Python from the Windows store alias paths

[tonybaloney]

Not sure if this a bug in platformdirs, but users will hit this issue so I'll share my observations

Platform dirs will return the environment variable path for things like data dir, log dir for the Python from the Windows Store.

Python in the Windows store uses app execution aliases, so the actual path is something else.

For example:

>>> import platformdirs, os
>>> d = platformdirs.user_data_dir(appname="foo", appauthor="bar")
>>> os.makedirs(d)
>>> d
'C:\\Users\\anthonyshaw\\AppData\\Local\\bar\\foo\\'
>>> test_file = os.path.join(d, 'test.txt')
>>> test_file
'C:\\Users\\anthonyshaw\\AppData\\Local\\bar\\foo\\test.txt'
>>> os.path.realpath(test_file)
'C:\\Users\\anthonyshaw\\AppData\\Local\\Packages\\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\\LocalCache\\Local\\bar\\foo\\test.txt'

This causes issues when you launch a process and use that path for something (e.g. where you created a file), but the process will resolve to a different path.

This can be disabled in apps > advanced app settings > app execution aliases in Windows.

NB: os.path.realpath only resolves this redirection in Python 3.8+ and it only works for files, not directories.

[Julian]

Thanks for raising -- just to confirm, the same issue exists/existed on appdirs on windows, correct?

[tonybaloney]

yes, this would apply to other appdirs

[ofek]

Prior art: python-poetry/poetry#5931

[gaborbernat]

PR welcome 👍

[ericoporto]

Also found an interesting comment here

workaround:

>>> import os
>>> p1 = os.path.expandvars("%APPDATA%\\test.txt")
>>> p1
'C:\\Users\\steve\\AppData\\Roaming\\test.txt'
>>> open(p1, "w").close()
>>> os.system(f'copy "{os.path.realpath(p1)}" "{p1}"')
        1 file(s) copied.
0
>>>

I am not sure how this works across python versions. I mostly really need python 3.8 compatibility as it's the last version that is compatible with Windows 7 - this also means it runs great through wine.

For my usecase, this means I prefer the "wrong" results we currently have as I don't want the redirection in Windows Store Python but want the redirection in Python over Wine, so for me, manually handling this after works best, as I believe there would be no Wine handling here.