Thanks PJ. I haven't used py2exe as I don't want to redistribute python also, just our program. I'll dig into your other suggestions and see where I end up. -matt On Wed, May 22, 2013 at 10:22 PM, PJ Eby wrote:

On Wed, May 22, 2013 at 8:12 PM, Matt Wilkie wrote:

...

How do I get my installer to include Distribute so I don't have to tell our users "before you install our program you have to go install this other program"?

Setuptools (which Distribute is based on) is designed for shipping libraries, not applications; it's developer installer, not primarily an end-user installer for applications. So you probably should be using py2exe instead.

Alternatively, you can bundle a copy of pkg_resources.py, or use a script that doesn't depend on entry points, or copy your script to "foo-script.py" alongside the .exe launcher, and manually include those two files as scripts (not using entry points) in your setup() definition.

Any of these approaches will solve the problem; it's mostly a matter of your preferences or other requirements.

Hi Matt, if you don't have any C extensions to deal with and can assume Python is already present on the destination system, then a zipfile with a __main__.py file may also be a suitable solution (see PEP 441 for more info about that feature - it's been supported since 2.6, the PEP just proposes some better tools in the standard library for creating them) Cheers, Nick. On Sat, May 25, 2013 at 5:46 PM, Matt Wilkie wrote:

Thanks PJ.

I haven't used py2exe as I don't want to redistribute python also, just our program. I'll dig into your other suggestions and see where I end up.

-matt

On Wed, May 22, 2013 at 10:22 PM, PJ Eby wrote:

...

On Wed, May 22, 2013 at 8:12 PM, Matt Wilkie wrote:

...

How do I get my installer to include Distribute so I don't have to tell our users "before you install our program you have to go install this other program"?

Setuptools (which Distribute is based on) is designed for shipping libraries, not applications; it's developer installer, not primarily an end-user installer for applications. So you probably should be using py2exe instead.

Alternatively, you can bundle a copy of pkg_resources.py, or use a script that doesn't depend on entry points, or copy your script to "foo-script.py" alongside the .exe launcher, and manually include those two files as scripts (not using entry points) in your setup() definition.

Any of these approaches will solve the problem; it's mostly a matter of your preferences or other requirements.

_______________________________________________ Distutils-SIG maillist - Distutils-SIG@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/distutils-sig

-- Nick Coghlan | ncoghlan@gmail.com | Brisbane, Australia

On Sat, May 25, 2013 at 6:16 PM, Matt Wilkie wrote:

That looks very interesting Nick!

Do you know of any small or smallish programs using this I could inspect and learn from? Most of the references I find surround pyinstaller it's specfile format.

The zipfile execution feature was added primarily as a tool for internal distribution within large Python-using organisations, so I'm not aware of any good examples on the public internet (I assume it's seeing some use inside Google, as that's where the idea originated). Internet distribution tends to use either py2exe and its ilk (because the distributor can't assume a Python interpreter on the destination system) or else give users instructions on installing and using pip or easy_install (because they want their instructions to work across at least the main three platforms). Using pip or easy_install to do the installation also has the side effect of getting pkg_resources onto the target system, since some features of that ecosystem (like entry points) require it. Being able to assume the presence of Python on the target system but *not* the presence of pkg_resources is a fairly idiosyncratic case, which is why you haven't been able to find much specific info on handling it. Cheers, Nick. -- Nick Coghlan | ncoghlan@gmail.com | Brisbane, Australia

On Sat, May 25, 2013 at 4:16 PM, Matt Wilkie wrote:

That looks very interesting Nick!

Do you know of any small or smallish programs using this I could inspect and learn from? Most of the references I find surround pyinstaller it's specfile format.

This article explain about using the __main__.py file - http://sayspy.blogspot.com/2010/03/various-ways-of-distributing-python.html As for example, one that I recently found - https://github.com/pagekite/PyPagekite/

On Sat, May 25, 2013 at 4:06 AM, Matt Wilkie wrote:

...

...

... or use a script that doesn't depend on entry points

not desirable, as we like the .exe entry points creates and don't want to use a batch file (the "are you sure you want to quit?" message on ctrl-c is annoying)

...

...

, or copy your script to "foo-script.py" alongside the .exe launcher, and manually include those two files as scripts (not using entry points) in your setup() definition.

Would you please expand on this? The .exe launcher seems to depend on entry points, or I'm doing something wrong (entirely likely).

The foo.exe launcher doesn't use the entry point, all it does is run an adjacent foo-script.py. You can put anything you want in foo-script.py adjacent to that .exe, and it'll run. As for different versions of pkg_resources on sys.path, Python always puts the directory containing the script first. So if there's a pkg_resources.py adjacent to the script, that will take precedence over any other copy.