Moving the .spec in a subfolder without breaking the build

[DeepThoughtt]

Hi! I made a small project, this is the folder structure:

As you can see I have the .spec file in the root folder of the project, but I'd like to have it in the .windows folder. With the current project structure the following .spec works:

# -*- mode: python ; coding: utf-8 -*-

import os
from PyInstaller.utils.hooks import collect_data_files, collect_submodules

project_root = os.path.abspath(".")

import sys
sys.path.insert(0, project_root)

datas = []
datas += collect_data_files("assets")
datas += collect_data_files("l10n")

a = Analysis(
    ['src/main.py'],
    pathex=[project_root],
    binaries=[],
    datas=datas,
    hiddenimports=collect_submodules('src'),
    hookspath=[],
    hooksconfig={},
    runtime_hooks=[],
    excludes=[],
    noarchive=False,
    optimize=0,
)

pyz = PYZ(a.pure)

exe = EXE(
    pyz,
    a.scripts,
    a.binaries,
    a.datas,
    [],
    name='Tutel',
    debug=False,
    bootloader_ignore_signals=False,
    strip=False,
    upx=True,
    upx_exclude=[],
    runtime_tmpdir=None,
    console=False,
    icon='assets/icons/tutel.ico',
)

coll = COLLECT(
    exe,
    a.binaries,
    a.zipfiles,
    a.datas,
    strip=False,
    upx=True,
    name='Tutel'
)

I tried moving the .spec and changing it like this:

# -*- mode: python ; coding: utf-8 -*-

import os
from PyInstaller.utils.hooks import collect_data_files, collect_submodules

project_root = os.path.abspath(".")

import sys
sys.path.insert(0, project_root)

datas = []
datas += collect_data_files(os.path.join(project_root, "assets"))
datas += collect_data_files(os.path.join(project_root, "l10n"))

a = Analysis(
    collect_data_files(os.path.join(project_root, "src/main.py")),
    pathex=[project_root],
    binaries=[],
    datas=datas,
    hiddenimports=collect_submodules(os.path.join(project_root, "src")),
    hookspath=[],
    hooksconfig={},
    runtime_hooks=[],
    excludes=[],
    noarchive=False,
    optimize=0,
)

pyz = PYZ(a.pure)

exe = EXE(
    pyz,
    a.scripts,
    a.binaries,
    a.datas,
    [],
    name='Tutel',
    debug=False,
    bootloader_ignore_signals=False,
    strip=False,
    upx=True,
    upx_exclude=[],
    runtime_tmpdir=None,
    console=False,
    icon=os.path.join(project_root, 'assets', 'icons', 'tutel.ico'),
)

coll = COLLECT(
    exe,
    a.binaries,
    a.zipfiles,
    a.datas,
    strip=False,
    upx=True,
    name='Tutel'
)

This worked like a charm for another project (a simpler one which produces just the .exe, not a directory) but when I try to build this the program doesn't start. What am I missing?
The project in question is This one, if you want to take a look for yourself. There is a "build" branch where I am testing stuff.
Thanks for your help!

[rokm]

For starters, collect_data_files() and collect_submodules() take importable package name as argument, so turning them into paths definitely won't be very helpful...

[DeepThoughtt]

Well, this makes it even more confusing since this worked on another project, but I guess we could say it worked DESPITE this, at this point

[rokm]

If the other project is public, I can also take a look and see why it worked there.

But for this one, does removing the os.path.join() from collect_data_files() and collect_submodules() fix the problem, or not (and is it the same or a different run-time error)?

[DeepThoughtt]

Yes the other project is public, it's this one. There are actually more .spec files in that one, but they all do the same thing. I'll try removing those os.path.join and see if it works

[rokm]

The only asset in this other project seems to be the .ico file, which is probably not referenced by python code and is used only for the PyInstaller build. And similarly, you probably do not even need the collect_submodules() call, since all imports are successfully discovered by our import analysis (i.e., no indirect imports and no lazy-loaded imports).

