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From: Astley Le Jasper on 11 Mar 2010 08:55
I have a Windows 7 (64bit AMD) machine and am having quite a lot of
problems installing Reportlabs and Pil. I wondered if anyone else has
had the same issues and what the best way of dealing with it.

So far I've tried:

1. Reportlabs / Pil 32 installers - I've tried using these but they
can't find python. I also tried registering Python (http://effbot.org/
zone/python-register.htm) but this also fails.
2. Reportlabs / Pil Source - I downloaded each of these and tried to
do a "python setup.py install". However, both complain that they can't
find "vcvarsall.bat". I've done some checking and it's because the
compiler isn't present. Everyone is suggesting downloading Visual
Studio Express C++, but this only comes with the 32bit compiler. There
seems to be quite a lot of work to get 64bit VSE working on a 64bit
machine (http://jenshuebel.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/visual-c-2008-
express-edition-and-64-bit-targets/).

But before I start down that path, I wondered if anyone had any advice
(.... and no I don't mean suggesting I swap to Linux).

ALJ
From: Robin Becker on 11 Mar 2010 11:29
On 11/03/2010 13:55, Astley Le Jasper wrote:
> I have a Windows 7 (64bit AMD) machine and am having quite a lot of
> problems installing Reportlabs and Pil. I wondered if anyone else has
> had the same issues and what the best way of dealing with it.
>
> So far I've tried:
>
> 1. Reportlabs / Pil 32 installers - I've tried using these but they
> can't find python. I also tried registering Python (http://effbot.org/
> zone/python-register.htm) but this also fails.
> 2. Reportlabs / Pil Source - I downloaded each of these and tried to
> do a "python setup.py install". However, both complain that they can't
> find "vcvarsall.bat". I've done some checking and it's because the
> compiler isn't present. Everyone is suggesting downloading Visual
> Studio Express C++, but this only comes with the 32bit compiler. There
> seems to be quite a lot of work to get 64bit VSE working on a 64bit
> machine (http://jenshuebel.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/visual-c-2008-
> express-edition-and-64-bit-targets/).
>
> But before I start down that path, I wondered if anyone had any advice
> (.... and no I don't mean suggesting I swap to Linux).
>
> ALJ

Hi,

you might get more assistance on the reportlab users mailing list at

http://two.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/reportlab-users

We do have users that run both reportlab & pil on 64 bit linux architectures,
but I don't think I have ever compiled any of the extensions for 64bit windows.
The vcvarsall.bat reference is the distutils package desperately looking for a
suitable compiler (and not finding it).

Perhaps some expert on the python list knows which versions of VS support 64bit;
I do have VS 2005/2008 etc, but I'll probably need to set up a 64bit machine to
see if they will install on a 64bit architecture.
--
Robin Becker

From: Martin v. Loewis on 11 Mar 2010 13:00

>> I have a Windows 7 (64bit AMD) machine

This is somewhat imprecise: is it
a) that your CPU is AMD64, and thus supports 64-bit mode, or
b) that *in addition*, your Windows 7 installation is a 64-bit
installation, or
c) that *in addition*, your Python installation is also a 64-bit
installation.

Unless you have a specific need for 64-bit mode, I recommend that you
use the 32-bit version of Windows (unless you have more than 4GB of
main memory), and (even if you have a 64-bit Windows) you install the
32-bit version of Python on it (unless you have the need to access more
than 2GB of objects in your Python applications.

>> 1. Reportlabs / Pil 32 installers - I've tried using these but they
>> can't find python. I also tried registering Python (http://effbot.org/
>> zone/python-register.htm) but this also fails.

Install the 32-bit version of Python, and these installers should work fine.

> Perhaps some expert on the python list knows which versions of VS
> support 64bit; I do have VS 2005/2008 etc, but I'll probably need to set
> up a 64bit machine to see if they will install on a 64bit architecture.

For Python 2.6 and later, use VS 2008. This comes with an AMD64
compiler. You technically don't need a 64-bit Windows, as it supports
cross-compilation (but you would need a 64-bit Windows to test it).

I personally build Python on a 32-bit machine, and move the MSI to a
64-bit machine for testing.

Regards,
Martin
From: Astley Le Jasper on 11 Mar 2010 15:57
@Robin
Thanks. I thought that this seemed to be a general python thing
because it was effecting both installs. However, after also reading
Martin's comments ...

@Martin
> This is somewhat imprecise: is it
> a) that your CPU is AMD64, and thus supports 64-bit mode, or
> b) that *in addition*, your Windows 7 installation is a 64-bit
> installation, or
> c) that *in addition*, your Python installation is also a 64-bit
> installation.
>
> Unless you have a specific need for 64-bit mode, I recommend that you
> use the 32-bit version of Windows (unless you have more than 4GB of
> main memory), and (even if you have a 64-bit Windows) you install the
> 32-bit version of Python on it (unless you have the need to access more
> than 2GB of objects in your Python applications.


Sorry. I have Windows 7 (64-bit) installed on a machine with an AMD
cpu (which supports 64-bit mode), with a 64-bit version of
(Activestate) python 2.6 .... although I didn't realise the later
until I looked just now.

> Install the 32-bit version of Python, and these installers should work fine.
Well, I uninstalled the 64-bit version and the installers did indeed
work.

I’m sorry everyone. I didn’t realise I had installed the 64-bit
version of Python. Well, at least someone else might find have the
same problem. But I think that there is going to be a bit of a rough
patch as everyone moves over to 64-bit.

ALJ
From: Martin v. Loewis on 12 Mar 2010 02:31
> I�m sorry everyone. I didn�t realise I had installed the 64-bit
> version of Python. Well, at least someone else might find have the
> same problem. But I think that there is going to be a bit of a rough
> patch as everyone moves over to 64-bit.

Expect that move to take a few more years. 64-bit CPUs were introduced
more than ten years ago (e.g. Alpha, in 1992), and only slowly reach
"the masses". People typically still don't have more than 4GiB of memory
in their desktop PCs or laptops, so users who do install 64-bit
operating systems on such hardware are still early adaptors.

Regards,
Martin
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