building executables from .py files

• PyInstaller


• py2exe


• py2app

There tools are based on same strategy.

1. resolve dependencies in your app


2. generate .pyc .pyo


3. bundle them with python interpreter.

PyInstaller

• Pros: you don't have to write your own setup.py


• Cons: it is tricky to access data files

How to produce target:

python Build.py exe_name.spec

How to produce .spec file:

python Makespec.py -w -F -n exe_name yourscript.py

will produce exe_name.spec.

• -w for window application, surpress console window to come up.


• -F for produce a single file deployment


• -n for specify exe filename.

How to access Data Files from Manual. It is too much.

import sys, carchive
this = carchive.CArchive(sys.executable)
data = this.extract('mystuff')[1]

if you are using intaller, you can have data dir but end users may change them.

py2exe
most widespread tool. To use, you have to write a setup.py file.
kw of setup: packages, package_dir, py_modules affect your exe (of cause), package_data does not. So need to use data_files instead. Make sure to specify zipfile=None, otherwise you'll have small exe with big .lzh usually this is not what you want.

from setuptools import setup, find_packages
import py2exe
import sys

sys.argv.append('py2exe')

setup(
    name="blah",
    version='alpha-0.1',
    zip_safe=False,
    description="blah",
    long_description="""blah blah blah""",
    url='http://www.py2exe.org',
    license='python license',
    author='AUTHOR',
    author_email='email@email',
    packages=find_packages('./src'),
    package_dir={'':'./src'},
    py_modules=['one'],
    package_data={'.':['myjpeg.jpg'], 
                 },
    scripts=["your_script",],

 
   #py2exe options
    options={'py2exe':{'bundle_files':1}},
    windows=[{'script':'your_script'},],
    data_files=[('.',['myjpeg.jpg'], ),],
    zipfile=None,
)

then,

python setup.py py2exe

and you'll find exe in .dist

py2app
How to produce target:

python setup.py py2app

How to produce setup.py for py2app

py2applet --make-setup yourscript.py -r your_resouce

Very easy to incluide resource. I guess it is because MacOS X provides application as a sort of directory.