provides binary/installer to ease the installation/onboarding of ramalama

[benoitf]

Proposal: Provide Self-Contained Installers for Windows and macOS

Problem

Currently, Python is not installed by default on Windows and macOS. Since ramalama package requires a Python runtime, installation becomes more complex compared to a self-contained binary.

• The package is available on PyPI, but users need a proper Python installation.
• Homebrew can be used on macOS, but not all users have it installed.
• Windows users need to install Python separately before using the package.

Suggested Solution

To improve accessibility, I am thinking of:

1. A .pkg installer for macOS and .exe installer for Windows
2. A self-contained binary for Windows and macOS (with a potential startup delay due to unpacking) or a directory to unpack

Potential Approach

It seems that PyInstaller can generate these self-contained packages out of the box. Using it to create platform-specific installers might simplify installation and adoption.

Benefits

• Easier installation process without requiring users to set up Python manually
• Broader accessibility for non-developer users
• Reduces friction in adoption

[rhatdan]

@lsm5 I wonder if this is something we could execute via github actions, when we generate a release?

[ericcurtin]

macOS is a packaging effort.

Could we consider running RamaLama inside podman-machine or WSL2 for Windows? Porting it to Windows will be a significant effort.

Note if we run RamaLama directly on Windows and/or macOS you lose all the container features of RamaLama, which is kind of a key goal of RamaLama and Podman Desktop.

[benoitf]

Note if we run RamaLama directly on Windows and/or macOS you lose all the container features of RamaLama, which is kind of a key goal of RamaLama and Podman Desktop.

Hello, I'm not sure to follow there ? it's only a packaging thing. So python runtime is included.
I don't see why we wouldn't be able to run any of the container features ?

[ericcurtin]

Note if we run RamaLama directly on Windows and/or macOS you lose all the container features of RamaLama, which is kind of a key goal of RamaLama and Podman Desktop.

Hello, I'm not sure to follow there ? it's only a packaging thing. So python runtime is included. I don't see why we wouldn't be able to run any of the container features ?

Because containers don't exist in Windows or macOS, but if you run RamaLama inside a Linux VM like podman-machine or WSL2 (WSL2 already should have the GPU passthrough necessary on WIndows) you are in a Linux environment where you can run containers.

[benoitf]

Because containers don't exist in Windows or macOS, but if you run RamaLama inside a Linux VM like podman-machine or WSL2 (WSL2 already should have the GPU passthrough necessary on WIndows) you are in a Linux environment where you can run containers.

if you have a podman machine on macOS or Windows it means you have the podman CLI on your host (which is a podman-remote) then it means that the podman command you're running is launching the container. Why would you go inside the podman machine to run the command while it's on the host ?

[ericcurtin]

Because containers don't exist in Windows or macOS, but if you run RamaLama inside a Linux VM like podman-machine or WSL2 (WSL2 already should have the GPU passthrough necessary on WIndows) you are in a Linux environment where you can run containers.

if you have a podman machine on macOS or Windows it means you have the podman CLI on your host (which is a podman-remote) then it means that the podman command you're running is launching the container. Why would you go inside the podman machine to run the command while it's on the host ?

Because RamaLama makes all sorts of assumptions that the Base OS is Unix-like, which is a fair assumption when it's a containers oriented tool...

It's not only a packaging thing for Windows, if you try and execute RamaLama on Windows it will fail in multiple ways.

You also don't need to package python3 when you run inside podman-machine as you can depend on the Linux distros packaging.