[issue12097] python.exe crashes if it is unable to find its .dll

Christian Heimes added the comment: 'We' don't show any error message. Windows does it on its own because the pythonXX.dll is a dependency for the executable. If python.exe can't find the DLL then it's also likely that the DLL is unable to find Python's stdlib. Python requires the stdlib to ru

[issue12097] python.exe crashes if it is unable to find its .dll

Georg Brandl added the comment: And most importantly, what would it do if the .dll is not found? What can it do, other than present a message box "Cannot find pythonXY.dll, exiting." -- nosy: +georg.brandl ___ Python tracker

[issue12097] python.exe crashes if it is unable to find its .dll

Amaury Forgeot d'Arc added the comment: You are right, the use case is broader than virtualenv. > The only reason for this split is to allow other programs use dynamic linking For me the main reason is to support extension modules. On Windows, a DLL (or a .pyd) cannot resolve symbols in the ma

[issue12097] python.exe crashes if it is unable to find its .dll

anatoly techtonik added the comment: Reopening as I believe the issue is hijacked. Virtualenv is just an example and the fix is discussed on its mailing list. This issue is about that Python interpreter is not self-contained, not portable, i.e. split into python.exe and pythonXX.dll The only

[issue12097] python.exe crashes if it is unable to find its .dll

Amaury Forgeot d'Arc added the comment: Virtualenv only works with an installed Python. This is really a virtualenv limitation, then; your issue looks similar to this one: https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/issues/87 -- resolution: -> invalid status: open -> closed __

[issue12097] python.exe crashes if it is unable to find its .dll

anatoly techtonik added the comment: As for PEPs I think you've meant PEP 397 http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0397/ which is tl; dr for the moment. -- ___ Python tracker ___

[issue12097] python.exe crashes if it is unable to find its .dll

anatoly techtonik added the comment: pythonXX.dll is missing. Virtualenv copies python.exe, which is only 25kB long. It works only if pythonXX.dll is present in system PATH - either installed into Windows\System32 or comes with Mercurial, Bazaar or other frozen app install. -- __

[issue12097] python.exe crashes if it is unable to find its .dll

Amaury Forgeot d'Arc added the comment: Which dll was missing in your case? python27.dll, python32.dll or another one? Virtualenv usually work on Windows. What did it fail to copy? There is already PEP387 about a "Python launcher" on Windows. Can you please read the specifications, and tell us

[issue12097] python.exe crashes if it is unable to find its .dll

New submission from anatoly techtonik : On Windows, if Python is unable to find its .dll it crashes badly. This affects `vurtualenv` project that doesn't copy .dll file. It would be more user friendly if python.exe launcher could detect this situation and fail gracefully. Such kind of dynamic