Stickytape can be used to convert a Python script and any Python modules it depends on into a single-file Python script. There are likely better alternatives depending on what you're trying to do. For instance:
- If you want to create a single file that can be executed by a Python interpreter, use zipapp.
- If you need to create a standalone executable from your Python script, I recommend using an alternative such as PyInstaller.
Since Stickytape relies on correctly analysing both your script and any dependent modules, it may not work correctly in all circumstances. I bodged together the code a long time ago for a specific use case I had, so many normal uses of Python imports are not properly supported.
pip install stickytape
You can tell stickytape which directories to search using the --add-python-path
argument.
For instance:
stickytape scripts/blah --add-python-path . > /tmp/blah-standalone
Or to output directly to a file:
stickytape scripts/blah --add-python-path . --output-file /tmp/blah-standalone
You can also point stickytape towards a Python binary that it should use sys.path from, for instance the Python binary inside a virtualenv:
stickytape scripts/blah --python-binary _virtualenv/bin/python --output-file /tmp/blah-standalone
Stickytape cannot automatically detect dynamic imports,
but you can use --add-python-module
to explicitly include modules:
stickytape scripts/blah --add-python-module blah.util
By default, stickytape will ignore the shebang in the script
and use "#!/usr/bin/env python"
in the output file.
To copy the shebang from the original script,
use --copy-shebang
:
stickytape scripts/blah --copy-shebang --output-file /tmp/blah-standalone
As you might expect with a program that munges source files, there are a few caveats:
- Due to the way that stickytape generates the output file, your script source file should be encoded using UTF-8. If your script doesn't declare its encoding in its first two lines, then it will be UTF-8 by default as of Python 3.
- Your script shouldn't have any
from __future__
imports. - Anything that relies on the specific location of files will probably
no longer work. In other words,
__file__
probably isn't all that useful. - Any files that aren't imported won't be included. Static data that might be part of your project, such as other text files or images, won't be included.