PyInstaller myscript.py - issues: empty dist folder

Question

This question is subsequent to another question: here. The question was solved but I ran into another issue and tried to ask it there but it is worth being its own question I think.

Python version in OSGeo4W.bat the version number is "Python 2.7.5 (Default, May 15 2013, 22:44:16) [MSC v.1500 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32".

I want to make my python script "a.py" into a .exe for distribution.

The start of a.py looks like this:

import sys
import os
import math
path = os.environ['PATH']
pgdal= 'C:\\Program Files\\QGIS Lyon\\share\\gdal;'
os.environ['GDAL_DATA']='C:\\Program Files\\QGIS Lyon\\share\\gdal\\gdal-data'
os.environ['GDAL_DRIVER_PATH']='C:\\Program Files\\QGIS Lyon\\share\\gdal\\gdalplugins'
os.environ['PROJ_LIB']='C:\\Program Files\\QGIS Lyon\\share\\gdal\\projlib'
os.environ['PATH'] = "%s;%s" % (pgdal, path)
try:
 from osgeo import osr
 from osgeo import gdal
except ImportError:
 import osr
 import gdal

I used OSGeo4W.bat to run, which was successful:

pip install pyinstaller

In OsGeo4w.bat shell ran as admin, I ran the following commands (only did this once):

SET "PATH="C:\Program Files\QGIS Lyon\share\gdal";%PATH%"
SET "GDAL_DATA=C:\Program Files\QGIS Lyon\share\gdal\gdal-data"
SET "GDAL_DRIVER_PATH=C:\Program Files\QGIS Lyon\share\gdal\gdalplugins"
SET "PROJ_LIB=C:\Program Files\QGIS Lyon\share\gdal\projlib"

Then in the shell I ran:

cd C:\Python27\PyPack

then to attempt to create my executable:

pyinstaller a.py

The output was an addition of 3 items in C:\Python27\PyPack:

> 1) C:\Python27\PyPack\build\a\a.exe.manifest - (this is the only file)
> 2) C:\Python27\PyPack\dist - (empty) 
> 3) C:\Python27\PyPack\a.spec

The output in the shell is:

 c:\Python27\PyPack>pyinstaller a.py 
1344 INFO: PyInstaller: 3.1.1
1344 INFO: Python: 2.7.5 
1344 INFO: Platform: Windows-8-6.2.9200 
1344 INFO: wrote c:\Python27\PyPack\a.spec 
1360 INFO: UPX is not available. 
1360 INFO: Extending PYTHONPATH with paths ['c:\\Python27\\PyPack', 'c:\\Python27\\PyPack'] 
1360 INFO: checking Analysis 
1360 INFO: Building Analysis because out00-Analysis.toc is non existent 
1360 INFO: Initializing module dependency graph... 
1360 INFO: Initializing module graph hooks... 
1486 INFO: running Analysis out00-Analysis.toc 
1581 INFO: Adding Microsoft.VC90.CRT to dependent assemblies of final executable required by c:\progra~1\qgisly~1\bin\python.exe 
2831 INFO: Found C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\Manifests\amd64_policy.9.0.microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.21022.8_none_18f8a87fd1919cd9.manifest 
2845 INFO: Found C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\Manifests\amd64_policy.9.0.microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.1_none_3da38fdebd0e6822.manifest 
2861 INFO: Found C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\Manifests\amd64_policy.9.0.microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.4148_none_acd0e4ffe1daef0a.manifest 
2878 INFO: Found C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\Manifests\amd64_policy.9.0.microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.6161_none_acd388d7e1d8689f.manifest 
2893 INFO: Found C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\Manifests\amd64_policy.9.0.microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.9177_none_acd40623e1d81331.manifest 
3003 INFO: Searching for assembly amd64_Microsoft.VC90.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.9177_none ... 
3003 INFO: Found manifest C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\Manifests\amd64_microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.9177_none_08e695a3a83b6ce3.manifest 
3003 INFO: Searching for file msvcr90.dll 
3003 INFO: Found file C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.9177_none_08e695a3a83b6ce3\msvcr90.dll 
3003 INFO: Searching for file msvcp90.dll 
3003 INFO: Found file C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.9177_none_08e695a3a83b6ce3\msvcp90.dll 
3018 INFO: Searching for file msvcm90.dll 
3018 INFO: Found file C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.9177_none_08e695a3a83b6ce3\msvcm90.dll 
3111 INFO: Found C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\Manifests\amd64_policy.9.0.microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.21022.8_none_18f8a87fd1919cd9.manifest 
3111 INFO: Found C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\Manifests\amd64_policy.9.0.microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.1_none_3da38fdebd0e6822.manifest
3111 INFO: Found C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\Manifests\amd64_policy.9.0.microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.4148_none_acd0e4ffe1daef0a.manifest 
3111 INFO: Found C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\Manifests\amd64_policy.9.0.microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.6161_none_acd388d7e1d8689f.manifest
3128 INFO: Found C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\Manifests\amd64_policy.9.0.microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.9177_none_acd40623e1d81331.manifest 
3128 INFO: Adding redirect Microsoft.VC90.CRT version (9, 0, 21022, 8)
 -> (9, 0, 30729, 9177) 
4299 INFO: Analyzing c:\Python27\PyPack\a.py 
7972 INFO: Processing pre-find module path hook distutils 
8347 INFO: Processing pre-safe import module hook _xmlplus 
13473 INFO: Processing pre-find module path hook site 
13488 INFO: site: retargeting to fake-dir 'C:\\PROGRA~1\\QGISLY~1\\apps\\Python27\\lib\\site-packages\\PyInstaller\\fake-modules' 
13565 INFO: Processing pre-safe import module hook win32com 
15957 INFO: Looking for import hooks ... 
15988 INFO: Processing hook hook-distutils.py 
Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:\PROGRA~1\QGISLY~1\apps\Python27\lib\runpy.py", line 162, in
 _run_module_as_main
 "__main__", fname, loader, pkg_name) File "C:\PROGRA~1\QGISLY~1\apps\Python27\lib\runpy.py", line 72, in
 _run_code
 exec code in run_globals File "C:\PROGRA~1\QGISLY~1\apps\Python27\Scripts\pyinstaller.exe\__main__.py", line 9, in <module> 
File "C:\PROGRA~1\QGISLY~1\apps\Python27\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\__main__.py", line 90, in run
 run_build(pyi_config, spec_file, **vars(args)) 
File "C:\PROGRA~1\QGISLY~1\apps\Python27\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\__main__.py", line 46, in run_build
 PyInstaller.building.build_main.main(pyi_config, spec_file, **kwargs) 
File "C:\PROGRA~1\QGISLY~1\apps\Python27\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\building\build_main.py", line 755, in main
 build(specfile, kw.get('distpath'), kw.get('workpath'), kw.get('clean_build')) 
File "C:\PROGRA~1\QGISLY~1\apps\Python27\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\building\build_main.py", line 701, in build
 exec(text, spec_namespace) 
File "<string>", line 16, in <module> 
File "C:\PROGRA~1\QGISLY~1\apps\Python27\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\building\build_main.py", line 212, in __init__
 self.__postinit__() 
File "C:\PROGRA~1\QGISLY~1\apps\Python27\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\building\datastruct.py", line 183, in __postinit__
 self.assemble() 
File "C:\PROGRA~1\QGISLY~1\apps\Python27\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\building\build_main.py", line 434, in assemble
 imphook_object.update_dependencies(self.graph) 
File "C:\PROGRA~1\QGISLY~1\apps\Python27\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\building\imphook.py", line 309, in update_dependencies
 self._process_datas(mod_graph) 
File "C:\PROGRA~1\QGISLY~1\apps\Python27\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\building\imphook.py", line 285, in _process_datas
 self.datas.update(set(format_binaries_and_datas(self._module.datas))) 
File "C:\PROGRA~1\QGISLY~1\apps\Python27\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\building\utils.py", line 426, in format_binaries_and_datas
 src_root_path_or_glob)) PyInstaller.compat.FileNotFoundError: Path or glob "C:\PROGRA~1\QGISLY~1\apps\Python27\Include\pyconfig.h" not found or matches no files.
 c:\Python27\PyPack>

