Re: [Py2exe-users] basic setup.py problem

[Dick M. <rd...@rc...>]

At 10:43 PM 8/29/2006, John Machin wrote:
>On 30/08/2006 1:47 PM, Dick Moores wrote:
> > OK, I edited the path, adding E:\Python24\, and rebooted (did I need to?).
>
>No, you didn't need to reboot.

OK, thanks.

> > This time, with both my app and setup.py in
> > E:\Python24\For_py2exe_setup.py, py2exe worked and created an exe that
> > worked. However, when I copied it to my desktop I found that all that
> > happened when clicking on it was a quick flash of some window.
> >
>
>The "dist" directory contains the files [plural] that need to be
>distributed. Copying the exe is not enough. You may wish to read the
>FAQ: http://www.py2exe.org/index.cgi/FAQ
>You may wish to put a *shortcut* to whatever.exe on your desktop; that
>will work, provided of course that the other files are in the same
>directory as the exe.

I did skim the FAQ before, but what it was saying didn't register 
with me. I was laboring under the misapprehension that py2exe, when 
it worked, would turn a .py into a .exe that I could email to someone 
or hand to him on a disk, and he could run it as is. So, now that I 
know that isn't the case, I'm a bit less interested in learning to 
use py2exe.  If I have a good Python program, I'm happy running it as 
a .py. I don't see the need for the .exe at all.

Now, I'm sure I'm wrong about this, but don't know where. There must 
be a way to create a nice package for a friend that contains the .exe 
and all the other goodies necessary to run it. Where is this info? 
Why is this so hard?

Or maybe I should just continue learning Python and get back to this 
packaging later.

> > Then I thought I'd try a simple script, helloWorld.py . the exe was
> > created OK, but when moving it out of dist into any other folder, again
> > got that flashing window. Here's the script:
> >
> > ========================
> > # Hello World!
> > print "Hello, World!"
> >
> > raw_input("\n\nPress the enter key to exit.")
> > =========================
> >
> > I tried to run this at the command line, with these results:
> >
> > =============================
> > E:\Python24\For_py2exe_setup.py\dist>helloWorld.exe
> > Hello, World!
> >
> >
> > Press the enter key to exit.
> >
> > E:\Python24\For_py2exe_setup.py\dist>cd..
> >
> > E:\Python24\For_py2exe_setup.py>helloWorld.exe
> > LoadLibrary(pythondll) failedThe specified module could not be found.
> >
> > E:\Python24\For_py2exe_setup.py>
> > =============================
> > (see way down below for what was printed during the creation of
> > helloWorld.exe)
> >
> >
> > Here's the command line result for 2 identical copies of 1keyPress-b5.exe:
> >
> > ==========================
> > E:\Python24\dist>1keyPress-b5.exe
> >
> > The program has started.
> >
> > press Space to get first and sub
>[snip]
> >
> > E:\Python24\Myscripts>1keyPress-b5.exe
> > LoadLibrary(pythondll) failedThe specified module could not be found.
>
>You may wish to raise an enhancement request for a more explicit error
>message. Evidently "pythondll" is a generic term, not the name of a
>particular file.

After reading around a bit I came across the filename python24.dll. 
That's probably what's meant in my case. I found 2 of them. One in 
E:\Python24\dist and one in E:\Python24\For_py2exe_setup.py\dist .  I 
put another copy in E:\Python24\Myscripts and now the copy of 
1keyPress-b5.exe that's in there runs fine! I had put a couple of 
exe's on my desktop--they didn't work there, but after putting 
another copy of python24.dll there, they work fine as well.

I sent a couple of exe's that I had, along with python24.dll, to a 
friend with a Win 2000 box. The results were uneven. One, 
1keyPress-b5.exe, worked even though reporting this error:

  "Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "E:\Python24\lib\site-packages\py2exe\boot_common.py", line 92, in
ImportError: No module named linecache"

The other exe failed.

I later realized that I got the same error when running 
1keyPress-b5.exe in a folder with python24.dll, but without 
library.zip (which py2exe creates in dist folders). When I added 
library.zip to that folder, 1keyPress-b5.exe ran without error. I've 
subsequently sent my friend library.zip and expect (hope) both exe's 
will run fine for him.

So it may be that I can now make a kind of zipped up package to send 
out--exe's plus python24.dll and library.zip. Does this make sense?

Dick