Trying to use pyinstaller with skyfield, building .exe but failing to run

Question

I am trying to package up a script with pyinstaller that uses the skyfield module/API, and it builds, but when I run it, it dies saying it can't find nutation.npz (a data file included in the nutationlib.py _arrays = load_bundled_npy('nutation.npz') ).

I have tried using --onefile, not using it. --add-data and --add-binary don't like it. --hidden-imports doesn't help. --debug=imports wasn't too useful, but the attached log was from --debug=all compilation.

Any thoughts on how to force pyinstaller to include nutation.npz into the built .exe so its there when its extracted/run?

import skyfield.nutationlib # PyInstaller PYZ
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "satvis.py", line 9, in <module>
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 983, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 967, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 677, in _load_unlocked
  File "c:\users\fox\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\loader\pyimod03_importers.py", line 623, in exec_module
    exec(bytecode, module.__dict__)
  File "site-packages\skyfield\api.py", line 11, in <module>
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 983, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 967, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 677, in _load_unlocked
  File "c:\users\fox\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\loader\pyimod03_importers.py", line 623, in exec_module
    exec(bytecode, module.__dict__)
  File "site-packages\skyfield\constellationlib.py", line 29, in <module>
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 983, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 967, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 677, in _load_unlocked
  File "c:\users\fox\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\loader\pyimod03_importers.py", line 623, in exec_module
    exec(bytecode, module.__dict__)
  File "site-packages\skyfield\timelib.py", line 14, in <module>
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 983, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 967, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 677, in _load_unlocked
  File "c:\users\fox\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\loader\pyimod03_importers.py", line 623, in exec_module
    exec(bytecode, module.__dict__)
  File "site-packages\skyfield\nutationlib.py", line 7, in <module>
  File "site-packages\skyfield\functions.py", line 143, in load_bundled_npy
  File "pkgutil.py", line 637, in get_data
  File "c:\users\fox\appdata\local\programs\python\python37\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\loader\pyimod03_importers.py", line 471, in get_data
    with open(path, 'rb') as fp:
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'C:\\Users\\fox\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\_MEI89762\\skyfield\\data\\nutation.npz'
[44412] Failed to execute script satvis

Answer 1

I was able to build a working "onefile" of myprog.exe on Win10 with

python 3.7.9
pyinstaller 4.0
skyfield 1.29

by building a spec file using the command

pyinstaller -F myprog.py

then in the spec file, changing the line

datas=[],

to

datas=[ ('C:\\Users\\Administrator\\Anaconda3\\pkgs\\skyfield-1.28-pyh9f0ad1d_0\\site-packages\\*', 'skyfield')],

The build command I used was

pyinstaller -clean myprog.spec

I don't believe Anaconda had anything to do with it, that's just where my installation has the skyfield package data. I did build it in a standard Python virtual environment however.

Answer 2

You need to add a directory with skyfield data files (npz, npy, etc).

For example, if skyfield located in the virtual environment folder, you need the following pyinstaller call:

pyinstaller --onefile --add-data 'venv/Lib/site-packages/skyfield/data;skyfield/data' yourapp.py

Answer 3

In Skyfield's code, it looks like it thinks of that file as belonging to the package "skyfield":

data = get_data('skyfield', 'data/{0}'.format(filename))

But in Skyfield's setup.py, that file belongs to the subpackage skyfield.data instead:

package_data = {
    'skyfield': ['documentation/*.rst'],
    'skyfield.data': ['Leap_Second.dat', 'deltat.data', 'deltat.preds',
                      '*.npy', '*.npz'],
    'skyfield.tests': ['data/*'],
    },

If you have the ability to edit your local copy of Skyfield, try changing the above-quoted line of code from skyfield/functions.py so that it says:

data = get_data('skyfield.data', '{0}'.format(filename))

There is some chance that the change will fix the problem with PyInstaller. If it does, I will make the change officially to Skyfield’s code!