> You're welcome, and thanks for following this through. I still have > machines around that have PATHEXT=.pyc;.py;... and will now remove .pyc > from all of them. It would probably be nice to trace this back to the > origin, find whether there was a good rationale for it being that way in > the first place, and either update a FAQ somewhere or get the problem > fixed once and for all. > > I don't think the standard install messes with PATHEXT, so my bet is on > ActiveState right now. Can anyone confirm? Trent, if you're reading > this and it is from ActiveState's distribution, do you know where that > PATHEXT=.pyc;.py choice came from and whether it might have been an > ill-advised decision that should be undone?
Yes, I can confirm as well. This is a bug in ActivePython. Definitely not an intended decision. That is: having .pyc (and/or .pyo) before .py (and/or .pyw) on PATHEXT is definitely a bug. The ActivePython MSI just added the .pyc, .pyo, .py and .pyw extensions to PATHEXT *backwards*. My apologies for not having caught this. http://bugs.activestate.com/ActivePython/show_bug.cgi?id=33311 As to whether to have .pyc (ditto .pyo) on PATHEXT at all: ActivePython has been doing so since time immemorial. I think that ActivePython should stop doing that (as implied by Duncan) unless someone can suggest a reason why to keep it. The only use case would be for calling a Python script on Windows without specifying the extension *and* for which there is ONLY a .pyc or .pyo. That seems to unlikely (or uncommon) a scenario to justify it. I'll get a new ActivePython for Windows out soon to take .pyo and .pyc off of PATHEXT. Trent -- Trent Mick [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list