DOKK / manpages / debian 11 / nuitka / nuitka3.1.en
NUITKA(1) User Commands NUITKA(1)

nuitka - the Python compiler

nuitka [--module] [--run] [options] main_module.py

show program's version number and exit
show this help message and exit
Create an extension module executable instead of a program. Defaults to off.
Enable standalone mode for output. This allows you to transfer the created binary to other machines without it using an existing Python installation. This also means it will become big. It implies these option: "-- recurse-all". You may also want to use "--pythonflag=no_site" to avoid the "site.py" module, which can save a lot of code dependencies. Defaults to off.
In case of standalone mode, enable single file mode. This means not a folder, but a compressed executable is created and used. Experimental at this time, and not supported on all OSes. Defaults to off.
Use debug version or not. Default uses what you are using to run Nuitka, most likely a non-debug version.
Python flags to use. Default uses what you are using to run Nuitka, this enforces a specific mode. These are options that also exist to standard Python executable. Currently supported: "-S" (alias "nosite"), "static_hashes" (do not use hash randomization), "no_warnings" (do not give Python runtime warnings), "-O" (alias "noasserts"). Default empty.
If using Python3.3 or Python3.4, provide the path of a Python binary to use for Scons. Otherwise Nuitka can use what you run Nuitka with or a "scons" binary that is found in PATH, or a Python installation from Windows registry.
Enable warnings for implicit exceptions detected at compile time.
Enable warnings for unusual code detected at compile time.
Allow Nuitka to download code if necessary, e.g. dependency walker on Windows.

Include a whole package. Give as a Python namespace, e.g. ``some_package.sub_package`` and Nuitka will then find it and include it and all the modules found below that disk location in the binary or extension module it creates, and make it available for import by the code. Default empty.
Include a single module. Give as a Python namespace, e.g. ``some_package.some_module`` and Nuitka will then find it and include it in the binary or extension module it creates, and make it available for import by the code. Default empty.
Include the content of that directory, no matter if it's used by the given main program in a visible form. Overrides all other recursion options. Can be given multiple times. Default empty.
Include into files matching the PATTERN. Overrides all other follow options. Can be given multiple times. Default empty.
For already compiled extension modules, where there is both a source file and an extension module, normally the extension module is used, but it should be better to compile the module from available source code for best performance. If not desired, there is --noprefer-source-code to disable warnings about it. Default off.

Also descend into imported modules from standard library. This will increase the compilation time by a lot. Defaults to off.
When --recurse-none is used, do not descend into any imported modules at all, overrides all other recursion options. Defaults to off.
When --follow-imports is used, attempt to descend into all imported modules. Defaults to off.
Follow to that module if used, or if a package, to the whole package. Can be given multiple times. Default empty.
Do not follow to that module name even if used, or if a package name, to the whole package in any case, overrides all other options. Can be given multiple times. Default empty.

Include data files of the given package name. Can use patterns. By default Nuitka does not unless hard coded and vital for operation of a package. This will include all non-DLL, non-extension modules in the distribution. Default empty.
Include data files by filenames in the distribution. Could use patterns for use in glob, if specifying a directory with trailing slash. An example would be --include-data-file=/etc/somefile.txt=etc/somefile.txt for plain file copy, and you can copy multiple like --include-data-file=/etc/*.txt:etc/ with a trailing slash required to use the pattern. Default empty.

Execute immediately the created binary (or import the compiled module). Defaults to off.
Execute inside "gdb" to automatically get a stack trace. Defaults to off.
When immediately executing the created binary (--execute), don't reset PYTHONPATH. When all modules are successfully included, you ought to not need PYTHONPATH anymore.

Dump the final result of optimization as XML, then exit.

Enforce absolute compatibility with CPython. Do not even allow minor deviations from CPython behavior, e.g. not having better tracebacks or exception messages which are not really incompatible, but only different. This is intended for tests only and should not be used for normal use.
Select what value "__file__" is going to be. With "runtime" (default for standalone binary mode and module mode), the created binaries and modules, use the location of themselves to deduct the value of "__file__". Included packages pretend to be in directories below that location. This allows you to include data files in deployments. If you merely seek acceleration, it's better for you to use the "original" value, where the source files location will be used. With "frozen" a notation "<frozen module_name>" is used. For compatibility reasons, the "__file__" value will always have ".py" suffix independent of what it really is.

Specify how the executable should be named. For extension modules there is no choice, also not for standalone mode and using it will be an error. This may include path information that needs to exist though. Defaults to <program_name> on this platform. .bin
Specify where intermediate and final output files should be put. The DIRECTORY will be populated with C files, object files, etc. Defaults to current directory.
Removes the build directory after producing the module or exe file. Defaults to off.
Do not create a ".pyi" file for extension modules created by Nuitka. This is used to detect implicit imports. Defaults to off.

