diff --git a/bypy/init_env.py b/bypy/init_env.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8de214036
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bypy/init_env.py
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+# vim:fileencoding=utf-8
+# License: GPLv3 Copyright: 2020, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>
+
+import os
+import re
+import shutil
+import subprocess
+import sys
+
+from bypy.constants import (
+    LIBDIR, PREFIX, PYTHON, SRC as KITTY_DIR, ismacos, worker_env
+)
+from bypy.utils import run_shell
+
+
+def read_src_file(name):
+    with open(os.path.join(KITTY_DIR, 'kitty', name), 'rb') as f:
+        return f.read().decode('utf-8')
+
+
+def initialize_constants():
+    kitty_constants = {}
+    src = read_src_file('constants.py')
+    nv = re.search(r'Version\((\d+), (\d+), (\d+)\)', src)
+    kitty_constants['version'] = '%s.%s.%s' % (nv.group(1), nv.group(2), nv.group(3))
+    kitty_constants['appname'] = re.search(
+            r'appname: str\s+=\s+(u{0,1})[\'"]([^\'"]+)[\'"]', src
+    ).group(2)
+    return kitty_constants
+
+
+def run(*args, **extra_env):
+    env = os.environ.copy()
+    env.update(worker_env)
+    env.update(extra_env)
+    env['SW'] = PREFIX
+    env['LD_LIBRARY_PATH'] = LIBDIR
+    if ismacos:
+        env['PKGCONFIG_EXE'] = os.path.join(PREFIX, 'bin', 'pkg-config')
+    cwd = env.pop('cwd', KITTY_DIR)
+    return subprocess.call(list(args), env=env, cwd=cwd)
+
+
+def build_c_extensions(ext_dir, args):
+    writeable_src_dir = os.path.join(ext_dir, 'src')
+    shutil.copytree(
+        KITTY_DIR, writeable_src_dir, symlinks=True,
+        ignore=shutil.ignore_patterns('b', 'build', 'dist', '*_commands.json', '*.o'))
+    cmd = [PYTHON, 'setup.py']
+    bundle = 'macos-freeze' if ismacos else 'linux-freeze'
+    cmd.append(bundle)
+    dest = kitty_constants['appname'] + ('.app' if ismacos else '')
+    dest = os.path.join(ext_dir, dest)
+    cmd += ['--prefix', dest]
+    if run(*cmd, cwd=writeable_src_dir) != 0:
+        print('Building of kitty package failed', file=sys.stderr)
+        os.chdir(KITTY_DIR)
+        run_shell()
+        raise SystemExit('Building of kitty package failed')
+    return ext_dir
+
+
+def run_tests(path_to_kitty, cwd_on_failure):
+    ret = run(PYTHON, 'test.py', cwd=cwd_on_failure)
+    if ret != 0:
+        os.chdir(cwd_on_failure)
+        print(
+            'running kitty tests failed with return code:', ret, file=sys.stderr)
+        run_shell()
+        raise SystemExit('running kitty tests failed')
+
+
+if __name__ == 'program':
+    kitty_constants = initialize_constants()
diff --git a/bypy/linux/__main__.py b/bypy/linux/__main__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..de9b48044
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bypy/linux/__main__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,209 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+# vim:fileencoding=utf-8
+# License: GPLv3 Copyright: 2020, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>
+
+import errno
+import os
+import shutil
+import stat
+import subprocess
+import tarfile
+import time
+
+from bypy.constants import (
+    OUTPUT_DIR, PREFIX, is64bit, python_major_minor_version
+)
+from bypy.utils import get_dll_path, py_compile, walk
+
+j = os.path.join
+self_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
+arch = 'x86_64' if is64bit else 'i686'
+
+py_ver = '.'.join(map(str, python_major_minor_version()))
+iv = globals()['init_env']
+kitty_constants = iv['kitty_constants']
+
+
+def binary_includes():
+    return tuple(map(get_dll_path, (
+            'expat', 'sqlite3', 'ffi', 'z', 'lzma', 'png16',
+
+            # dont include freetype because fontconfig is closely coupled to it
+            # and also distros often patch freetype
+            # 'iconv.so.2', 'pcre.so.1', 'graphite2.so.3', 'glib-2.0.so.0', 'freetype.so.6',
+
+            'harfbuzz', 'xkbcommon', 'xkbcommon-x11',
+            'ncursesw', 'readline',
+        ))) + (
+                get_dll_path('bz2', 2), get_dll_path('ssl', 3), get_dll_path('crypto', 3),
+                get_dll_path('python' + py_ver, 2),
+        )
+
+
+class Env:
+
+    def __init__(self, package_dir):
+        self.base = package_dir
+        self.lib_dir = j(self.base, 'lib')
+        self.py_dir = j(self.lib_dir, 'python' + py_ver)
+        os.makedirs(self.py_dir)
+        self.bin_dir = j(self.base, 'bin')
+
+
+def ignore_in_lib(base, items, ignored_dirs=None):
+    ans = []
+    if ignored_dirs is None:
+        ignored_dirs = {'.svn', '.bzr', '.git', 'test', 'tests', 'testing'}
+    for name in items:
+        path = j(base, name)
+        if os.path.isdir(path):
+            if name in ignored_dirs or not os.path.exists(j(path, '__init__.py')):
+                if name != 'plugins':
+                    ans.append(name)
+        else:
+            if name.rpartition('.')[-1] not in ('so', 'py'):
+                ans.append(name)
+    return ans
+
+
+def import_site_packages(srcdir, dest):
+    if not os.path.exists(dest):
+        os.mkdir(dest)
+    for x in os.listdir(srcdir):
+        ext = x.rpartition('.')[-1]
+        f = j(srcdir, x)
+        if ext in ('py', 'so'):
+            shutil.copy2(f, dest)
+        elif ext == 'pth' and x != 'setuptools.pth':
+            for line in open(f, 'rb').read().splitlines():
+                src = os.path.abspath(j(srcdir, line))
+                if os.path.exists(src) and os.path.isdir(src):
+                    import_site_packages(src, dest)
+        elif os.path.exists(j(f, '__init__.py')):
+            shutil.copytree(f, j(dest, x), ignore=ignore_in_lib)
+
+
+def copy_libs(env):
+    print('Copying libs...')
