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Is there any specified way for makes a executable from python file? [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Create a single executable from a Python project [closed]
(3 answers)
Closed 1 year ago.
I'm building a Python application and don't want to force my clients to install Python and modules.
So, is there a way to compile a Python script to be a standalone executable?

You can use PyInstaller to package Python programs as standalone executables. It works on Windows, Linux, and Mac.
PyInstaller Quickstart
Install PyInstaller from PyPI:
pip install pyinstaller
Go to your program’s directory and run:
pyinstaller yourprogram.py
This will generate the bundle in a subdirectory called dist.
pyinstaller -F yourprogram.py
Adding -F (or --onefile) parameter will pack everything into single "exe".
pyinstaller -F --paths=<your_path>\Lib\site-packages yourprogram.py
running into "ImportError" you might consider side-packages.
pip install pynput==1.6.8
still runing in Import-Erorr - try to downgrade pyinstaller - see Getting error when using pynput with pyinstaller
For a more detailed walkthrough, see the manual.

You can use py2exe as already answered and use Cython to convert your key .py files in .pyc, C compiled files, like .dll in Windows and .so on Linux.
It is much harder to revert than common .pyo and .pyc files (and also gain in performance!).

You might wish to investigate Nuitka. It takes Python source code and converts it in to C++ API calls. Then it compiles into an executable binary (ELF on Linux). It has been around for a few years now and supports a wide range of Python versions.
You will probably also get a performance improvement if you use it. It is recommended.

Yes, it is possible to compile Python scripts into standalone executables.
PyInstaller can be used to convert Python programs into stand-alone executables, under Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, Solaris, and AIX. It is one of the recommended converters.
py2exe converts Python scripts into only executable on the Windows platform.
Cython is a static compiler for both the Python programming language and the extended Cython programming language.

I would like to compile some useful information about creating standalone files on Windows using Python 2.7.
I have used py2exe and it works, but I had some problems.
It has shown some problems for creating single files in Windows 64 bits: Using bundle_files = 1 with py2exe is not working;
It is necessary to create a setup.py file for it to work. http://www.py2exe.org/index.cgi/Tutorial#Step2;
I have had problems with dependencies that you have to solve by importing packages in the setup file;
I was not able to make it work together with PyQt.
This last reason made me try PyInstaller http://www.pyinstaller.org/.
In my opinion, it is much better because:
It is easier to use.
I suggest creating a .bat file with the following lines for example (pyinstaller.exe must be in in the Windows path):
pyinstaller.exe --onefile MyCode.py
You can create a single file, among other options (https://pyinstaller.readthedocs.io/en/stable/usage.html#options).
I had only one problem using PyInstaller and multiprocessing package that was solved by using this recipe: https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller/wiki/Recipe-Multiprocessing.
So, I think that, at least for python 2.7, a better and simpler option is PyInstaller.

And a third option is cx_Freeze, which is cross-platform.

pyinstaller yourfile.py -F --onefile
This creates a standalone EXE file on Windows.
Important note 1: The EXE file will be generated in a folder named 'dist'.
Important note 2: Do not forget --onefile flag
You can install PyInstaller using pip install PyInstaller
NOTE: In rare cases there are hidden dependencies...so if you run the EXE file and get missing library error (win32timezone in the example below) then use something like this:
pyinstaller --hiddenimport win32timezone -F "Backup Program.py"

I like PyInstaller - especially the "windowed" variant:
pyinstaller --onefile --windowed myscript.py
It will create one single *.exe file in a distination/folder.

You may like py2exe. You'll also find information in there for doing it on Linux.

Use py2exe.... use the below set up files:
from distutils.core import setup
import py2exe
from distutils.filelist import findall
import matplotlib
setup(
console = ['PlotMemInfo.py'],
options = {
'py2exe': {
'packages': ['matplotlib'],
'dll_excludes': ['libgdk-win32-2.0-0.dll',
'libgobject-2.0-0.dll',
'libgdk_pixbuf-2.0-0.dll']
}
},
data_files = matplotlib.get_py2exe_datafiles()
)

I also recommend PyInstaller for better backward compatibility such as Python 2.3 - 2.7.
For py2exe, you have to have Python 2.6.

For Python 3.2 scripts, the only choice is cx_Freeze. Build it from sources; otherwise it won't work.
For Python 2.x I suggest PyInstaller as it can package a Python program in a single executable, unlike cx_Freeze which outputs also libraries.

