[pygtk] problem installing PyGTK on a clean WinXP system

[John Pye]

Hi all,

I've just tried to install PyGTK, PyGObject and PyCairo on a
squeaky-clean WinXP virtual machine. The system has not had Windows
updates applied yet. I used the Python 2.5.1 installer from
www.python.org, then I ran the installers at
http://www.pygtk.org/downloads.html

But when I ran those, I got an error saying that MSVCR71.dll was not
available on my system.

This was believable, as I understand it that DLL was released since
WinXP was first released, so it requires a new or updated system.

However, clearly the installer could do a better job. When I look at the
Python directory on my system, c:\Python25, I can see that Python has
installed this DLL at c:\Python25\msvcr71.dll.

It seems that the PyGObject, PyCairo and PyGTK packages should be
detecting that DLL in this location.

When I copy the msvcr71.dll file to c:\Windows\system32, the above
installers (well, I check with PyGObject anyway) no longer complain.

Is there any chance that the Windows installers for PyGTK etc could be
fixed for this case?

Reason for my paranoia here is that I am working on a binary
distribution of a program that installs PyGTK as part of its own
installation process, and I want the installation to work without a
hitch on new systems. I guess that with Vista there would not be any
such problems.

Cheers
JP