What is the reason why Pyinstaller only generates spec files but not exe files when packaging Python scripts?

Common reasons and solutions for PyInstaller to only generate spec files but not exe files when packaging Python scripts

When using PyInstaller to package Python programs, sometimes you will encounter situations where only .spec files are generated but not .exe files are generated. This is usually caused by encoding issues or other potential issues that cause PyInstaller to make an error during packaging. This article analyzes this problem and provides effective solutions.

Problem description:

Many users encounter UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf- pyinstaller -F -w test.py UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte ... : invalid start byte error, resulting in only .spec files being generated. This error indicates that PyInstaller cannot correctly decode the encoding of the script file when reading a Python script.

root cause:

The root cause of the problem lies in the conflict between PyInstaller and script file encoding. Even adding # -*- coding: utf-8 -*- at the beginning of the script may not solve the problem, as this only works for Python interpreters, and PyInstaller may use a different way of decoding. Modifying the compat.py file of PyInstaller is at a high risk and it is not recommended to try it.

Solution:

1. Convert script files to UTF-8 encoding: This is the most direct and effective solution. Use a text editor that supports UTF-8 encoding (such as Notepad, Sublime Text, etc.), open your Python script, change the encoding to UTF-8 and save. Be sure to reopen the file with UTF-8 encoding after saving to verify that the conversion is successful.

2. Rerun the PyInstaller packaging command: After completing the encoding conversion, run pyinstaller -F -w test.py command again. This will force PyInstaller to read the script with the correct encoding.

3. Check for non-UTF-8 characters in the script file: If steps 1 and 2 are still invalid, double-check for non-UTF-8 characters in the script, such as special symbols or copy-paste text from other encoding methods. These characters may cause PyInstaller to fail to decode. Consider using professional encoding conversion tools to handle these characters.

4. Consider using other packaging tools: If none of the above methods can solve the problem, consider trying other packaging tools, such as Nuitka. However, prioritizing coding problems is still the best solution.

Through the above steps, you should be able to successfully resolve the issue where PyInstaller generates only .spec files and successfully package your Python scripts into executables. Remember, making sure your script files are encoded using UTF-8 is key.

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