Setup script

cx_Freeze creates four new commands and subclasses four others to provide the ability to build and install executables. In typical setuptools fashion they can be provided in the setup script (it is called setup.py by convention, although it can have any name), in a pyproject.toml configuration file, in a setup.cfg configuration file, or on the command line. They are described in detail below.

Example

It looks something like this:

[project]
name = "guifoo"
version = "0.1"
description = "My GUI application!"

[tool.cxfreeze]
executables = [
    {script = "guifoo.py", base = "gui"}
]

[tool.cxfreeze.build_exe]
excludes = ["tkinter", "unittest"]
zip_include_packages = ["encodings", "PySide6", "shiboken6"]

The script is invoked as follows:

cxfreeze build

See also

setup() keywords.

Declaring project metadata

cx_Freeze.Executable

Note

There are more examples in the samples directory.

This command will create a subdirectory called build with a further subdirectory starting with the letters exe. and ending with the typical identifier for the platform and Python version. This allows for multiple platforms to be built without conflicts.

To specify options in the script, use underscores in the name. For example:

# ...
zip_include_packages = ["encodings", "PySide6", "shiboken6"]

To specify the same options on the command line, use dashes, like this:

python setup.py build_exe --zip-include-packages=encodings,PySide6,shiboken6

On Windows, you can build a simple installer containing all the files cx_Freeze includes for your application, by running the setup script as:

python setup.py bdist_msi

On Mac OS X, you can use bdist_mac to create a Mac application bundle or bdist_dmg to build a Mac disk image.

Commands

build

This command is a standard command which has been modified by cx_Freeze to build any executables that are defined.

Deprecated since version 6.14: build_exe option. Removed in version 7.0.

This is the equivalent help to specify the same options on the command line:

python setup.py build --help
Options for 'build' command:
  --build-base (-b)  base directory for build library
  (...)
  --compiler (-c)    specify the compiler type
  --help-compiler    list available compilers

build_exe

This command performs the work of building an executable or set of executables. It can be further customized:

option name

description
build_exe

directory for built executables and dependent files, defaults to a directory of the form build/exe.[platform identifier].[python version]
optimize

optimization level, one of 0 (disabled), 1 or 2
excludes

comma-separated list of names of modules to exclude
includes

comma-separated list of names of modules to include
packages

comma-separated list of packages to include, which includes all submodules in the package
replace_paths

comma-separated list of paths to replace in the code object of included modules, using the form <search>=<replace>; search can be * which means all paths not already specified, leaving just the relative path to the module; multiple values are separated by the standard path separator
path

comma-separated list of paths to search for modules; the default value is sys.path (use only if you know what you are doing)
include_path

comma-separated list of paths to modify the search for modules
no_compress

create a zip file with no compression
constants

comma-separated list of constant values to include in the constants module called BUILD_CONSTANTS in the form <name>=<value>
bin_includes

list of files to include when determining dependencies of binary files that would normally be excluded, using first the full file name, then just the base file name, then the file name without any version numbers (the version numbers that normally follow the shared object extension are stripped before performing the comparison)
bin_excludes

list of files to exclude when determining dependencies of binary files that would normally be included, using first the full file name, then just the base file name, then the file name without any version numbers (the version numbers that normally follow the shared object extension are stripped before performing the comparison)
bin_path_includes

list of paths from which to include files when determining dependencies of binary files
bin_path_excludes

list of paths from which to exclude files when determining dependencies of binary files
include_files

list containing files to be copied to the target directory; it is expected that this list will contain strings or 2-tuples for the source and destination; the source can be a file or a directory (in which case the tree is copied except for .git, .svn and CVS directories); the target must not be an absolute path
zip_includes

list containing files to be included in the zip file directory; it is expected that this list will contain strings or 2-tuples for the source and destination
zip_include_packages

list of packages which should be included in the zip file; the default is for all packages to be placed in the file system, not the zip file; those packages which are known to work well inside a zip file can be included if desired; use * to specify that all packages should be included in the zip file
zip_exclude_packages

list of packages to exclude from the zip file and place in the file system instead; the default is for all packages to be placed in the file system since several packages assume that is where they are found and will fail when placed in a zip file; use * to specify that all packages should be placed in the file system and excluded from the zip file (the default)
silent

suppress all output except warnings (equivalent to silent_level=1)
silent_level

suppress output from the freeze process; can provide a value to specify what messages should be suppressed, with the possible values being:

  1. do not suppress any output [default];

  2. suppress information messages;

  3. also suppress missing-module warning messages;

  4. also suppress all other warning messages.
include_msvcr

include the Microsoft Visual C runtime files without needing the redistributable package installed

Added in version 6.7: silent_level option.

