I only noticed this because our endpoint protection was blocking the execution and spamming me with popups about it, without that I suspect the impact is minimal but it's just wasting a bit of time.
The new Python Install Manager stores .exe.__target__ files in %LOCALAPPDATA%\python\bin, which is on %PATH% so gets searched - they're just text files containing the full path of a python executable.
pet picks them up and tries to run them, which naturally fails:
C:\Users\<user>\.vscode\extensions\ms-python.vscode-python-envs-1.36.0-win32-x64\python-env-tools\bin>pet.exe find
0.385683000s ERROR pet_python_utils::env: Failed to spawn Python to resolve info "C:\\Users\\<user>\\AppData\\Local\\python\\bin\\python.exe.__target__": %1 is not a valid Win32 application. (os error 193)
0.385896600s WARN pet::find: Unknown Python Env "C:\\Users\\<user>\\AppData\\Local\\python\\bin\\python.exe.__target__"
0.725347200s ERROR pet_python_utils::env: Failed to spawn Python to resolve info "C:\\Users\\<user>\\AppData\\Local\\python\\bin\\python3.12.exe.__target__": %1 is not a valid Win32 application. (os error 193)
0.725571600s WARN pet::find: Unknown Python Env "C:\\Users\\<user>\\AppData\\Local\\python\\bin\\python3.12.exe.__target__"
1.071780100s ERROR pet_python_utils::env: Failed to spawn Python to resolve info "C:\\Users\\<user>\\AppData\\Local\\python\\bin\\python3.14.exe.__target__": %1 is not a valid Win32 application. (os error 193)
1.071980800s WARN pet::find: Unknown Python Env "C:\\Users\\<user>\\AppData\\Local\\python\\bin\\python3.14.exe.__target__"
1.438984900s ERROR pet_python_utils::env: Failed to spawn Python to resolve info "C:\\Users\\<user>\\AppData\\Local\\python\\bin\\python3.exe.__target__": %1 is not a valid Win32 application. (os error 193)
1.439173200s WARN pet::find: Unknown Python Env "C:\\Users\\<user>\\AppData\\Local\\python\\bin\\python3.exe.__target__"
I'm guessing this is down to the lack of a trailing $ on the WINDOWS_EXE regex in crates/pet-python-utils/src/executable.rs but I don't know if that's intentional.
Presumably this will be more common as people migrate to the new Install Manager so probably worth excluding them from the search one way or another.
I only noticed this because our endpoint protection was blocking the execution and spamming me with popups about it, without that I suspect the impact is minimal but it's just wasting a bit of time.
The new Python Install Manager stores
.exe.__target__files in%LOCALAPPDATA%\python\bin, which is on%PATH%so gets searched - they're just text files containing the full path of a python executable.pet picks them up and tries to run them, which naturally fails:
I'm guessing this is down to the lack of a trailing
$on theWINDOWS_EXEregex in crates/pet-python-utils/src/executable.rs but I don't know if that's intentional.Presumably this will be more common as people migrate to the new Install Manager so probably worth excluding them from the search one way or another.