In my previous post, I wrote:
Although I have not yet personally run the [Pyrseas] unit tests on Windows …, I believe the tox setup should be quite portable …, since the tests only depend on Python and psycopg2 being able to connect to Postgres, i.e., they do not depend on running any PG utilities from the command line.
Several moons ago, I had done a cursory test of the Pyrseas utilities on Windows from a source zip file, but now I wanted to set up a full development environment (well, almost full—I used Notepad for minor editing) and run through all the unit tests on as many Python/PostgreSQL combinations as possible and ideally using tox.
This post describes what I found out during the install/test process. Hopefully others will find it useful.
Operating System
I chose to use Windows XP Home Edition running under VirtualBox. It’s not a professional solution, but I wasn’t prepared to pay for the “privilege” of using Windows and it’s likely others also have a home edition CD or similar media from an earlier hardware purchase.
Version Control
Pyrseas sources are stored on GitHub. Installing Git and cloning the repository was probably the most uneventful step. The Git download page gives you an installer which offers three options. I chose “Use Git Bash only” as this appears to be the most friendly to someone coming from a Linux/Unix environment. It doesn’t change nor does it require you to change the PATH, all you need to do is select “Git Bash” from the Start menu and a Bash shell is opened for you.
DBMS
Installing PostgreSQL was fairly straightforward. The Windows download page leads to EnterpriseDB one-click installers for multiple platforms and for the more recent versions you have to choose between 32-bit and 64-bit systems. The installer asks for an installation directory, data directory, postgres user password, port number and locale, offering defaults except for the password.
The installer installs both the DBMS and pgAdmin III. If you’re more comfortable with psql, you can select “SQL Shell (psql)” from the Start menu. With either the latter or pgAdmin, you won’t have to change PATH, unless you want to run psql or some other PostgreSQL utility from a Command Prompt window.
Python
Installing Python can be done from Windows MSI installers available from Python.org for the latest releases of Python 2.7 and 3.2. Aside from specifying the installation directory, you’re given the choice of additional components to install, e.g., Tcl/Tk, documentation.
The installers provide a “Python (command line)” option from the Start Menu, but for testing or development, you’ll probably want to open your own Command Prompt window, in order to customize your setup. This requires that you add, e.g., C:\Python27 and C:\Python27\Scripts, to your PATH. Alternatively, you could use the Git Bash window to stay within a Unix-like environment (in which case you’ll still have to add the equivalent directories, e.g., /c/Python27, to PATH).
So far so good. A forthcoming post will cover more, shall we say, entertaining topics.
Filed under: PostgreSQL, Python
