# $File: //member/autrijus/PAR/README $ $Author: autrijus $ # $Revision: #17 $ $Change: 4650 $ $DateTime: 2003/03/08 16:07:09 $ This is the README file for PAR, a toolkit to use perl scripts and modules stored inside compressed .par files. Please type "perldoc PAR" after installation to see the module usage information, and "perldoc PAR::FAQ" for a number of frequently-asked questions. For bundling prerequisite modules of scripts into a PAR file (ala PerlApp, Perl2exe, or 'perlcc that works'), see "perldoc pp". For running ".par" files directly, see "perldoc parl". To generate/execute self-contained perl scripts, see "perldoc par.pl". There is also a presentation "Introduction to PAR", available as ; a Chinese version is at . * Installation PAR uses the standard perl module install process: cpansign -v # see SIGNATURE for details perl Makefile.PL make make test make install If your system has a C compiler, or somebody has built a PAR package for your architecture, the 'pp' tool and a stand-alone binary version of par.pl will be installed. You can generate self-executable binaries by: % pp -o foo.exe /home/test.pl * Binary installation with pre-built PAR files This distribution uses the Module::Install framework to offer pre-compiled, architecture-dependent PAR packages to save your compilation time. This process is completely automatic -- no actions are required on your part. However, if nobody has generated such a package for your architecture, you will see a short messages like this: Fetching 'PAR-0.64-i386-freebsd-5.8.0.par' from ftp.cpan.org... *** No installation package available for your architecture. However, you may wish to generate one with 'make par' and send it to , so other people on the same platform can benefit from it. *** Proceeding with normal installation... If you are on a platform where normal users do not have a C compiler installed (MSWin32, darwin, etc.), please follow the instruction above to mail the generated PAR package to me. Thanks! * Notes for Windows users If you are using Microsoft Windows, you will probably need the 'nmake' utility before installation. It's available at: ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/MSLFILES/nmake15.exe If you are connected to the internet, "perl Makefile.PL" is capable of automatically fetch it, and install into your windows directory; all you have to do is to answer 'y' to this question: Required executable 'nmake' not found. Install it? [Y/n]: However, if you are not yet online, or wish to install 'nmake' into another directory, then please download the file manually, save it to a directory in %PATH (e.g. C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND), then launch the MS-DOS command line shell, "cd" to that directory, and run "nmake15.exe" from there; that will create the 'nmake.exe' file needed by CPANPLUS. You may then resume the installation process above, but replace 'make' with 'nmake' in the last three lines. Also, if you do not have the compiler used to compile your version or Perl (e.g. Microsoft Visual C++ for ActivePerl -- do not forget to run "vcvars32.bat" or equivalent before "perl Makefile.PL"!), and nobody has generated a Windows-specific PAR yet, you will not be able to generate binary executables using 'pp'. * Typical Usage Here are some recipes showing how to utilize pp to bundle source.pl with all its dependencies, on target machines with different expected settings: - Stand-alone setup % pp -o packed.exe source.pl # makes packed.exe # Now, deploy 'packed.exe' to target machine... $ packed.exe # run it - Perl interpreter only, without core modules: % pp -B -p source.pl # makes source.par % par.pl -B -Opacked.pl source.par # makes packed.pl # Now, deploy 'packed.pl' to target machine... $ perl packed.pl # run it - Perl with core module installed: % pp -p source.pl # makes source.par % par.pl -b -Opacked.pl source.par # makes packed.pl # Now, deploy 'packed.pl' to target machine... $ perl packed.pl # run it - Perl with PAR.pm and its dependencies installed: % pp -p source.pl # makes source.par % echo "use PAR 'source.par';" > packed.pl; % cat source.pl >> packed.pl; # makes packed.pl # Now, deploy 'source.par' and 'packed.pl' to target machine... $ perl packed.pl # run it Note that if your perl was built with a shared library, the 'Stand-alone setup' above will still need a separate perl5x.dll or libperl.so to function correctly. Patches to include a copy of libperl with the executable are most welcome. Please consult the documentation of 'pp' for more information. * Contact PAR has a mailing list, , that you can write to; send an empty mail to to join the list and participate in the discussion. Please send bug reports to . * Copyright Copyright 2002, 2003 by Autrijus Tang . All rights reserved. You can redistribute and/or modify this bundle under the same terms as Perl itself. See .