169 INFO: UPX is available but is disabled on non-Windows due to known compatibility problems.

[OstapTelychko]

I have a question regarding UPX on Linux. I understand the meaning of this warning, but I’ve seen how it optimizes the output folder size on Windows. For instance, in my case, it reduced the size from 109 MB to 70 MB.

Now, I want to know if I can safely run UPX on some Linux binaries without breaking compatibility. Is it possible that all binaries could become incompatible after compression? I’m unsure.

Currently, my output folder size is 144 MB on Linux, and I’m looking to use UPX to reduce the update time for my users.

System Information:
OS: Linux Mint 22 (Wilma)
PyInstaller Version: 6.11.1
Python Version: 3.11.4
Modules Used: PySide6, SQLAlchemy, sqlite3, Alembic, threading, unittest

Research So Far:
I have searched all open and closed issues, as well as discussions, but I couldn’t find any mention of UPX. Perhaps I missed something, but I did my best to avoid creating duplicate issues or discussions.
If you know of any existing UPX-related issues or discussions that address my concern, please share them here. I will close this discussion if it is redundant

[bwoodsend]

Easiest way to explain is just to try running UPX on Linux. E.g. on latest Ubuntu:

$ cat > test.c
#include <stdio.h>
void main() {
  printf("hello\n");
}
$ gcc test.c
$ upx a.out
$ ./a.out 
Segmentation fault

Try running UPX on your own project.