[Python-Dev] Single-file Python executables (was: Computed Goto dispatch for Python 2) (original) (raw)

Terry Reedy tjreedy at udel.edu
Thu May 28 20:37:44 CEST 2015

On 5/28/2015 12:44 PM, Donald Stufft wrote:

I do think single-file executables are an important piece to Python's long-term competitiveness.

I completely agree. I talk to a lot of people about packaging of things, and while I think there are some serious problems with huge parts of Go’s packaging and distribution story the static linking and compiling down to a “single” file is not one of them.

How about the following compromise between assuming the presence of installed python and ignoring the possibility of installed python: we provide (as least for Windows) a C startup file that checks for the needed version of python and offers to download and start the installer if not present. A user would see 'Python 3.5 is needed to run this file; shall I download and install it?' just once on a particular machine.

-- Terry Jan Reedy

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