Since it seems to be missing from the current list of answers, I think it is worth mentioning that the standard library includes a zipapp module that can be used for this purpose. Its basic usage is just compressing a bunch of Python files into a zip file with extension .pyz than can be directly executed as python myapp.pyz, but you can also make a self-contained package from a requirements.txt file:
$ python -m pip install -r requirements.txt --target myapp
$ python -m zipapp -p "interpreter" myapp
Where interpreter can be something like /usr/bin/env python (see Specifying the Interpreter).
Usually, the generated .pyz / .pyzw file should be executable, in Unix because it gets marked as such and in Windows because Python installation usually registers those extensions. However, it is relatively easy to make a Windows executable that should work as long as the user has python3.dll in the path.
If you don't want to require the end user to install Python, you can distribute the application along with the embeddable Python package.

py2exe will make the EXE file you want, but you need to have the same version of MSVCR90.dll on the machine you're going to use your new EXE file.
See Tutorial for more information.

You can find the list of distribution utilities listed at Distribution Utilities.
I use bbfreeze and it has been working very well (yet to have Python 3 support though).

Not exactly a packaging of the Python code, but there is now also Grumpy from Google, which transpiles the code to Go.
It doesn't support the Python C API, so it may not work for all projects.

Using PyInstaller, I found a better method using shortcut to the .exe rather than making --onefile. Anyway, there are probably some data files around and if you're running a site-based app then your program depends on HTML, JavaScript, and CSS files too. There isn't any point in moving all these files somewhere... Instead what if we move the working path up?
Make a shortcut to the EXE file, move it at top and set the target and start-in paths as specified, to have relative paths going to dist\folder:
Target: %windir%\system32\cmd.exe /c start dist\web_wrapper\web_wrapper.exe
Start in: "%windir%\system32\cmd.exe /c start dist\web_wrapper\"
We can rename the shortcut to anything, so renaming to "GTFS-Manager".
Now when I double-click the shortcut, it's as if I python-ran the file! I found this approach better than the --onefile one as:
In onefile's case, there's a problem with a .dll missing for the Windows 7 OS which needs some prior installation, etc. Yawn. With the usual build with multiple files, no such issues.
All the files that my Python script uses (it's deploying a tornado web server and needs a whole freakin' website worth of files to be there!) don't need to be moved anywhere: I simply create the shortcut at top.
I can actually use this exact same folder on Ubuntu (run python3 myfile.py) and Windows (double-click the shortcut).
I don't need to bother with the overly complicated hacking of .spec file to include data files, etc.
Oh, remember to delete off the build folder after building. It will save on size.

Use Cython to convert to C, compile, and link with GCC.
Another could be, make the core functions in C (the ones you want to make hard to reverse), compile them and use Boost.Python to import the compiled code (plus you get a much faster code execution). Then use any tool mentioned to distribute.

I'm told that PyRun is also an option. It currently supports Linux, FreeBSD and Mac OS X.

Run python .exe on any computer [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Create a single executable from a Python project [closed]
(3 answers)
Closed 1 year ago.
I'm building a Python application and don't want to force my clients to install Python and modules.
So, is there a way to compile a Python script to be a standalone executable?

You can use PyInstaller to package Python programs as standalone executables. It works on Windows, Linux, and Mac.
PyInstaller Quickstart
Install PyInstaller from PyPI:
pip install pyinstaller
Go to your program’s directory and run:
pyinstaller yourprogram.py
This will generate the bundle in a subdirectory called dist.
pyinstaller -F yourprogram.py
Adding -F (or --onefile) parameter will pack everything into single "exe".
pyinstaller -F --paths=<your_path>\Lib\site-packages yourprogram.py
running into "ImportError" you might consider side-packages.
pip install pynput==1.6.8
still runing in Import-Erorr - try to downgrade pyinstaller - see Getting error when using pynput with pyinstaller
For a more detailed walkthrough, see the manual.

You can use py2exe as already answered and use Cython to convert your key .py files in .pyc, C compiled files, like .dll in Windows and .so on Linux.
It is much harder to revert than common .pyo and .pyc files (and also gain in performance!).

You might wish to investigate Nuitka. It takes Python source code and converts it in to C++ API calls. Then it compiles into an executable binary (ELF on Linux). It has been around for a few years now and supports a wide range of Python versions.
You will probably also get a performance improvement if you use it. It is recommended.

