Invoking py2app

Command-line interface

The preferred interface for py2app is using it as a command-line tool:

$ python3 -m py2app

This command reads configuration from a pyproject.toml file and performs the build. The command has a number of arguments that affect the build:

• --pyproject-tom FILE

  Specify a different configuration file in the same format as pyproject.toml. All paths in this file will be resolved relative to the directory containing the file.

  This option defaults to pyproject.toml in the current directory.

• --semi-standalone

  Perform a semi-standalone build. This creates a bundle that contains all code and resources except for the Python interpreter.

• --alias

  Perform an alias build. This creates a bundle that contains symbolic links to code and is primarily useful during development because it allows for a quicker edit&test cycle.

See Py2app Configuration for information on the structure of the pyproject configuration file.

Legacy setuptools interface

Py2app before version 2.0 was an extension command for setuptools and this interface is still supported, but is deprecated.

This interface requires using a setup.py file that contains configuration, use python3 setup.py py2app to invoke the setuptools command.

See py2app Setuptools Configuration for more information on how to configure py2app.