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.. highlightlang:: none
.. _using-on-windows:
*************************
Using Python on Windows
*************************
.. sectionauthor:: Robert Lehmann <lehmannro@gmail.com>
This document aims to give an overview of Windows-specific behaviour you should
know about when using Python on Microsoft Windows.
Installing Python
=================
Unlike most Unix systems and services, Windows does not require Python natively
and thus does not pre-install a version of Python. However, the CPython team
has compiled Windows installers (MSI packages) with every `release
<http://www.python.org/download/releases/>`_ for many years.
With ongoing development of Python, some platforms that used to be supported
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earlier are no longer supported (due to the lack of users or developers).
Check :pep:`11` for details on all unsupported platforms.
* DOS and Windows 3.x are deprecated since Python 2.0 and code specific to these
systems was removed in Python 2.1.
* Up to 2.5, Python was still compatible with Windows 95, 98 and ME (but already
raised a deprecation warning on installation). For Python 2.6 (and all
following releases), this support was dropped and new releases are just
expected to work on the Windows NT family.
* `Windows CE <http://pythonce.sourceforge.net/>`_ is still supported.
* The `Cygwin <http://cygwin.com/>`_ installer offers to install the `Python
interpreter <http://cygwin.com/packages/python>`_ as well; it is located under
"Interpreters." (cf. `Cygwin package source
<ftp://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/pc/gnuwin32/cygwin/mirrors/cygnus/
release/python>`_, `Maintainer releases
<http://www.tishler.net/jason/software/python/>`_)
See `Python for Windows (and DOS) <http://www.python.org/download/windows/>`_
for detailed information about platforms with precompiled installers.
.. seealso::
`Python on XP <http://www.richarddooling.com/index.php/2006/03/14/python-on-xp-7-minutes-to-hello-world/>`_
"7 Minutes to "Hello World!""
by Richard Dooling, 2006
`Installing on Windows <http://diveintopython.org/installing_python/windows.html>`_
in "`Dive into Python: Python from novice to pro
<http://diveintopython.org/index.html>`_"
by Mark Pilgrim, 2004,
ISBN 1-59059-356-1
`For Windows users <http://swaroopch.com/text/Byte_of_Python:Installing_Python#For_Windows_users>`_
in "Installing Python"
in "`A Byte of Python <http://www.byteofpython.info>`_"
by Swaroop C H, 2003
Alternative bundles
===================
Besides the standard CPython distribution, there are modified packages including
additional functionality. The following is a list of popular versions and their
key features:
`ActivePython <http://www.activestate.com/Products/activepython/>`_
Installer with multi-platform compatibility, documentation, PyWin32
`Python Enthought Edition <http://code.enthought.com/enthon/>`_
Popular modules (such as PyWin32) with their respective documentation, tool
suite for building extensible python applications
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Notice that these packages are likely to install *older* versions of Python.
Configuring Python
==================
In order to run Python flawlessly, you might have to change certain environment
settings in Windows.
Excursus: Setting environment variables
---------------------------------------
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Windows has a built-in dialog for changing environment variables (following
Merged revisions 68133-68134,68141-68142,68145-68146,68148-68149,68159-68162,68166,68171-68174,68179,68195-68196,68210,68214-68215,68217-68222 via svnmerge from svn+ssh://pythondev@svn.python.org/python/trunk ........ r68133 | antoine.pitrou | 2009-01-01 16:38:03 +0100 (Thu, 01 Jan 2009) | 1 line fill in actual issue number in tests ........ r68134 | hirokazu.yamamoto | 2009-01-01 16:45:39 +0100 (Thu, 01 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Issue #4797: IOError.filename was not set when _fileio.FileIO failed to open file with `str' filename on Windows. ........ r68141 | benjamin.peterson | 2009-01-01 17:43:12 +0100 (Thu, 01 Jan 2009) | 1 line fix highlighting ........ r68142 | benjamin.peterson | 2009-01-01 18:29:49 +0100 (Thu, 01 Jan 2009) | 2 lines welcome to 2009, Python! ........ r68145 | amaury.forgeotdarc | 2009-01-02 01:03:54 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 5 lines #4801 _collections module fails to build on cygwin. _PyObject_GC_TRACK is the macro version of PyObject_GC_Track, and according to documentation it should not be used for extension modules. ........ r68146 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 11:44:46 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix for issue4472: "configure --enable-shared doesn't work on OSX" ........ r68148 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 11:48:31 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Forgot to add a NEWS item in my previous checkin ........ r68149 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 11:50:48 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix for issue4780 ........ r68159 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 15:48:17 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix for issue 1627952 ........ r68160 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 15:52:09 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix for issue r1737832 ........ r68161 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 16:00:05 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 3 lines Fix for issue 1149804 ........ r68162 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 16:06:00 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 3 lines Fix for issue 4472 is incompatible with Cygwin, this patch should fix that. ........ r68166 | benjamin.peterson | 2009-01-02 19:26:23 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 1 line document PyMemberDef ........ r68171 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-02 21:25:14 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 3 lines #4811: fix markup glitches (mostly remains of the conversion), found by Gabriel Genellina. ........ r68172 | martin.v.loewis | 2009-01-02 21:32:55 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Issue #4075: Use OutputDebugStringW in Py_FatalError. ........ r68173 | martin.v.loewis | 2009-01-02 21:40:14 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Issue #4051: Prevent conflict of UNICODE macros in cPickle. ........ r68174 | benjamin.peterson | 2009-01-02 21:47:27 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 1 line fix compilation on non-Windows platforms ........ r68179 | raymond.hettinger | 2009-01-02 22:26:45 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 1 line Issue #4615. Document how to use itertools for de-duping. ........ r68195 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 14:45:15 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Remove useless string literal. ........ r68196 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 15:29:53 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix indentation. ........ r68210 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 20:10:12 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Set eol-style correctly for mp_distributing.py. ........ r68214 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 20:44:48 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Make indentation consistent. ........ r68215 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 21:15:14 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix role name. ........ r68217 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 21:30:15 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Add rstlint, a little tool to find subtle markup problems and inconsistencies in the Doc sources. ........ r68218 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 21:38:59 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Recognize usage of the default role. ........ r68219 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 21:47:01 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix uses of the default role. ........ r68220 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 21:55:06 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Remove trailing whitespace. ........ r68221 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 22:04:55 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Remove tabs from the documentation. ........ r68222 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 22:11:58 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Disable the line length checker by default. ........
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guide applies to XP classical view): Right-click the icon for your machine
(usually located on your Desktop and called "My Computer") and choose
:menuselection:`Properties` there. Then, open the :guilabel:`Advanced` tab
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and click the :guilabel:`Environment Variables` button.
In short, your path is:
:menuselection:`My Computer
--> Properties
--> Advanced
--> Environment Variables`
In this dialog, you can add or modify User and System variables. To change
System variables, you need non-restricted access to your machine
(i.e. Administrator rights).
Another way of adding variables to your environment is using the :command:`set`
command::
set PYTHONPATH=%PYTHONPATH%;C:\My_python_lib
To make this setting permanent, you could add the corresponding command line to
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your :file:`autoexec.bat`. :program:`msconfig` is a graphical interface to this
file.
Viewing environment variables can also be done more straight-forward: The
command prompt will expand strings wrapped into percent signs automatically::
echo %PATH%
Consult :command:`set /?` for details on this behaviour.
.. seealso::
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/100843
Environment variables in Windows NT
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310519
How To Manage Environment Variables in Windows XP
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http://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/~louis/software/faq/q1.html
Setting Environment variables, Louis J. Farrugia
Finding the Python executable
-----------------------------
Besides using the automatically created start menu entry for the Python
interpreter, you might want to start Python in the DOS prompt. To make this
work, you need to set your :envvar:`%PATH%` environment variable to include the
directory of your Python distribution, delimited by a semicolon from other
entries. An example variable could look like this (assuming the first two
entries are Windows' default)::
C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\Python25
Typing :command:`python` on your command prompt will now fire up the Python
interpreter. Thus, you can also execute your scripts with command line options,
see :ref:`using-on-cmdline` documentation.
Finding modules
---------------
Python usually stores its library (and thereby your site-packages folder) in the
installation directory. So, if you had installed Python to
:file:`C:\\Python\\`, the default library would reside in
:file:`C:\\Python\\Lib\\` and third-party modules should be stored in
:file:`C:\\Python\\Lib\\site-packages\\`.
