[GRASS-dev] Handling of Python scripts on MS Windows

[Glynn Clements]

Vaclav Petras wrote:

> > But with the
> > latest Python developments, it will be a real challenge to
> > integrate GRASS 7 in the same way that we could integrate
> > GRASS 6 into a "host" application (i.e. without messing
> > around with any system settings).
> 
> Can you be more specific? It sounds like something we should be concern
> about. We should consider how GRASS 7 will be integrated into other GIS
> packages when Python scripts are called this or that way.

If Python is "installed", then there shouldn't be any difference
between a Python script, a shell script (or batch file), or a compiled
executable.

Personally, I consider this to be non-optional. Python scripts have to
work like any other script or compiled program, therefore the Python
interpreter must be "installed" on the system and we must rely upon
the system's native execution mechanism(s).

Any approach which tries to sidestep this requirement will always be
incomplete. It can only work so long as it controls the entire chain
of execution down to the point where the script is invoked.

E.g. checking whether a command is an EXE or a Python script and
providing different treatment for each case will work in and of
itself, but it will then fail if it tries to execute a Python script
and doesn't use the same mechanism itself (e.g. because it's a
third-party program rather than part of GRASS).

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>