Release notes¶
Version 2.4¶
- Command sections can now include
console=false
to make a command onPATH
which runs without a console window (PR #179). - Fix for using
pywin32
in installed code launched from a command (PR #175). - Work around wheels where some package data files are shipped in a way that assumes the default pip install layout (PR #172).
Version 2.3¶
- Command line exes are now based on the launchers made by Vinay Sajip for distlib, instead of the launchers from setuptools. They should be more robust with spaces in paths (PR #169).
- Fixed excluding entire folders extracted from wheels (#168).
- When doing a per-user install of an application with commands, the
PATH
environment variable is modified just for that user (PR #170).
Version 2.2¶
- New
local_wheels
option to include packages from wheel.whl
files by path (PR #164). .dist-info
directories from wheels are now installed alongside the importable packages, allowing plugin discovery mechanisms based on entry points to work (PR #161).- Fixed including multiple files with the same name to be installed to different folders (PR #162).
- The
exclude
option now works to exclude files extracted from wheels (PR #147). exclude
patterns work with either slash/
or backslash\
as separators, independent of the platform on which you build the installer (PR #148).- Destination paths for the
files
include option now work with slashes as well as backslashes (PR #158). extra_preamble
for start menu shortcuts can now use theinstalldir
variable to get the installation directory. This was already available for commands, so the change makes it easier to use a single preamble for both (PR #149).- Test infrastructure switched to pytest and tox (PR #165).
- New FAQ entry on Packaging with tkinter (PR #146).
Version 2.1¶
- Ensure that if an icon is specified it will be used during install and uninstall, and as the icon for the installer itself (PR #143).
- Add handling of a license file. If a
license_file
is given in theApplication
section of the configuration file an additional step will take place before installation to check the user’s agreement to abide by the displayed license. If the license is not given, the extra step is omitted (the default behaviour) (PR #143). - Fix for launching Python subprocesses with the installed packages available for import (PR #142).
- Ensure
.pth
files in the installed packages directory are read (PR #138).
Version 2.0¶
Pynsist 2 only supports ‘bundled’ Python, and therefore only Python 3.5 and
above. For ‘installer’ format Python and older Python versions, use Pynsist 1.x
(pip install pynsist<2
).
- Pynsist installers can now install into a per-user directory, allowing them to be used without admin access.
- Get wheels for the installer from local directories, by listing the
directories in
extra_wheel_sources
in the[Include]
section. - Better error message when copying fails on a namespace package.
Version 1.12¶
- Fix a bug with unpacking wheels on Python 2.7, by switching to
pathlib2
for the pathlib backport.
Version 1.11¶
- Lists in the config file, such as
packages
andpypi_wheels
can now begin on the line after the key. - Clearer error if the specified config file is not found.
Version 1.10¶
- New optional field
publisher
, to provide a publisher name in the uninstall list. - The uninstall information in the registry now also includes
DisplayVersion
. - The directory containing
python.exe
is now added to the%PATH%
environment variable when your application runs. This fixes a DLL loading issue for PyQt5 if you use bundled Python. - When installing a 64-bit application, the uninstall registry keys are now added to the 64-bit view of the registry.
- Fixed an error when using wheels which install files into the same package,
such as
PyQt5
andPyQtChart
. - Issue a warning when we can’t find the cache directory on Windows.
Version 1.9¶
- When building an installer with Python 3.6 or above, bundled Python
is now the default. For Python up to 3.5, ‘installer’ remains
the default format. You can override the default by specifying
format
in the Python section of the config file. - The C Runtime needed for bundled Python is now installed ‘app-local’, rather
than downloading and installing Windows Update packages at install time. This
is considerably simpler, but the app-local runtime will not be updated by
Windows Update. A new
include_msvcrt
config option allows the developer to exclude the app-local runtime - their applications will then depend on the runtime being installed systemwide.
Version 1.8¶
- New example applications using: - PyQt5 with QML - OpenCV and PyQt5 - Pywebview
- The code to pick an appropriate wheel now considers wheels with Python version
specific ABI tags like
cp35m
, as well as the stable ABI tags likeabi3
. - Fixed a bug with fetching a wheel when another version of the same package is already cached.
- Fixed a bug in extracting files from certain wheels.
- Installers using bundled Python may need a Windows update package for the Microsoft C runtime. They now download this from the RawGit CDN, rather than hitting GitHub directly.
- If the Windows update package fails to install, an error message will be displayed.
Version 1.7¶
- Support for downloading packages as wheels from PyPI, and new PyQt5 and Pyglet examples which use this feature.
- Applications can include commands to run at the Windows command prompt. See Command sections.
Version 1.6¶
- Experimental support for creating installers that bundle Python with the application.
- Support for Python 3.5 installers.
- The user agent is set when downloading Python builds, so downloads from Pynsist can be identified.
- New example applications using PyGI, numpy and matplotlib.
- Fixed a bug with different path separators in
exclude
patterns.
Version 1.5¶
- New
exclude
option to cut unnecessary files out of directories and packages that are copied into the installer. - The
installer.nsi
script is now built using Jinja templates instead of a custom templating system. If you have specify a customnsi_template
file, you will need to update it to use Jinja syntax. - GUI applications (running under pythonw) have stdout and stderr
written to a log file in
%APPDATA%
. This should catch allprint
, warnings, uncaught errors, and avoid the program freezing if it tries to print. - Applications run in a console (under python) now show the traceback for an uncaught error in the console as well as writing it to the log file.
- Install pynsist command on Windows.
- Fixed an error message caused by unnecessarily rerunning the installer for the
PEP 397
py
launcher, bundled with Python 2 applications. - pynsist now takes a
--no-makensis
option, which stops it before running makensis for debugging.
Version 1.0¶
- New
extra_preamble
option to specify a snippet of Python code to run before your main application. - Packages used in the specified entry points no longer need to be listed under the Include section; they are automatically included.
- Write the crash log to a file in
%APPDATA%
, not in the installation directory - on modern Windows, the application can’t normally write to its install directory. - Added an example application using pygtk.
- Installer details documentation added.
- Install Python into
Program Files\Common Files
orProgram Files (x86)\Common Files
, so that if both 32- and 64-bit Pythons of the same version are installed, neither replaces the other. - When using 64-bit Python, the application files now go in
Program Files
by default instead ofProgram Files (x86)
. - Fixed a bug in finding the NSIS install directory on 64-bit Windows.
- Fixed a bug that prevented using multiprocessing in installed applications.
- Fixed a bug where the
py.exe
launcher was not included if you built a Python 2 installer using Python 3. - Better error messages for some invalid input.
Version 0.3¶
- Extra files can now be installed into locations other than the installation directory.
- Shortcuts can have non-Python commands, e.g. to create a start menu shortcut to a help file.
- The Python API has been cleaned up, and there is some documentation for it.
- Better support for modern versions of Windows:
- Uninstall shortcuts correctly on Windows Vista and above.
- Byte compile Python modules at installation, because the
.pyc
files can’t be written when the application runs.
- The Python installers are now downloaded over HTTPS instead of using GPG to validate them.
- Shortcuts now launch the application with the working directory set to the user’s home directory, not the application location.
Version 0.2¶
- Python 2 support, thanks to Johannes Baiter.
- Ability to define multiple shortcuts for one application.
- Validate config files to produce more helpful errors, thanks to Tom Wallroth.
- Errors starting the application, such as missing libraries, are now written to a log file in the application directory, so you can work out what happened.