Yes, it is possible to compile Python scripts into standalone executables.
PyInstaller can be used to convert Python programs into stand-alone executables, under Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, Solaris, and AIX. It is one of the recommended converters.
py2exe converts Python scripts into only executable on the Windows platform.
Cython is a static compiler for both the Python programming language and the extended Cython programming language.

I would like to compile some useful information about creating standalone files on Windows using Python 2.7.
I have used py2exe and it works, but I had some problems.
It has shown some problems for creating single files in Windows 64 bits: Using bundle_files = 1 with py2exe is not working;
It is necessary to create a setup.py file for it to work. http://www.py2exe.org/index.cgi/Tutorial#Step2;
I have had problems with dependencies that you have to solve by importing packages in the setup file;
I was not able to make it work together with PyQt.
This last reason made me try PyInstaller http://www.pyinstaller.org/.
In my opinion, it is much better because:
It is easier to use.
I suggest creating a .bat file with the following lines for example (pyinstaller.exe must be in in the Windows path):
pyinstaller.exe --onefile MyCode.py
You can create a single file, among other options (https://pyinstaller.readthedocs.io/en/stable/usage.html#options).
I had only one problem using PyInstaller and multiprocessing package that was solved by using this recipe: https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller/wiki/Recipe-Multiprocessing.
So, I think that, at least for python 2.7, a better and simpler option is PyInstaller.

And a third option is cx_Freeze, which is cross-platform.

pyinstaller yourfile.py -F --onefile
This creates a standalone EXE file on Windows.
Important note 1: The EXE file will be generated in a folder named 'dist'.
Important note 2: Do not forget --onefile flag
You can install PyInstaller using pip install PyInstaller
NOTE: In rare cases there are hidden dependencies...so if you run the EXE file and get missing library error (win32timezone in the example below) then use something like this:
pyinstaller --hiddenimport win32timezone -F "Backup Program.py"

I like PyInstaller - especially the "windowed" variant:
pyinstaller --onefile --windowed myscript.py
It will create one single *.exe file in a distination/folder.

You may like py2exe. You'll also find information in there for doing it on Linux.

Use py2exe.... use the below set up files:
from distutils.core import setup
import py2exe
from distutils.filelist import findall
import matplotlib
setup(
console = ['PlotMemInfo.py'],
options = {
'py2exe': {
'packages': ['matplotlib'],
'dll_excludes': ['libgdk-win32-2.0-0.dll',
'libgobject-2.0-0.dll',
'libgdk_pixbuf-2.0-0.dll']
}
},
data_files = matplotlib.get_py2exe_datafiles()
)

I also recommend PyInstaller for better backward compatibility such as Python 2.3 - 2.7.
For py2exe, you have to have Python 2.6.

For Python 3.2 scripts, the only choice is cx_Freeze. Build it from sources; otherwise it won't work.
For Python 2.x I suggest PyInstaller as it can package a Python program in a single executable, unlike cx_Freeze which outputs also libraries.

Since it seems to be missing from the current list of answers, I think it is worth mentioning that the standard library includes a zipapp module that can be used for this purpose. Its basic usage is just compressing a bunch of Python files into a zip file with extension .pyz than can be directly executed as python myapp.pyz, but you can also make a self-contained package from a requirements.txt file:
$ python -m pip install -r requirements.txt --target myapp
$ python -m zipapp -p "interpreter" myapp
Where interpreter can be something like /usr/bin/env python (see Specifying the Interpreter).
Usually, the generated .pyz / .pyzw file should be executable, in Unix because it gets marked as such and in Windows because Python installation usually registers those extensions. However, it is relatively easy to make a Windows executable that should work as long as the user has python3.dll in the path.
If you don't want to require the end user to install Python, you can distribute the application along with the embeddable Python package.

py2exe will make the EXE file you want, but you need to have the same version of MSVCR90.dll on the machine you're going to use your new EXE file.
See Tutorial for more information.

You can find the list of distribution utilities listed at Distribution Utilities.
I use bbfreeze and it has been working very well (yet to have Python 3 support though).

Not exactly a packaging of the Python code, but there is now also Grumpy from Google, which transpiles the code to Go.
It doesn't support the Python C API, so it may not work for all projects.

