Masquerading As Other Packaging Tools

Tools to package and distribute Python applications existed several years before PyOxidizer. Many Python packages have learned to perform special behavior when the _fingerprint* of these tools is detected at run-time.

First, PyOxidizer has its own fingerprint: sys.oxidized = True. The presence of this attribute can indicate an application running with PyOxidizer. Other applications are discouraged from defining this attribute.

Since PyOxidizer’s run-time behavior is similar to other packaging tools, PyOxidizer supports falsely identifying itself as these other tools by emulating their fingerprints.

PythonInterpreterConfig.sys_frozen controls whether sys.frozen = True is set. This can allow PyOxidizer to advertise itself as a frozen application.

In addition, the PythonInterpreterConfig.sys_meipass boolean flag controls whether a sys._MEIPASS = <exe directory> attribute is set. This allows PyOxidizer to masquerade as having been built with PyInstaller.

Warning

Masquerading as other packaging tools is effectively lying and can be dangerous, as code relying on these attributes won’t know if it is interacting with PyOxidizer or some other tool. It is recommended to only set these attributes to unblock enabling packages to work with PyOxidizer until other packages learn to check for sys.oxidized = True. Setting sys._MEIPASS is definitely the more risky option, as a case can be made that PyOxidizer should set sys.frozen = True by default.