VersionInfo helper script for PyInstaller

This repository contains helper scripts to dynamically create VersionInfo objects that can be embedded in .exe files created by PyInstaller.

Project Status

Category	Workflow information
Published on PyPI
Documentation
Tests
Type annotations: inline
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Motivation

This project was created because existing solutions to embed version information inside executables relied on creating artifact files that get read (and eval-ed) by PyInstaller during the build process.
Dynamically creating such files essentially boiled down to inserting data in a string template, with no guides to the user if their entered data is valid or not.
A bit of exploration of PyInstaller's source code and official Microsoft documentation revealed that it should be possible to provide PyInstaller with necessary data straight from .spec files without file-read-and-eval step.
This approach has the added bonus of being type hint compatible, offering rich auto-complete in supported IDEs.

Installation

Wheels are available on PyPI, install with:

pip install versioninfo_helper

Usage

See example_simple.onefile.spec and example_dynamic.onefile.spec for examples on how to integrate VersionInfo creation directly into PyInstaller .spec files.

Snippet of .spec file with embedded VersionInfo generation:

...  # Skipped other parts of .spec file

def gen_version_info():  #  -> VSVersionInfo
    '''
    Helper function, which can be embedded in .spec file,
    generates VSVersionInfo instance for executable.
    '''
    from versioninfo_helper import CharsetCode
    from versioninfo_helper import LanguageID
    from versioninfo_helper import create_VersionInfo
    # version must be a tuple of 4 (16-bit) integers
    # hardcoded in this example, but can be generated dynamically as needed
    version = (1, 2, 3, 4)
    version_str = '.'.join(str(v) for v in version)

    return create_VersionInfo(
        version,
        strings=[
            {
                # all fields are described in included TypedDicts, 
                # so IDEs should offer auto-complete and type checks
                "lang_id": LanguageID.US_English,
                "charset_id": CharsetCode.Unicode,
                "fields": {
                    "CompanyName": 'Your Company Name LLC',
                    'FileDescription': f'AppName ({version_str})',
                    'FileVersion': f'{version_str}',
                    'InternalName': 'AppName.exe',
                    'LegalCopyright': '© 2026 Your Company Name LLC',
                    'OriginalFilename': 'AppName.exe',
                    'ProductName': 'AppName - Part of Product',
                    'ProductVersion': f'{version_str}',
                }
            }
        ]
    )

...  # Skipped other parts of .spec file

exe = EXE(
    pyz,
    a.scripts,
    a.binaries,
    a.zipfiles,
    a.datas,
    [],
    name='AppName',
    debug=False,
    bootloader_ignore_signals=False,
    strip=False,
    upx=True,
    upx_exclude=[],
    runtime_tmpdir=None,
    console=True,
    icon='icon.ico',
    version=gen_version_info()  # call your helper function here
)