Deploying Python as a single executable

Question

I would like to find a way to deploy Python programs as an executable on Debian where I would be able to bundle:

1. the dependencies and third party libs
2. the code that might need to be installed on the host machine. Typically some libs in Python like pilow or snappy are depending on shared libraries within /usr/lib

I think you can achieve (1) and (2) separately. To achieve (1), I believe that there exists different ways to ship virtualenv, and for (2) I've seen some people using Docker image or Ansible to install tool/module on the host OS.

To me, it feels that by having 2 systems to achieve (1) and (2) there is a risk to have them unsynced. It feels very error prone to think that if someone adds an external dependency in its Python program he might also has to change a Docker image. So I'm wondering if there something that does both.

Answer 1

I read about 2 days back about XAR, executable archive by FB. Have a look at it

Answer 2

Yes, the two apps I know of are py2exe and PyInstaller. I'm pretty sure both support Python 3 and can store dependencies, libraries, etc. I recommend this link for more info: Making a Stand Alone Executable from a Python Script using PyInstaller

• jeremie: I was not really thinking of windows-executable. I'm actually deploying on Debian

Answer 3

I'm achieving exactly the same with Ansible and virtualenv with a requirements file for Debian, MacOsX (brew) and RedHat.

As part of the playbook example:

 - name: Install prerequisite pip packages
 pip:
 requirements: "{{ _tmp.path }}/{{ required_pip_packages }}"
 virtualenv: "{{ venv_dir }}"

Let me know if you require more information.

• jeremie: But then how do you deal with libs like python-snappy that depends on shared libraries within /usr/lib. Typically before pip you need to install something on the host OS like this sudo apt-get install -y libsnappy-dev
• imjoseangel: Before that, I have a python script that prepares those packages (In my case git, krb, etc). Inside the same script I programmatically call the ansible yaml to continue the env preparation. I can send you some script examples if you require them.