Py2exe: Embed static files in library.zip or exe file itself and transparently access them at runtime

Question

Is there a way to have py2exe embed static files (and/or subdirectories of static files) in a library.zip and/or the exe file itself (with zipfile=None) and then transparently access these embedded static files from code at runtime?

Thank you, Malcolm

Answer 1

This sounds like the recipe you need: Extend py2exe to copy files to the zipfile where pkg_resources can load them

Using that effectively probably requires some knowledge of pkg_resources which is related to (part of) setuptools, whence come "Python Eggs".

Answer 2

Just thought I'd share this here too for the benefit of those still looking for answers:

Py2exe: Embed static files in exe file itself and access them

Answer 3

Unfortunately, py2exe has changed the way that their module works, so the example provided here does not work anymore.

I have been able to do this by overriding one of py2exe's functions, and then just inserting them into the zipfile that is created by py2exe.

Here's an example:

import py2exe
import zipfile

myFiles = [
    "C:/Users/Kade/Documents/ExampleFiles/example_1.doc",
    "C:/Users/Kade/Documents/ExampleFiles/example_2.dll",
    "C:/Users/Kade/Documents/ExampleFiles/example_3.obj",
    "C:/Users/Kade/Documents/ExampleFiles/example_4.H",
    ]

def better_copy_files(self, destdir):
    """Overriden so that things can be included in the library.zip."""

    #Run function as normal
    original_copy_files(self, destdir)

    #Get the zipfile's location
    if self.options.libname is not None:
        libpath = os.path.join(destdir, self.options.libname)

        #Re-open the zip file
        if self.options.compress:
            compression = zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED
        else:
            compression = zipfile.ZIP_STORED
        arc = zipfile.ZipFile(libpath, "a", compression = compression)

        #Add your items to the zipfile
        for item in myFiles:
            if self.options.verbose:
                print("Copy File %s to %s" % (item, libpath))
            arc.write(item, os.path.basename(item))
        arc.close()

#Connect overrides
original_copy_files = py2exe.runtime.Runtime.copy_files
py2exe.runtime.Runtime.copy_files = better_copy_files