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.. `` this fixes syntax highlighting errors in some editors due to the \\ hackery
You can add folders to your search path to make Python's import mechanism search
in these directories as well. Use :envvar:`PYTHONPATH`, as described in
:ref:`using-on-envvars`, to modify :data:`sys.path`. On Windows, paths are
separated by semicolons, though, to distinguish them from drive identifiers
(:file:`C:\\` etc.).
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.. ``
Modifying the module search path can also be done through the Windows registry:
Edit
:file:`HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Python\\PythonCore\\{version}\\PythonPath\\`,
as described above for the environment variable :envvar:`%PYTHONPATH%`. A
convenient registry editor is :program:`regedit` (start it by typing "regedit"
into :menuselection:`Start --> Run`).
Executing scripts
-----------------
Python scripts (files with the extension ``.py``) will be executed by
:program:`python.exe` by default. This executable opens a terminal, which stays
open even if the program uses a GUI. If you do not want this to happen, use the
extension ``.pyw`` which will cause the script to be executed by
:program:`pythonw.exe` by default (both executables are located in the top-level
of your Python installation directory). This suppresses the terminal window on
startup.
You can also make all ``.py`` scripts execute with :program:`pythonw.exe`,
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setting this through the usual facilities, for example (might require
administrative rights):
#. Launch a command prompt.
#. Associate the correct file group with ``.py`` scripts::
Merged revisions 68133-68134,68141-68142,68145-68146,68148-68149,68159-68162,68166,68171-68174,68179,68195-68196,68210,68214-68215,68217-68222 via svnmerge from svn+ssh://pythondev@svn.python.org/python/trunk ........ r68133 | antoine.pitrou | 2009-01-01 16:38:03 +0100 (Thu, 01 Jan 2009) | 1 line fill in actual issue number in tests ........ r68134 | hirokazu.yamamoto | 2009-01-01 16:45:39 +0100 (Thu, 01 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Issue #4797: IOError.filename was not set when _fileio.FileIO failed to open file with `str' filename on Windows. ........ r68141 | benjamin.peterson | 2009-01-01 17:43:12 +0100 (Thu, 01 Jan 2009) | 1 line fix highlighting ........ r68142 | benjamin.peterson | 2009-01-01 18:29:49 +0100 (Thu, 01 Jan 2009) | 2 lines welcome to 2009, Python! ........ r68145 | amaury.forgeotdarc | 2009-01-02 01:03:54 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 5 lines #4801 _collections module fails to build on cygwin. _PyObject_GC_TRACK is the macro version of PyObject_GC_Track, and according to documentation it should not be used for extension modules. ........ r68146 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 11:44:46 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix for issue4472: "configure --enable-shared doesn't work on OSX" ........ r68148 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 11:48:31 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Forgot to add a NEWS item in my previous checkin ........ r68149 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 11:50:48 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix for issue4780 ........ r68159 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 15:48:17 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix for issue 1627952 ........ r68160 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 15:52:09 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix for issue r1737832 ........ r68161 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 16:00:05 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 3 lines Fix for issue 1149804 ........ r68162 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 16:06:00 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 3 lines Fix for issue 4472 is incompatible with Cygwin, this patch should fix that. ........ r68166 | benjamin.peterson | 2009-01-02 19:26:23 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 1 line document PyMemberDef ........ r68171 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-02 21:25:14 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 3 lines #4811: fix markup glitches (mostly remains of the conversion), found by Gabriel Genellina. ........ r68172 | martin.v.loewis | 2009-01-02 21:32:55 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Issue #4075: Use OutputDebugStringW in Py_FatalError. ........ r68173 | martin.v.loewis | 2009-01-02 21:40:14 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Issue #4051: Prevent conflict of UNICODE macros in cPickle. ........ r68174 | benjamin.peterson | 2009-01-02 21:47:27 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 1 line fix compilation on non-Windows platforms ........ r68179 | raymond.hettinger | 2009-01-02 22:26:45 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 1 line Issue #4615. Document how to use itertools for de-duping. ........ r68195 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 14:45:15 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Remove useless string literal. ........ r68196 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 15:29:53 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix indentation. ........ r68210 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 20:10:12 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Set eol-style correctly for mp_distributing.py. ........ r68214 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 20:44:48 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Make indentation consistent. ........ r68215 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 21:15:14 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix role name. ........ r68217 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 21:30:15 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Add rstlint, a little tool to find subtle markup problems and inconsistencies in the Doc sources. ........ r68218 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 21:38:59 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Recognize usage of the default role. ........ r68219 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 21:47:01 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix uses of the default role. ........ r68220 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 21:55:06 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Remove trailing whitespace. ........ r68221 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 22:04:55 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Remove tabs from the documentation. ........ r68222 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 22:11:58 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Disable the line length checker by default. ........
