IndexError: tuple index out of range when using py2exe

Question

I'm currently trying to make an executable using py2exe. I use Python 3.6. The script I'm using imports openpyxl and pptx and runs fine when I use Pycharm or run the script using the command window.

The output produces the error:

IndexError: tuple index out of range

Below you can find the cmd output:

C:\Python36>python setup.py py2exe
running py2exe
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "setup.py", line 4, in <module>
    setup(console=['Storybookmaker.py'])
  File "C:\Python36\lib\distutils\core.py", line 148, in setup
    dist.run_commands()
  File "C:\Python36\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 955, in run_commands
    self.run_command(cmd)
  File "C:\Python36\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 974, in run_command
    cmd_obj.run()
  File "C:\Python36\lib\site-packages\py2exe\distutils_buildexe.py", line 188, in run
    self._run()
  File "C:\Python36\lib\site-packages\py2exe\distutils_buildexe.py", line 267, in _run
    builder.analyze()
  File "C:\Python36\lib\site-packages\py2exe\runtime.py", line 160, in analyze
    self.mf.import_hook(modname)
  File "C:\Python36\lib\site-packages\py2exe\mf3.py", line 120, in import_hook
    module = self._gcd_import(name)
  File "C:\Python36\lib\site-packages\py2exe\mf3.py", line 274, in _gcd_import
    return self._find_and_load(name)
  File "C:\Python36\lib\site-packages\py2exe\mf3.py", line 357, in _find_and_load
    self._scan_code(module.__code__, module)
  File "C:\Python36\lib\site-packages\py2exe\mf3.py", line 388, in _scan_code
    for what, args in self._scan_opcodes(code):
  File "C:\Python36\lib\site-packages\py2exe\mf3.py", line 417, in _scan_opcodes
    yield "store", (names[oparg],)
IndexError: tuple index out of range

C:\Python36>

What causes the IndexError?

Edit: here is the setup.py file:

from distutils.core import setup
import py2exe

setup(console=['Storybookmaker.py'])

Answer 1

Update (2020-11-17): py2exe LIVES!!!

Apparently my pessimism a year ago (see "Update" at bottom of original post) was unwarranted. py2exe released new versions in October and November of 2020, supporting 3.5-3.8 in 0.10.0.2 and adding 3.9 support in 0.10.1.0 (dropping support for 3.4 and earlier). As long as you upgrade to an appropriate py2exe version (0.10 and higher), this problem should not occur.

Further update (2022-11-09): It looks like py2exe is staying up to date with the latest releases of CPython now (e.g. they released 0.13.0.0, a 3.11 compatible py2exe, within two weeks of CPython 3.11.0 itself being released) so it looks like you can rely on continuing support for the time being. They seem to be supporting 4-5 minor releases of CPython for any given release (the first release with 3.9 support dropped support for 3.4 and earlier, and the latest release that added support for 3.11 dropped 3.7 support).

---

Original Answer before py2exe 0.10 release

Python 3.6 completely redesigned the bytecode for CPython (it's not a "byte" code at all anymore, it's a wordcode, where all opcodes are two bytes wide instead of 1-3).

The failure you're seeing occurs in py2exe opcode parsing code, which, given the most recent posted version of py2exe only claims support for 3.3 and 3.4, could not possibly have knowledge of, or support for, the new wordcode opcodes; they hadn't even been conceived of at the time py2exe was last updated. The bytecode often changes in small ways from version to version that could break even Python 3.5 (given only 3.3 and 3.4 support is claimed explicitly), but 3.6 is 100% guaranteed to fail.

Update: At this point (November 2019), it's been over five years since the last py2exe release, and by the beginning of 2020 (when Python 2 support lapses completely), it will not run on any supported version of Python (3.4 is already out of support). I think it's safe to say the project is abandoned; find other options, e.g. cx_Freeze or PyInstaller.

Answer 2

Update (2021-11-3): As @ShadowRanger has said in his update py2exe lives. Also Version 0.10.1.0 has dropped support for python 3.5 or less PyInstaller or cx_Freeze can be used as an alternative.

---

Original Answer

The solution I used was to use PyInstaller as an alternative because Py2Exe stopped development at python 3.4 and will not work with newer versions.

C:/>pip install pyinstaller
C:/>pyinstaller yourprogram.py

This will create a subdirectory called dist with the yourprogram.exe contained in a folder called yourprogram.

Use -F to place all generated files in one executable file.

C:/>pyinstaller -F yourprogram

Use can use -w to if you want to remove console display for GUI's.

C:/>pyinstaller -w yourprogram.py

Putting it all togerther.

C:/>pyinstaller -w -F yourprogram.py

Read more about PyInstaller here.

Python version 3.7.3.

Answer 3

I had same problem, as workaround I used cx_freeze. My app is based on wxPython, windows 10, python 3.6, cx_freeze 5.5.1

This is the setup file that I used and I got msi file on dist folder.

#setup.py
import sys, os
from cx_Freeze import setup, Executable

__version__ = "1.1.0"

include_files = ['logging.ini', 'config.ini', 'running.png']
excludes = ["tkinter"]
packages = ["os", "idna", "requests","json","base64","pyodbc"]

setup(
    name = "appname",
    description='App Description',
    version=__version__,
    options = {"build_exe": {
    'packages': packages,
    'include_files': include_files,
    'excludes': excludes,
    'include_msvcr': True,
}},
executables = [Executable("b2b_conn.py",base="Win32GUI")]
)`

then python setup.py bdist_msi

Answer 4

I tried a workaround, by installing Python 3.4.3:

C:\socket> c:\Python34\python.exe setup.py py2exe

1) enter in your script folder

2) deactivate any antivirus that you have (weird thing, know by another SO question xD)

3) call the python 3.4.3 interpreter by his absolute path, in my case, i've installed in:

C:\Python34

4) execute the command

C:\Python34\python.exe setup.py py2exe

Answer 5

I've had success with a Python 3.6 program using the fork of py2exe at https://github.com/albertosottile/py2exe.

Answer 6

At time of writing, the latest python-version is 3.8 and py2exe works until python-3.4. pyinstaller works until python-3.7. Using pyinstaller's command-line options (like --onefile to make a standalone executable) is easier than coding options into py2exe's setup.py file...Especially since the setup.py files that worked for python2 don't work for python3. Another useful pyinstaller option is --noconsole to make the executable start as a background process.

So, a time-less solution is using the python-module virtualenv. Then you can create your executable without uninstalling your current python-version along with all its modules, to replace it with an older version.

C:\Users\jf>pip install virtualenv
C:\Users\jf>python -m virtualenv box37 -p c:\users\jf\python37\python.exe
C:\Users\jf>C:\Users\jf\box37\Scripts\activate
(box37) C:\Users\jf>
(box37) C:\Users\jf>pip install pyinstaller
(box37) C:\Users\jf>pyinstaller --onefile test.py
(box37) C:\Users\jf>deactivate
C:\Users\jf>

The command-line option -p c:\path\to\target\python\interpreter, is case-sensitive! For pyinstaller use the path you downloaded python-3.7 to (py2exe the path to 3.4).

When created the virtual env. generates a directory with your given name (e.g. box37) in the working directory. Executing the script \Script\activate inside this directory enters the virutal env. - notice (box37) appearing before my prompt.

Inside a python virtual env. pip is used to install modules that won't be accesible to python outside - notice it has its own \Lib\site-packages directory. Hence what makes virtualenv a perfect test-set-up module - if you screw up, just delete the (e.g. box37) directory.

Download Python 3.7, Windows x86-64 executable installer. Download Python 3.4, Windows x86-64 MSI installer.