Setup & Usage documentation for pydoc & IDLE

[ncoghlan]

BPO	14944
Nosy	@terryjreedy, @ncoghlan, @ned-deily

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = None
created_at = <Date 2012-05-29.01:47:37.405>
labels = ['3.8', 'type-feature', '3.7', 'docs']
title = 'Setup & Usage documentation for pydoc, IDLE, & 2to3'
updated_at = <Date 2019-03-20.17:15:04.841>
user = 'https://github.com/ncoghlan'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2019-03-20.17:15:04.841>
actor = 'terry.reedy'
assignee = 'docs@python'
closed = False
closed_date = None
closer = None
components = ['Documentation']
creation = <Date 2012-05-29.01:47:37.405>
creator = 'ncoghlan'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 14944
keywords = []
message_count = 8.0
messages = ['161831', '161836', '161843', '161844', '161845', '225118', '296381', '338499']
nosy_count = 6.0
nosy_names = ['terry.reedy', 'ncoghlan', 'ned.deily', 'docs@python', 'tshepang', 'Al.Sweigart']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = None
stage = 'needs patch'
status = 'open'
superseder = None
type = 'enhancement'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue14944'
versions = ['Python 2.7', 'Python 3.7', 'Python 3.8']

Linked PRs

• gh-59149: Setup documentation for IDLE on Linux and add section in Editors #130003
• [3.13] gh-59149: Setup documentation for IDLE on Linux and add section in Editors (GH-130003) #130027
• [3.12] gh-59149: Setup documentation for IDLE on Linux and add section in Editors (GH-130003) #130028

[ncoghlan]

pydoc is installed as a script by Python. It should be documented under http://docs.python.org/dev/using/index.html.

[ncoghlan]

Same goes for idle and 2to3. These may just be cross-references to the relevant module documentation rather than completely new text.

[terryjreedy]

I second the motion for IDLE. There is no module doc for it.

Off the top of my head, there should be a general section that

• says what it is, and that it depends on tcl/tk and tkinter install;
• mentions the existent of the menu Help / IDLE help document;
• gives common startup methods from command line (I forget this) or inside interpreter ('from idlelib import idle') and that one may need to use one of these to see tracebacks if Idle crashes - even if one normally uses a system-specific method to directly run as gui app.
• gives other common info and trouble-shooting tips (some of this is on tracker - such as deleting user .cfg that prevents startup).
• points to system specific discussions, where ever they are put.

Then for each system,

• tcl/tk situation
• how to directly start up
• location of config files

Windows: (what I use)
tcl/tk comes with system.
...

*nix:
tcl/tk probably already on system
...

mac: (ned daily)
special tcl/tk issues, special page on site
...

[ned-deily]

http://docs.python.org/py3k/library/idle.html (duplicates much of the IDLE help file)

[terryjreedy]

Hmm, how did I miss that?? Well better to reference that, and maybe revise it. I believe there may also be another .txt document in idlelib.

Anyway, perhaps there should first be a section on tkinter by itself, and how to get the tcl/tk it depends on. Mention that optional part of Windows install, so tkinter will likely not work if unselected from installer.

[BreamoreBoy]

I'm assuming that this still applies to 3.4 and 2.7.

[terryjreedy]

I am not sure where installed scripts are documented in Using Python. 'idle' and 'idle3' are not installed on Windows.

[terryjreedy]

idle.html, derived from idle.rst, is now the IDLE help file.

pip also has pip3 command; perhaps ensurepip should be mentioned.

[arhadthedev]

2to3 is deprecated in 3.11 and removed in 3.13:

• Deprecate lib2to3 (and 2to3) for future removal #84540
• Remove the 2to3 program and the lib2to3 module #104780

[StanFromIreland]

IDLE does not come installed by default on Linux systems, maybe a note under using/unix would be a good addition?

It is also not clear what this issue is about as there was some discussion, could you please clarify what we need to close this?

[terryjreedy]

@ncoghlan If you want to pursue pydoc doc, perhaps a new issue, since this got dominated by IDLE?

On Windows, the 'Installing icons' option installs Python 3.y in the Start menu with a Python 3.y Module Docs icon.
Mac Finder Applications get Python 3.y also but no module docs entry. I don't know if there is something elsewhere.
I know nothing about linux, so I will be done with this issue once the IDLE part is done.

@StanFromIreland I copied most of #59149 (comment) to an IDLE issues draft issue.

[terryjreedy]

@ncoghlan close or leave open?