Windows Executable Link Stubs

This project allows the creation of Windows "executable stubs" - exe files that when run, execute a defined command, passing the command line arguments on to the subcommand, and optionally forcing a sub-directory from where the icon is located.

It is derived from initial commit of project //github.com/pfmoore/shimmy of Paul Moore to replace Nullsoft in WinPython project as the creator of icon launchers.

Usage

Compile a typical generic launcher, with VS tools

cl stub400.c

Generate a Python Launcher generator mkshim400.py from this executable and templateNNN.py model, via:

python buildNNN.py -s stub400.exe -t templateNNN.py -o mkshim400.py

Create a final launcher as follow:

mkshim400.py -f filename.exe -c "a command"
mkshim400.py -f filename.exe -c "a command" --subdir ".\s_sub-directory_of_the_launcher"

This will generate an executable, filename.exe, which when run, will execute a command. So, for example:

filename a b c

runs

a command a b c

Note that there is no requirement for the command to be just an executable name. A common usage might be to run py C:\Some\Python\Script.py.

Complement

The strings [dollar], [simplequote], and [doublequote] will be replaced per their respective character in the command line The environment variable $ENV:WINPYDIRICONS is created per the launcher, with current launcher location, but this work only for powershell.exe, on Windows11.

example:

mkshim400.py -f my_IDLE_icon.exe -c "powershell.exe start-process -WindowStyle Hidden -FilePath ([dollar]ENV:WINPYDIRICONS + '\scripts\winidle.bat')"

An icon can be added (if you have pywin32)

example:

mkshim400.py -f my_IDLE_icon.exe -c "powershell.exe start-process -WindowStyle Hidden -FilePath ([dollar]ENV:WINPYDIRICONS + '\scripts\winidle.bat')" -i "python.ico"

It is possible to have the supplied arguments inserted somewhere other than at the end of the line, by including %s in the command string. The arguments will be inserted in place of the %s.

Technical Details

The command is executed using the Windows CreateProcess API, so file associations will not be considered when running the subcommand.

The stub executable is built from the stub400.c source. The compile command is simply cl stub400.c. The script is built from templateNNN.py and the stub.exe using buildNNN.py, variable %%STUB%% of templateNNN.Py being replaced per stub400.exe coded in Base64.

If you want to use a different stub when building a link (for example, when testing a change to the stub code) you can use the --stub argument to specify the name of the sub exe directly. Otherwise, it will be the embedded stub400.exe

Command Line and Sub-Directory are arbitrary limited to 400 characters long.

Future Possibilities

1. Include the icon addition, currently in sister project winpython/winpython make.py, with:

   updateExecutableIcon(launcher_name, icon_path)

2. if ever for 32 bit "real", maybe shall we use "cl /EHsc /Fe:stub400.exe /arch:IA32 stub400.c"