PAR::Packer - stanalone executables for different operating systems

Microcebus has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: PAR::Packer - stanalone executables for different operating systems by choroba (Cardinal) on Jan 03, 2012 at 21:56 UTC
On Linux and Mac OS X, Perl is usually already installed.	[reply]
Re^2: PAR::Packer - stanalone executables for different operating systems by thomas895 (Deacon) on Jan 03, 2012 at 23:10 UTC
This is true, yet some users(especially on MacOS) are afarid/oblivious of the terminal, or do not know how to use it. On MacOS, you will have to look through the docs to find info on packaging. On Linux, you can experiment with GNU Makefiles(and our good friend ExtUtils::MakeMaker), or try using one of the package managers(such as RPM or DEB). If you choose to do that, look for the RPM spec here, and a simple deb tutorial here. ~Thomas~	[reply]
Re: PAR::Packer - stanalone executables for different operating systems by rkrieger (Friar) on Jan 03, 2012 at 23:20 UTC
It'll depend on your target audience and the skill you perceive them to have. For many platforms, releasing your work to CPAN and directing your users there may do the trick. For the average IT department, it shouldn't be that hard to install Perl. For Joe User, I think the same applies, but of course I may well be mistaken. The BSD systems come with ports or pkgsrc collections that are fairly kind to CPAN modules. An (arbitrary) example from OpenBSD: p5-AnyEvent for AnyEvent. Using CPAN would also work for Mac OS X, I suppose. So long as you package a script that does the install for you. Such will probably require sudo/admin rights, but the GUI can handle that. I've seen such interaction used for e.g. printer driver installations. For Windows, you could package the strawberry Perl MSI files along with a batch file to use CPAN for the install of your code. Obviously, there are cleaner ways, but I of course do not know how much you care to spend in resources.	[reply]
Re: PAR::Packer - stanalone executables for different operating systems by Shuraski (Scribe) on Jan 04, 2012 at 07:27 UTC
I'd put it on CPAN. If you think it'll help the work of others, why not write it up as a brief report in a bioinformatics journal? That way it can be indexed on PubMed, and biologists will find it. What are gene clusters?	[reply]
Re: PAR::Packer - stanalone executables for different operating systems by Anonymous Monk on Jan 03, 2012 at 23:24 UTC
See http://www.cava.co.uk/ and http://www.citrusperl.com/	[reply]
Re: PAR::Packer - stanalone executables for different operating systems by kamalt (Initiate) on Jan 04, 2012 at 06:29 UTC
Shell scripts would seem to be ideal for doing this on Linux - packaging etc can be done at the script level itself by building in some intelligence and checks - only thing is that this needs to be done such that the script can be run on different linux distros	[reply]
Re: PAR::Packer - stanalone executables for different operating systems by mrguy123 (Hermit) on Jan 04, 2012 at 07:02 UTC
A relatively easy way to install a Linux environment in windows is to use cygwin. It is a pretty straightforward installation, just make sure to choose the Perl package in the setup. If you make your code work there it should also work on most Linux machines. Good luck with your research! Guy	[reply]
Re: PAR::Packer - stanalone executables for different operating systems by Hessu (Hermit) on Jan 05, 2012 at 11:32 UTC
I think that the easiest way to generate a single standalone executable for various operating systems, is to use Active State Perl Dev Kit. For example you can compile for Linux or Mac OS from Windows just by selecting the target architecture from a GUI. Has been working like a charm for me for years. Unfortunately this is not free but there is a trial version to try out if this is suitable for you.	[reply]
Re: PAR::Packer - stanalone executables for different operating systems by tsee (Curate) on Jan 07, 2012 at 11:19 UTC
In terms of using PAR::Packer, there isn't that much of a difference between doing that on win32, MacOS, or Linux. If you're referring to "but I don't know how to set up an environment with everything to invoke the same 'pp' command line that I used on Windows", then the answer is most likely: `sudo cpan PAR::Packer Some::Module::That::You::Need Other::Module::That::You::Need ...` If that fails, then you might be missing the perl headers that some vendors don't ship with perl. Commonly, the package will be called something like "perl-devel", "perl-dev", "perl-headers" or the same with "lib" prepended.	[reply] [d/l]


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