> Why does it matter if a program is a self-contained binary?
Because simple is better than complex. I'd rather download a binary than download a binary + dependencies + set them up + bookkeep for when I want to delete all those files.
> Pyinstaller is pretty good for if you need a standalone installer.
PyInstaller doesn't work for many edge cases. If you're using a Python package that uses a compiled binary written in another language, good luck on your way down the rabbit hole of PyInstaller config. I personally could not succeed in packaging a uvicorn app, for example.
Because simple is better than complex. I'd rather download a binary than download a binary + dependencies + set them up + bookkeep for when I want to delete all those files.
> Pyinstaller is pretty good for if you need a standalone installer.
PyInstaller doesn't work for many edge cases. If you're using a Python package that uses a compiled binary written in another language, good luck on your way down the rabbit hole of PyInstaller config. I personally could not succeed in packaging a uvicorn app, for example.