Good way to flatten a multiple file python program for distribution?

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+2 Q:

Good way to flatten a multiple file python program for distribution?

I am writing a console application in python that will consist of a handful of modules, each with a couple hundred lines of code.

For development it would be nice to modularize the program, but for distribution I like the idea of being able to post the program as a single python script.

Are there any good scripts out there for flattening multiple python modules?

I know that eventually I should brave the complicated mess that is setuptools, dpkg, etc... but I'm not ready to invest that effort yet.

+4 A:

A zipfile (with just the .pyc or .pyo files in it, ideally) would suffice, especially if you're distributing code supporting a specific X.Y version of Python (any Z in X.Y.Z will do, i.e., if you support Python 2.6, that will work in 2.6.1, 2.6.2, and so on). Just make the zipfile part of the PYTHONPATH, just as if it was a directory, and you're good to go.

If you support many different Python versions (in the X.Y sense) you can make a zipfile per version, it's still pretty simple.

Alex Martelli 2010-03-14 23:07:05

That gets it down to two files, right? The main `.py` file, and an accompanying `.zip`.

Craig McQueen 2010-03-14 23:40:25

Just the zip could suffice in today's python -- you can zip the main script too, and run it with Python's `-m` commandline switch. A zipfile also accepts an arbitrary prefix that could be your main script, so you'd run with just `python thezipfile.zip` -- the prefix would then be also responsible for adding the zipfile to sys.path before moving on to the "main script proper" execution.

Alex Martelli 2010-03-14 23:45:52

@Alex Martelli: You're advocating not distributing the source??

John Machin 2010-03-15 01:32:55

Alex Martelli 2010-03-15 02:11:32

@Alex Martelli: The size of compressed source last bothered me when I was downloading from an RCPM at 300 bps using an acoustically-coupled modem i.e. not very recently. What is a bother to a package developer is users sending in tracebacks that don't include the source lines.

John Machin 2010-03-15 02:36:18

Alex Martelli 2010-03-15 03:01:19

Thanks for the suggestions guys, but none of these really do what I was asking for, and I was already aware of the zip file option. I'm looking for something that will parse my top-level script and substitute the import statements with the actual imported files in a (at least moderately) python safe way.

Drew Wagner 2010-03-16 15:10:09

@Drew, such code would be pretty nightmarish to write with any modicum of generality (rewriting every toplevel name to skirt around possible clashes, for starters -- and how do you deal with attempts of dynamic access to such names...?), considering the very dubious advantages (if any) that it could offer over a zipfile. Thus I doubt anybody embarked on such a herculean undertaking with dubious (if any) returns.

Alex Martelli 2010-03-16 15:46:36

No code to do this seems to exist.

Drew Wagner 2010-04-07 22:09:18

ansaurus

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Good way to flatten a multiple file python program for distribution?

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