IronPython 2.0.3 (and uninstalling IronPython for .NET 4 Beta 1)

As always the IronPython team aren't content with one new release, but have pushed out another as well.

While IronPython 2.6 gets closer to its final release there is still life in IronPython 2.0. A new bugfix version, 2.0.3, has just been released.

• IronPython Release 2.0.3 

Note: this version of IronPython is for .NET Framework 2.0 SP1, 3.0 and 3.5. If you want a version of IronPython to work on .NET Framework 4.0 with C# 4.0's new "dynamic" keyword, you need a compatible version of IronPython.

IronPython 2.0.3 is a minor update to IronPython 2.0.2 and the latest in a series of CPython 2.5-compatible releases running on the .NET platform. Again, our priority was to make IronPython 2.0.3 a bugfix release that remains backwards-compatible with IronPython 2.0.2. In particular, we focused on issues the IronPython community brought to our attention through CodePlex. As such, there have been important improvements on the compatibility and stability of IronPython as summarized below.

Silverlight users: As of IronPython 2.0.2, a new version of Silverlight, namely Silverlight 3, is required to build the “Silverlight Release” and “Silverlight Debug” configurations of IronPython.sln. Please update Silverlight accordingly if you intend to do so.

The following issues were fixed:

• 24224 – UTF-8 encoding sometimes broken!
• 19510 – Need to recognize DefaultMemberAttribute for getitem/setitem
• 24129 – 2.0.3: not should not be 1
• 21976 – 2.0.3: Executables created by Pyc.py broken without access to original Python sources
• 24452 – 2.0: Fix FxCop warnings
• 24453 – 2.0: Cannot build “FxCop” build configuration of IronPython.Modules.csproj
• 24571 – 2.0.3: help(Array[Int32]) causes a traceback
• 24373 – empty sys.argv in compiled scripts for 2.0
• 24475 – Creating a low-permission version of PythonEngine fails post 2.0.0
• An issue where sys.argv lacks its first argument (the executable name) in compiled scripts
• A failure in partial trust on Windows 7 due to a SecurityException.

To go with the new release their is a new performance page showing how IronPython 2.0.3 compares with Python 2.5 on various benchmarks:

• IronPython Performance Report: IronPython 2.0.3

After the release of IronPython 2.6 for .NET 4.0 Beta 2 a few users reported problems uninstalling IronPython for .NET 4.0 Beta 1. This is because this version of IronPython depends on .NET 4.0 Beta 1, so is you uninstall .NET 4 first then the uninstaller for IronPython won't run!

This is a pain in the *ss, but Dave Fugate has come to the rescue with instructions on how to do a manual uninstall:

• Uninstalling "IronPython 2.6 CTP for .NET 4.0 Beta 1" without .NET 4.0 Beta 1 Installed

We've heard from a few people in the last week that they're having trouble uninstalling our community technology preview of IronPython running under .NET 4.0 Beta 1 if the installation of .NET 4.0 Beta 1 has been removed or replaced in some fashion.  Basically what's going on is that a prerequisite for running IronPython.msi (whether you intend on installing/repairing/removing it) is the presence of a very specific version of .NET - namely v4.0.20506.  The tie in to this .NET 4.0 release means that even with an install of .NET 4.0 Beta 2, you'll be unable to remove the IronPython CTP for Beta 1 cleanly unless you also have .NET 4.0 Beta 1 installed concurrently (is this even possible I wonder...).

There's at least one alternative to removing "IronPython 2.6 CTP for .NET 4.0 Beta 1" if you no longer have access to .NET 4.0 Beta 1 on your machine.  Basically you'll just need to remove the related installation directory and shortcut menus by hand.  Also, there's those pesky registry entries that don't have to be removed, but can be if you prefer.