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assoc .py=Python.File
#. Redirect all Python files to the new executable::
Merged revisions 68133-68134,68141-68142,68145-68146,68148-68149,68159-68162,68166,68171-68174,68179,68195-68196,68210,68214-68215,68217-68222 via svnmerge from svn+ssh://pythondev@svn.python.org/python/trunk ........ r68133 | antoine.pitrou | 2009-01-01 16:38:03 +0100 (Thu, 01 Jan 2009) | 1 line fill in actual issue number in tests ........ r68134 | hirokazu.yamamoto | 2009-01-01 16:45:39 +0100 (Thu, 01 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Issue #4797: IOError.filename was not set when _fileio.FileIO failed to open file with `str' filename on Windows. ........ r68141 | benjamin.peterson | 2009-01-01 17:43:12 +0100 (Thu, 01 Jan 2009) | 1 line fix highlighting ........ r68142 | benjamin.peterson | 2009-01-01 18:29:49 +0100 (Thu, 01 Jan 2009) | 2 lines welcome to 2009, Python! ........ r68145 | amaury.forgeotdarc | 2009-01-02 01:03:54 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 5 lines #4801 _collections module fails to build on cygwin. _PyObject_GC_TRACK is the macro version of PyObject_GC_Track, and according to documentation it should not be used for extension modules. ........ r68146 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 11:44:46 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix for issue4472: "configure --enable-shared doesn't work on OSX" ........ r68148 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 11:48:31 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Forgot to add a NEWS item in my previous checkin ........ r68149 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 11:50:48 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix for issue4780 ........ r68159 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 15:48:17 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix for issue 1627952 ........ r68160 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 15:52:09 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix for issue r1737832 ........ r68161 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 16:00:05 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 3 lines Fix for issue 1149804 ........ r68162 | ronald.oussoren | 2009-01-02 16:06:00 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 3 lines Fix for issue 4472 is incompatible with Cygwin, this patch should fix that. ........ r68166 | benjamin.peterson | 2009-01-02 19:26:23 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 1 line document PyMemberDef ........ r68171 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-02 21:25:14 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 3 lines #4811: fix markup glitches (mostly remains of the conversion), found by Gabriel Genellina. ........ r68172 | martin.v.loewis | 2009-01-02 21:32:55 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Issue #4075: Use OutputDebugStringW in Py_FatalError. ........ r68173 | martin.v.loewis | 2009-01-02 21:40:14 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Issue #4051: Prevent conflict of UNICODE macros in cPickle. ........ r68174 | benjamin.peterson | 2009-01-02 21:47:27 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 1 line fix compilation on non-Windows platforms ........ r68179 | raymond.hettinger | 2009-01-02 22:26:45 +0100 (Fri, 02 Jan 2009) | 1 line Issue #4615. Document how to use itertools for de-duping. ........ r68195 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 14:45:15 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Remove useless string literal. ........ r68196 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 15:29:53 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix indentation. ........ r68210 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 20:10:12 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Set eol-style correctly for mp_distributing.py. ........ r68214 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 20:44:48 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Make indentation consistent. ........ r68215 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 21:15:14 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix role name. ........ r68217 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 21:30:15 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Add rstlint, a little tool to find subtle markup problems and inconsistencies in the Doc sources. ........ r68218 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 21:38:59 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Recognize usage of the default role. ........ r68219 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 21:47:01 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Fix uses of the default role. ........ r68220 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 21:55:06 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Remove trailing whitespace. ........ r68221 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 22:04:55 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Remove tabs from the documentation. ........ r68222 | georg.brandl | 2009-01-03 22:11:58 +0100 (Sat, 03 Jan 2009) | 2 lines Disable the line length checker by default. ........
