How to turn a UNIX executable into a desktop icon shortcut?

Question

I have a python program that is executable and I can run it on my terminal by typing: ./python_file_name

This is fine for my use, but I want the program to be accessible to non-computer people. I would like to be able to create a desktop shortcut that runs the UNIX executable file. Currently when I double click the executable file it just opens the python program in a text editor. I want to be able to have the end-user double click the file so that it executes in the background.

Just for completeness, the script generates a time-sensitive-data-scraping csv file in the user's downloads folder. Therefore, there is no need to create an application with a GUI or anything fancy like that. Also, I am using Ubuntu and the end-user will be on Mac OS X.

Answer 1

I think you're looking for py2app . It will allow you to send your user a nice little application bundle.