Packaging a Python script on Linux into a Windows executable

Question

I have a Python script that I'd like to compile into a Windows executable. Now, py2exe works fine from Windows, but I'd like to be able to run this from Linux. I do have Windows on my development machine, but Linux is my primary dev platform and I'm getting kind of sick of rebooting into Windows just to create the .exe. Nor do I want to have to buy a second Windows license to run in a virtual machine such as VirtualBox. Any ideas?

PS: I am aware that py2exe doesn't exactly compile the python file as much as package your script with the Python interpreter. But either way, the result is that you don't need Python installed to run the script.

Answer 1

As mentioned by other answerers, the cross-compilation feature is removed from PyInstaller since 1.5. Here, show how to package a Windows executable from Python scripts using PyInstaller under wine.

Step 1: Install wine and Python

sudo apt-get install wine
wine msiexec /i python-2.7.10.msi /L*v log.txt

PS:

• Newer Python versions already include pip (is used to install pyinstaller). Download Python installation package from here (e.g., python-2.7.10.msi)

• For macos users, use brew cask install xquartz wine-stable.

Step 2: Install PyInstaller on wine

$ cd ~/.wine/drive_c/Python27
$ wine python.exe Scripts/pip.exe install pyinstaller

Successfully installed pyinstaller-3.1.1 pypiwin32-219

Step 3: Package Python scripts

Package Python scripts (e.g., HelloWorld.py) with pyinstaller.

$ wine ~/.wine/drive_c/Python27/Scripts/pyinstaller.exe --onefile HelloWorld.py

# filename: HelloWorld.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

print('Hello World!')

The Windows executable file is located in dist/.

$ wine dist/HelloWorld.exe 
Hello World!
fixme:msvcrt:__clean_type_info_names_internal (0x1e24e5b8) stub

Refer to here for the detailed description.