Using PyInstaller, I found a better method using shortcut to the .exe rather than making --onefile. Anyway, there are probably some data files around and if you're running a site-based app then your program depends on HTML, JavaScript, and CSS files too. There isn't any point in moving all these files somewhere... Instead what if we move the working path up?
Make a shortcut to the EXE file, move it at top and set the target and start-in paths as specified, to have relative paths going to dist\folder:
Target: %windir%\system32\cmd.exe /c start dist\web_wrapper\web_wrapper.exe
Start in: "%windir%\system32\cmd.exe /c start dist\web_wrapper\"
We can rename the shortcut to anything, so renaming to "GTFS-Manager".
Now when I double-click the shortcut, it's as if I python-ran the file! I found this approach better than the --onefile one as:
In onefile's case, there's a problem with a .dll missing for the Windows 7 OS which needs some prior installation, etc. Yawn. With the usual build with multiple files, no such issues.
All the files that my Python script uses (it's deploying a tornado web server and needs a whole freakin' website worth of files to be there!) don't need to be moved anywhere: I simply create the shortcut at top.
I can actually use this exact same folder on Ubuntu (run python3 myfile.py) and Windows (double-click the shortcut).
I don't need to bother with the overly complicated hacking of .spec file to include data files, etc.
Oh, remember to delete off the build folder after building. It will save on size.

Use Cython to convert to C, compile, and link with GCC.
Another could be, make the core functions in C (the ones you want to make hard to reverse), compile them and use Boost.Python to import the compiled code (plus you get a much faster code execution). Then use any tool mentioned to distribute.

I'm told that PyRun is also an option. It currently supports Linux, FreeBSD and Mac OS X.

What are the bare minimum files/libraries required by Python to run?

I am new to Python having come from a proprietary compiled language (Xojo) that produces self-contained executables.
I understand that Python is an interpreted language. I understand that it requires an interpreter (let’s stick with CPython) and presumably it requires a number of accessory frameworks/C libraries in order to run. What I don’t understand is why is it so hard to create a folder containing the interpreter and all required files and libraries and simply bundle these up with my script to distribute.
I have discovered that there are a bunch of tools that attempt to do this (py2app, cx_freeze, etc) but many of them seem either broken, not maintained or really buggy.
I guess my question is: is there any documentation that describes the exact things I need to bundle with a “Hello World” script to get it running? This seems to be a really straightforward problem to solve but it hasn’t been (which suggests that it is far more complex than I appreciate).

My understanding is that PyInstaller works fine for making a single exe for distribution. But barring packaging tools like that, in general, there isn't an obvious "bare minimum"; the modules don't have documented dependencies, so it's usually best to ship the whole standard library.
Typically, if you need a redistributable version, you use the embedded Python zip redistributable, shipping Python alongside your main application.

The exact list of files/libraries depends on how the python interpreter is built. In windows for example, you can obtain CPython binaries built from Visual Studio, Cygwin and Mingw-w64. They have different dependency of cause. In Linux distributions, python is normally installed by default.
Below is the list of .dll and .exe files that you can find in the official CPython release for windows.
libcrypto-1_1-x64.dll python.exe python37.dll sqlite3.dll
libssl-1_1-x64.dll pythonw.exe python3.dll vcruntime140.dll
The total size of this ZIP file release is only 6.7 MB. So it would be easy to bundle it in your main executable. You can use whatever bundler at hand, not necessary those designed for python. Quoting from the documentation here:
extracting the embedded distribution to a subdirectory of the application installation is sufficient to provide a loadable Python interpreter.

I feel the absolute best way to experience Python for beginners in thonny and an esp32.

A very good way to get started with python is to use Anaconda https://www.anaconda.com/distribution/#download-section - this distribution contains the CPython interpreter and the most commonly used packages. For quite a while you will get along without installing more packages.
To be able to make a simple distributable piece of code just include a requirements.txt along with your code which should list down the packages (and versions) you are using in your code.
More on that here : https://www.idiotinside.com/2015/05/10/python-auto-generate-requirements-txt/
pip freeze generates a superset of all packages in your running environment so you would ideally go with the second smarter option in the link : pipreqs
So, in short along with your code just an additional requirements.txt should be fine using which people can install all required packages as
pip install -r requirements.txt
and they are good to go to run your code.
For advanced scenarios you might want to look up creating virtual environments using conda.
What is a conda environment?
https://docs.conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/concepts.html#conda-environments
How to create/manage a conda environment
https://docs.conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/tasks/manage-environments.html
All the best in your Python journey!

How to Destribute python and openCV based tool as single setup file with all the dependencies [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Create a single executable from a Python project [closed]
(3 answers)
Closed 1 year ago.
I'm building a Python application and don't want to force my clients to install Python and modules.
So, is there a way to compile a Python script to be a standalone executable?

