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[Python-Dev] PEP 514: Python environment registration in the Windows Registry

Steve Dower steve.dower at python.org
Tue Mar 1 12:46:30 EST 2016 
On 01Mar2016 0524, Paul Moore wrote:
> On 1 March 2016 at 11:37, David Cournapeau <cournape at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I am not clear about 3., especially on what should be changed. I know that
>> for 2.7, we need to change PC\getpathp.c for sys.path, but are there any
>> other places where the registry is used by python itself ?
>
> My understanding from the earlier discussion was that you should not
> patch Python at all. The sys.path building via PythonPath is not
> covered by the PEP and you should continue as at present. The new keys
> are all for informational purposes - your installer should write to
> them, and read them if looking for your installations. But the Python
> interpreter itself should not know or care about your new keys.
>
> Steve can probably clarify better than I can, but that's how I recall
> it being intended to work.
> Paul

Yes, the intention was to not move sys.path building out of the 
PythonCore key. It's solely about discovery by external tools.

If you want to patch your own distribution to move the paths you are 
welcome to do that - there is only one string literal in getpathp.c that 
needs to be updated - but it's not a requirement and I deliberately 
avoided making a recommendation either way. (Though as discussed earlier 
in the thread, I'm very much in favour of deprecating and removing any 
use of the registry by the runtime itself in 3.6+, but still working out 
the implications of that.)

Cheers,
Steve
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