Creating Python Executables with PyInstaller

PyInstaller is a tool which can be used to create executables from Python scripts. It can create executables for Windows, Linux, and macOS, although it is not a cross-compiler, and so has to be run on the target platform to generate the corresponding application.

Installation

pip install pyinstaller

Usage

The most basic way to use pyinstaller is to just point it at your Python script:

pyinstaller my_script.py

This will create new directories called build and dist in the current working directory. The build directory contains the build files, and the dist directory contains the executable ready for sharing with users. Note that by default, PyInstaller will not bundle the application into a single file, but rather create one executable and a number of dependent files. If you want to bundle the application into a single file (which can be useful for distribution), you can use the --onefile flag, e.g.:

pyinstaller --onefile my_script.py

When running, pyinstaller also creates a new file called my_file.spec in the current working directory. This file saves the configuration used to create the executable. You can modify this file directly, but because it’s not as well documented as the command line arguments, it’s easier to configure the script by running PyInstaller again with the command line arguments you want to use.

You can then use this script to re-create the executable in the exact same way as before. Just point pyinstaller to the spec file instead of the .py file:

pyinstaller my_file.spec

Note

The .spec file is just Python code itself (it’s not a configuration language like JSON or YAML).

Getting the Path

You can use the following code to get the path to either the script (when not running from a PyInstaller executable) or to the executable (when running from a PyInstaller executable):

import sys, os
if getattr(sys, 'frozen', False):
    # If the application is run as a bundle, the PyInstaller bootloader
    # extends the sys module by a flag frozen=True and sets the app
    # path into variable _MEIPASS or sys.executable
    application_path = sys._MEIPASS # Many-file executable OR
    # application_path = os.path.dirname(sys.executable) # One-file executable
else:
    application_path = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)) # Not bundled

No Package Metadata Found Error

If you get an error like the following:

Error: No package metadata was found for <package_name>

I encountered this error when using the readchar library.

This command line option adds the following to the .spec file (using readchar as an example):

# Imports here

datas = [] # If not already present
datas += copy_metadata('readchar', recursive=True)

# a = Analysis...