[Tutor] single executable

[Alan G]

> http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/moin.cgi/SingleFileExecutable
>
> that seems to indicate what I want is possible and it is available.

While it is possible to build single exe programs its questionable
whether the effort involved is worthwhile. Only the very smallest
programs can ever be built that way because any significant 
application
needs support files - config and data files etc. Many applications
actually have multiple executables(client/server apps for example)

None of these can be bundled as a single file exe. They must be
packaged with an installer.

There are also significant snags with single exes. For example if you
(or even seveal  other folks) distribute many such Python programs
you are installing puthon multiple times on the users computers.
There will also be duplication of wxPython if you use that, Tcl DLLs
if you use Tkinter etc etc. Now disk space is cheap so thats not
a huge issue but these big combined files are also slow to start
and tend to consume lots of memory when running. Thats why most
commercial apps come as an exe and lots of DLLs (several hundred
for MS Word!), its much more efficient to run.

So although a single exe seems like a good idea its worth
remembering that there is a downside too.

Alan G