This is the README file for PAR-Packer, a part of the PAR toolkit. PAR-Packer is the PAR component that can generate stand-alone executables and ".par" archives. The main front-end for PAR-Packer is the "pp" utility. Please type "perldoc PAR::FAQ" for frequently answered questions. For packing scripts with prerequisite modules into stand-alone scripts or executables (aka PerlApp, Perl2exe, or 'perlcc that works'), see "perldoc pp" and "perldoc tkpp". For running ".par" files directly, see "perldoc parl". To generate/execute self-contained perl scripts, see "perldoc pp" or "perldoc par.pl". An extensive "Cross-Platform Packaging and Deployment with PAR" tutorial is available as "perldoc PAR::Tutorial" from the PAR distribution which is a prerequisite for this distribution. * Installation If you have cpanm, you only need one line: cpanm PAR::Packer Alternatively, if your CPAN shell is set up, you should just be able to do: cpan PAR:Packer As a last resort, you can manually install it. Download the tarball, untar it, then build it: perl Makefile.PL make # or 'dmake' on Win32 make test make install Note that all of the above require that you have a C compiler installed. * Notes for Windows users If your Perl distribution is Strawberry Perl, you already have the MinGW C compiler installed. If you are using ActiveState Perl, you may want to install the MinGW C compiler with: ppm install MinGW * 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. (Note: This might not apply any more.) Please consult the documentation of 'pp' for more information. * Source Repository You can check out the most recent revision from PAR's Subversion repository: https://www.openfoundry.org/svn/par/PAR-Packer/trunk Same applies to the main PAR distribution: https://www.openfoundry.org/svn/par/trunk There is anonymous access to all. Commit access is handed out liberally; contact the mailing list for details. * Contact You can write to the mailing list at , or send an empty mail to to participate in the discussion. Please submit bug reports to . * Copyright Copyright 2002-2010 by Audrey Tang . All rights reserved. You can redistribute and/or modify this bundle under the same terms as Perl itself. See .