I need to distribute some code that was written in Python for Windows. Unfortunately, this code has many dependencies, and I'd like to make the installation as user-friendly as possible (read: doable even for people who don't even know how to use the command line). Is there a way I can build an installer which at he same time installs Python and the uses pip/easy_install to install the required modules as well? Can I package all this in a single executable, or do I need at least a second installation script? Thanks a lot.
If you just want an installer/binary, check out py2exe
http://www.py2exe.org/
There are a few known problems if your code includes certain resources but there is help for ensuring the includes worked http://www.py2exe.org/index.cgi/WorkingWithVariousPackagesAndModules
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I need to package my Python application, its dependencies, and Python itself into a single MSI installer for distribution to users. The end result should desirably be:
Python is installed in the standard location
the package and its dependencies are installed in a separate directory (possibly site-packages)
the installation directory should contain the Python uncompressed and a standalone executable is not required
Kind of a dup of this question about how to make a python into an executable.
It boils down to:
py2exe on windows, Freeze on Linux, and
py2app on Mac.
I use PyInstaller (the svn version) to create a stand-alone version of my program that includes Python and all the dependencies. It takes a little fiddling to get it to work right and include everything (as does py2exe and other similar programs, see this question), but then it works very well.
You then need to create an installer. NSIS Works great for that and is free, but it creates .exe files not .msi. If .msi is not necessary, I highly recommend it. Otherwise check out the answers to this question for other options.
My company uses the free InnoSetup tool. It is a moderately complex program that has tons of flexibility for building installers for windows. I believe that it creates .exe and not .msi files, however. InnoSetup is not python specific but we have created an installer for one of our products that installs python along with dependencies to locations specified by the user at install time.
I've had much better results with dependencies and custom folder structures using pyinstaller, and it lets you find and specify hidden imports and hooks for larger dependencies like numpy and scipy. Also a PITA, though.
py2exe will make windows executables with python bundled in.
py2exe is the best way to do this. It's a bit of a PITA to use, but the end result works very well.
Ok, I have used py2exe before and it works perfectly except for one thing... It only works on executable windows machines. I then learned about Jython which turn a python script into a .Jar file. Which as you know is executable from any machine that has Java ("To your latest running version") installed. Which is great because both unix, windows, and ios (Most of the time) Run java. That means its executable from all of the following machines. As long as they run Java. No need for "py2mac + py2exe + freeze" just to run on all operating systems. Just Jython
For more information on how it works and how you can use it click here.
http://www.jython.org/
I have tried portable python but the latest version is 3.2.5. (need 3.6+)
I cannot install libraries on it, even the get-pip.py doesn't work.
I'm trying to figure out how to make my project portable on windows systems that do not have python installed.
Also I want the minimum possible libraries(core python modules) to keep the project as lean as possible,
I would go with cx_Freeze - multiplatform module for freezing your Python script in a way that allows you to open it on other Windows machines even if they do not have Python installed. It got very nice and clear documentation also: http://cx-freeze.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ and works a bit better on Windows machines then alternative PyInstaller from my experience (which has interesting option of one-file-package, but in many cases leads to security warnings due to some dirty hacks used to obtain that feature).
However, it may not be enough if you are using some specific modules in your app, as for example matplotlib, dash, etc modules are very hard to pack correctly with Freezer.
I have found a solution to my own question after a couple of days.
I did not want to create an executable for my project but I wanted a portable python folder so that I can add libraries to it as and when I need.
The recent version of portable python is WinPython.
I had to delete some unnecessary files out of it though.
It's size is about 77 mb after extracting
https://winpython.github.io/
https://sourceforge.net/projects/winpython/files/WinPython_3.6/3.6.5.0/WinPython64-3.6.5.0Zero.exe/download
Preface: I am a Mac/Unix user and am now a little lost with Windows.
Situation: I am trying to use python on a school machine that has a 64-bit architecture and running Windows 7. I have gotten the module NetworkX to work via python setup.py install, but need the numerical libraries to be available as well.
Question: I have the identical output as this question elaborates and need to install numpy with correct dependencies. How do I do this with limited permissions?
Problems: The solution in the above link cannot be adopted in my case. I do not have Visual Studio 2008 and cannot install it due to permissions. Also, the linear algebra library that is required costs 500$, which frankly is a deal breaker. I thought I could adopt this SO solution, but I do not have access to Bash. I also cannot run .exe files due to permissions. All the modules I have installed have been using python setup.py install. Any help or suggestions are VERY much appreciated.
