1998-02-25 11:40:35 -04:00
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<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Creating true standalone applications in Python</TITLE></HEAD>
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<BODY>
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<H1>Creating true standalone applications in Python</H1>
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<HR>
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1998-06-26 12:01:52 -03:00
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<EM>NOTE</EM> This document is obsolete. See <A HREF="freezing.html">Freezing Python
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scripts</A> for a more up-to-date treatise. <p>
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</HR>
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1998-02-25 11:40:35 -04:00
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You can use Python to create true standalone macintosh applications: applications
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that you can distribute to other people as a single file, without dependencies
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on Python being installed, etc. The process is not easy, however, and at the
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moment you need a source distribution (and a C development environment, CodeWarrior
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most preferred). You should first familiarize yourself with the sections
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<a href="building.html">building Python from source</a> and
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<a href="example2.html">building applets</a>. <p>
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The application we are going to build will contain a complete interpreter,
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plus <code>'PYC '</code> resources for all the Python modules the program uses.
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We start by creating a resource file that contains all the modules we need,
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in PYC-resource form. There are two ways to do this:
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<UL>
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<LI> Modify the standard <code>freeze.py</code> module to print the names of
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all modules used. Copy these to a single folder, run <code>compileall.py</code>
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on that folder and then run <code>PackLibDir.py</code> from the scripts folder
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to create the resourcefile. This has one disadvantage: freeze finds the modules
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used by parsing your Python code, so modules you don't use (for instance because
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they are system-dependent and not used on the mac) are also included. You
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may also have problems with dynamically loaded modules. You will also have to rename
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your main module to __main__.py.
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<LI> Another way to find the modules used is by option-starting your script
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and setting the "interactive mode after script" flag. Exercise every corner of
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your program so all your modules have been imported, and when you exit your
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program and get back to the interpreter use <code>findmodulefiles.findmodulefiles</code>
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to get a list of all modules used. You can now use
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<code>findmodulefiles.mkpycresourcefile</code> to create your resourcefile.
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</UL>
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Next we create the application project. Copy the <code>PythonStandalone.prj</code>
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project, replace <code>macapplication.c</code> by <code>macapplet.c</code> and
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replace <code>bundle.rsrc</code> by <code>appletbundle.rsrc</code>. Also
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add the PYC resource file you made in the previous step and any other resource
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files you need. Set the target output file names (for all three of ppc/68k/fat).
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Build your application. <p>
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Finally we have to give the application the right <code>sys.path</code> initialisation.
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We do this by dropping the application on <code>EditPythonPrefs</code> and removing
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all path components replacing them with a single <code>$(APPLICATION)</code>. You
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may have to use ResEdit after this step to remove an "alis" resource from your application,
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I am not sure why this is sometimes created. <p>
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If you want to get fancy you may be able to make your application smaller by removing
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all unused builtin modules. If you used the findmodulefiles method above to find
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your modules you can start a standalone interpreter and use
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<code>findmodulefiles.findunusedbuiltins</code> to get the names of all builtin
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modules your program doesn't use. You can then create a private copy of
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<code>config.c</code> from which you remove all unused modules.
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