[Grok-dev] TypeError when adding an app from the tutorial

[Alec Munro]

(I must be doing something wrong, it's inconceivable to me that Grok
actually has this many problems.)

So I'm trying to get some of my coworkers introduced to Grok, and I
tell them, "follow the tutorial". Of course, first I instruct them in
the changes they need to make to the dependencies and the buildout
configuration. Oh, and I warn them that running grokproject will
likely fail the first few times. But I figure it's smooth sailing
after that.

Unfortunately, no. They go to add an app, and:

...
  File "C:\Python26\lib\hmac.py", line 133, in new
    return HMAC(key, msg, digestmod)
  File "C:\Python26\lib\hmac.py", line 72, in __init__
    self.outer.update(key.translate(trans_5C))
TypeError: character mapping must return integer, None or unicode

After trying to add an app, this occurs if I try to visit
localhost:8080, or localhost:8080/applications.

What is wrong with the Grok release process that there are at least 4
non-trivial errors that people will encounter just following the
tutorial? Is Windows no longer a supported platform, or is Python 2.6
the problem? In either case, can't we do something so other people
won't run into these problems? I don't mean to offend anyone, it just
bothers me that my attempt to get Grok used here may be sunk by these
kinds of issues.