What do I use on linux to make a python program executable

Just put this in the first line of your script :

#!/usr/bin/env python

Make the file executable with

chmod +x myfile.py

Execute with

./myfile.py

If you want to obtain a stand-alone binary application in Python try to use a tool like py2exe or PyInstaller.

Putting these lines at the starting of the code will tell your operating systems to look up the binary program needed for the execution of the python script i.e it is the python interpreter.

So it depends on your operating system where it keeps the python interpreter. As I have Ubuntu as operating system it keeps the python interpreter in /usr/bin/python so I have to write this line at the starting of my python script;

#!/usr/bin/python

After completing and saving your code

1. Start your command terminal

2. Make sure the script lies in your present working directory

3. Type chmod +x script_name.py

4. Now you can start the script by clicking the script. An alert box will appear; press "Run" or "Run in Terminal" in the alert box; or, at the terminal prompt, type ./script_name.py

You can use PyInstaller. It generates a build dist so you can execute it as a single "binary" file.

http://pythonhosted.org/PyInstaller/#using-pyinstaller

Python 3 has the native option of create a build dist also:

https://docs.python.org/3/distutils/builtdist.html