indygreg / indygreg/PyOxidizer

docs: Comparison with PyInstaller is inaccurate

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enhancement
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Rust
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Description

The [comparison document](https://github.com/indygreg/PyOxidizer/blob/main/docs/comparisons.rst#pyinstaller) states:

> PyInstaller - like PyOxidizer - can produce a self-contained executable file containing your application. However, at run-time, PyInstaller will extract Python source/bytecode files to a temporary directory then import modules from the filesystem. PyOxidizer typically skips this step and loads modules directly from memory using zero-copy. This makes PyOxidizer executables significantly faster to start.

This is only true for onefile mode in PyInstaller, onedir mode does not need to extract any files. The Python modules are directly zip imported from the resulting binary and shared libraries are placed in the directory beside the executable. The onedir mode is actually the default so unless users explicitly opt into it, they will not see this behaviour.

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Open docs/comparisons.rst at the PyInstaller comparison and verify the stated runtime behavior against PyInstaller's onefile and onedir modes. Done means the comparison accurately distinguishes extraction in onefile mode from onedir's behavior and notes which mode is the default.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
1/5
Estimated time
Under an hour
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Clearly specified
Newbie friendliness
55/100

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