NAME
    ppk - Perl Packager

SYNOPSIS
        ~$ ppk main.pl --dists Filesys-POSIX/ -o script
        ~$ ppk main.pl --dists Filesys-POSIX-0.9.tar.gz -o script
        ~$ ppk main.pl --modules lib/Foo/Bar.pm=Foo::Bar -o script
        ~$ ppk main.pl --dists Filesys-POSIX/ -c

DESCRIPTION
    ppk provides a means of packaging a main Perl script, along with any
    number of dependencies in the form of modules explicitly specified by
    path and their equivalent Perl names; or, entire Perl dists in the form
    of tarballs or paths to unarchived dists, which contain a MANIFEST in
    either case.

ARGUMENTS
    *main*
        The main entry point script around which a standalone wrapper script
        will be constructed. All arguments passed to the wrapper script will
        be passed to this main script.

    --dists *dists ...*
    -d *dists ...*
        A single instance of the "--dists" flag, followed by the paths of
        any number of Perl dists (tarballs or directories) can be passed.
        All files in the "lib/" directory listed in "MANIFEST" will be
        copied into the standalone script.

    --modules *file=module::name ...*
        A single instance of the "--modules" flag, followed by the paths and
        Perl module names as pairs separated by an equals (=) sign allow the
        user to archive only specific modules in disparate locations, into
        the standalone script.

    --deps-from *depsfile*
        Specifies a file from which dependencies are read. If *depsfile* is
        listed as a single dash ('-') character, then standard input will be
        read from.

        The format of the file is simple; either dists or modules can be
        listed, along with empty lines, lines containing whitespace, or
        comments denoted with the '#' character. Dependencies assume the
        following syntax:

        module *module::name* *file*
            The file named for *file* should be packaged as *module::name*
            in the static script built.

        dist *dist*
            The file or directory referred to by *dist* will be included in
            the static script built.

        Example:

            #
            # Script build dependencies
            #
            dist Filesys-POSIX-0.9.1.tar.gz
            dist Mail-Alias-Reader-0.02.tar.gz
            module Foo::Bar::Baz arbitrary/location/Foo/Bar/Baz.pm
            module Foo::Bar::Baz/Boo arbitrary/location/Foo/Bar/Baz/Boo.pm

    --output *script*
    -o *script*
        This flag specifies the name of the output standalone script file to
        be created or overwritten.

    --check
    -c  This flag causes the given main entry point script to be checked
        against any extracted dists, or modules specified, in a temporary
        directory.

    --header *file*
    -H *file*
        Allows the specification of a header file to be inserted at the top
        of the output file directly after the Perl shebang.

    --desc *string*
    -D *string*
        Specifies a value to insert into any instance of the "$Desc$"
        template that may occur in a header. Requires --header or -h to be
        passed.

RATIONALE
    This tool does NOT perform automatic dependency calculation in the form
    of either runtime or static analysis; rather, by design, it is meant to
    allow for the granular selection of dependencies to target specific
    environments, creating standalone Perl scripts in the smallest footprint
    feasible.

MECHANISM
    The standalone scripts generated by "ppk" are composed of a standard
    bootstrapping wrapper, and a "__DATA__" section containing the main
    entry point script, and all dependencies, in a base64-encoded tarball
    created by tar(1) and gzip(1). The Perl interpreter used to execute the
    standalone script will be used to execute the main entry point script,
    passing all arguments from the standalone script's @ARGV array directly
    to the main entry point script.

    Upon initial execution of a generated standalone script, the main entry
    point script, as well as its dependencies, are extracted into a
    temporary directory that is to be removed upon natural or forced program
    termination.

COPYRIGHT
    Copyright (c) 2012, cPanel, Inc. All rights reserved. This is free
    software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms
    as Perl itself. See perlartistic for further details.