Standalone Python Programs...

[Grant Edwards]

On 2004-08-06, Larry Bates <lbates at swamisoft.com> wrote:

>> I have a Python program that is built on an infrastructure of
>> quite a few other programs, but I would like to create a
>> standalone nonetheless.
>>
>> It doesn't necesarily have to be its own executable, although
>> this is the most attractive option - it could just mean
>> distributing the entire python distribution with it in an
>> installer or something.

That's a false dichotomy.  There is a choice in-between a
"stand-alone program" and "an entire Python distribution":
Something like py2exe which creates a "distribution" containing
only the things (dll's and compiled+compressed Python modules)
needed by your application.

Besides, expecting to create a stand-alone executable is pretty
unrealistic these days. There are very, very few stand-alone
Win32 programs any more (putty.exe is the only one I've seen in
the past 5 years).  Everything else in the Win32 world seems to
need to have a set of files "installed" using an installer.

> I've found that py2exe and Inno Setup Installeer to be a good
> combination (for Windows).  It isn't a single executable, but
> then what modern program is any more.  It doesn't require
> distribution/installation of Python.  I've used it to install
> some pretty complex combinations (wxWindows, PIL, ReportLab,
> etc.) with no problems.  Inno Setup has proven to be flexible
> enough to install everything that I've done so far.

Same here.  I've used py2exe + Inno Setup for a handfull of
small wxPython applications and it's all worked quite nicely.

> I can't speak to Linux installations because I have always
> just used the Python installation already there.

Yup.

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  I invented skydiving
                                  at               in 1989!
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