This is the README file for PAR-Packer, a part of the PAR toolkit. PAR-Packer is the PAR component that can generate stand-alone executables and ".par" archives.

The main front-end for PAR-Packer is the "pp" utility.

Please type "perldoc PAR::FAQ" for frequently answered questions.

For packing scripts with prerequisite modules into stand-alone scripts or executables (aka PerlApp, Perl2exe, or 'perlcc that works'), see "perldoc pp" and "perldoc tkpp".

For running ".par" files directly, see "perldoc parl".

To generate/execute self-contained perl scripts, see "perldoc pp" or "perldoc par.pl".

An extensive "Cross-Platform Packaging and Deployment with PAR" tutorial is available as "perldoc PAR::Tutorial" from the PAR distribution which is a prerequisite for this distribution.

• Installation

If you have cpanm, you only need one line:

cpanm PAR::Packer

Alternatively, if your CPAN shell is set up, you should just be able to do:

cpan PAR:Packer

As a last resort, you can manually install it. Download the tarball, untar it, then build it:

perl Makefile.PL make make test make install

Note that all of the above require that you have a C compiler installed.

• Notes for Windows users

If your Perl distribution is Strawberry Perl, you already have the MinGW C compiler installed. If you are using ActiveState Perl, you may want to install the MinGW C compiler with:

ppm install MinGW

• Typical Usage

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. (Note: This might not apply any more.)

Please consult the documentation of 'pp' for more information.

• Contact

You can write to the mailing list at [email protected], or send an empty mail to [email protected] to participate in the discussion.

Please submit bug reports to [email protected].

• Copyright

Copyright 2002-2010 by Audrey Tang [email protected].

All rights reserved. You can redistribute and/or modify this bundle under the same terms as Perl itself.

See LICENSE.