Convert python script to exe files in Ubuntu

Sep 4, 2024

Santhosh Balaji Ramesh

Tech aficionado

Introduction

Converting a python script to an executable has meaningful benefits.

Python does not need to installed in the client machine
Easy distribution
Useful in automation tasks

Below is a sample script for converting Excel 97-2003 (XLS) files to Excel files (XLSX) files

This script requires the packages openpyxl and xlrd

import os
import sys
from openpyxl import Workbook
from xlrd import open_workbook

def convert_xls_to_xlsx(xls_file, output_folder):nmpm
    wb = open_workbook(xls_file)
    new_wb = Workbook()

    # Convert each sheet
    for sheet_index in range(wb.nsheets):
        sheet = wb.sheet_by_index(sheet_index)
        new_sheet = new_wb.create_sheet(title=sheet.name if sheet_index else None)

        for row in range(sheet.nrows):
            for col in range(sheet.ncols):
                new_sheet.cell(row=row + 1, column=col + 1).value = sheet.cell_value(row, col)

    # Remove the default sheet created by openpyxl
    if 'Sheet' in new_wb.sheetnames:
        std = new_wb['Sheet']
        new_wb.remove(std)

    # Save as .xlsx
    output_file = os.path.join(output_folder, os.path.splitext(os.path.basename(xls_file))[0] + '.xlsx')
    new_wb.save(output_file)
    print(f"Converted: {xls_file} to {output_file}")


def process_input(input_path):
    if os.path.isdir(input_path):
        # Process all .xls files in the folder
        for root, _, files in os.walk(input_path):
            for file in files:
                if file.endswith(".xls"):
                    convert_xls_to_xlsx(os.path.join(root, file), root)
    elif os.path.isfile(input_path) and input_path.endswith(".xls"):
        # Convert a single file
        convert_xls_to_xlsx(input_path, os.path.dirname(input_path))
    else:
        print(f"Invalid input: {input_path}. Please provide a valid .xls file or folder.")


def main():
    if len(sys.argv) != 2:
        print("Usage: python excel_converter.py <file_or_folder>")
        sys.exit(1)

    input_path = sys.argv[1]
    process_input(input_path)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

The rest of the article is based on the sample script.

Environment tested on

Instructions

Perform the following commands in a terminal opened in Ubuntu.

Download python (version 3.8) from here. Make sure it should be the windows version.
Install wine. Wine is a compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications on several POSIX-compliant operating systems, such as Linux, macOS, & BSD.
```
sudo apt install wine winetricks
```
Install python
```
# Download path maybe different
wine /home/dev/Downloads/python-3.8.10-amd64.exe>
```
Note
My setup in Ubuntu:
- Username: dev
- Working directory: /app
- Sample file path: /app/excel_converter.py

Find out where pip or python is installed. We will create an virutal environment. For this we require, where python is created.

find ~/.wine -name python.exe

# /home/dev/.wine/drive_c/users/dev/Local Settings/Application Data/Programs/Python/Python38/python.exe

Setup an virtual environment

# create an venv
python -m venv ./dist/converter

wine "/home/dev/.wine/drive_c/users/dev/Local Settings/Application Data/Programs/Python/Python38/python.exe" -m venv /app/dist/converter

The pip.exe is located under /app/dist/converter/Scripts/ and install the packages

wine "/home/dev/app/dist/converter/Scripts/pip.exe" install openpyxl xlrd pyinstaller

Convert the script into EXE file
```
wine "/home/dev/app/dist/converter/Scripts/pyinstaller.exe" --onefile /app/excel_converter.py
```
The output is generated in the dist folder.
Danger
It might be possilbe (in my case, it had happened), that an error unimplemented function api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll.fetestexcept appears, while executing pyinstaller.
Then exeucte the following command and retry the Step 7
winetricks vcrun2015

Copy and Test the EXE file in a windows machine. Open Command prompt or Powershell

Single excel file execution

excel_converter.exe test.xls

# C:\Users\basdemo\Desktop\trash\dist>excel_converter.exe test-file.xls
# Converted: test-file.xls to test-file.xlsx

Folder execution

excel_converter.exe Folder

# C:\Users\basdemo\Desktop\trash\dist>excel_converter.exe Folder
# Converted: Folder\test-file - Kopie (2).xls to Folder\test-file - Kopie (2).xlsx
# Converted: Folder\test-file - Kopie (3).xls to Folder\test-file - Kopie (3).xlsx
# Converted: Folder\test-file - Kopie (4).xls to Folder\test-file - Kopie (4).xlsx
# Converted: Folder\test-file - Kopie (5).xls to Folder\test-file - Kopie (5).xlsx
# Converted: Folder\test-file - Kopie.xls to Folder\test-file - Kopie.xlsx
# Converted: Folder\test-file.xls to Folder\test-file.xlsx