Create a standalone macOS .app using PyInstaller (#9713) · Issues · gajim / gajim

Create a standalone macOS .app using PyInstaller

It looks like Brew does not accept GUI apps, so #9246 (closed) is no longer a viable option.

The Brew folks however did point me to PyInstaller, which seems to be a better option. It allow us to create a standalone .app which we can distribute ourselves and optionally submit to Brew Cask (their repository for binary/GUI apps).

I managed to get a working .app with PyInstaller, but I haven't extensively tested it yet (portability etc). You can try it out by installing PyInstaller (pip3 install pyinstaller), cd to the gajim repository root, download gajim.spec and run:

pyinstaller gajim.spec
# and to package it in a dmg (optional):
rm -rf dist/launch && hdiutil create -volname Gajim -srcfolder dist -ov -format UDZO gajim-1.1.3.dmg

~~I did run into PyInstaller#4064. I'm not sure what exactly I did to work around it.. I believe I installed a few different versions of virtualenv and distutils and then it suddenly worked.~~ Issue was fixed but unreleased as of v3.5)

It looks like Brew does not accept GUI apps, so #9246 is no longer a viable option.

The Brew folks however did point me to [PyInstaller](https://pyinstaller.readthedocs.io/), which seems to be a better option. It allow us to create a standalone .app which we can distribute ourselves and optionally submit to Brew Cask (their repository for binary/GUI apps).

I managed to get a working .app with PyInstaller, but I haven't extensively tested it yet (portability etc). You can try it out by installing PyInstaller (`pip3 install pyinstaller`), `cd` to the gajim repository root, download [gajim.spec](https://dev.gajim.org/snippets/660) and run:
```sh
pyinstaller gajim.spec
# and to package it in a dmg (optional):
rm -rf dist/launch && hdiutil create -volname Gajim -srcfolder dist -ov -format UDZO gajim-1.1.3.dmg
```

~~I did run into [PyInstaller#4064](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller/issues/4064). I'm not sure what exactly I did to work around it.. I believe I installed a few different versions of `virtualenv` and `distutils` and then it suddenly worked.~~ Issue was [fixed](https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller/commit/46286a1f455d8e0837f7c2b9e1bbdff1ef858f0f) but unreleased as of v3.5)

Edited Oct 29, 2019 by Sebastiaan Lokhorst