conky\foo is not a directory
\\conky\foo\ is a directory
\\conky\foo\media is a directory
\\conky\foo\media\ is not a directory
cgi.py (or other CGI programming) doesn't work sometimes on NT or win95!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Be sure you have the latest python.exe, that you are using python.exe rather
than a GUI version of Python and that you have configured the server to execute
::
"...\python.exe -u ..."
for the CGI execution. The :option:`-u` (unbuffered) option on NT and Win95
prevents the interpreter from altering newlines in the standard input and
output. Without it post/multipart requests will seem to have the wrong length
and binary (e.g. GIF) responses may get garbled (resulting in broken images, PDF
files, and other binary downloads failing).
Why doesn't os.popen() work in PythonWin on NT?
-----------------------------------------------
The reason that os.popen() doesn't work from within PythonWin is due to a bug in
Microsoft's C Runtime Library (CRT). The CRT assumes you have a Win32 console
attached to the process.
You should use the win32pipe module's popen() instead which doesn't depend on
having an attached Win32 console.
Example::
import win32pipe
f = win32pipe.popen('dir /c c:\\')
print f.readlines()
f.close()
Why doesn't os.popen()/win32pipe.popen() work on Win9x?
-------------------------------------------------------
There is a bug in Win9x that prevents os.popen/win32pipe.popen* from
working. The good news is there is a way to work around this problem. The
Microsoft Knowledge Base article that you need to lookup is: Q150956. You will
find links to the knowledge base at: http://support.microsoft.com/.
PyRun_SimpleFile() crashes on Windows but not on Unix; why?
-----------------------------------------------------------
This is very sensitive to the compiler vendor, version and (perhaps) even
options. If the FILE* structure in your embedding program isn't the same as is
assumed by the Python interpreter it won't work.
The Python 1.5.* DLLs (``python15.dll``) are all compiled with MS VC++ 5.0 and
with multithreading-DLL options (``/MD``).
If you can't change compilers or flags, try using :c:func:`Py_RunSimpleString`.
A trick to get it to run an arbitrary file is to construct a call to
:func:`execfile` with the name of your file as argument.
Also note that you can not mix-and-match Debug and Release versions. If you
wish to use the Debug Multithreaded DLL, then your module *must* have ``_d``
appended to the base name.
Importing _tkinter fails on Windows 95/98: why?
------------------------------------------------
Sometimes, the import of _tkinter fails on Windows 95 or 98, complaining with a
message like the following::
ImportError: DLL load failed: One of the library files needed
to run this application cannot be found.
It could be that you haven't installed Tcl/Tk, but if you did install Tcl/Tk,
and the Wish application works correctly, the problem may be that its installer
didn't manage to edit the autoexec.bat file correctly. It tries to add a
statement that changes the PATH environment variable to include the Tcl/Tk 'bin'
subdirectory, but sometimes this edit doesn't quite work. Opening it with
notepad usually reveals what the problem is.
(One additional hint, noted by David Szafranski: you can't use long filenames
here; e.g. use ``C:\PROGRA~1\Tcl\bin`` instead of ``C:\Program Files\Tcl\bin``.)
How do I extract the downloaded documentation on Windows?
---------------------------------------------------------
......@@ -577,38 +334,3 @@ Simply rename the downloaded file to have the .TGZ extension, and WinZip will be
able to handle it. (If your copy of WinZip doesn't, get a newer one from
http://www.winzip.com.)
Missing cw3215mt.dll (or missing cw3215.dll)
--------------------------------------------
Sometimes, when using Tkinter on Windows, you get an error that cw3215mt.dll or
cw3215.dll is missing.
Cause: you have an old Tcl/Tk DLL built with cygwin in your path (probably
``C:\Windows``). You must use the Tcl/Tk DLLs from the standard Tcl/Tk
installation (Python 1.5.2 comes with one).
Warning about CTL3D32 version from installer
--------------------------------------------
The Python installer issues a warning like this::
This version uses CTL3D32.DLL which is not the correct version.
This version is used for windows NT applications only.
Tim Peters:
This is a Microsoft DLL, and a notorious source of problems. The message
means what it says: you have the wrong version of this DLL for your operating
system. The Python installation did not cause this -- something else you
installed previous to this overwrote the DLL that came with your OS (probably
older shareware of some sort, but there's no way to tell now). If you search
for "CTL3D32" using any search engine (AltaVista, for example), you'll find
hundreds and hundreds of web pages complaining about the same problem with
all sorts of installation programs. They'll point you to ways to get the
correct version reinstalled on your system (since Python doesn't cause this,
we can't fix it).
David A Burton has written a little program to fix this. Go to
http://www.burtonsys.com/downloads.html and click on "ctl3dfix.zip".
Misc/NEWS
View file @ bc453ca8
......@@ -626,6 +626,9 @@ Tools/Demos
Documentation
-------------
- Issue #14901: Update portions of the Windows FAQ.
Patch by Ashish Nitin Patil.
- Issue #15990: Improve argument/parameter documentation.
- Issue #16400: Update the description of which versions of a given package
......
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