You can use PyInstaller to package Python programs as standalone executables. It works on Windows, Linux, and Mac.
PyInstaller Quickstart
Install PyInstaller from PyPI:
pip install pyinstaller
Go to your program’s directory and run:
pyinstaller yourprogram.py
This will generate the bundle in a subdirectory called dist.
pyinstaller -F yourprogram.py
Adding -F (or --onefile) parameter will pack everything into single "exe".
pyinstaller -F --paths=<your_path>\Lib\site-packages yourprogram.py
running into "ImportError" you might consider side-packages.
pip install pynput==1.6.8
still runing in Import-Erorr - try to downgrade pyinstaller - see Getting error when using pynput with pyinstaller
For a more detailed walkthrough, see the manual.

You can use py2exe as already answered and use Cython to convert your key .py files in .pyc, C compiled files, like .dll in Windows and .so on Linux.
It is much harder to revert than common .pyo and .pyc files (and also gain in performance!).

You might wish to investigate Nuitka. It takes Python source code and converts it in to C++ API calls. Then it compiles into an executable binary (ELF on Linux). It has been around for a few years now and supports a wide range of Python versions.
You will probably also get a performance improvement if you use it. It is recommended.

Yes, it is possible to compile Python scripts into standalone executables.
PyInstaller can be used to convert Python programs into stand-alone executables, under Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, Solaris, and AIX. It is one of the recommended converters.
py2exe converts Python scripts into only executable on the Windows platform.
Cython is a static compiler for both the Python programming language and the extended Cython programming language.

I would like to compile some useful information about creating standalone files on Windows using Python 2.7.
I have used py2exe and it works, but I had some problems.
It has shown some problems for creating single files in Windows 64 bits: Using bundle_files = 1 with py2exe is not working;
It is necessary to create a setup.py file for it to work. http://www.py2exe.org/index.cgi/Tutorial#Step2;
I have had problems with dependencies that you have to solve by importing packages in the setup file;
I was not able to make it work together with PyQt.
This last reason made me try PyInstaller http://www.pyinstaller.org/.
In my opinion, it is much better because:
It is easier to use.
I suggest creating a .bat file with the following lines for example (pyinstaller.exe must be in in the Windows path):
pyinstaller.exe --onefile MyCode.py
You can create a single file, among other options (https://pyinstaller.readthedocs.io/en/stable/usage.html#options).
I had only one problem using PyInstaller and multiprocessing package that was solved by using this recipe: https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller/wiki/Recipe-Multiprocessing.
So, I think that, at least for python 2.7, a better and simpler option is PyInstaller.

And a third option is cx_Freeze, which is cross-platform.

pyinstaller yourfile.py -F --onefile
This creates a standalone EXE file on Windows.
Important note 1: The EXE file will be generated in a folder named 'dist'.
Important note 2: Do not forget --onefile flag
You can install PyInstaller using pip install PyInstaller
NOTE: In rare cases there are hidden dependencies...so if you run the EXE file and get missing library error (win32timezone in the example below) then use something like this:
pyinstaller --hiddenimport win32timezone -F "Backup Program.py"

I like PyInstaller - especially the "windowed" variant:
pyinstaller --onefile --windowed myscript.py
It will create one single *.exe file in a distination/folder.

You may like py2exe. You'll also find information in there for doing it on Linux.

Use py2exe.... use the below set up files:
from distutils.core import setup
import py2exe
from distutils.filelist import findall
import matplotlib
setup(
console = ['PlotMemInfo.py'],
options = {
'py2exe': {
'packages': ['matplotlib'],
'dll_excludes': ['libgdk-win32-2.0-0.dll',
'libgobject-2.0-0.dll',
'libgdk_pixbuf-2.0-0.dll']
}
},
data_files = matplotlib.get_py2exe_datafiles()
)

I also recommend PyInstaller for better backward compatibility such as Python 2.3 - 2.7.
For py2exe, you have to have Python 2.6.

For Python 3.2 scripts, the only choice is cx_Freeze. Build it from sources; otherwise it won't work.
For Python 2.x I suggest PyInstaller as it can package a Python program in a single executable, unlike cx_Freeze which outputs also libraries.

