source: trunk/essentials/dev-lang/python/PC/readme.txt@ 3315

Last change on this file since 3315 was 3225, checked in by bird, 19 years ago

Python 2.5

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1Welcome to the "PC" subdirectory of the Python distribution
2***********************************************************
3
4*** Note: the project files for MS VC++ 7.1 are now in the
5*** PCbuild directory. See the file readme.txt there for build
6*** instructions. There is some information below that might
7*** still be relevant.
8
9This "PC" subdirectory contains complete project files to make
10several older PC ports of Python, as well as all the PC-specific
11Python source files. It should be located in the root of the
12Python distribution, and there should be directories "Modules",
13"Objects", "Python", etc. in the parent directory of this "PC"
14subdirectory. Be sure to read the documentation in the Python
15distribution.
16
17Python requires library files such as string.py to be available in
18one or more library directories. The search path of libraries is
19set up when Python starts. To see the current Python library search
20path, start Python and enter "import sys" and "print sys.path".
21
22All PC ports use this scheme to try to set up a module search path:
23
24 1) The script location; the current directory without script.
25 2) The PYTHONPATH variable, if set.
26 3) For Win32 platforms (NT/95), paths specified in the Registry.
27 4) Default directories lib, lib/win, lib/test, lib/tkinter;
28 these are searched relative to the environment variable
29 PYTHONHOME, if set, or relative to the executable and its
30 ancestors, if a landmark file (Lib/string.py) is found ,
31 or the current directory (not useful).
32 5) The directory containing the executable.
33
34The best installation strategy is to put the Python executable (and
35DLL, for Win32 platforms) in some convenient directory such as
36C:/python, and copy all library files and subdirectories (using XCOPY)
37to C:/python/lib. Then you don't need to set PYTHONPATH. Otherwise,
38set the environment variable PYTHONPATH to your Python search path.
39For example,
40 set PYTHONPATH=.;d:\python\lib;d:\python\lib\win;d:\python\lib\dos-8x3
41
42There are several add-in modules to build Python programs which use
43the native Windows operating environment. The ports here just make