Py2exe: Embed static files in exe file itself and access them

Question

I found a solution to add files in library.zip via: Extend py2exe to copy files to the zipfile where pkg_resources can load them.

I can access to my file when library

Answer 1

You shouldn't be using pkg_resources to retrieve the library.zip file. You should use it to retrieve the added resource.

Suppose you have the following project structure:

setup.py
foo/
    __init__.py
    bar.py
    media/
        image.jpg

You would use resource_string (or, preferably, resource_stream) to access image.jpg:

img = pkg_resources.resource_string(__name__, 'media/image.jpg')

That should "just work". At least it did when I bundled my media files in the EXE. (Sorry, I've since left the company where I was using py2exe, so don't have a working example to draw on.)

You could also try using pkg_resources.resource_filename(), but I don't think that works under py2exe.