This is the equivalent help to specify the same options on the command line:

python setup.py build_exe --help
Options for 'build_exe' command:
--build-exe (-b)        directory for built executables and dependent files
--optimize (-O)         optimization level: -O1 for "python -O", -O2 for
                        "python -OO" and -O0 to disable [default: -O0]
--excludes (-e)         comma-separated list of modules to exclude
--includes (-i)         comma-separated list of modules to include
--packages (-p)         comma-separated list of packages to include, which
                        includes all submodules in the package
--replace-paths         comma-separated list of paths to replace in included
                        modules, using the form <search>=<replace>
--path                  comma-separated list of paths to search for modules;
                        the default value is sys.path (use only if you know
                        what you are doing)
--include-path          comma-separated list of paths to modify the search
                        for modules
--no-compress           create a zipfile with no compression
--constants             comma-separated list of constants to include
--bin-includes          list of files to include when determining
                        dependencies of binary files that would normally be
                        excluded
--bin-excludes          list of files to exclude when determining
                        dependencies of binary files that would normally be
                        included
--bin-path-includes     list of paths from which to include files when
                        determining dependencies of binary files
--bin-path-excludes     list of paths from which to exclude files when
                        determining dependencies of binary files
--include-files (-f)    list of tuples of additional files to include in
                        distribution
--zip-includes          list of tuples of additional files to include in zip
                        file
--zip-include-packages  comma-separated list of packages to include in the
                        zip file (or * for all) [default: none]
--zip-exclude-packages  comma-separated list of packages to exclude from the
                        zip file and place in the file system instead (or *
                        for all) [default: *]
--silent (-s)           suppress all output except warnings (equivalent to
                        --silent-level=1)
--silent-level          suppress output from build_exe command. level 0: get
                        all messages; [default] level 1: suppress
                        information messages, but still get warnings;
                        (equivalent to --silent) level 2: suppress missing
                        missing-module warnings level 3: suppress all
                        warning messages
--include-msvcr         include the Microsoft Visual C runtime files

install

This command is a standard command which has been modified by cx_Freeze to install any executables that are defined. The following options were added to the standard set of options for the command:

option name

description
install_exe

directory for installed executables and dependent files

install_exe

This command performs the work installing an executable or set of executables. It can be used directly but most often is used when building Windows installers or RPM packages. It can be further customized:

option name

description
install_dir

directory to install executables to; this defaults to a subdirectory called <name>-<version> in the “Program Files” directory on Windows and <prefix>/lib on other platforms; on platforms other than Windows symbolic links are also created in <prefix>/bin for each executable.
build_dir

build directory (where to install from); this defaults to the build_dir from the build command
force

force installation, overwriting existing files
skip_build

skip the build steps

This is the equivalent help to specify the same options on the command line:

python setup.py install_exe --help
Options for 'install_exe' command:
  --install-dir (-d)  directory to install executables to
  --build-dir (-b)    build directory (where to install from)
  --force (-f)        force installation (overwrite existing files)
  --skip-build        skip the build steps

cx_Freeze.Executable

The options for the build_exe command are the defaults for any executables that are created. The options for the Executable class allow specification of the values specific to a particular executable. The arguments to the constructor are as follows:

argument name

description
script

the name of the file containing the script which is to be frozen
init_script

the name of the initialization script that will be executed before the actual script is executed; this script is used to set up the environment for the executable; if a name is given without an absolute path the names of files in the initscripts subdirectory of the cx_Freeze package is searched
base

the name of the base executable; the pre-defined values are: “console” (default), “gui” and “service”; a user-defined base is accepted if it is given with an absolute path name
target_name

the name of the target executable; the default value is the name of the script; it is recommended NOT to use an extension (automatically added on Windows); target-name with version is supported; if specified a path, raise an error
icon

name of icon which should be included in the executable itself on Windows (ignored by Python app from Microsoft Store) or placed in the target directory for other platforms; it is recommended NOT to use an extension (automatically added “.ico” on Windows, “.icns” on macOS and “.png” or “.svg” on Linux and others)
manifest

name of manifest which should be included in the executable itself (Windows only - ignored by Python app from Microsoft Store)
uac_admin

creates a manifest for an application that will request elevation (Windows only - ignored by Python app from Microsoft Store)
uac_uiaccess

changes the application manifest to bypass user interface control (Windows only - ignored by Python app from Microsoft Store)
shortcut_name

the name to give a shortcut for the executable when included in an MSI package (Windows only)
shortcut_dir

the directory in which to place the shortcut when being installed by an MSI package; see the MSI Shortcut table documentation for more information on what values can be placed here (Windows only).

the copyright value to include in the version resource associated with executable (Windows only)
trademarks

the trademarks value to include in the version resource associated with the executable (Windows only)

Added in version 6.10: manifest and uac_admin options.

Added in version 7.0: uac_uiaccess option.

Changed in version 6.5: Arguments are all snake_case (camelCase removed in 6.15).

See also

Windows Manifest

Important note for uiaccess

Note

  1. setup accepts a list of Executable

  2. target_name has been extended to support version, like target_name=”Hello-0.1” or target_name=”Hello.0.1.exe”

  3. the name of the target executable can be modified after the build only if one Executable is built.