Question

I have to generate an executable (.exe) file from my python program. I would like to store information in a persistent way within this .exe file itself.

Normally I would prickel it into an external file, however for me it is important that the information is stored in the .exe file itself and not externally.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

If you want read-write data:

Don’t do this. An executable changing itself isn’t guaranteed to work. Some executables write data at the end of the file (in theory) but you don’t know:

• whether antivirus software will pick this behaviour up as part of behavioural analysis
• whether the executable is actually writable from the executable process
• whether data you write might become executable in theory and result in a security exploit
• whether you’ll want to update a new release to the code next week, which will replace the executable file and lose the data

[Nearly] all software is able to get by with ‘normal’ file storage (i.e. in a user / application data directory).

If you just want read-only data:

Fine, no problem. Write a Python file with the data in it, as a variable in a module. You can write a python file as part of your build process.