#1999·Nuitka

Question: main executable outside distribution folder when using `--standalone`

Author: du33169Created Jan 14, 2023Updated Sep 13, 2026
Labelsenhancementquestionhelp wanted

I use Nuitka with the option --standalone to pack up my code to a portable program, which is sensitive to the startup time so --onefile is not considered. However, some of my users complained it was hard to find the executable among all the numerous library files.

The only workaround I could figure out is to add a startup script outside but it confuses regular users.

In that case, I am wondering if there's any option to put the executable outside the folder, or is there any other way to achieve this?

The following example might better describe what I'm talking about:

Current Output:

main.dist/
    xx.pyd
    xx.pyd
    ...
    main.exe
    ...
    xx.dll

Expected:

main.dist/
   main.exe
   lib/
       xx.pyd
       xx.dll
       ...