+
+    for x in binary_includes():
+        dest = env.bin_dir if '/bin/' in x else env.lib_dir
+        shutil.copy2(x, dest)
+
+
+def copy_python(env):
+    print('Copying python...')
+    srcdir = j(PREFIX, 'lib/python' + py_ver)
+
+    for x in os.listdir(srcdir):
+        y = j(srcdir, x)
+        ext = os.path.splitext(x)[1]
+        if os.path.isdir(y) and x not in ('test', 'hotshot', 'distutils', 'tkinter', 'turtledemo',
+                                          'site-packages', 'idlelib', 'lib2to3', 'dist-packages'):
+            shutil.copytree(y, j(env.py_dir, x), ignore=ignore_in_lib)
+        if os.path.isfile(y) and ext in ('.py', '.so'):
+            shutil.copy2(y, env.py_dir)
+
+    srcdir = j(srcdir, 'site-packages')
+    dest = j(env.py_dir, 'site-packages')
+    import_site_packages(srcdir, dest)
+    py_compile(env.py_dir)
+    py_compile(os.path.join(env.base, 'lib', 'kitty'))
+
+
+def is_elf(path):
+    with open(path, 'rb') as f:
+        return f.read(4) == b'\x7fELF'
+
+
+def fix_permissions(files):
+    for path in files:
+        os.chmod(path, 0o755)
+
+
+STRIPCMD = ['strip']
+
+
+def find_binaries(env):
+    files = {j(env.bin_dir, x) for x in os.listdir(env.bin_dir)} | {
+        x for x in {
+            j(os.path.dirname(env.bin_dir), x) for x in os.listdir(env.bin_dir)} if os.path.exists(x)}
+    for x in walk(env.lib_dir):
+        x = os.path.realpath(x)
+        if x not in files and is_elf(x):
+            files.add(x)
+    return files
+
+
+def strip_files(files, argv_max=(256 * 1024)):
+    """ Strip a list of files """
+    while files:
+        cmd = list(STRIPCMD)
+        pathlen = sum(len(s) + 1 for s in cmd)
+        while pathlen < argv_max and files:
+            f = files.pop()
+            cmd.append(f)
+            pathlen += len(f) + 1
+        if len(cmd) > len(STRIPCMD):
+            all_files = cmd[len(STRIPCMD):]
+            unwritable_files = tuple(filter(None, (None if os.access(x, os.W_OK) else (x, os.stat(x).st_mode) for x in all_files)))
+            [os.chmod(x, stat.S_IWRITE | old_mode) for x, old_mode in unwritable_files]
+            subprocess.check_call(cmd)
+            [os.chmod(x, old_mode) for x, old_mode in unwritable_files]
+
+
+def strip_binaries(files):
+    print('Stripping %d files...' % len(files))
+    before = sum(os.path.getsize(x) for x in files)
+    strip_files(files)
+    after = sum(os.path.getsize(x) for x in files)
+    print('Stripped %.1f MB' % ((before - after) / (1024 * 1024.)))
+
+
+def create_tarfile(env, compression_level='9'):
+    print('Creating archive...')
+    base = OUTPUT_DIR
+    try:
+        shutil.rmtree(base)
+    except EnvironmentError as err:
+        if err.errno != errno.ENOENT:
+            raise
+    os.mkdir(base)
+    dist = os.path.join(base, '%s-%s-%s.tar' % (kitty_constants['appname'], kitty_constants['version'], arch))
+    with tarfile.open(dist, mode='w', format=tarfile.PAX_FORMAT) as tf:
+        cwd = os.getcwd()
+        os.chdir(env.base)
+        try:
+            for x in os.listdir('.'):
+                tf.add(x)
+        finally:
+            os.chdir(cwd)
+    print('Compressing archive...')
+    ans = dist.rpartition('.')[0] + '.txz'
+    start_time = time.time()
+    subprocess.check_call(['xz', '--threads=0', '-f', '-' + compression_level, dist])
+    secs = time.time() - start_time
+    print('Compressed in %d minutes %d seconds' % (secs // 60, secs % 60))
+    os.rename(dist + '.xz', ans)
+    print('Archive %s created: %.2f MB' % (
+        os.path.basename(ans), os.stat(ans).st_size / (1024.**2)))
+
+
+def main():
+    args = globals()['args']
+    ext_dir = globals()['ext_dir']
+    if not args.skip_tests:
+        run_tests = iv['run_tests']
+        run_tests(None, os.path.join(ext_dir, 'src'))
+    env = Env(os.path.join(ext_dir, kitty_constants['appname']))
+    copy_libs(env)
+    copy_python(env)
+    files = find_binaries(env)
+    fix_permissions(files)
+    if not args.dont_strip:
+        strip_binaries(files)
+    create_tarfile(env, args.compression_level)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()