I've managed to package my PyQt4 app as a "standalone" application on windows, it works.
However this application can upgrade itself, which is done by replacing the actual code written by me (.py files) with new versions, downloaded via the internet.
How can I tell PyInstaller do its job (putting together the DLLs, generating the launcher with the shiny icon, etc), BUT let the .py files untouched?
I need those files directly on disk, in order for the auto-update to work.
I think the embedded interpreter in the executable will still search for .py files in the same directory and/or PYTHONPATH, py2exe uses a zip file for native python components, iirc pyinstaller embeds all of them in the executable, maybe there is an option to keep a zip like in py2exe (or not add them in the spec), then try to run the application without the files and monitor file accesses with procmon.
PyInstaller but keeping .py files upgradeable