Re: gEDA-user: Installer Possibly Missing from ISO?

[sdb@xxxxxxxxxx (Stuart Brorson)]

Hi Guys --

> > The installer on the gEDA Suite ISO is a Linux binary.
> 
> If my memory serves me correctly, the installer is a python 
> script. If the machine has python installed, the script itself
> will work. 

I'll pick a couple of nits here if you will excuse me.  

The installer is a "frozen" Python program.  That means that I wrote
the program in Python, which is normally an interpreted language.
Then, I ran a "freeze" utility on the script.  This takes the Python
program, turns it into Python byte code (as the interpreter does), and
then bundles the byte code with an image of the interpreter.  Freeze
also finds all the dependencies used by the program and bundles them
in also.  The resulting file is a stand-alone executable which -- in
principle -- runs on any platform (within some reasonable limitations
which I am kind of fuzzy about).   

> Although, I don't know how the script will handle
> the directory structure (Directory creation and so forth) in Windows.

It will probably barf, because I didn't try to make the script work
under Windoze.  There are fcns and system calls in Python to work with
the Windoze filesystem and other OS-specific features/oddities, but I
didn't make any attempt to use them. 

> Win32 and cygwin are another story and I am sure they will
> break the installation using the current CD.

Well, I demur.  (Or do I misunderstand your statement?)  There is a
non-zero probability that the CD will do the right thing on Cygwin [1]
because Cygwin does its best to provide a unix-like interface to
whatever program is running it.  Therefore, the installer should be
happy.  

That being said, my experience with the Real World (TM) is that
any product which you don't thoroughly test using the customer's
specific configuration will fail when he first powers it up.  [2]
Since I didn't test the CD on a Cygwin system, experience says that
the installer will fail. 

Stuart


[1] Once I fix the Microsoft "Joliet extension" issue.  Expect to see
an announcement about this shortly.

[2] I should call this "Stuart's Law".  It's somehow related to
Murphy's law, but specifically applies to technology products.