diff --git a/direct/src/showutil/FreezeTool.py b/direct/src/showutil/FreezeTool.py
index b0c1af3d00..c32899cee2 100644
--- a/direct/src/showutil/FreezeTool.py
+++ b/direct/src/showutil/FreezeTool.py
@@ -1556,10 +1556,10 @@ class Freezer:
             if getattr(module, "__path__", None):
                 # Indicate package by negative size
                 size = -size
-            return struct.pack('<256sIi', bytes(modulename, 'ascii'), offset, size)
+            return struct.pack('<256sIi', modulename.encode('ascii'), offset, size)
 
         def make_forbidden_module_list_entry(modulename):
-            return struct.pack('<256sIi', bytes(modulename, 'ascii'), 0, 0)
+            return struct.pack('<256sIi', modulename.encode('ascii'), 0, 0)
 
         # We must have a __main__ module to make an exe file.
         if not self.__writingModule('__main__'):
diff --git a/direct/src/showutil/dist.py b/direct/src/showutil/dist.py
index 41b1ca5460..dda2e9f3e7 100644
--- a/direct/src/showutil/dist.py
+++ b/direct/src/showutil/dist.py
@@ -52,8 +52,11 @@ class build(distutils.command.build.build):
             distutils.dir_util.copy_tree(src, dst)
 
             for item in os.listdir(libdir):
-                if '.so.' in item  or item.endswith('.dll') or 'libpandagl' in item:
-                    distutils.file_util.copy_file(os.path.join(libdir, item), os.path.join(builddir, item))
+                if '.so.' in item or item.endswith('.dll') or item.endswith('.dylib') or 'libpandagl' in item:
+                    source_path = os.path.join(libdir, item)
+                    target_path = os.path.join(builddir, item)
+                    if not os.path.islink(source_path):
+                        distutils.file_util.copy_file(source_path, target_path)
 
             # Copy etc
             src = os.path.join(dtool_dir, '..', 'etc')
@@ -64,8 +67,7 @@ class build(distutils.command.build.build):
             ignore_copy_list = [
                 '__pycache__',
                 self.distribution.mainfile,
-                *freezer.getAllModuleNames(),
-            ]
+            ] + freezer.getAllModuleNames()
 
             for item in os.listdir(gamedir):
                 src = os.path.join(gamedir, item)
diff --git a/pandatool/src/deploy-stub/deploy-stub.c b/pandatool/src/deploy-stub/deploy-stub.c
index 12ae6a3b63..ec85eacade 100644
--- a/pandatool/src/deploy-stub/deploy-stub.c
+++ b/pandatool/src/deploy-stub/deploy-stub.c
@@ -122,11 +122,13 @@ Py_FrozenMain(int argc, char **argv)
     else
         sts = 0;
 
+#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3
     n = PyImport_ImportFrozenModule("_frozen_importlib");
     if (n == 0)
         Py_FatalError("_frozen_importlib not frozen");
     if (n < 0)
         PyErr_Print();
+#endif
 
     if (inspect && isatty((int)fileno(stdin)))
         sts = PyRun_AnyFile(stdin, "<stdin>") != 0;
@@ -153,7 +155,7 @@ error:
 int
 main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
   struct _frozen *_PyImport_FrozenModules;
-  unsigned int listoff, modsoff, fsize, modsize, listsize, nummods;
+  unsigned int listoff, modsoff, fsize, modsize, listsize, nummods, modidx;
   FILE *runtime = fopen(argv[0], "rb");
 
   // Get offsets
@@ -173,7 +175,7 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
   // Read module list
   _PyImport_FrozenModules = calloc(nummods + 1, sizeof(struct _frozen));
   fseek(runtime, listoff, SEEK_SET);
-  for (unsigned int modidx = 0; modidx < nummods; ++modidx) {
+  for (modidx = 0; modidx < nummods; ++modidx) {
     struct _frozen *moddef = &_PyImport_FrozenModules[modidx];
     char *name = NULL, namebuf[256] = {0};
     unsigned int nsize, codeptr;