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.
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.
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 make test make install
Note that all of the above require that you have a C compiler installed.
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
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
$ 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
$ 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
$ 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
$ 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.
You can write to the mailing list at par@perl.org (no subscription required). Archives of the mailing list are available at http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.par or https://www.mail-archive.com/par@perl.org/.
Please submit bug reports to https://github.com/rschupp/PAR-Packer/issues.
Copyright 2002-2010 by Audrey Tang cpan@audreyt.org.
All rights reserved. You can redistribute and/or modify this bundle under the same terms as Perl itself.
See LICENSE.