Python required?

[Kevin Bullock]

On 12 Nov 2010, at 4:40 AM, Steven Noonan wrote:

> On Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 2:09 AM, Patrick Mézard <pmezard at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Le 12/11/10 07:50, Steven Noonan a écrit :
>>> On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 10:07 PM, josef betancourt
>>> <josef.betancourt at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Small quibble.  On the main Mercurial page:  http://mercurial.selenic.com/
>>>> the top right section states:
>>>> Requirements Python 2.4 (get python)Is that really accurate?   If I download
>>>> the binary version for Windows I don't need Python.  Now I don't remember if
>>>> I had Python on my current system before Mercurial, and my statement is
>>>> false.  Anyway, my point is, this can be a sort of turn off for someone who
>>>> is not interested in installing another language into their Windows system.
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> You _do_ actually need Python on the Windows binary version. The
>>> difference is that the Windows version is packaged with a build of
>>> Python 2.6.x. It's using python26.dll, with hg.exe as a wrapper for
>>> Mercurial.
>> 
>> This is a technical detail IMHO, the referenced page intent is to tell people what they ought to download to have a working Mercurial. They do not care whether it is written in python or not. If it leads people to download a python installer when looking for Mercurial on Windows then we should update it.
>> 
> 
> I suppose that's true. It's reasonable to extend this to include Mac
> OS X users, too. Even though Apple preinstalls a version of Python
> 2.6.x, python.org does provide a distribution of Python. While
> Mercurial can use either one just fine, end users may not be aware of
> this, and end up downloading the python.org version unnecessarily.
> 
> Come to think of it, some people could take the requirement even more
> literally, and think that Python 2.4.x is the version needed, rather
> than the minimum supported.
> 
> However, I'm not sure how the main page could be reworded without
> getting too verbose. Ideally, we want to say that the user needs to
> install Python if they don't use the Windows binary distribution, or
> if their OS doesn't distribute Python on a default install. The right
> column of the Downloads page could easily be modified to say this, but
> I don't know about the main page. Too much text there, and it becomes
> crowded and overly wordy. Perhaps the big 'Download' button could just
> link to the Downloads page, and the requirements be listed there
> instead?


As a matter of fact, _none_ of the packages listed on the downloads page except the source tarball require you to install Python. Perhaps the Python requirement could just be removed from the home page? A note added to the README about what's required would likely be enough for the source tarball.

pacem in terris / mir / shanti / salaam / heiwa
Kevin R. Bullock