I have a working python package that's a CLI tool and I wanted to convert it into a single .exe file to upload it to other package managers so I used Pyinstaller. After building the .exe file with this command:
pyinstaller -c --log-level=DEBUG main.py 2> build.txt --onefile --exclude-module=pytest --add-data "src;src"
I double-clicked the .exe file but it closed immediately but in that split second, I saw the expected output which is supposed to be the command-line interface so the .exe does work but not entirely.
main.py
from src.Categorize_CLI.__main__ import main
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()
.spec file
# -*- mode: python ; coding: utf-8 -*-
block_cipher = None
a = Analysis(
['main.py'],
pathex=[],
binaries=[],
datas=[('src', 'src')],
hiddenimports=[],
hookspath=[],
hooksconfig={},
runtime_hooks=[],
excludes=['pytest'],
win_no_prefer_redirects=False,
win_private_assemblies=False,
cipher=block_cipher,
noarchive=False,
)
pyz = PYZ(a.pure, a.zipped_data, cipher=block_cipher)
exe = EXE(
pyz,
a.scripts,
a.binaries,
a.zipfiles,
a.datas,
[],
name='main',
debug=False,
bootloader_ignore_signals=False,
strip=False,
upx=True,
upx_exclude=[],
runtime_tmpdir=None,
console=True,
disable_windowed_traceback=False,
argv_emulation=False,
target_arch=None,
codesign_identity=None,
entitlements_file=None,
)
Update
I got it working by dragging the main.exe file to a open command prompt and then pressed enter and it worked, and I got an error:
RuntimeError: 'package' is not installed. Try passing 'package_name' instead.
[15592] Failed to execute script 'main' due to unhandled exception!
It sounds like the script ran to end of file to fast for you to see. You can confirm this by opening your terminal (cmd/poweshell in windows) and running your program like any other CLI tool.
cd path\to\exe
./exe -arguments
Since you launched it from an allready opened terminal it won't close when the script ends.
If this is the problem you can solve it by adding
input("Continue...") # wait for user
Update
As @BokiX says pyinstaller can cause false positives with anti virus software. Try a diffrent one e.g. nuikta:
pip install Nuikta
python -m nuikta main.py
installing python programs vs tradtitional programs
A tradtitional program installer is usualy a fancy zip file with some additianal feautures to setup a program for the relevant system it's on (e.g. make registry changes, download additianal files).
A python program is just a python script that was "frozen" in state so it can run independently on a system without python or it's dependencies. once you have an exe it should just run without needing to be "installed".
using console programs A console program is a program that is made to be exicuted from a terminal. In modern use these are usualy so they can be run by a script or someone who finds typing is faster than using a GUI.