NAME

Perl::Dist::Strawberry - Strawberry Perl for win32

DESCRIPTION

Strawberry Perl is a binary distribution of Perl for the Windows operating system. It includes a bundled compiler and pre-installed modules that offer the ability to install XS CPAN modules directly from CPAN.

The purpose of the Strawberry Perl series is to provide a practical Win32 Perl environment for experienced Perl developers to experiment with and test the installation of various CPAN modules under Win32 conditions, and to provide a useful platform for doing real work.

Strawberry Perl includes:

• Perl 5.8.8 or Perl 5.10.0
• Mingw GCC C/C++ compiler
• Dmake "make" tool
• "Updates for many toolchain modules"
• Bundle::CPAN (including Perl modules that eliminate the need for external helper programs like gzip and tar)
• Bundle::LWP (providing more reliable http CPAN repository support)
• Additional Perl modules that enhance the stability of core Perl for the Win32 platform
• Other modules that improve the toolchain, or enhance the ability to install packages.

The Perl::Dist::Strawberry modules on CPAN contains programs and instructions for downloading component sources and assembling them into the executable installer for Strawberry Perl. It does not include the resulting Strawberry Perl installer.

See the Strawberry Perl website at http://strawberryperl.com/ to download the Strawberry Perl installer.

See Perl::Dist::Build at http://search.cpan.org for details on the builder used to create Strawberry Perl from source.

CHANGES FROM CORE PERL

Strawberry Perl is and will continue to be based on the latest "stable" release of Perl, currently version 5.8.8. Some additional modifications are included that improve general compatibility with the Win32 platform or improve "turnkey" operation on Win32.

Whenever possible, these modifications will be made only by preinstalling additional CPAN modules within Strawberry Perl, particularly modules that have been newly included as core Perl modules in the "development" branch of perl to address Win32 compatibility issues.

Modules or distributions currently included are:

• ExtUtils::MakeMaker 6.30_01 -- fixes a Win32 perl path bug
• CPAN 1.87_57 -- many small fixes for numerous annoyances on Win32
• Win32API::File -- to allow for deletion of in-use files at next reboot; required for CPAN.pm to be able to upgrade itself
• IO -- to address Win32 Socket bugs
• Compress::Zlib, IO::Zlib and Archive::Tar -- to eliminate the CPAN.pm dependency on external, binary programs to handle .tar.gz files
• Archive::Zip (and its dependency, Time::Local) -- to eliminate the CPAN.pm dependency on external, binary programs to handle .zip files
• libnet -- provides Net::FTP to eliminate the CPAN.pm dependency on an external, binary ftp program; installed configured for FTP passive mode

Additionally, a stub CPAN Config.pm file is installed. It provides defaults to the path for dmake, to automatically follow dependencies and to use the Windows temporary directory for the CPAN working directory.

CONFIGURATION

At present, Strawberry Perl must be installed in C:\strawberry. The executable installer adds the following environment variable changes:

    * adds directories to PATH
        - C:\strawberry\perl\bin  
        - C:\strawberry\c\bin  

Users installing Strawberry Perl without the installer will need to change the environment manually.

METHODS

In addition to extending various underlying Perl::Dist::Inno methods, Strawberry Perl adds some additional methods that provide installation support for miscellaneous tools that have not yet been promoted to the core.

install_patch

The install_path method can be used to install a copy of the Unix patch program into the distribution.

Returns true or throws an exception on error.

SUPPORT

Bugs should be reported via the CPAN bug tracker at

http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Perl-Dist-Strawberry

For more support information and places for discussion, see the Strawberry Perl Support page http://strawberryperl.com/support.html.

AUTHOR

Adam Kennedy <adamk@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2007 - 2008 Adam Kennedy.

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

The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included with this module.