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> Spaces are no longer allowed in the installation path on Windows. Seems like a weird regression 16 years after Windows XP shipped with "My Documents". I use

> Spaces are no longer allowed in the installation path on Windows. Seems like a weird regression 16 years after Windows XP shipped with "My Documents". I used Anaconda for a while, but I've since moved back to CPython. Most packages install fine on Windows using pip now, and the ones that don't is just a download away from http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/ http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/. Using the standard Python distribution is also nicer because of the python launcher, and it makes .py files executable like .exe and .bat.

rusk 9y ago
> Seems like a weird regression 16 years after Windows XP shipped with "My Documents". Interesting though, that 6 years ago they reverted back to simply "Documents". In modern windows, essential user paths no longer need have spaces in them. The persistence of "Program Files" and the hilariously tricky "Program Files (x86)" are notable however.
- timthelion 9y ago
  What is wrong with spaces in file names? When my wife was doing research for her thesis she had all the papers she was citing named with the full title of the paper. Linux handled it fine, and it seemed utterly modern and natural to me.
  - maxerickson 9y ago
    For something like a programming language interpreter, it's just annoying. C:\Program Files\Python 3.0\ vs C:\bin\python3 (when I was using windows, I installed python in c:\bin because I knew I would be typing it quite a bit)
    - timthelion 9y ago
      I don't know much about windows but does it not have a $PATH like in POSIX systems? I seem to remember that typing "run cmd.exe" worked without having to give the full path of "cmd.exe".
      - rusk 9y ago
        Yes it's very similar. `;` separated rather than `:` (Because of the drive specifier e.g. `C:\`) and classically embedded variables surrounded with % e.g. `%JAVA_HOME%`, although these days powershell just uses $ variables just like everybody else.
      - maxerickson 9y ago
        Sure, and you just run "python" often enough, but you type the path otherwise enough too.
  - RayDonnelly 9y ago
    It is very easy to write a bash script that completely mishandles variables containing filenames with spaces, for example: cp ${FILENAME} /tmp Here you should have done: cp "${FILENAME}" /tmp Also, GNU make, still one of the cornerstones of building C and C++ libraries (since CMake and Autotools most commonly use that backend) cannot handle spaces in paths at all well.
    - JoBrad 9y ago
      That’s a problem with those tools that, frankly, should have been addressed long ago. There are ways for script creators to deal with spacing in names, but spaces have been supported for decades now, on every OS, so it’s silly that the tools we use every day act like they don’t exist.
      - RayDonnelly 9y ago
        While I agree with what you have said, as creators of a software distribution bundling software and a build system to build more software it would be remiss of us not to warn people when they try to install said software into a path containing spaces. Though as @kalefranz said already, we do allow it on Windows, we just warn loudly.
        type0 9y ago
        Also as far as I remember Windows doesn't distinguish between capital and lower case letter in file paths
        RayDonnelly 9y ago
        Yes it does. By default it is case-preserving, case-insensitive but there is a registry key to enable case-sensitivity. https://superuser.com/q/266110 https://superuser.com/q/266110
        type0 9y ago
        Thanks.
  - jpambrun 9y ago
    Escaping spaces in every command is not super fun/user friendly.
pletnes 9y ago
Some packages you install might break if you have spaces in their path. Better to fail loud, fail early. I don’t think it’s «anaconda’s fault».
kalefranz 9y ago
Spaces were only temporarily disabled; added back already in 5.0.1. It’s already been released. Lots of software breaks with spaces though, and isn’t practical to patch at the distribution level. If you’re unfortunate enough to be using spaces, file issues with the upstream when things break and let them know.

rusk 9y ago

> Seems like a weird regression 16 years after Windows XP shipped with "My Documents". Interesting though, that 6 years ago they reverted back to simply "Documents". In modern windows, essential user paths no longer need have spaces in them. The persistence of "Program Files" and the hilariously tricky "Program Files (x86)" are notable however.

timthelion 9y ago
What is wrong with spaces in file names? When my wife was doing research for her thesis she had all the papers she was citing named with the full title of the paper. Linux handled it fine, and it seemed utterly modern and natural to me.
- maxerickson 9y ago
  For something like a programming language interpreter, it's just annoying. C:\Program Files\Python 3.0\ vs C:\bin\python3 (when I was using windows, I installed python in c:\bin because I knew I would be typing it quite a bit)
  - timthelion 9y ago
    I don't know much about windows but does it not have a $PATH like in POSIX systems? I seem to remember that typing "run cmd.exe" worked without having to give the full path of "cmd.exe".
    - rusk 9y ago
      Yes it's very similar. `;` separated rather than `:` (Because of the drive specifier e.g. `C:\`) and classically embedded variables surrounded with % e.g. `%JAVA_HOME%`, although these days powershell just uses $ variables just like everybody else.
    - maxerickson 9y ago
      Sure, and you just run "python" often enough, but you type the path otherwise enough too.
- RayDonnelly 9y ago
  It is very easy to write a bash script that completely mishandles variables containing filenames with spaces, for example: cp ${FILENAME} /tmp Here you should have done: cp "${FILENAME}" /tmp Also, GNU make, still one of the cornerstones of building C and C++ libraries (since CMake and Autotools most commonly use that backend) cannot handle spaces in paths at all well.
  - JoBrad 9y ago
    That’s a problem with those tools that, frankly, should have been addressed long ago. There are ways for script creators to deal with spacing in names, but spaces have been supported for decades now, on every OS, so it’s silly that the tools we use every day act like they don’t exist.
    - RayDonnelly 9y ago
      While I agree with what you have said, as creators of a software distribution bundling software and a build system to build more software it would be remiss of us not to warn people when they try to install said software into a path containing spaces. Though as @kalefranz said already, we do allow it on Windows, we just warn loudly.
      - type0 9y ago
        Also as far as I remember Windows doesn't distinguish between capital and lower case letter in file paths
        RayDonnelly 9y ago
        Yes it does. By default it is case-preserving, case-insensitive but there is a registry key to enable case-sensitivity. https://superuser.com/q/266110 https://superuser.com/q/266110
        type0 9y ago
        Thanks.
- jpambrun 9y ago
  Escaping spaces in every command is not super fun/user friendly.

pletnes 9y ago

Some packages you install might break if you have spaces in their path. Better to fail loud, fail early. I don’t think it’s «anaconda’s fault».

kalefranz 9y ago

Spaces were only temporarily disabled; added back already in 5.0.1. It’s already been released. Lots of software breaks with spaces though, and isn’t practical to patch at the distribution level. If you’re unfortunate enough to be using spaces, file issues with the upstream when things break and let them know.