Since it seems to be missing from the current list of answers, I think it is worth mentioning that the standard library includes a zipapp module that can be used for this purpose. Its basic usage is just compressing a bunch of Python files into a zip file with extension .pyz than can be directly executed as python myapp.pyz, but you can also make a self-contained package from a requirements.txt file:
$ python -m pip install -r requirements.txt --target myapp
$ python -m zipapp -p "interpreter" myapp
Where interpreter can be something like /usr/bin/env python (see Specifying the Interpreter).
Usually, the generated .pyz / .pyzw file should be executable, in Unix because it gets marked as such and in Windows because Python installation usually registers those extensions. However, it is relatively easy to make a Windows executable that should work as long as the user has python3.dll in the path.
If you don't want to require the end user to install Python, you can distribute the application along with the embeddable Python package.

py2exe will make the EXE file you want, but you need to have the same version of MSVCR90.dll on the machine you're going to use your new EXE file.
See Tutorial for more information.

You can find the list of distribution utilities listed at Distribution Utilities.
I use bbfreeze and it has been working very well (yet to have Python 3 support though).

Not exactly a packaging of the Python code, but there is now also Grumpy from Google, which transpiles the code to Go.
It doesn't support the Python C API, so it may not work for all projects.

Using PyInstaller, I found a better method using shortcut to the .exe rather than making --onefile. Anyway, there are probably some data files around and if you're running a site-based app then your program depends on HTML, JavaScript, and CSS files too. There isn't any point in moving all these files somewhere... Instead what if we move the working path up?
Make a shortcut to the EXE file, move it at top and set the target and start-in paths as specified, to have relative paths going to dist\folder:
Target: %windir%\system32\cmd.exe /c start dist\web_wrapper\web_wrapper.exe
Start in: "%windir%\system32\cmd.exe /c start dist\web_wrapper\"
We can rename the shortcut to anything, so renaming to "GTFS-Manager".
Now when I double-click the shortcut, it's as if I python-ran the file! I found this approach better than the --onefile one as:
In onefile's case, there's a problem with a .dll missing for the Windows 7 OS which needs some prior installation, etc. Yawn. With the usual build with multiple files, no such issues.
All the files that my Python script uses (it's deploying a tornado web server and needs a whole freakin' website worth of files to be there!) don't need to be moved anywhere: I simply create the shortcut at top.
I can actually use this exact same folder on Ubuntu (run python3 myfile.py) and Windows (double-click the shortcut).
I don't need to bother with the overly complicated hacking of .spec file to include data files, etc.
Oh, remember to delete off the build folder after building. It will save on size.

Use Cython to convert to C, compile, and link with GCC.
Another could be, make the core functions in C (the ones you want to make hard to reverse), compile them and use Boost.Python to import the compiled code (plus you get a much faster code execution). Then use any tool mentioned to distribute.

I'm told that PyRun is also an option. It currently supports Linux, FreeBSD and Mac OS X.

How to include python with script package? [duplicate]

I need to package my Python application, its dependencies, and Python itself into a single MSI installer for distribution to users. The end result should desirably be:
Python is installed in the standard location
the package and its dependencies are installed in a separate directory (possibly site-packages)
the installation directory should contain the Python uncompressed and a standalone executable is not required

Kind of a dup of this question about how to make a python into an executable.
It boils down to:
py2exe on windows, Freeze on Linux, and
py2app on Mac.

I use PyInstaller (the svn version) to create a stand-alone version of my program that includes Python and all the dependencies. It takes a little fiddling to get it to work right and include everything (as does py2exe and other similar programs, see this question), but then it works very well.
You then need to create an installer. NSIS Works great for that and is free, but it creates .exe files not .msi. If .msi is not necessary, I highly recommend it. Otherwise check out the answers to this question for other options.

My company uses the free InnoSetup tool. It is a moderately complex program that has tons of flexibility for building installers for windows. I believe that it creates .exe and not .msi files, however. InnoSetup is not python specific but we have created an installer for one of our products that installs python along with dependencies to locations specified by the user at install time.

I've had much better results with dependencies and custom folder structures using pyinstaller, and it lets you find and specify hidden imports and hooks for larger dependencies like numpy and scipy. Also a PITA, though.

py2exe will make windows executables with python bundled in.

py2exe is the best way to do this. It's a bit of a PITA to use, but the end result works very well.

Ok, I have used py2exe before and it works perfectly except for one thing... It only works on executable windows machines. I then learned about Jython which turn a python script into a .Jar file. Which as you know is executable from any machine that has Java ("To your latest running version") installed. Which is great because both unix, windows, and ios (Most of the time) Run java. That means its executable from all of the following machines. As long as they run Java. No need for "py2mac + py2exe + freeze" just to run on all operating systems. Just Jython
For more information on how it works and how you can use it click here.
http://www.jython.org/