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Tim Petersfe8a5662006-03-01 06:28:58 +00001Welcome to the "PC" subdirectory of the Python distribution
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3
Tim Petersfe8a5662006-03-01 06:28:58 +00004This "PC" subdirectory contains complete project files to make
5several older PC ports of Python, as well as all the PC-specific
6Python source files. It should be located in the root of the
7Python distribution, and there should be directories "Modules",
8"Objects", "Python", etc. in the parent directory of this "PC"
9subdirectory. Be sure to read the documentation in the Python
10distribution.
11
12Python requires library files such as string.py to be available in
13one or more library directories. The search path of libraries is
14set up when Python starts. To see the current Python library search
15path, start Python and enter "import sys" and "print sys.path".
16
17All PC ports use this scheme to try to set up a module search path:
18
19 1) The script location; the current directory without script.
20 2) The PYTHONPATH variable, if set.
21 3) For Win32 platforms (NT/95), paths specified in the Registry.
22 4) Default directories lib, lib/win, lib/test, lib/tkinter;
23 these are searched relative to the environment variable
24 PYTHONHOME, if set, or relative to the executable and its
25 ancestors, if a landmark file (Lib/string.py) is found ,
26 or the current directory (not useful).
27 5) The directory containing the executable.
28
29The best installation strategy is to put the Python executable (and
30DLL, for Win32 platforms) in some convenient directory such as
31C:/python, and copy all library files and subdirectories (using XCOPY)
32to C:/python/lib. Then you don't need to set PYTHONPATH. Otherwise,
33set the environment variable PYTHONPATH to your Python search path.
34For example,
35 set PYTHONPATH=.;d:\python\lib;d:\python\lib\win;d:\python\lib\dos-8x3
36
37There are several add-in modules to build Python programs which use
38the native Windows operating environment. The ports here just make
39"QuickWin" and DOS Python versions which support a character-mode
40(console) environment. Look in www.python.org for Tkinter, PythonWin,
41WPY and wxPython.
42
43To make a Python port, start the Integrated Development Environment
44(IDE) of your compiler, and read in the native "project file"
45(or makefile) provided. This will enable you to change any source
46files or build settings so you can make custom builds.
47
48pyconfig.h An important configuration file specific to PC's.
49
50config.c The list of C modules to include in the Python PC
51 version. Manually edit this file to add or
52 remove Python modules.
53
54testpy.py A Python test program. Run this to test your
55 Python port. It should produce copious output,
56 ending in a report on how many tests were OK, how many
57 failed, and how many were skipped. Don't worry about
58 skipped tests (these test unavailable optional features).
59
60
61Additional files and subdirectories for 32-bit Windows
62======================================================
63
64python_nt.rc Resource compiler input for python15.dll.
65
Antoine Pitrou3ad58f22012-05-04 22:15:57 +020066dl_nt.c
Tim Petersfe8a5662006-03-01 06:28:58 +000067 Additional sources used for 32-bit Windows features.
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69getpathp.c Default sys.path calculations (for all PC platforms).
70
71dllbase_nt.txt A (manually maintained) list of base addresses for
72 various DLLs, to avoid run-time relocation.
73
74example_nt A subdirectory showing how to build an extension as a
75 DLL.
76
Christian Heimesa8223142008-02-09 20:58:00 +000077Legacy support for older versions of Visual Studio
78==================================================
79The subdirectories VC6, VS7.1 and VS8.0 contain legacy support older
80versions of Microsoft Visual Studio. See PCbuild/readme.txt.
Tim Petersfe8a5662006-03-01 06:28:58 +000081
Christian Heimesa8223142008-02-09 20:58:00 +000082EMX development tools for OS/2
83==============================
84
85See os2emx/readme.txt. This platform is maintained by Andrew MacIntyre.
Tim Petersfe8a5662006-03-01 06:28:58 +000086
87IBM VisualAge C/C++ for OS/2
88============================
89
90See os2vacpp/readme.txt. This platform is supported by Jeff Rush.
91
Christian Heimesa8223142008-02-09 20:58:00 +000092NOTE: Support for os2vacpp may be dropped in the near future. Please move
93 to EMX.
Tim Petersfe8a5662006-03-01 06:28:58 +000094
95Note for Windows 3.x and DOS users
96==================================
97
98Neither Windows 3.x nor DOS is supported any more. The last Python
99version that supported these was Python 1.5.2; the support files were
100present in Python 2.0 but weren't updated, and it is not our intention
101to support these platforms for Python 2.x.