2009-01-03 17:55:17 -04:00
ftype Python.File=C:\Path\to\pythonw.exe "%1" %*
Additional modules
==================
Even though Python aims to be portable among all platforms, there are features
that are unique to Windows. A couple of modules, both in the standard library
and external, and snippets exist to use these features.
The Windows-specific standard modules are documented in
:ref:`mswin-specific-services`.
PyWin32
-------
The `PyWin32 <http://python.net/crew/mhammond/win32/>`_ module by Mark Hammond
is a collection of modules for advanced Windows-specific support. This includes
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utilities for:
* `Component Object Model <http://www.microsoft.com/com/>`_ (COM)
* Win32 API calls
* Registry
* Event log
* `Microsoft Foundation Classes <http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/
en-us/vclib/html/_mfc_Class_Library_Reference_Introduction.asp>`_ (MFC)
user interfaces
`PythonWin <http://web.archive.org/web/20060524042422/
http://www.python.org/windows/pythonwin/>`_ is a sample MFC application
shipped with PyWin32. It is an embeddable IDE with a built-in debugger.
.. seealso::
`Win32 How Do I...? <http://timgolden.me.uk/python/win32_how_do_i.html>`_
by Tim Golden
`Python and COM <http://www.boddie.org.uk/python/COM.html>`_
by David and Paul Boddie
Py2exe
------
`Py2exe <http://www.py2exe.org/>`_ is a :mod:`distutils` extension (see
:ref:`extending-distutils`) which wraps Python scripts into executable Windows
programs (:file:`{*}.exe` files). When you have done this, you can distribute
your application without requiring your users to install Python.
WConio
------
Since Python's advanced terminal handling layer, :mod:`curses`, is restricted to
Unix-like systems, there is a library exclusive to Windows as well: Windows
Console I/O for Python.
`WConio <http://newcenturycomputers.net/projects/wconio.html>`_ is a wrapper for
Turbo-C's :file:`CONIO.H`, used to create text user interfaces.
Compiling Python on Windows
===========================
If you want to compile CPython yourself, first thing you should do is get the
`source <http://python.org/download/source/>`_. You can download either the
latest release's source or just grab a fresh `checkout
<http://www.python.org/dev/faq/#how-do-i-get-a-checkout-of-the-repository-read-only-and-read-write>`_.
For Microsoft Visual C++, which is the compiler with which official Python
releases are built, the source tree contains solutions/project files. View the
:file:`readme.txt` in their respective directories:
+--------------------+--------------+-----------------------+
| Directory | MSVC version | Visual Studio version |
+====================+==============+=======================+
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| :file:`PC/VC6/` | 6.0 | 97 |
+--------------------+--------------+-----------------------+
| :file:`PC/VS7.1/` | 7.1 | 2003 |
+--------------------+--------------+-----------------------+
| :file:`PC/VS8.0/` | 8.0 | 2005 |
+--------------------+--------------+-----------------------+
| :file:`PCbuild/` | 9.0 | 2008 |
+--------------------+--------------+-----------------------+
Note that not all of these build directories are fully supported. Read the
release notes to see which compiler version the official releases for your
version are built with.
Check :file:`PC/readme.txt` for general information on the build process.
For extension modules, consult :ref:`building-on-windows`.
.. seealso::
`Python + Windows + distutils + SWIG + gcc MinGW <http://sebsauvage.net/python/mingw.html>`_
or "Creating Python extensions in C/C++ with SWIG and compiling them with
MinGW gcc under Windows" or "Installing Python extension with distutils
and without Microsoft Visual C++" by Sébastien Sauvage, 2003
`MingW -- Python extensions <http://www.mingw.org/MinGWiki/index.php/Python%20extensions>`_
by Trent Apted et al, 2007
Other resources
===============
.. seealso::
`Python Programming On Win32 <http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pythonwin32/>`_
"Help for Windows Programmers"
by Mark Hammond and Andy Robinson, O'Reilly Media, 2000,
ISBN 1-56592-621-8
`A Python for Windows Tutorial <http://www.imladris.com/Scripts/PythonForWindows.html>`_
by Amanda Birmingham, 2004