Modules not found after running pyinstaller

Question

I apologize now for the long post.

I am working on converting a Hello World program from a Python file to a stand-alone, distributable executable file, using pyinstaller. I am using pyinstaller 3.6, on Windows 10 Enterprise. Python code was written using Spyder 4.0.1 (I am currently unable to update to 4.1.3).

I have created the HelloWorld.py file:

#! python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
"""
Created on Tue Jun 30 12:27:20 2020

@author: DNICHOL3
"""


def main():
    print("Hello World!")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

As well as a cli.py file in the same folder:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
"""
Created on Tue Jun 30 09:07 2020

@author: DNICHOL3
"""


# import HelloWorld
from HelloWorld.__main__ import main

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

I am running pyinstaller with the –onefile –debug imports –clean flags:

pyinstaller cli.py –onefile –debug imports --clean

I then run cli.exe from the dist folder, and get several screens of output (import xxx, # clear yyy, # restore zzz, # cleanup [2] aaa). Embedded in this output are the following lines:

HelloWorld not found in PYZ
Traceback (most recent call last):
   File “cli.py”, line 10, in <module>
   File “<frozen importlib.bootstrap>”, line 991, in _find_and_load
   File “<frozen importlib.bootstrap>”, line 961, in _find_and_load_unlocked
   File “<frozen importlib.bootstrap>”, line 219, in _call_with_frames_removed
   File “<frozen importlib.bootstrap>”, line 991, in _find_and_load
   File “<frozen importlib.bootstrap>”, line 973, in _find_and_load_unlocked
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named ‘HelloWorld’
[21600] Failed to execute script cli

Looking at warn-cli.txt shows that HelloWorld is indeed missing:

Missing module named ‘HelloWorld.__main__’ imported by C:\Users\dnichol3\python\Utilities\cli.py (top-level)

and cli.spec seems to show that HelloWorld is missing from PYZ:

pyz = PYZ(a.pure, a.zipped_data,
             cipher=block_cipher)

Executing the generated cli.exe encounters the error message:

   File “cli.py”, line 10, in <module>
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named ‘HelloWorld’

I have gone through the pyinstaller documentation (When Things Go Wrong). I have attempted to include HelloWorld.py into my pyinstaller command by using the –hidden_import flag, but that consistently ends with pyinstaller: error: unrecognized arguments: --hidden_import. And it doesn’t matter whether or not I use an equal sign between hidden_import and HelloWorld, nor does it matter whether or not I use the .py file extension.

I tried some other Stack Overflow suggestions (https://stackoverflow.com/a/46894037/12344177, https://stackoverflow.com/a/41869771/12344177, and https://stackoverflow.com/a/47337389/12344177 ) to no avail. Any assistance would be appreciated.

Answer 1

I think this is not a pyinstaller issue but belongs to your imports. Try this cli.py without the .__main__ This means you import main() from the HelloWorld.py.

    # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
    """
    Created on Tue Jun 30 09:07 2020

    @author: DNICHOL3
    """


    # import HelloWorld
    from HelloWorld import main

    if __name__ == '__main__':
        main()

Answer 2

Hi I hope this is not too late. I have struggled for days on this topic as well. Skimmed through the documentation and found this section.

My problem is slightly different, my folder structure looks like this:

my_package/
??? setup.py
??? my_package/
?   ??? file_1.py
?   ??? file_2.py

Also, I've did a pip install . where setup.py in an environment where pyinstaller was installed.

In file_1.py I have the following equivalent:

from my_package.file_2 import some_function

def foo():
    print('hello world')
    some_function()


foo()

I kept getting into the ModuleNotFoundError problem when I run my .exe file. The solution from the above mentioned section was, in the folder where file_1.py is:

pyinstaller file_1.py -F --collect-all my_package

and this worked. Can't say I truly understand everything in the docs, but well... it worked, and hope it does for you too... if this is not too late :)