Help: Distributing scripts!

[Ken Kinder]

SunitJoshi wrote:
> 
> Hi All
>      Just wondering what all I would need to zip/or do if I'm going to be
> distributing python scripts to first time users, who will be unzipping it.
> Plus does anyone know of a python installer.

Python is a language, not an "installer."  "Installers" are exclusive to
Windows and Mac since they lack packaging systems.  You package your
software however you want to, for particular platforms, or just
distribute the source all tarballed or zipped up (please no patented
LZW).  If you want to make it cross platform, you should probably just
distribute the script in a tarball, plain and simple.  This does make
things a little harder on Mac/Windows users.

Windows and Mac don't support standard scripting "#!/usr/bin/python"
first-lines, so you'll have to either use a batch file to launch the
Python interpreter, or "freeze" a stand-alone binary.  The freeze
program is included with the Python distribution.  Freeze, it's
important to note, will create a binary quiet larger than the original
source.  I beleive you'll also need a compiler for C code to finish a
freeze.  GNU's should be fine.

I hope this answers your question on "installers."