125 lines
5.8 KiB
HTML
125 lines
5.8 KiB
HTML
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<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<TITLE>Creating standalone applications with Python</TITLE>
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</HEAD>
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<BODY>
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<H1>Creating standalone applications with Python</H1>
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<HR>
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With the <EM>macfreeze</EM> script you can <i>freeze</i> a Python
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script: create a fullblown Macintosh application that is completely
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self-contained. A frozen application is similar to an applet (see <a
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href="example2.html">Example 2</a> for information on creating applets),
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but where an applet depends on an existing Python installation for its
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standard modules and interpreter core, a frozen program does not,
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because it incorporates everything in a single binary. This means you
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can copy a frozen program to a machine that does not have Python
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installed and it will work, which is not true for an applet. <p>
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There are two ways to create a frozen application: through the
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CodeWarrior development environment or without any development
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environment. The former method is more versatile and may result in
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smaller binaries, because you can better customize what is included in
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your eventual application. The latter method builds an application by
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glueing together the various <em>.slb</em> shared libraries that come
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with a binary Python installation into a single file. This method of
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freezing, which does not require you to spend money on a development
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environment, is unique to MacPython, incidentally, on other platforms
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you will always need a C compiler and linker. <p>
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<h2>Common steps</h2>
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The two processes have a number of steps in common. When you start
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<code>Mac:Tools:macfreeze:macfreeze.py</code> you are asked for the
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script file, and you can select which type of freeze to do. The first
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time you should always choose <em>report only</em>, which will produce a
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listing of modules and where they are included from in the console
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window. Macfreeze actually parses all modules, so it may crash in the
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process. If it does try again with a higher debug value, this should
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show you where it crashes. <p>
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For more elaborate programs you will often see that freeze includes
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modules you don't need (because they are for a different platform, for
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instance) or that it cannot find all your modules (because you modify
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<code>sys.path</code> early in your initialization). It is possible to
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include directives to tell macfreeze to add items to the search path and
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include or exclude certain modules. All your directives should be in the
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main script file. <p>
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Directives have the following form:
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<pre>
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# macfreeze: command argument
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</pre>
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The trigger <code>macfreeze:</code> must be spelled exactly like that,
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but the whitespace can be any combination of spaces and tabs. Macfreeze
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understands the following directives:
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<DL>
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<DT> <code>path</code>
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<DD> Prepend a folder to <code>sys.path</code>. The argument is a
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pathname, which should probably be relative (starting with a colon) and
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is interpreted relative to the folder where the script lives.
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<DT> <code>include</code>
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<DD> Include a module. The module can either be given by filename or by
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module name, in which case it is looked up through the normal method.
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<DT> <code>exclude</code>
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<DD> Exclude a module. The module must be given by modulename. Even when
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freeze deems the module necessary it will not be included in the
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application.
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</DL>
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There is actually a fourth way that macfreeze can operate: it can be used
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to generate only the resource file containing the compiled <code>PYC</code>
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resources. This may be useful if you have embedded Python in your own
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application. The resource file generated is the same as for the CodeWarrior
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generation process. <p>
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<h2>Freezing with CodeWarrior</h2>
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To freeze with CodeWarrior you need CodeWarrior, obviously, and a full
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source distribution of Python. You select the <em>Codewarrior source and
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project</em> option. You specify an output folder, which is by default
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the name of your script with <code>.py</code> removed and
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<code>build.</code> prepended. If the output folder does not exist yet
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it is created, and a template project file and bundle resource file are
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deposited there. Next, a source file <code>macfreezeconfig.c</code> is
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created which includes all builtin modules your script uses, and a
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resource file <code>frozenmodules.rsrc</code> which contains the
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<code>PYC</code> resources for all your Python modules. <p>
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The project expects to live in a folder one level below the Python root
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folder, so the next thing you should do is move the build folder there.
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It is a good idea to leave an alias with the same name in the original
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location: when you run freeze again it will regenerate the
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<code>frozenmodules.rsrc</code> file but not the project and bundle
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files. This is probably what you want: if you modify your python sources
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you have to re-freeze, but you may have changed the project and bundle
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files, so you don't want to regenrate them. <p>
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An alternative is to leave the build folder where it is, but then you
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have to adapt the search path in the project. <p>
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The project is set up to include all the standard builtin modules, but
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the CW linker is smart enough to exclude any object code that isn't
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referenced. Still, it may be worthwhile to remove any sources for
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modules that you are sure are not used to cut back on compilation time.
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You may also want to examine the various resource files (for Tcl/Tk, for
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instance): the loader has no way to know that these aren't used. <p>
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You may also need to add sourcefiles if your script uses non-standard
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builtin modules, like anything from the <code>Extensions</code> folder. <p>
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The <code>frozenbundle.rsrc</code> resource file contains the bundle
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information. It is almost identical to the bundle file used for applets,
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with the exception that it sets the <code>sys.path</code> initialization
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to <code>$(APPLICATION)</code> only. This means that all modules will only
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be looked for in PYC resources in your application. <p>
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<h2>Freezing without CodeWarrior</h2>
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This does not work yet.
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</BODY>
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</HTML>
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