Executing all self checks possible to find errors in Nuitka, do not use for production. Defaults to off.
Keep debug info in the resulting object file for better debugger interaction. Defaults to off.
Enable vmprof based profiling of time spent. Not working currently. Defaults to off.
Create graph of optimization process. Defaults to off.
Traced execution output, output the line of code before executing it. Defaults to off.
This is not incremental compilation, but for Nuitka development only. Takes existing files and simply compile them as C again. Allows compiling edited C files for quick debugging changes to the generated source, e.g. to see if code is passed by, values output, etc, Defaults to off. Depends on compiling Python source to determine which files it should look at.
Generate only C source code, and do not compile it to binary or module. This is for debugging and code coverage analysis that doesn't waste CPU. Defaults to off. Do not think you can use this directly.
Use features declared as 'experimental'. May have no effect if no experimental features are present in the code. Uses secret tags (check source) per experimented feature.

Enforce the use of clang. On Windows this requires a working Visual Studio version to piggy back on. Defaults to off.
Specify the allowed number of parallel C compiler jobs. Defaults to the system CPU count.
Use link time optimizations if available and usable (MSVC or gcc 4.6 and higher). Defaults to off.

Disable all information outputs, but show warnings. Defaults to off.
Operate Scons in non-quiet mode, showing the executed commands. Defaults to off.
Provide progress information and statistics. Defaults to off.
Provide memory information and statistics. Defaults to off.
Provide information for included modules and DLLs Defaults to off.
Where to output --show-modules, should be a filename. Default is standard output.
Output details of actions taken, esp. in optimizations. Can become a lot. Defaults to off.
Where to output --verbose, should be a filename. Default is standard output.

When compiling for Windows, use this dependency tool. Defaults to depends.exe, other allowed value is 'pefile'.
When compiling for Windows, disable the console window. Defaults to off.
Add executable icon. Can be given multiple times for different resolutions.
Copy executable icons from this existing executable (Windows only).
Request Windows User Control, to grant admin rights on execution. (Windows only). Defaults to off.
Request Windows User Control, to enforce running from a few folders only, remote desktop access. (Windows only). Defaults to off.
Name of the company to use in Windows Version information. One of file or product version is required, when a version resource needs to be added, e.g. to specify product name, or company name. Defaults to unused.
Name of the product to use in Windows Version information. Defaults to base filename of the binary.
File version to use in Windows Version information. Must be a sequence of up to 4 numbers, nothing else allowed. One of file or product version is required, when a version resource needs to be added, e.g. to specify product name, or company name. Defaults to unused.
Product version to use in Windows Version information. Must be a sequence of up to 4 numbers, nothing else allowed. One of file or product version is required, when a version resource needs to be added, e.g. to specify product name, or company name. Defaults to unused.
Description of the file use in Windows Version information. One of file or product version is required, when a version resource needs to be added, e.g. to specify product name, or company name. Defaults to nonsense.
Use temporary folder rather than company AppData. Defaults to off.

Add executable icon for onefile binary to use. Can be given only one time. Defaults to

Enabled plugins. Must be plug-in names. Use --pluginlist to query the full list and exit. Default empty.
Disabled plugins. Must be plug-in names. Use --pluginlist to query the full list and exit. Default empty.
Plugins can detect if they might be used, and the you can disable the warning via --plugin-disable=pluginthat-warned, or you can use this option to disable the mechanism entirely, which also speeds up compilation slightly of course as this detection code is run in vain once you are certain of which plug-ins to use. Defaults to off.
Show list of all available plugins and exit. Defaults to off.
The file name of user plugin. Can be given multiple times. Default empty.

Python: 3.7.3 (default, Jul 25 2020, 13:03:44) Executable: /usr/bin/python3 OS: Linux Arch: x86_64

Compile a Python file "some_module.py" to a module "some_module.so":

$ nuitka --module some_module.py

Compile a Python program "some_program.py" to an executable "some_program.exe":

$ nuitka some_program.py

Compile a Python program "some_program.py" and the package "some_package" it uses to an executable "some_program.exe":

$ nuitka --recurse-to=some_package some_program.py

Compile a Python program "some_program.py" and all the modules it uses to an executable "some_program.exe". Then execute it immediately when ready:

$ nuitka --run --recurse-all some_program.py

Compile a Python program "some_program.py" and the modules it uses (even standard library) to an executable "some_program.exe":

$ nuitka --recurse-all --recurse-stdlib some_program.py

Compile a Python program "some_program.py" and the modules it uses to an executable "some_program.exe". Keep the debug information, so valgrind, gdb, etc. work nicely.

Note: This will *not* degrade performance:

$ nuitka --unstriped --recurse-all some_program.py

Compile a Python program "some_program.py" and the modules it uses to an executable "some_program.exe". Perform all kinds of checks about correctness of the generated C and run-time checks.

Note: This will degrade performance and should only be used to debug Nuitka:

$ nuitka --debug --recurse-all some_program.py

Compile a Python program "some_program.py" and the modules it uses to an executable "some_program.exe". Perform all kinds of checks about correctness of the generated C and run-time checks. Also use the debug Python library, which does its own checks.

Note: This will degrade performance and should only be used to debug Nuitka:

$ nuitka --debug --python-debug --recurse-all some_program.py

Compile a Python program "some_program.py" and the plugins modules it loads at run time to an executable "some_program.exe":

$ nuitka --recurse-all --recurse-directory=plugins_dir some_program.py
January 2021 nuitka 0.6.11.3