NAME

pp - Perl Packager

SYNOPSIS

    % pp hello                  # Pack 'hello' into executable 'a.out'
    % pp -o hello hello.pl      # Pack 'hello.pl' into executable 'hello'

    % pp -o foo foo.pl bar.pl   # Pack 'foo.pl' and 'bar.pl' into 'foo'
    % ./foo                     # Run 'foo.pl' inside 'foo'
    % mv foo bar; ./bar         # Run 'bar.pl' inside 'foo'
    % mv bar baz; ./baz         # Error: Can't open perl script "baz"

    % pp -p file                # Creates a PAR file, 'file.par'
    % pp -S -o hello file       # Creates a PAR file, 'file.par',
                                # then packages it to executable 'hello'
    % pp -p -o out.par file     # Creates 'out.par' from 'file'
    % pp -B -p -o out.par file  # same as above, but bundles core modules
                                # (-B is assumed when making executables)

    % pp -e 'print q//'         # Pack a one-liner into 'a.out'
    % pp -c -e 'print q//'      # Creates a PAR file 'a.out.par'

    % pp -I /foo hello          # Extra paths (notice space after -I)
    % pp -M Foo::Bar hello      # Extra modules (notice space after -M)
    % pp -M abbrev.pl hello     # Extra files under @INC
    % pp -X Foo::Bar hello      # Exclude modules (notice space after -X)

    % pp -r hello               # Pack 'hello' into 'a.out', runs 'a.out'
    % pp -r hello a b c         # Pack 'hello' into 'a.out', runs 'a.out'
                                # with arguments 'a b c' 

    % pp hello -log c           # Pack 'hello' into 'a.out', logs
                                # messages into 'c'

DESCRIPTION

pp creates standalone executables from Perl programs, using the compressed packager provided by PAR, and dependency detection heuristics offered by Module::ScanDeps. Source files are compressed verbatim without compilation.

You may think of pp as "perlcc that works without hassle". :-)

It does not provide the compilation-step acceleration provided by perlcc (although a ByteLoader variant of pp is entirely possible), but makes up for it with better reliability, smaller executable size, and full retrieval of original source code.

If a single input program is specified, the resulting executable will behave identically as that program. However, when multiple programs are packaged, the produced executable will run the one that has the same basename as $0 (i.e. the filename used to invoke it). If nothing matches, it dies with the error Can't open perl script "$0".

On Microsoft Windows platforms, a.exe is used instead of a.out as the default executable name.

OPTIONS

-M module or file names

Adds the given modules to the dependency search patch and to the binary. Also accepts filenames relative to the @INC path; that is, -M Module::ScanDeps may also be written as -M Module/ScanDeps.pm.

-X module names

Excludes the given modules to the dependency search patch and to the binary.

-I library directories

Adds the given directories to the perl library file search path.

-o output file name

Specifies the file name for the final packaged executable.

-p PAR file name

Create PAR archives only; do not package to a standalone binary.

-e perl code

Package a one-liner, much the same as perl -e '...'

-S

Do not delete generated PAR file after packaging.

-v

Increase verbosity of output; can be repeated for more verbose output.

-r

Run the resulting packaged script after packaging it.

-log

Log the output of packaging to a file rather than to stdout.

ENVIRONMENT

PP_OPTS

Command-line options (switches). Switches in this variable are taken as if they were on every pp command line.

NOTES

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.

SEE ALSO

PAR, Module::ScanDeps, par.pl, parl, perlcc

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Simon Cozens, Tom Christiansen and Edward Peschko for writing perlcc; this program try to mimic its interface as close as possible, and copied liberally from their code.

Mattia Barbon for providing the myldr binary loader code.

Jeff Goff for suggesting the name pp.

AUTHORS

Autrijus Tang <autrijus@autrijus.org>

PAR has a mailing list, <par@perl.org>, that you can write to; send an empty mail to <par-subscribe@perl.org> to join the list and participate in the discussion.

Please send bug reports to <bug-par@rt.cpan.org>.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2002, 2003 by Autrijus Tang <autrijus@autrijus.org>.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

See http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html

cpanm PAR

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install PAR