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Building the Name Generator Installer

This project uses PyInstaller to create a standalone executable and Inno Setup to create a Windows installer that actually installs the app (Start Menu, Uninstall, etc.).

Important: PyInstaller alone does not install anything—it only creates an exe file. To have the app show up in Start Menu and Add/Remove Programs, you must build the Inno Setup installer and then run the generated Setup exe.

Prerequisites

  • Python 3.10+ with the project dependencies installed
  • PyInstaller: pip install pyinstaller
  • Inno Setup 6 (needed to create the installer that installs the app)

Step 1: Create the executable

From the project root (where app.py and NameGenerator.spec are):

# Activate your venv, then:
pip install pyinstaller -r requirements.txt
pyinstaller NameGenerator.spec

Result: A file is created at dist\NameGenerator.exe. This step does not install the app—it only builds the exe. You can run dist\NameGenerator.exe directly to test, but nothing is added to Start Menu or Program Files yet.

Step 2: Create the installer (Setup exe)

  1. Install Inno Setup 6 if you haven’t.
  2. Make sure Step 1 is done (you have dist\NameGenerator.exe).
  3. Open installer.iss in Inno Setup (double‑click or File → Open).
  4. In Inno Setup, choose Build → Compile.

Result: Inno Setup creates output\NameGenerator-Setup-1.0.exe. This is the installer program—it does not install the app by itself.

Step 3: Install the app (run the Setup exe)

  1. Go to the output folder in your project.
  2. Double‑click NameGenerator-Setup-1.0.exe.
  3. Follow the wizard (choose install folder, desktop shortcut, etc.).
  4. When it finishes, the app is installed:
    • Start Menu → “Name Generator”
    • Uninstall: Settings → Apps → Name Generator → Uninstall

Until you run the Setup exe (Step 3), nothing is installed on the system—you only have the built exe and the installer file.

Summary

Step What you do What you get
1 pyinstaller NameGenerator.spec dist\NameGenerator.exe (run directly to test)
2 Compile installer.iss in Inno Setup output\NameGenerator-Setup-1.0.exe (the installer)
3 Run NameGenerator-Setup-1.0.exe App installed (Start Menu, optional desktop icon, Uninstall entry)

Notes for end users

  • Ollama must be installed and running (e.g. ollama serve) with at least one model (e.g. ollama pull llama2). The installer can optionally open the Ollama download page.
  • The first run creates %APPDATA%\NameGenerator for prompts, config, and theme. Reinstalling or updating the app does not delete this data.