Python executable file conversion library comparison (py2exe, cx_freeze, pyinstaller)

Introduction

There are some libraries that convert to executable with python, but I didn't know which one to use after all, so I tried them all together.

The code used this time is https://github.com/nabehide/tryFreezing Is in

The following three libraries are compared.

• py2exe
• cx_Freeze
• PyInstaller
• (Py2app is not compatible with Windows, so I will not use it this time.)

environment

• Windows7 32bit professional
• CPU : Core-i5-4310U 2.00GHz
• RAM : 4GB

Python environment

• Python 2.7
• numpy : 1.11.2
• matplotlib : 1.5.1
• PyQt : 4.11.4

verification code

Suppose you want to convert the following sample code (main.py) to an executable format.

• GUI using PyQt4
• Can be drawn with matplotlib

main.py

import sys
from PyQt4 import QtGui  # , QtCore
from matplotlib.backends.backend_qt4agg import FigureCanvasQTAgg as FigureCanvas
from matplotlib.figure import Figure


class UI(QtGui.QWidget):

    def __init__(self):
        super(UI, self).__init__()
        self.initUI()
        self.drawFigure()

    def initUI(self):
        # window setting
        self.setGeometry(50, 50, 500, 300)
        self.setWindowTitle('Window title')

        # figure setting
        self.fig = Figure()
        self.canvas = FigureCanvas(self.fig)
        self.axes = self.fig.add_subplot(111)
        layoutFigure = QtGui.QGridLayout()
        layoutFigure.addWidget(self.canvas, 0, 0)

        self.setLayout(layoutFigure)

    def drawFigure(self):
        x = range(100)
        y = range(100)
        self.axes.plot(x, y)
        self.canvas.draw()


def main():
    app = QtGui.QApplication(sys.argv)
    ui = UI()
    ui.show()
    sys.exit(app.exec_())


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

result

PyInstaller couldn't run with 3.2 https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller/issues/2086 I put in 3.3 by referring to

$ pip install https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller/archive/develop.zip

The following are compared as indicators that I personally emphasize.

• file size
• Execution time required to convert to executable (For the measurement, I referred to "Easy processing time measurement with cmd")
• Start up time of an executable program

Pyinstaller (3.3) is large and time consuming, but it seems to be stable. Each library can be set in various ways when converting the executable format, so there seems to be room for improvement.

(There is also Article that challenged the small size and speed by changing the Python environment)

Addressed error

cx_Freeze

cx_Freeze.freezer.ConfigError: no file named sys (for module collections.sys)

Added "collection.abc" to the excludes options as in collections.sys error The sample script is here

Other things I want to verify

• Set numpy to 1.9 and remove MKL dll
• Try with python3 series
• With or without upx