The file a.spechas the following text:

# -*- mode: python -*-
block_cipher = None
a = Analysis(['a.py'],
 pathex=['c:\\Python27\\PyPack'],
 binaries=None,
 datas=None,
 hiddenimports=[],
 hookspath=[],
 runtime_hooks=[],
 excludes=[],
 win_no_prefer_redirects=False,
 win_private_assemblies=False,
 cipher=block_cipher)
pyz = PYZ(a.pure, a.zipped_data,
 cipher=block_cipher)
exe = EXE(pyz,
 a.scripts,
 exclude_binaries=True,
 name='a',
 debug=False,
 strip=False,
 upx=True,
 console=True )
coll = COLLECT(exe,
 a.binaries,
 a.zipfiles,
 a.datas,
 strip=False,
 upx=True,
 name='a')

Can someone please help me decipher the output so I can get a.py into a .exe?

Answer 1

I finally achieved what I set out to, but I still don't understand why the problem happened, except that PyInstaller did not like importing gdal.

Originally (as stated in the question), the top of my a.py script looked like this:

# -*- coding: cp1252 -*-
import sys
import os
import math
path = os.environ['PATH']
pgdal= 'C:\\Program Files\\QGIS Lyon\\share\\gdal;'
os.environ['GDAL_DATA']='C:\\Program Files\\QGIS Lyon\\share\\gdal\\gdal-data'
os.environ['GDAL_DRIVER_PATH']='C:\\Program Files\\QGIS Lyon\\share\\gdal\\gdalplugins'
os.environ['PROJ_LIB']='C:\\Program Files\\QGIS Lyon\\share\\gdal\\projlib'
os.environ['PATH'] = "%s;%s" % (pgdal, path)
try:
 from osgeo import osr
 from osgeo import gdal
except ImportError:
 import osr
 import gdal

But now, I changed it to look like this:

 ##try:
from osgeo import osr
 ##from osgeo import gdal
 ##except ImportError:
 ##import osr
 ##import gdal

Hence, I commented out all gdal import statements and only left from osgeo import osr. I tested all other combinations of these import statements and only from osgeo import osr works for me.

My a.py script (with the original import statements i.e. importing gdal) works fine when ran in Python but it's just PyInstaller that doesn't like it. I would really love to understand why pyinstaller doesn't like importing gdal for me.

• Joseph: Glad you found some sort of a solution =)