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Setup & Usage documentation for pydoc & IDLE #59149
Description
| 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']
Activity
ncoghlan commentedon May 29, 2012
pydoc is installed as a script by Python. It should be documented under http://docs.python.org/dev/using/index.html.
ncoghlan commentedon May 29, 2012
Same goes for idle and 2to3. These may just be cross-references to the relevant module documentation rather than completely new text.
[-]Setup & Usage documentation for pydoc[/-][+]Setup & Usage documentation for pydoc, idle & 2to3[/+]terryjreedy commentedon May 29, 2012
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
Then for each system,
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 commentedon May 29, 2012
http://docs.python.org/py3k/library/idle.html (duplicates much of the IDLE help file)
terryjreedy commentedon May 29, 2012
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 commentedon Aug 9, 2014
I'm assuming that this still applies to 3.4 and 2.7.
terryjreedy commentedon Jun 19, 2017
I am not sure where installed scripts are documented in Using Python. 'idle' and 'idle3' are not installed on Windows.
[-]Setup & Usage documentation for pydoc, idle & 2to3[/-][+]Setup & Usage documentation for pydoc, IDLE, & 2to3[/+]terryjreedy commentedon Mar 20, 2019
idle.html, derived from idle.rst, is now the IDLE help file.
pip also has pip3 command; perhaps ensurepip should be mentioned.
3 remaining items
arhadthedev commentedon May 25, 2023
2to3 is deprecated in 3.11 and removed in 3.13:
[-]Setup & Usage documentation for pydoc, IDLE, & 2to3[/-][+]Setup & Usage documentation for pydoc & IDLE[/+]StanFromIreland commentedon Feb 6, 2025
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 commentedon Feb 12, 2025
@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.yin the Start menu with aPython 3.y Module Docsicon.Mac Finder Applications get
Python 3.yalso 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.
gh-59149: Setup documentation for IDLE on Linux and add section in Ed…
pythongh-59149: Setup documentation for IDLE on Linux and add section…
pythongh-59149: Setup documentation for IDLE on Linux and add section…
[3.13] gh-59149: Setup documentation for IDLE on Linux and add sectio…
[3.12] gh-59149: Setup documentation for IDLE on Linux and add sectio…
terryjreedy commentedon Feb 24, 2025
@ncoghlan close or leave open?
hugovk commentedon Oct 10, 2025
Closing after no response in eight months, but feel free to re-open.