Freezing Your Code
==================

An alternative to shipping your code is freezing it — shipping it as an
executable with a bundled Python interpreter.

Many applications you use every day do this:

- Dropbox
- BitTorrent
- ...

.. todo:: Fill in "Freezing Your Code" stub



Comparison
----------

Solutions and platforms/features supported:

=========== ======= ===== ==== ======== ======= ============= ============== ==== =====================
Solution    Windows Linux OS X Python 3 License One-file mode Zipfile import Eggs pkg_resources support
=========== ======= ===== ==== ======== ======= ============= ============== ==== =====================
bbFreeze    yes     yes   yes  no       MIT     no            yes            yes  yes
py2exe      yes     no    no   yes      MIT     yes           yes            no   no
pyInstaller yes     yes   yes  no       GPL     yes           no             yes  no
cx_Freeze   yes     yes   yes  yes      PSF     no            yes            yes  no
py2app      no      no    yes  yes      MIT     no            yes            yes  yes
=========== ======= ===== ==== ======== ======= ============= ============== ==== =====================

.. note::
    Freezing Python code on Linux into a Windows executable was only once
    supported in PyInstaller `and later dropped.
    <http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2950971/cross-compiling-a-python-script-on-linux-into-a-windows-executable#comment11890276_2951046>`_.

.. note::
    All solutions need MS Visual C++ dll to be installed on target machine, except py2app.
    Only Pyinstaller makes self-executable exe that bundles the dll when
    passing :option:`--onefile` to :file:`Configure.py`.

Windows
-------

bbFreeze
~~~~~~~~

Prerequisite is to install :ref:`Python, Setuptools and pywin32 dependency on Windows <install-windows>`.

.. todo:: Write steps for most basic .exe

py2exe
~~~~~~

Prerequisite is to install :ref:`Python on Windows <install-windows>`.

1. Download and install http://sourceforge.net/projects/py2exe/files/py2exe/

2. Write :file:`setup.py` (`List of configuration options <http://www.py2exe.org/index.cgi/ListOfOptions>`_)::

.. code-block:: python

    from distutils.core import setup
    import py2exe

    setup(
        windows=[{'script': 'foobar.py'}],
    )

3. (Optionally) `include icon <http://www.py2exe.org/index.cgi/CustomIcons>`_

4. (Optionally) `one-file mode <http://stackoverflow.com/questions/112698/py2exe-generate-single-executable-file#113014>`_

5. Generate :file:`.exe` into :file:`dist` directory:

.. code-block:: console

   $ python setup.py py2exe

6. Provide the Microsoft Visual C runtime DLL. Two options: `globally install dll on target machine <https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29>`_ or `distribute dll alongside with .exe <http://www.py2exe.org/index.cgi/Tutorial#Step52>`_.

PyInstaller
~~~~~~~~~~~

Prerequisite is to have installed :ref:`Python, Setuptools and pywin32 dependency on Windows <install-windows>`.

- `Most basic tutorial <http://bojan-komazec.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-to-create-windows-executable-from.html>`_
- `Manual <http://www.pyinstaller.org/export/d3398dd79b68901ae1edd761f3fe0f4ff19cfb1a/project/doc/Manual.html?format=raw>`_


OS X
----


py2app
~~~~~~

PyInstaller
~~~~~~~~~~~


Linux
-----


bbFreeze
~~~~~~~~

PyInstaller
~~~~~~~~~~~