Make a Python Script as Linux Debian Installer

Write a short code

• Create a folder myapp

• Create a file in myapp directory named main.py (You could name it anything other than main.py).

• Open main.py and paste the following code.

import tkinter as Tkinter


def main():
	top = Tkinter.Tk()
	top.geometry("500x500")
	B = Tkinter.Button(top, text ="Ghanshyam Maharaj")
	B.pack()
	top.mainloop()

if __name__ == '__main__':
	main()

Create a virtual environment

• Open terminal in myapp directory and type

python3 -m venv env

NOTE: python3 is necessary, it will not work on python2. So take care of this thing.

Test the Virtual Environment

source env/bin/activate  

If you see (env), it indicataes virtual environment is activated succesfully.

Test the code

python3 main.py

This will display a small GUI application that says, Ghanshyam Maharaj

(It does not matter if you write python3 main.py or python main.py. It will use the python version which you used while creating a virtual environment)

Install cx_Freeze

Use the package manager pip to install cx_Freeze.

pip install cx_Freeze

Check here if cx_freeze is compatible with the python version you are using else it will throw some errors.

Create setup.py file in the directory.

You could name it anything. Copy the following code.

from cx_Freeze import setup, Executable


# Dependencies are automatically detected, but it might need fine tuning.
# build_exe_options = {"packages": ["os"], "excludes": ["tkinter"]}
build_exe_options = {"packages": ["os"], "excludes": []}

setup(
    name="Ghanshyam",
    url='<url to your github code>',  # Not necessary
    version="1.0.0",  # [Learn how to specify verion no. at https://semver.org/
    description="My GUI application which displays Ghanshyam Maharaj",
    options={
        # https://cx-freeze.readthedocs.io/en/latest/distutils.html#build-exe
        "build_exe": build_exe_options,
    },
    executables=[
        Executable("main.py")
    ]
)

Create a Portable Application

Build the code

python setup.py build

Cannot find patchelf ?

It might give an error such as

ValueError: Cannot find required utility patchelf in PATH

sudo apt install patchelf

and again run python setup.py build

If everything goes well

It will take a while and after the process is completed you will see a folder named build in your directory where you will have a folder named exe.linux-<architecture>-<python-verion>

Open that folder and you will find main

Now, you can share this build folder with anyone and they can use this script when they will execute main

To execute main open terminal and type ./main

Create an Executable Debian Installer

You can turn off Virtual Environment if you wish.

Now to build a folder and you will have a file that will look something like this.

exe.linux-x86_64-3.8

NOTE: We will be using this name(exe.linux-x86_64-3.8) throughout this page. It might differ in your computer.

Go to exe.linux-x86_64-3.8

cd exe.linux-x86_64-3.8

Create a directory and named usr and move all files to *usr folder.

mkdir usr
mv * usr/

Create a directory and named DEBIAN(all in capital) and go inside it.

mkdir DEBIAN
cd DEBIAN/

Create Control File

Create a new file named control

vi control

Paste the following code

Package: Ghanshyam
Version: 1.0.0
Architecture: all
Essential: no
Priority: optional
Depends: less, parted, rsync
Maintainer: Ghanshyam Maharaj
Description: Harikrushna Maharaj, Jai Swaminarayan.
Keywords: ghanshyam;swaminarayan;

Create preinst File

Preinst is a bash script that will run before installation. It is usually used to check if any configuration files need to be removed or not. And path to older icons are removed. If old icons are kept, new icons are sometimes not replaced. You can view in this video and skip to 18:12

Create a new file named preinst

vi preinst

And paste the follwing code.

#!/bin/bash
echo "Jai Swaminarayan, preinst script"

Change rights to preinst script

chmod 755 preinst

Go to usr directory

cd ../usr/

Create bin folder and move all files inside it

mkdir bin/
mkdir bin/ghanshyam
mv * bin/ghanshyam/

Replace <ghanshyam> with appname. Write <appname> in smallcase. Coz all apps in bin folder are lowercase.

Create share folder and go inside it

mkdir share/
cd share/

Create icons directory and place the application icon

mkdir icons
mkdir icons/ghanshyam
cd icons/ghanshyam/

Replace <ghanshyam> with appname (Paste the icon file in this directory)

PNG format is also supported. .ico file is Not mandatory.

Create a .desktop file inside applications directory

cd ../..
mkdir applications
cd applications
vi ghanshyam.desktop

(No need to create ghanshyam folder here, every app name is unique)

Paste the following code

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=ghanshyam
Comment=Comment in ghanshyam.desktop file
Exec=/usr/bin/ghanshyam/main
Icon=/usr/share/icons/ghanshyam/icon.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true
Categories=Utility;Application;

Replace Exec=/usr/bin/ghanshyam/main with your main application file

Replace Icon=/usr/share/ghanshyam/icons/icon.png with your icon directory path

Turn Terminal=true if you want to display terminal while your application is running.

NOTE: "exe.linux-x86_64-3.8" will be considered as root directory while creating Debian installer. Thus </> is included before usr directory

Change file permission

One last thing to add is that by setting executable rights to your .desktop file, it automatically takes the specified Icon and Name (specified in the corresponding fields), as it should be. Be careful though, the filename doesn't really change, it still remains 'launcher_name_here.desktop' and not 'Name_field_here', the system chooses to display it like 'Name_field_here' because it's nicer without the .desktop extension.

Source: Ubuntu Docs

chmod +x ghanshyam.desktop

Goto build directory and create .deb file

dpkg-deb --build exe.linux-x86_64-3.8/

dpkg-deb: building package 'ghanshyam' in 'exe.linux-x86_64-3.8.deb'.

Now you can see that new .deb file is created

ls

exe.linux-x86_64-3.8 exe.linux-x86_64-3.8.deb

Final Tree

If you are confused how your tree might look, here is a glance.

Install the .deb file

sudo dpkg -i exe.linux-x86_64-3.8.deb

Now you can search for ghanshyam in launcher and your new application is also added to favourites.

Error in creating installer

If the installer throws Architecture Error. You might need to replace <Architecture: all> with <Architecture: amd64> as per system.

References

Ubuntu Docs

cx_freeze | Docs

cx_freeze | GitHub

cx_freeze | distutils setup script

Youtube | How to Create An .exe And Installer For Python Application using cx_Freeze Module in HINDI | Urdu