I keep promising to document how Python builds the 
sys.path.  Please-holder so Tim has a consistent place 
to hassle me :)

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Raised priority since we keep answering questions about
this, and there's now a chance that it'll get done.  ;-)

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Nice try, Fred -- but I figure Mark knows that if he does 
this, we'll just ask him to document the registry on 
Windows too <wink>.

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Only so far as we use it!  The _winreg module already has
documentation, and no one has filed a bug report on it.

This is a high priority item that hasn't been touched in half a decade.
 Mark: Consider this a reminder if this is still on your agenda to do. 
If not, shall we just close it?  Is there anyone else that could do this?

I think this item doesn't need to be handled
by Mark.  There's a comment at the top of 
PC/getpathp.c giving the rules, so it's 
just a matter of editing the text and adding reST
markup.  But where in the docs should this material go?  using/windows.rst?

Wow, this has been on hold for ages! I know I could have used this information in the past, and several people have asked me about this.

Perhaps there should be a place in the documentations which explains how sys.path is populated, with detailed explanations for different platforms?

With some guidance as per the right place in the docs for this, I'll gladly work on this. Note that I'm not an expert on this issue, I just plan to gather information form several places and write up a single nice documentation page.

Tim, Brian I've added you to the nosy list as I think you could assist.  Unless I get a response within the next 10 years I will close this as "out of date"

Out of date seems an inaccurate status to me. Bugs may take weeks to years to be fixed. This one is tagged easy (according to amk in msg73954), so perhaps someone will have a go at it during a Bug Day or a spring, or one of the docs people will just do it (e.g. me after my summer job).

s/spring/sprint/ :)

FWIW, I think the rules are fairly well explained in the comments in PC/getpathp.c; last time I looked at this, the only thing I couldn't really decide was where in the official docs these comments should be put (after reformatting and minor rewording etc)

using/windows.rst seems the best place to add comments from PC/getpathp.c, under the “Finding modules” section.

I made patch which move comment from PC/getpathp.c to Doc/using/windows.rst. And did a little editing, reST markup.

http://codereview.appspot.com/2211046

Thanks for the patch, merged with existing info in using/windows.rst in r85615.