In the project that we're discussing here, you have at least one asset (the assets/configs/default_appsettings.json) and failing to collect that probably results in a run-time error.

[DeepThoughtt]

So, now I get this error, but I'm guessing I just messed up where I'm trying to find the main file, in fact it's looking for it in the .windows folder:

Run pyinstaller .windows/tutel-windows.spec --noconfirm
196 INFO: PyInstaller: 6.21.0, contrib hooks: 2026.6
197 INFO: Python: 3.13.14
218 INFO: Platform: Windows-2025Server-10.0.26100-SP0
218 INFO: Python environment: C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.13.14\x64
ERROR: script 'D:\a\Tutel\Tutel\.windows\src\main.py' not found
Error: Process completed with exit code 1.

I'm guessing I just have to make this ['src/main.py'] become this ['../src/main.py']. I'll try this and see if it works

[DeepThoughtt]

Hmm ok I see, so the issue is about collecting all the assets properly

[rokm]

Hmm ok I see, so the issue is about collecting all the assets properly

That would be my first guess, yes. If you get a run-time error again, please post the traceback here, so we can tell for sure what went wrong.

[DeepThoughtt]

Ok so, this works:

# -*- mode: python ; coding: utf-8 -*-

import os
from PyInstaller.utils.hooks import collect_data_files, collect_submodules

project_root = os.path.abspath(".")

import sys
sys.path.insert(0, project_root)

datas = []
datas += collect_data_files("assets")
datas += collect_data_files("l10n")

a = Analysis(
    ['../src/main.py'],
    pathex=[project_root],
    binaries=[],
    datas=datas,
    hiddenimports=collect_submodules("src"),
    hookspath=[],
    hooksconfig={},
    runtime_hooks=[],
    excludes=[],
    noarchive=False,
    optimize=0,
)

pyz = PYZ(a.pure)

exe = EXE(
    pyz,
    a.scripts,
    a.binaries,
    a.datas,
    [],
    name='Tutel',
    debug=False,
    bootloader_ignore_signals=False,
    strip=False,
    upx=True,
    upx_exclude=[],
    runtime_tmpdir=None,
    console=False,
    icon="../assets/icons/tutel.ico",
)

coll = COLLECT(
    exe,
    a.binaries,
    a.zipfiles,
    a.datas,
    strip=False,
    upx=True,
    name='Tutel'
)

So yeah the issue was definitely the importing of the assets being messed up. I definitely need to check the .spec files in the other project, they work but I want to remove the weird parts (the os.path.join calls). Thank you very much!

[rokm]

    pathex=[project_root],

This pathex should also be redundant - because you already added project_root to sys.path before Analysis is instantiated (which you had to do in order to make assets, l10n, and src directories importable for collect_data_files and collect_submodules calls that happen prior to Analysis instantiation).

[DeepThoughtt]

So I can just delete that parameter?
About the collect_submodules() call we discussed before in the other project I linked: how do I understand if that is necessary or not? I am not familiar with the concept of lazy-loaded imports

[rokm]

So I can just delete that parameter?

Yes.

About the collect_submodules() call we discussed before in the other project I linked: how do I understand if that is necessary or not? I am not familiar with the concept of lazy-loaded imports

PyInstaller's import analysis should be able to pick up regular import ... and from ... import ... statements. If you are using those, you shouldn't need hidden imports (and collect_submodules). What we cannot pick up are programmatic imports - for example, if you construct a module name into a variable, and then use __import__(var_name) or importlib.import_module(var_name).

You can also try removing the collect_submodules(), and see if you get any missing-module errors at run-time (usually people start adding hiddden imports and using collect_submodules() after seeing that modules are missing). But using it pre-emptively is also not really a problem, just redundant.

[DeepThoughtt]

Ok, I understand now. I made both modifications to the .spec file and both worked. Thank you for the explanation!