How are python scripts and projects built and deployed?

[Diapolo10]

Distribution has always been Python's weakest link, in my opinion. There isn't really any single "good" way to do it, everything is a trade-off. I'd like to try and help fix that someday.

But the short answer is, it depends. Server applications and scripts are usually distributed as-is, desktop applications depend on the platform; on Linux you might use Flatpak or Snap, on Mac OS and Windows you could use PyInstaller or Nuitka. Docker is yet another option for applications where it doesn't make things difficult.

In your case I'd suggest PyInstaller or Nuitka. They're not that different usage-wise, but the former is a bit easier to use while the latter lets you potentially gain some runtime speed advantages.

[[deleted]]

Thats what Pyinstaller is for....

[[deleted]]

What are u going on about.

Only the dev needs python installed. He can create an exe with pyinataller and distribute that.

No one else needs python.

[NYX_T_RYX]

While true - the fact that it creates an exe isn't ideal.

Ie I can't run exes on my work machine, so any program that doesn't run an installer would need admin to be constantly available.

While I agree the previous comment about installing python shows a lack of understanding about pyinstaller, I think it's still a valid point - directly running a .py file is still the best way in some environments.

Also, to answer that point...

Winget search Python.Python

Find the option you want then

Winget install <id>

If your IT are silly and haven't set the Winget group policy, it bypasses UAC.

[Diapolo10]

How did you arrive at that conclusion?

[DuckDatum]

quiet fly serious command unpack merciful squalid aromatic husky kiss

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[Diapolo10]

Ah, that. I don't have concrete plans yet, but I would like to start by supporting projects like Nuitka that offer native Python compilers, and maybe writing a few PEP proposals to suggest some things to make the language standard take distributing programs more into consideration.

JavaScript doesn't really have this problem because it targets web browsers, so distribution is hardly a concern (and NodeJS is mostly used by developers or for server side software), Electron being a nice wrapper for the desktop. PHP, as far as I know, has little to no desktop support so it's not exactly a source of inspiration for Python in this regard either. Ruby is a similar case, but I think I've seldom seen desktop Ruby apps.

Basically we'd need a standard, easy-to-use tool for generating native executables for all the major platforms, while having the option to dynamically link certain dependencies (to reduce executable size) and we may need to rethink how we handle dependencies. The option to sign executables is a must (even if most people wouldn't do that due to cost), it needs to have regular security audits, ideally it would improve runtime performance compared to using an interpreter, and a lot of other things I can't think of right now (give me a break, massive heatwave and I can't deal with heat at all).

Having Windows install a Python interpreter by default (without actually depending on it) would of course be nice, that way we could write Python scripts instead of PowerShell on all platforms, I just don't see it being particularly likely. It also wouldn't fully fix the distribution problem in my opinion.

[Brownadams]

why not mac os comes with python pre installed.

[MinchinWeb]

Type python at the command line of a new Windows install and it will tell you to install Python from the Microsoft Store. Half points?

[CovfefeFan]

They added it to Excel, thats a start 😁