This article demonstrates how to use the pyi-grab_version tool to extract version information from applications, and how to use the pyi-set_version tool to add version information to applications.

File Version Information

Windows applications may contain version information that describes the executable file's properties:

File version information
File version information

By default, files generated by PyInstaller do not contain this information.

pyi-grab_version Usage

The pyi-grab_version tool can extract version information from any Windows executable file that contains it. The syntax is:

pyi-grab_version exe-file [out-filename]
  • exe-file: Path to the executable file containing version information (will error if none exists)
  • out-filename: File to save the information to (default: file_version_info.txt)

Here's sample version information extracted from python.exe:

# UTF-8
#
# For more details about fixed file info 'ffi' see:
# http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms646997.aspx
VSVersionInfo(
  ffi=FixedFileInfo(
    # filevers and prodvers should be always a tuple with four items: (1, 2, 3, 4)
    # Set not needed items to zero 0.
    filevers=(3, 11, 5150, 1013),
    prodvers=(3, 11, 5150, 1013),
    # Contains a bitmask that specifies the valid bits 'flags'r
    mask=0x3f,
    # Contains a bitmask that specifies the Boolean attributes of the file.
    flags=0x0,
    # The operating system for which this file was designed.
    # 0x4 - NT and there is no need to change it.
    OS=0x4,
    # The general type of file.
    # 0x1 - the file is an application.
    fileType=0x1,
    # The function of the file.
    # 0x0 - the function is not defined for this fileType
    subtype=0x0,
    # Creation date and time stamp.
    date=(0, 0)
    ),
  kids=[
    StringFileInfo(
      [
      StringTable(
        '000004b0',
        [StringStruct('CompanyName', 'Python Software Foundation'),
        StringStruct('FileDescription', 'Python'),
        StringStruct('FileVersion', '3.11.5'),
        StringStruct('InternalName', 'Python Console'),
        StringStruct('LegalCopyright', 'Copyright © 2001-2023 Python Software Foundation. Copyright © 2000 BeOpen.com. Copyright © 1995-2001 CNRI. Copyright © 1991-1995 SMC.'),
        StringStruct('OriginalFilename', 'python.exe'),
        StringStruct('ProductName', 'Python'),
        StringStruct('ProductVersion', '3.11.5')])
      ]), 
    VarFileInfo([VarStruct('Translation', [0, 1200])])
  ]
)

You can directly modify this information for your own program. The file may contain Unicode characters - edit and save using utf-8 encoding.

When using pyinstaller, add the --version-file option to bundle the version resource with your application:

pyinstaller -F --version-file file_version_info.txt main.py

Alternatively, use pyi-set_version to add version information after building your application.

pyi-set_version Usage

pyi-set_version adds version information to applications. The syntax is:

pyi-set_version info-file exe-file

pyi-set_version works with all exe/dll files;

Existing version information will be updated if present;

  • info-file: Text file containing version information
  • exe-file: Executable file to receive version information