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On a clean checkout of py3k, I try to open PCBuild/pcbuild.sln with my MSVC++ Express 2008. When opening, a message box pops saying:
 Solution folders are not supported in this version of the application.
 Solution folder "Solution Items" will be displayed as unavailable.
I go on building following instructions (F7, leaving the default Debug win32 configuration). I get a bunch of LNK1181 errors:
 27> LINK : fatal error LNK1181: cannot open input file '.\python32_d.lib'
When I try to build the pythoncore project only, I get:
 1>c1 : fatal error C1083: Cannot open source file: 'D:\eli\python-py3k-trunk\PCbuild\Win32-temp-Debug\pythoncore\\getbuildinfo2.c': No such file or directory
Maybe there's some problem with the make_buildinfo call in the pre-build event?

I tried running make_buildinfo.exe manually from a VC command prompt, and I get an error for invoking subwcrev.exe:
D:\eli\python-py3k-trunk\PCbuild>make_buildinfo.exe Debug Win32-temp-Debug
"C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\subwcrev.exe" .. ..\Modules\getbuildinfo.c "Win32-temp-Debug\getbuildinfo2.c"
'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

After some investigation of running make_buildinfo standalone, it boils down to this:
When it executes the path with quotes around the last argument:
"C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\subwcrev.exe" .. ..\Modules\getbuildinfo.c "Win32-temp-Debug\getbuildinfo2.c"
I see the error about 'C:\Program' being unrecognized.
When it executes without quotes around the last argument:
"C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\subwcrev.exe" .. ..\Modules\getbuildinfo.c Win32-temp-Debug\getbuildinfo2.c
It works just fine.
Could this be some bizzarre bug in the quote parser of cmd.exe? I run Win XP Home SP3.

> Could this be some bizzarre bug in the quote parser of cmd.exe?
Yes, this is even documented with "cmd /?":
"""
[...]If you specify /c or /k, cmd processes the remainder of string and quotation marks are preserved only if all of the following conditions are met:
[...]- You use exactly one set of quotation marks.
"""

Amaury, seems like it - thanks. So I suppose the fix would be just to remove the quotes in make_buildinfo.c
I wonder why it worked for others & buildbots?

Removing the quotes rebreaks the case where tmppath contains a space.
Instead, either:
* Call subwcrev.exe directly without going through COMSPEC: switch 'system' to 'CreateProcess'.
* More quotes! Change `"A" .. "B"` to `""A" .. "B""` which when it hits case 2 from what Amuary was quoting, does what's intended.
"""
1. If all of the following conditions are met...
"""
... they aren't...
"""
2. Otherwise, old behavior is to see if the first character is a quote character and if so, strip the leading character and remove the last quote character on the command line, preserving any text after the last quote character.
"""

Bizarre indeed.
I think more quotes is the answer, since it is simpler to implement.
But the question remains, why has it worked until now?

This bug only hits people who:
1) Have TortoiseSVN installed (buildbots won't, I don't)
2) ...on a path that needs quoting.

Martin,
This makes sense, but keep in mind that:
1) Many, if indeed not *most* Windows SVN users use TortoiseSVN (and our dev guide recommends it, IIRC)
2) When TortoiseSVN *is* installed, it almost always goes into "Program Files" (its default installation path)
So the Windows buildbots don't represent one of the most common (IMHO) usage cases of building on Windows. Is it hard to implement? [i.e. use TortoiseSVN instead of cmd-line SVN on one of the Windows bots?]
Kristján - will you submit a patch for review? (this issue seems like a release blocker to me - but I'll leave it to Georg to decide on setting its priority)

> Kristján - will you submit a patch for review? (this issue seems like
> a release blocker to me - but I'll leave it to Georg to decide on
> setting its priority)
I wouldn't say it's a release blocker: I can build Python just fine,
so the release isn't really blocked by this. For the bug, there is
an easy work-around: just create a file no_subwcrev, or avoid paths
with spaces in them.

Eli, was just answering your question about why this didn't fail for other people.
Try the attached patch to see if it fixes the problem for you.

...and this apparently came up on the mailinglist as well with Prasun providing nearly exactly the same patch:
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2011-January/107599.html>

Martin, the patch fixed the problem for me and the code looks good.

Can this be committed and closed? [it's still an annoying problem for some Windows users who want to compile Python]

I'm closing it as rejected. Python doesn't use subversion anymore.