Could you install one of the scientific python distributions like Anaconda or Canopy? That might include everything you need. See http://scipy.org/install.html for a list of options.
I have some small Python programs which depend on several big libraries, such as:
NumPy & SciPy
matplotlib
PyQt
OpenCV
PIL
I'd like to make it easier to install these programs for Windows users. Currently I have two options:
either create huge executable bundles with PyInstaller, py2exe or similar tool,
or write step-by-step manual installation instructions.
Executable bundles are way too big. I always feel like there is some magic happening, which may or may not work the next time I use a different library or a new library version. I dislike wasted space too. Manual installation is too easy to do wrong, there are too many steps: download this particular interpreter version, download numpy, scipy, pyqt, pil binaries, make sure they all are built for the same python version and the same platform, install one after another, download and unpack OpenCV, copy its .pyd file deep inside Python installation, setup environment variables and file asssociations... You see, few users will have the patience and self-confidence to do all this.
What I'd like to do: distribute only a small Python source and, probably, an installation script, which fetches and installs all the missing dependencies (correct versions, correct platform, installs them in the right order). That's a trivial task with any Linux package manager, but I just don't know which tools can accomplish it on Windows.
Are there simple tools which can generate Windows installers from a list of URLs of dependencies1?
1 As you may have noticed, most of the libraries I listed are not installable with pip/easy_install, but require to run their own installers and modify some files and environment variables.
npackd exists http://code.google.com/p/windows-package-manager/ It could be done through here or use distribute (python 3.x) or setuptools (python 2.x) with easy_install, possibly pip (don't know it's windows compatibility). But I would choose npackd because PyQt and it's unusual setup for pip/easy_install (doesn't play with them nicely, using a configure.py instead of setup.py). Though you would have to create your own repo for npackd to use for some of them. I forget what is contributed in total for python libs with it.
AFAIK there is no tool (and I'd assume you googled), so you must make one yourself.
Fetching the proper library versions seems simple enough -- using python's ftplib you can fetch the proper installers for every library. How would you know which version is compatible with the user's python? You can store different lists of download URLs, each for a different python version (this method came off the top of my head and there is probably a better way; not that it matters much if it's simple and it works).
After you figure out how to make each installer run, you can py2exe your installer script, and even use it to fetch the program itself.
EDIT
Some Considerations
There are a couple of things that popped into my mind just as I posted:
First, some pseudocode (how I would approach it, anyway)
#first, we check modules
try:
import numpy
except ImportError:
#flag numpy for installation
#lather, rinse repeat for all dependencies
#next we check version compatibility -- note that if a library version you need
#is not backwards-compatible, you're in DLL hell, and there is little we can do.
<insert version-checking code here>
#once you have your unavailable dependencies, you install them
import ftplib
<all your file-downloading here>
#now you install. sorry I can't help you here.
There are a few things you can do to make your utility reusable --
put all URL lists, minimum version numbers, required library names etc in config files
Write a script which helps you set up an installer
Py2exe the installer-maker-script
Sell it
Even better, release it under GPL so we can all feast upon fruits of your labours.
I have a similar need as you, but in addition I need the packaged application to work on several platforms. I'm currently exploring the currently available solutions, here are a few interesting ones:
Use SnakeBasket, which wraps around Pip and add a recursive dependency resolution plus a heuristic to choose the right version when there are conflicts.
Package all dependencies as an egg, but not your sourcecode which will still be editable: https://stackoverflow.com/a/528064/1121352
Package all dependencies in a zip file and directly import the modules on the fly: Cross-platform alternative to py2exe or http://davidf.sjsoft.com/mirrors/mcmillan-inc/install1.html
Using buildout: http://www.buildout.org/en/latest/install.html
Using virtualenv with virtualenv-tools (instead of "relocate")
If your main problem when freezing your code using PyInstaller or similar is that you end up with a big single file, you can customize the process so that you get several files, one for each dependency, instead of one big executable.
I will update here if I find something that fills my bill.
I wrote a program which uses a number of built in modules. The program is meant to be used by different persons on their systems. They dont have enough knowledge in python to install it when their system doesnt have the module needed to run the program. Is there any way of handling that.
Also I want to package the program as an executable in linux. It contains 3 py files and one text file only.
I think what you need is to create a debian package that handles the dependencies and the installation process.
I'm an Ubuntu user but this Complete Ubuntu Packaging Guide should help you get started. Good luck!
You can create an executable that contains your python modules and the python interpreter. You can use PyInstaller for creating such an executable.
I think the easiest way to achieve this on a debian distribution is to package your python application in a debian package. You can use this module to make life easier.