Generate help file during build rather than as a separate CI step

.github/workflows/docs.yml

@@ -9,9 +9,6 @@ on:
   push:
     branches:
       - main
-  pull_request: # Temporary just for test
-    branches:
-      - main
 
 jobs:
   generate:
@@ -25,17 +22,16 @@ jobs:
         with:
           python-version: '3.9'
 
-      # We still need to install pywin32 because
-      # AutoDuck/py2d.py currently relies on runtime imports for introspection
-      # Downloading latest release is faster than re-building
+      # We install pywin32's latest release just to avoid re-building
+      # We could instead try to use a GitHub artifact
       - name: Install latest release
         run: pip install --user --upgrade pywin32
 
-      - name: Generate PyWin32.chm help file
-        run: python AutoDuck/make.py
+      - name: Set Python user site directory
+        run: python -c "import os,site; open(os.environ['GITHUB_ENV'], 'a').write(f'USER_DIR={site.USER_SITE}\n')"
 
-      - name: Decompile help file into HTML
-        run: hh -decompile site PyWin32.chm
+      - name: Decompile shipped help file
+        run: hh -decompile site ${env:USER_DIR}\PyWin32.chm
 
       - name: Rename root HTML file
         run: mv site\PyWin32.HTML site\index.html

.github/workflows/main.yml

@@ -42,13 +42,6 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build and install
         run: pip install . -v --user
 
-      # This needs to happen *after* installing pywin32 since
-      # AutoDuck/py2d.py currently relies on runtime imports for introspection
-      # This isn't included in the wheel (TODO: could we?)
-      # and only serves as a PR test for the docs.yaml workflow
-      - name: Generate PyWin32.chm help file
-        run: python AutoDuck/make.py
-
       # Smokescreen test to validate it doesn't crash and dlls can be found
       - name: Run postinstall install/remove
         run: |
@@ -57,6 +50,13 @@ jobs:
           python Scripts/pywin32_postinstall.py -install -destination "$UserSite"
           python Scripts/pywin32_postinstall.py -remove -destination "$UserSite"
 
+      # This needs to happen *after* installing pywin32 since
+      # AutoDuck/py2d.py currently relies on runtime imports for introspection
+      # This isn't included in the wheel (TODO: could we?)
+      # and only serves as a PR test for the docs.yaml workflow
+      - name: Generate PyWin32.chm help file
+        run: python AutoDuck/make.py
+
       - name: Run tests
         # Run the tests directly from the source dir so support files (eg, .wav files etc)
         # can be found - they aren't installed into the Python tree.

CHANGES.txt

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ https://mhammond.github.io/pywin32_installers.html.
 Coming in build 309, as yet unreleased
 --------------------------------------
 
+* Restored shipping a helpfile with the wheel. Run like for pywin32 306 and before, you can run the `pywin32_postinstall` script to register it  (#2432, @Avasam)
 * Removed param `hIcon` from `win32comext.shell.ShellExecuteEx`. It was unusable since Windows Vista (#2423, @Avasam)
 * Fixed `nbios.NCBStruct` packing (#2406, @Avasam)
 * Restored axdebug builds on Python 3.10 (#2416, @Avasam)

pywin32_postinstall.py

@@ -233,13 +233,10 @@ def RegisterHelpFile(register=True, lib_dir=None):
     if register:
         # Register the .chm help file.
         chm_file = os.path.join(lib_dir, "PyWin32.chm")
-        if os.path.isfile(chm_file):
-            # This isn't recursive, so if 'Help' doesn't exist, we croak
-            SetPyKeyVal("Help", None, None)
-            SetPyKeyVal("Help\\Pythonwin Reference", None, chm_file)
-            return chm_file
-        else:
-            print("NOTE: PyWin32.chm can not be located, so has not been registered")
+        # This isn't recursive, so if 'Help' doesn't exist, we croak
+        SetPyKeyVal("Help", None, None)
+        SetPyKeyVal("Help\\Pythonwin Reference", None, chm_file)
+        return chm_file
     else:
         UnsetPyKeyVal("Help\\Pythonwin Reference", None, delete_key=True)
     return None

setup.py

@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 import shutil
 import subprocess
 import sys
+import sysconfig
 import winreg
 from pathlib import Path
 from setuptools import Extension, setup
@@ -482,6 +483,48 @@ def _build_scintilla(self):
             os.path.join(self.build_lib, "pythonwin"),
         )
 
