I hate computers sometimes…
I wanted to automate some of the stuff I do at work all the time and decided to use Twill. Twill is this simple shell interface/wrapper for Python which allows you to interact with a website and turn everything into a simple script(s). I found a really good how-to document on the web and was all set to go.
The only problem is that I couldn’t get the damn thing installed, which seems to be the biggest gapping hole in open source software. I’ll admit our linux desktops at work are old, but we have a current enough version of Python available. (2.5) But Twill doesn’t really have an install script/program, they want / force you to use another app called “easy_install”. Which of course doesn’t have an a install have a self-contained installer either, they want you to install something else. Now I’m three layers away from the software I want to install and NONE of the damn documentation is making any sense.
So I went home frustrated, but with a new idea. They have python for Windows, I have a Windows XP box at work as well. I’ll install Python on my XP box and then install Twill and I’ll be good. Nope – same damn story, first you need this other program before you can get to Twill, which requires Python. So I grab the latest Python, it has a nice .msi file and actually just works. Great, I’m finally getting somewhere. Then I grab the damn easy_install stuff, it also has a .exe installer. Launch that, it chugs along for a while and then throws an error. “Requires Python 2.5 or higher” Wait a minute, I have Python 2.6 install, I checked that. I poke at it, google search, poke at it some more, nothing works. Finally I get an idea, uninstall Python 2.6 and install Python 2.5. Bingo! The stupid install isn’t actually checking for higher, it wants just v2.5. Its basically acting like my 3 year old.
Long story short, after spending something like two hours I have a working installation of Twill on my Windows box. I’ve almost forgot what I wanted to-do with it now.