Windows setup: pick a Python with ready-made wheels, fix Pillow build failure

START-HERE.bat

@@ -4,12 +4,19 @@ rem Needs only an NVIDIA or AMD graphics driver. Python is installed for your us
 setlocal
 title Strata
 cd /d "%~dp0"
-if exist ".venv\Scripts\python.exe" goto run
+rem a Python every package has ready-made wheels for: 64-bit CPython 3.10-3.14, released, not free-threaded, not MSYS
+set "PYOK=import sys,sysconfig as s; v=sys.version_info; sys.exit(0 if v[:2] in [(3,10),(3,11),(3,12),(3,13),(3,14)] and v.releaselevel=='final' and sys.maxsize>2**32 and not s.get_config_var('Py_GIL_DISABLED') and s.get_platform()=='win-amd64' else 1)"
+if not exist ".venv\Scripts\python.exe" goto newvenv
+".venv\Scripts\python.exe" -c "%PYOK%" >nul 2>nul
+if not errorlevel 1 goto run
+echo  The .venv was made with a Python that pip has to compile packages for (Pillow fails). Rebuilding it ...
+rmdir /s /q ".venv"
+:newvenv
 
 call :findpy
 if defined PY goto venv
 echo.
-echo  Python 3.10 or newer is not installed. Installing Python 3.12 for your user account ...
+echo  No suitable Python (64-bit 3.10-3.14) found. Installing Python 3.12 for your user account ...
 where winget >nul 2>nul
 if errorlevel 1 goto pyorg
 winget install -e --id Python.Python.3.12 --scope user --silent --source winget --accept-package-agreements --accept-source-agreements --disable-interactivity
@@ -42,11 +49,14 @@ if errorlevel 1 pause
 exit /b
 
 :findpy
-rem the py launcher first, then python on PATH (not the Microsoft Store stub), then the usual per-user folders
+rem known-good versions first (py -3 alone picks the newest, which can be a pre-release with no wheels yet)
 set "PY="
-py -3 -c "import sys; sys.exit(0 if sys.version_info >= (3, 10) and sys.maxsize > 2**32 else 1)" >nul 2>nul
-if not errorlevel 1 set "PY=py -3" & goto :eof
-python -c "import sys; sys.exit(0 if sys.version_info >= (3, 10) and sys.maxsize > 2**32 else 1)" >nul 2>nul
-if not errorlevel 1 set "PY=python" & goto :eof
-for %%V in (313 312 311 310) do if exist "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Python\Python%%V\python.exe" set "PY="%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Python\Python%%V\python.exe"" & goto :eof
+for %%V in (3.13 3.12 3.14 3.11 3.10) do if not defined PY call :try py -%%V
+if not defined PY call :try python
+for %%V in (313 312 314 311 310) do if not defined PY if exist "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Python\Python%%V\python.exe" call :try "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Python\Python%%V\python.exe"
+goto :eof
+
+:try
+%* -c "%PYOK%" >nul 2>nul
+if not errorlevel 1 set "PY=%*"
 goto :eof

Winery-Strata.zip

@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
-oid sha256:b8ccbf62728c1e7fb37d61ee42c24805fb584292866bce25da76e4b1a81878bd
-size 13659225
+oid sha256:b5ecdd93773b7897681652c61ee8a4b25da6369330579e233500caf7371ceec2
+size 13659692

setup.py

@@ -1094,7 +1094,13 @@ def pip_install(packages, what):
         ok(f"{what} already installed")
         return
     say(f"  Installing {what} ...")
-    run([sys.executable, "-m", "pip", "install", "--quiet", "--disable-pip-version-check", *need])
+    pip = [sys.executable, "-m", "pip", "install", "--quiet", "--disable-pip-version-check", "--prefer-binary"]
+    if run([*pip, *need], check=False).returncode != 0:
+        # no ready-made wheel of a pinned version for this Python (pip tried to compile, e.g. Pillow): take the
+        # newest release that has one instead of failing the whole setup
+        say("  A pinned package has no ready-made wheel for this Python; retrying with ready-made wheels only ...")
+        loose = sorted({req_name(p) for p in need})
+        run([*pip, "--only-binary", ":all:", *loose])
     stamp.write_text(json.dumps(sorted(set(have) | set(need)), indent=0))
     ok(f"{what} installed")