I have an installer which uses a Python script to install several components. I do not want to install Python on the users computer if they do not already have it and I also do not want having Python installed to be a prerequisite for using my installer. Is there a way of downloading Python without using the installer and just running it from a directory which can be easily removed after the installation is complete?
Portable Python is an easy tool to use on Windows. If you want to create .exe programs use PyInstaller to compile them. They can both work on top of each other, you can compile (make .exes) using Portable Python, Portable Python 3 is also available.
If the installer is for OS X or Linux, Python shall be there usually. Otherwise
Lazy way: Detect if Python is existed. If not, ask user to install it as dependency. e.g. A link for python download page.
Rewrite your script. If the logic is not complicated, use some other build-in shell script is a good idea.
Static linking Python. Yes, static linking is evil. However, it's still an option.
Found some project maybe helpful on github and google-code
(In addition to Owens points). Use py2exe or one of the other exe builder utils for python on windows. On other platforms just use the python script.
Try cx_Freeze
This program can freeze your python code into a .exe file and some other pyd files, it can be run without installing python.
NOTE: You will need to install python to freeze, but you don't need python to run the program.
You can download from here.
https://anthony-tuininga.github.io/cx_Freeze/index.html
TO FREEZE:
make a file setup.py
type
from cx_Freeze import setup, Executable
setup (name='NEW_EXE_FILE_NAME',
executables = [Executable("xx.py")])
xx.py will be the python code you want to freeze.
command line: python setup.py build
You can use python's embeddable package, available here:
Python Windows Releases
Once you download the package all you need to do is extract it into a folder. That's it... Installed.
You also might want to install pip to manage packages by running the pip install script pip install script and add pip.exe's relative path to python3xx._pth file.
PatriTech made a nice summary of the process on YouTube: Embedded Python Installation
Related
I used to work with windows when I install a non basic python package with the cmd, but I dont know how to do it on mac, this packaged cant use pip to install on the terminal
It really depends a lot on the specific package. The options can be different, let me present you some:
You can simply add the source files (if they are not properly packaged) to your project and import them
In the same scenario, if the script is not packaged, you can check if there is a way to install it (read the docs). A common way to do it is by having a script in root called setup.py. Try to see if there is a setup script or read the docs to see if there is a way to install it
Check if the package can not be installed with another general package management (you mentioned you use a mac so check with homebrew)
Another possible package management tool for Python is Anaconda, check that one too
Hope this helps!
I have a python module with an entry point in its setup.py which points to __ main__.py. I want to be able to distribute this module to my coworkers in such a way that they can install it using a windows installer, and execute the entry point from the command line. They already have Python installed on their computer.
The built-in python setup.py bdist_wininst functionality looked perfect, except that my module has a third party module dependency, and for some reason, bdist_wininst does not install dependencies even if they are specified in the setup's install_requires.
All-in-one windows exe solutions such as py2exe or pyinstaller are not suitable since the entry point requires input, and I want the user to be able to specify the input via the command line.
Of course, I could distribute the module source files and have my coworkers run python setup.py install, but they will be too afraid - they are not programmers.
Yes, it would be possible to use an application like Nullsoft NSIS to build an installer that would install your python package, but it will require more code and an extra build step.
Do your coworkers have pip and setuptools installed? Are you able to distribute your package on pypi? If so, it would be really simple for your coworkers to just do pip install mypackage. It has the added benefit of handling dependencies and if you use python wheels, your users don't require a build environment to install your package.
It seems to me that when I'm using protobuf in python I need to install it first so that I also have setuptools installed. To me it seems like this is severly limiting portability as I would have to install protobuf on every machine on which I want to use any kind of python code using protobuf.
So my question is: Is there a way to package protobuf for python in such a way, that it can be distributed with the python code using it?
Any info on this would be appreciated.
The package contains an experimental C++ extension, and the setup file generates Python files, but with the extension disabled by default, you should be able to include the setup.py build result with your script just fine.
Note that the Python package still needs the command-line tool to be installed. The tool is used to generate some Python for you.
Once that is available, run:
cd python
python setup.py build
and copy the build/lib/google directory to your script distribution, it needs to be on your sys.path to be importable.
Alternatively, use setup.py bdist --formats=zip and add the path to the resulting zipfile (located in dist/protobuf-<version>.<platform>-<architecture>.zip) to your sys.path. Renaming it should be fine.
Do note that the package uses a namespace, and thus the pkg_resources module needs to be available as well. It is only used to declare the google namespace in google/__init__.py.
I'm trying to install a Python Module by running a Windows installer (an EXE file).
The Problem is that the default python folder and the defualt Installation Library are set To disc D:\ and are grayed out (meaning I can't change it). It might be fine is some places, but in my computer, D is the DVD drive, meaning that no installation is possible.
Is there any way to change this or to overcome this?
It's not "default folder", and there's a reason there's "found in registry" next to the version. You need to re-register the Python installation if you've moved it, either by installing it again (without removing) in the same folder, or changing the directory saved in registry (HKCU\Software\Python\PythonCore\X.X\InstallPath, possibly on Wow3264Node) either manually or using registration script.
Because what you're installing (you don't say what it is) seems to be standard distutils-generated installer (as Cat Plus Plus points out in his comment) you don't have to install it by running installer. You can install it using easy_install program what allows you to choose which Python to use. See my answer to Can I install Python windows packages into virtualenvs? question.
EDIT
Now I see in your comment you're installing setuptools. This complicates things a little bit as this is the package which contains easy_install tool I mentioned above. You have chicken/egg problem here... There's solution for this, however. You can use ez_setup script to install setuptools without using exe installer.
I have read the documentation but I don't understand.
Why do I have to use distutils to install python modules ?
Why do I just can't save the modules in python path ?
You don't have to use distutils. You can install modules manually, just like you can compile a C++ library manually (compile every implementation file, then link the .obj files) or install an application manually (compile, put into its own directory, add a shortcut for launching). It just gets tedious and error-prone, as every repetive task done manually.
Moreover, the manual steps I listed for the examples are pretty optimistic - often, you want to do more. For example, PyQt adds the .ui-to-.py-compiler to the path so you can invoke it via command line.
So you end up with a stack of work that could be automated. This alone is a good argument.
Also, the devs would have to write installing instructions. With distutils etc, you only have to specify what your project consists of (and fancy extras if and only if you need it) - for example, you don't need to tell it to put everything in a new folder in site-packages, because it already knows this.
So in the end, it's easier for developers and for users.
what python modules ? for installing python package if they exist in pypi you should do :
pip install <name_of_package>
if not, you should download them .tar.gz or what so ever and see if you find a setup.py and run it like this :
python setup.py install
or if you want to install it in development mode (you can change in package and see the result without installing it again ) :
python setup.py develop
this is the usual way to distribute python package (the setup.py); and this setup.py is the one that call disutils.
to summarize this distutils is a python package that help developer create a python package installer that will build and install a given package by just running the command setup.py install.
so basically what disutils does (i will sit only important stuff):
it search dependencies of the package (install dependencies automatically).
it copy the package modules in site-packages or just create a sym link if it's in develop mode
you can create an egg of you package.
it can also run test over your package.
you can use it to upload your package to pypi.
if you want more detail see this http://docs.python.org/library/distutils.html
You don't have to use distutils to get your own modules working on your own machine; saving them in your python path is sufficient.
When you decide to publish your modules for other people to use, distutils provides a standard way for them to install your modules on their machines. (The "dist" in "distutils" means distribution, as in distributing your software to others.)