+    def _build_helpfile(self) -> None:
+        """
+        Since AutoDuck/py2d.py relies on import,
+        this must be done after all extensions are built.
+
+        We can't just add to sys.path to point to the build folder,
+        because this uses subprocesses,
+        so we we create a temporary .pth file instead.
+        """
+        build_lib_absolute = os.path.abspath(self.build_lib)
+        tmp_pywin32_build_pth = (
+            Path(sysconfig.get_paths()["platlib"]) / "tmp_pywin32_build.pth"
+        )
+
+        # Delete the previous helpfile to ensure that this build worked
+        Path("PyWin32.chm").unlink(missing_ok=True)
+
+        # Create the temporary .pth file
+        with open("pywin32.pth") as path_file:
+            # Copy paths from pywin32.pth and expand them to absolute paths
+            paths = [
+                (
+                    path.strip()
+                    # support the "import pywin32_bootstrap" hack
+                    if path.startswith("import ")
+                    else os.path.join(build_lib_absolute, path.strip())
+                )
+                for path in path_file.readlines()
+                if not path.startswith("#")
+            ] + [
+                build_lib_absolute,
+                # For pythoncom.py, since it doesn't get added to the build folder
+                os.path.abspath("com"),
+            ]
+        tmp_pywin32_build_pth.write_text("\n".join(paths))
+
+        # Actually generate the helpfile
+        subprocess.run((sys.executable, "AutoDuck/make.py"), check=True)
+
+        # Cleanup
+        tmp_pywin32_build_pth.unlink()
+
     # find the VC base path corresponding to distutils paths, and
     # potentially upgrade for extra include / lib paths (MFC)
     def _check_vc(self):
@@ -626,6 +669,8 @@ def build_extensions(self):
         for mfc_content in mfc_contents:
             self.copy_file(mfc_content, target_dir)
 
+        self._build_helpfile()
+
     def build_exefile(self, ext):
         suffix = "_d" if self.debug else ""
         logging.info("building exe '%s'", ext.name)
@@ -1980,20 +2025,6 @@ def convert_data_files(files: Iterable[str]):
     return ret
 
 
-def convert_optional_data_files(files):
-    ret = []
-    for file in files:
-        try:
-            temp = convert_data_files([file])
-        except RuntimeError as details:
-            if not str(details.args[0]).startswith("No file"):
-                raise
-            logging.info("NOTE: Optional file %s not found - skipping", file)
-        else:
-            ret.append(temp[0])
-    return ret
-
-
 ################################################################
 if len(sys.argv) == 1:
     # distutils will print usage - print our docstring first.
@@ -2087,11 +2118,6 @@ def convert_optional_data_files(files):
     packages=packages,
     py_modules=py_modules,
     data_files=[("", (os.path.join(gettempdir(), "pywin32.version.txt"),))]
-    + convert_optional_data_files(
-        [
-            "PyWin32.chm",
-        ]
-    )
     + convert_data_files(
         [
             "Pythonwin/start_pythonwin.pyw",
@@ -2149,9 +2175,8 @@ def convert_optional_data_files(files):
             "adodbapi/examples/*.py",
         ]
     )
-    +
     # The headers and .lib files
-    [
+    + [
         ("win32/include", ("win32/src/PyWinTypes.h",)),
         (
             "win32com/include",
@@ -2162,14 +2187,14 @@ def convert_optional_data_files(files):
             ),
         ),
     ]
-    +
     # And data files convert_data_files can't handle.
-    [
+    + [
         ("win32com", ("com/License.txt",)),
         # pythoncom.py doesn't quite fit anywhere else.
         # Note we don't get an auto .pyc - but who cares?
         ("", ("com/pythoncom.py",)),
         ("", ("pywin32.pth",)),
+        ("", ("PyWin32.chm",)),
     ],
 )