how to distribute a python application

[Pete Shinners]

"Philippe FREMY" <P.FREMY at OBERTHURCS.com> wrote
> I was pointed to distutils but it didn't answer my needs. Distutils is
> pretty efficient for distributing python modules but doesn't handle the
> specific needs of application installing.

actually, the situation is the distutils team hasn't gotten to
application installation yet, but it is on the boards.

my guess is that you are using some unix distribution (because of QT)
in that case each distribution comes with its own tools for building
an application archive, be it RPM, DEB, or whatever. therefore to
distribute on these platforms just create the appropriate archive.

if you are using windows (where QT=$$), there are plenty of available
freewarei nstallation tools available. these will handle everything
from copying files around, setting up icons, and even creating an
uninstaller. there are many quality free tools in this area. if you
don't want to require that users have a version of python installed
you can use the PY2EXE script (which is an extension of distutils, btw).
PY2EXE can crunch your python source down to an executable and collection
of shared libraries in a standalone directory.

anyways, the tools are out there. distutils has a lot of these bases
already covered (building RPMS, DEBS, EXE installers, compiling the
python source on installation, etc, etc). it currently needs some
folks to find a way to tune all these tools towards application use.
it will be happening, just not quite yet.