Error using PyInstaller

Question

I'm trying to use PyInstaller to create a standalone OSX app that runs a GUI I've made. When I enter the following in my terminal:

pyinstaller gui.py

Everything seems to work until I get the following error:

File "/Users/username/anaconda/bin/PyInstaller", line 11, in <module>
    sys.exit(run())
File "/Users/username/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-
packages/PyInstaller/__main__.py", line 90, in run
run_build(pyi_config, spec_file, **vars(args))
File "/Users/username/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-
packages/PyInstaller/__main__.py", line 46, in run_build
PyInstaller.building.build_main.main(pyi_config, spec_file, **kwargs)
File "/Users/username/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-
packages/PyInstaller/building/build_main.py", line 788, in main
build(specfile, kw.get('distpath'), kw.get('workpath'), 
kw.get('clean_build'))
File "/Users/username/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-
packages/PyInstaller/building/build_main.py", line 734, in build
exec(text, spec_namespace)
File "<string>", line 16, in <module>
File "/Users/username/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-
packages/PyInstaller/building/build_main.py", line 212, in __init__
self.__postinit__()
File "/Users/username/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-
packages/PyInstaller/building/datastruct.py", line 178, in __postinit__
self.assemble()
File "/Users/username/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-
packages/PyInstaller/building/build_main.py", line 470, in assemble
module_hook.post_graph()
File "/Users/username/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-
packages/PyInstaller/building/imphook.py", line 409, in post_graph
self._load_hook_module()
File "/Users/username/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-
packages/PyInstaller/building/imphook.py", line 376, in 
_load_hook_module
self.hook_module_name, self.hook_filename)
File "/Users/username/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-
packages/PyInstaller/hooks/hook-PyQt4.py", line 33, in <module>
(qt_menu_nib_dir('PyQt4'), ''),
File "/Users/username/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-
packages/PyInstaller/utils/hooks/qt.py", line 125, in qt_menu_nib_dir
""".format(namespace, path))

Exception: 
            Cannot find qt_menu.nib for PyQt4
            Path checked: 
   /Users/felipe/miniconda/envs/_build/lib/QtGui.framework/Resources/qt_menu.nib

Which seems strange, since my name is not felipe!

I have a couple of questions:

1) How is it possible that there is a directory under the name felipe on my computer? (I used anaconda to install qt, I don't know whether that has something to do with it?)

2) Up until I get the error message, PyInstaller is looking in the correct folder. Why does it start looking in this vague (vague to me that is) directory I don't know of?

3) I'm quite a novice regarding directories and I can't find mister felipe anywhere on my computer. When I look in the Users folder I just see my own user and an empty "Shared" folder. (I don't know what the shared folder is used for and why it's there.)

4) Based on what I read on the internet, I copied qt_menu-nib to the folder where the script that's supposed to be turned into a standalone is located. What should I do in order to successfully create a standalone from here?

Answer 1

First of all, you face a known issue between PyInstaller and Anaconda: PyInstaller issue #2135. The conversation contains answers to your questions.

1) The path is hardcoded in the wrongly built Qt binary that is provided by Anaconda, see comment from mrady3.

2) PyInstaller loads Qt4-specific hook in order to find resources (qt_menu.nib) that are necessary for running target app. The hook code tries to obtain location of resource directory from the Qt binary itself. Qt binary returns wrong /hardcoded/ path, and after that process fails.

3) See point 1), it was a folder on maintainer's machine. Qt assumes that its installation path is pre-set before building; Anaconda repository hosts a binary that was compiled with another installation path in mind.

4) There could be several possible approaches:

Try installing developer version of PyInstaller from sources, it has some fixes for the above-mentioned issue. Then try building the app again:

git clone https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller.git
cd pyinstaller
/Users/username/anaconda/bin/python setup.py sdist
conda install dist/PyInstaller-3.3.dev0.tar.bz2

Install Qt4 using homebrew. Local compilation will take a long time:

brew install cartr/qt4/qt
find /usr/local/Cellar/qt -name qt_menu.nib

Edit Qt4 hook at /Users/username/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site- packages/PyInstaller/hooks/hook-PyQt4.py and replace call to qt_menu_nib_dir('PyQt4') with the path from homebrew installation ('/usr/local/Cellar/qt/4.8.7_3/lib/QtGui.framework/Versions/4/Resources/qt_menu.nib').

Or alternatively, just put qt_menu.nib into expected location:

sudo mkdir -p /Users/felipe/miniconda/envs/_build/lib/QtGui.framework/Resources/
sudo ln -s /usr/local/Cellar/qt/4.8.7_3/lib/QtGui.framework/Versions/4/Resources/qt_menu.nib /Users/felipe/miniconda/envs/_build/lib/QtGui.framework/Resources/