ARIAN

Posted on Jul 28

I Got Tired of PyInstaller CLI, So I Built a GUI for It With Built-in Source Protection

#tutorial #opensource #beginners #python

if you've ever tried to package a Python project into a .exe, you've probably wanted to throw your laptop out the window.

pyinstaller --onefile works great for a hello-world script. But the second your project gets real custom icons, data files, hidden imports, two different Qt bindings somehow it all falls apart. No helpful error messages either. Just a blank window staring back at you.

I dealt with this for way too long. Eventually I just decided to fix it myself. That's how PyPack was born.

Why PyInstaller Made Me Cry

My project was a desktop app. CustomTkinter UI, custom .ico, a couple of config files bundled in. Nothing crazy. But to build it with PyInstaller, I needed something like this:

pyinstaller --onefile --windowed --icon=app.ico --name=MyApp \
  --add-data="assets:assets" \
  --hidden-import=module1 --hidden-import=module2 \
  --exclude-module=PyQt5 \
  --exclude-module=PyQt6 \
  ...

Forget one hidden import? Build breaks. No error. Just silence. Then you spend an hour on Stack Overflow figuring out that tkinter.ttk needs a separate flag.

Yeah, I got real tired of that.

So What Does PyPack Actually Do?

It wraps PyInstaller in a GUI. Pick your project, pick your settings, click Build. Done.

Sounds simple, but here's where it gets interesting — it's not just a paint job over CLI commands. It actually fixes things PyInstaller gets wrong.

It catches imports PyInstaller misses

PyInstaller uses modulefinder under the hood. Problem is, modulefinder is kinda bad at its job. It misses tkinter submodules, for example, and then your build silently breaks.

PyPack runs a full AST scan on your project instead. Catches way more stuff. Builds don't break for random mysterious reasons anymore.

It handles the Qt binding mess

You know that thing where you have a try/except for PyQt5 and PyQt6 fallback?

try:
    from PyQt6 import QtWidgets
except ImportError:
    from PyQt5 import QtWidgets

PyInstaller sees both and just gives up. PyPack notices it, keeps only the one you're actually using, and moves on.

Real-time build log

No more guessing if the build is frozen or actually working. You see every command, every step, and at the end you get a real success or failure status.

PyPack Crypt — The Thing I'm Actually Excited About

This started as a side experiment but it ended up being the most useful part.

Here's the problem nobody talks about: when you ship a PyInstaller .exe, your raw .py source files are sitting right inside it. Anyone with a tool like pyinstxtractor can pull them out in seconds

PyPack Crypt does this instead:

Compiles all your modules to bytecode
Encrypts them with AES-256-GCM
At runtime, decrypts straight into memory never writes to disk

What makes it different from other obfuscation tools:

New encryption key every build no shared key hiding in a DLL somewhere
Randomized container format two builds of the same project look totally different under a hex editor
GCM authentication if someone tampers with the file, it won't decrypt at all

Look, I'll be honest: nothing that runs Python bytecode on someone else's computer is truly unbreakable, But this kills the "download one tool, extract all source files in 30 seconds" approach. And for most real-world situations, that's enough.

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/Arianlavi/PyPack.git
cd PyPack
pip install -r requirements.txt
python pypack.py

Steps:

Point it at your project folder and entry script
Add an icon if you have one
Pick one-file or one-folder, windowed or console
Flip on PyPack Crypt if you want source protection
Click Build

Your .exe shows up in dist/

If you'd rather script it:

from pypack.builder import build

build(
    project_path="/path/to/my/project",
    entry_script="main.py",
    icon="app.ico",
    one_file=True,
    windowed=True,
    crypt=True,
)

What's Coming

Things I'm working on or thinking about:

[ ] Batch builds for multiple projects at once
[ ] PyArmor as an alternative encryption backend
[ ] Auto-update mechanism
[ ] Linux and macOS support

Grab It

Fully open source, MIT license, No strings attached

GitHub: https://github.com/Arianlavi/PyPack

Star it if it helps you out. Open an issue if something's broken, I actually read them.

Made with Python, CustomTkinter, and an unhealthy amount of late nights fighting PyInstaller 🐍

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