Shared code/configuration in .spec files

[marcelstoer]

To avoid "code" duplication, I wanted move shared configuration in .spec files to a common file. However, when I import the common file into the .spec file, I get a ModuleNotFoundError.

Is importing local files into a .spec file not supported? import os for example does work.

Example

# CommonSpec.py
datas = [
    ("images", "images")
]

# my-test.spec
# -*- mode: python ; coding: utf-8 -*-

import CommonSpec

a = Analysis(
    ['my-app.py'],
    pathex=[],
    binaries=[],
    datas=CommonSpec.datas,

CommonSpec.py and my-test.spec are siblings in the same directory.

Yet, the exception is as follows:

  ...
  File "my-test.spec", line 3, in <module>
    import CommonSpec
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'CommonSpec'

[rokm]

The directory that contains .spec file is not automatically added to python's search path. Technically, it never really is; it is the location of the entry-point script that ends up being added to search path, but only when Analysis is instantiated.

So if you want your CommonSpec to be discoverable at the start of spec, you need to add the spec location to python's search path:

import sys
import os

sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(SPEC))  # SPEC is defined by PyInstaller in the context in which the spec is executed

import CommonSpec

a = Analysis(
    ['my-app.py'],
    pathex=[],
    binaries=[],
    datas=CommonSpec.datas,
...

[marcelstoer]

Thanks, this is gold! I'll see if I can come up with PR that would document this in https://pyinstaller.org/en/stable/spec-files.html.