You can create distributions for scripts jjust like you can for modules. I go through the process in my articles for The Perl Journal: Creating Perl Application Distributions and Automating Distributions with scriptdist. If the other people need a lot of help, you might like Creating Private CPAN Distributions so you can hand them a CD and turn them loose.

You can also just look at some of the scripts I havve in my CPAN directory. The Makefile.PL isn't that much different from that for a module; it just has an EXE_FILES section.

Good luck :)

One layer: you developed on linux, and someone wants you to port to ms-windows?

Another layer: it's a web app that depends on Perl / CGI / CGI::Application, which is obviously available on your web server, and someone wants you to port it to other web servers where these things might not be available (yet)?

Yet another layer: the people who manage those other web servers might know nothing about (or are resistant to) using Perl?

If it were a stand-alone command-line app (as opposed to a web app), you could get over the linux/windows and perl-challenged recipients issues by using a windows box yourself to create an executable (*.exe) file from the perl script and pass that around. But I gather it's not this sort of app.

If the expected recipients are entrenched in asp.net and unwilling to accommodate Perl/CGI on their web servers, there's not much you can do about that -- they are basically saying "we don't want your app", and it's not your problem.

If the expected recipients are entrenched in asp.net and unwilling to accommodate Perl/CGI on their web servers, there's not much you can do about that -- they are basically saying "we don't want your app", and it's not your problem.

If you only knew half of it you would cry or laugh like a baby. I know I do. Being employeed by one of the most well known colleges in the USA; does have its pros and cons. Politics being a con. My satilite campus is the bastard child/black sheep. When the VP of IS mandates from on high you just try to do your job and wait for him to steam roll the road blocks.

until then I will attempt to get a windows server box up and figure out how to authenticate off the active directory.

thanks brian this is a step in the right direction.

For Windows there is also the free Inno Setup (which I like because it's scriptable.) If this is a "mandate from on high" then get "on high" to fork out the cash for InstallShield.

For Linux there is also Autopackage. I can't speak much about it though.

Personally (on Windows) I use a combination of Makefiles and Inno Setup. After creating an installation script with Inno Setup, make release will bundle everything together and run the Inno Setup script packaging everything into a single installer executable.

I have a not dissimilar situation, I have a client who is totally Windows & PHP but they do run Apache on Intranet servers in about 30 locations. So we have done a NSIS (Nullsoft Installer which is highly scriptable and well supported) installer that ultiamtely runs a Perl programme (created with ActiveState's PerlApp) that re-configures the appropriate parts of the Apache config (There are modules that will read and manipulate Apache configs), then we install the main Perl prog also using ActiveState's PerlApp, but this time it unpacks itself and leaves it's mess behind - configuring things in such a way that the normal Apache CGI calls will work, the using Win32::Service we restart the Apache and away we go.

It's not really rocket science, but it does take a lot of time. And given that we have found the average Windows admin knows precious little about his machine we have found the totally automated way to be best. I set up a duplicate fo their system here to test it, and we haven't skipped a beat in the field - every one has installed correctly.

jdtoronto