Requirements
************


Windows
=======

*PyInstaller* runs in Windows XP or newer. It can create graphical
windowed apps (apps that do not need a command window).

*PyInstaller* requires two Python modules in a Windows system. It
requires either the PyWin32 or pypiwin32 Python extension for Windows.
If you install *PyInstaller* using pip, and PyWin32 is not already
installed, pypiwin32 is automatically installed. *PyInstaller* also
requires the pefile package.

The pip-Win package is recommended, but not required.


Mac OS X
========

*PyInstaller* runs in Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) or newer. It can build
graphical windowed apps (apps that do not use a terminal window).
PyInstaller builds apps that are compatible with the Mac OS X release
in which you run it, and following releases. It can build 32-bit
binaries in Mac OS X releases that support them.


GNU/Linux
=========

*PyInstaller* requires the "ldd" terminal application to discover the
shared libraries required by each program or shared library. It is
typically found in the distribution-package "glibc" or "libc-bin".

It also requires the "objdump" terminal application to extract
information from object files and the "objcopy" terminal application
to append data to the bootloader. These are typically found in the
distribution-package "binutils".


AIX, Solaris, and FreeBSD
=========================

Users have reported success running *PyInstaller* on these platforms,
but it is not tested on them. The "ldd" and "objdump" commands are
needed.

Each bundled app contains a copy of a *bootloader*, a program that
sets up the application and starts it (see The Bootstrap Process in
Detail).

When you install *PyInstaller* using pip, the setup will attempt to
build a bootloader for this platform. If that succeeds, the
installation continues and *PyInstaller* is ready to use.

If the pip setup fails to build a bootloader, or if you do not use pip
to install, you must compile a bootloader manually. The process is
described under Building the Bootloader.
