How to create self contained executables in Python

09 Dec 2015 Matteo Mattei python

This is a very quick guide on how to create self contained Python executables (for all platforms). First of all install PyInstaller (I am using pip3 because I work with Python 3.x):

sudo pip3 install pyinstaller

Now install upx for a better compression:

sudo apt-get install upx

Now you are ready to create your self-contained executable:

pyinstaller \
    --onefile \
    --noconfirm \
    --noconsole \
    --clean \
    --log-level=WARN \
    --key=MySuperSecretPassword \
    --strip \
    myscript.py

Resulting executable will be placed inside dist folder and it will be called myscript. This is what each parameter does:

• --onefile allows to create a single self contained binary.
• --noconfirm replaces output directory without asking for confirmation.
• --noconsole should be used in GUI application with no console. --console should be used otherwise.
• --clean cleans PyInstaller cache and remove temporary files.
• --log-level=WARN shows only warnings and errors during build.
• --key=yourkey uses the given key to encrypt the Python bytecode (yes it’s secure!).
• --strip removes debug information to executable and shared libraries.

For windows, if you want to add also the icon to the resulting exe file you can add this additional parameter:

--icon-file=myapplication.ico

The application have only to be recompiled on every platform you want to release your application for. I know, the resulting binary will be a little heavy (~24MB for a PySide GUI application on Linux) but we have to consider that it contains the interpreter itself and all the needed libraries!!!