Handling PATH breakage on Windows with Python 3.8+

[anderslanglands]

As of Python 3.8, PATH is no longer used for loading DLLs. https://docs.python.org/3.8/whatsnew/3.8.html#bpo-36085-whatsnew

For packages that use PATH on Windows like LD_LIBRARY_PATH on Linux (all of mine are like this) I’m not really sure what to do to fix this.

One option would be to write out a sitecustomize.py that adds all the dll paths and set USER_BASE to point to it. This will probably break in certain circumstances though.

Another option would just be to static link everything on Windows.

I really hope I’m just being stupid and overlooking something obvious here!

[JeanChristopheMorinPerso]

Libraries on PyPI just call os.add_dll_directory in their __init__.py.

Other options are what you said (including all similar/derivative options) and you can also make sure the DLLs are in the same path as your Python code (if I'm not mistaken).

But since this is more a question than an issue, I'll convert it to a discussion.