[Python-Dev] Single-file Python executables (was: Computed Goto dispatch for Python 2)

[Chris Angelico]

On Fri, May 29, 2015 at 3:04 AM, Brian Curtin <brian at python.org> wrote:
> Donald mentioned one earlier: command line utilities. I want a single
> CLI I can deploy to my customers that doesn't make them have to
> install Python or even know it's Python at all. My users write code in
> all types of languages on all OSes, but I should be able to produce
> one thing that they can all use. Donald himself initiated the CLI in
> particular I'm talking about, but Go is picking up steam here as we
> have other utilities that quickly solved the "write one thing, every
> user can run it immediately, no one knows/cares what it's written in"

Unix-like systems have this courtesy of the shebang, so as long as
there's some sort of Python installed, people don't need to know or
care that /usr/local/bin/mailmail is implemented in Python. Maybe the
solution is to push for Windows to always include a Python
interpreter, which would allow a tiny stub to go and call on that?
Obviously a full shebang concept would be a huge change to Windows,
but if a 4KB executable can go and locate the rest of Python, or open
up a web browser saying "Please install OS update KB123456", that
would do it for most end users.

ChrisA