An executable Python app

Question

Python works on multiple platforms and can be used for desktop and web applications, thus I conclude that there is some way to compile it into an executable for Mac, Windows and Linux.

The problem being I have no idea where to start or how to write a GUI with it, can anybody shed some light on this and point me in the right direction please?

Answer 1

First you will need some GUI library with Python bindings and then (if you want) some program that will convert your python scripts into standalone executables.

Cross-platform GUI libraries with Python bindings (Windows, Linux, Mac)

Of course, there are many, but the most popular that I've seen in wild are:

• Tkinter - based on Tk GUI toolkit (de-facto standard GUI library for python, free for commercial projects)
• WxPython - based on WxWidgets (very popular, free for commercial projects)
• PyQt - based on Qt (also very popular and more stable than WxWidgets but costly license for commercial projects)

Complete list is at http://wiki.python.org/moin/GuiProgramming

Single executable (Windows)

• py2exe - Probably the most popular out there (there is one more that is good too but can't recall its name)

Single executable (Linux)

• Freeze - works the same way like py2exe but targets Linux platform

Single executable (Mac)

• py2app - again, works like py2exe but targets Mac OS

Answer 2

You don't need to compile python for Mac/Windows/Linux. It is an interpreted language, so you simply need to have the Python interpreter installed on the system of your choice (it is available for all three platforms).

As for a GUI library that works cross platform, Python's Tk/Tcl widget library works very well, and I believe is sufficiently cross platform.

Tkinter is the python interface to Tk/Tcl

From the python project webpage:

Tkinter is not the only GuiProgramming toolkit for Python. It is however the most commonly used one, and almost the only one that is portable between Unix, Mac and Windows

Answer 3

Since python is installed on nearly every non-Windows OS by default now, the only thing you really need to make sure of is that all of the non-standard libraries you use are installed.

Having said that, it is possible to build executables that include the python interpreter, and any libraries you use. This is likely to create a large executable, however.

MacOS X even includes support in the Xcode IDE for creating full standalone GUI apps. These can be run by any user running OS X.

Answer 4

An alternative tool to py2exe is bbfreeze which generates executables for windows and linux. It's newer than py2exe and handles eggs quite well. I've found it magically works better without configuration for a wide variety of applications.

Answer 5

I'm not sure that this is the best way to do it, but when I'm deploying Ruby GUI apps (not Python, but has the same "problem" as far as .exe's are concerned) on Windows, I just write a short launcher in C# that calls on my main script. It compiles to an executable, and I then have an application executable.

Answer 6

@Brian

Have you seen _why's technique for self-executing Shoes apps? It could probably be done with non-Shoes programs.

Answer 7

For the GUI itself:

PyQT is pretty much the reference.

Another way to develop a rapid user interface is to write a web app, have it run locally and display the app in the browser.

Plus, if you go for the Tkinter option suggested by lubos hasko you may want to try portablepy to have your app run on Windows environment without Python.

Answer 8

Another system (not mentioned in the accepted answer yet) is PyInstaller, which worked for a PyQt project of mine when py2exe would not. I found it easier to use.

http://pyinstaller.python-hosting.com/

Pyinstaller is based on Gordon McMillan's Python Installer. Which is no longer available.

Answer 9

While Qt's API is probably cleaner than wx, it does have the license problem. What if you want to use your code for work ? Qt doesn't allow that without the payment. Besides, the wx API is mature and works well on all platforms. The Python interface (wxPython) is well-supported and wraps the library tightly, allowing you to consult the wxWidgest documentation in your Python scripts. There's also a great book - "wxPython in action".

I've succeessfully used wxPython in conjunction with py2exe for creating stand-alone executables that look very professional and are fast and responsive.

Edit: These days Qt is no longer GPL only, so the license problem is gone.

Answer 10

There's also PyGTK, which is basically a Python wrapper for the Gnome Toolkit. I've found it easier to wrap my mind around than Tkinter, coming from pretty much no knowledge of GUI programming previously. It works pretty well and has some good tutorials. Unfortunately there isn't an installer for Python 2.6 for Windows yet, and may not be for a while.