With perl2exe (my knowledge of the other product is old), you can compile your EXEs with -small or -tiny switches to have it put Perl libraries in DLLS which can be shared by several apps. This gets your EXEs down to a few tens of KB; of course that doesn't help with memory footprint or performance or the size of your initial distribution, but it can make updating your EXEs smaller/easier since the standard Perl libraries are unlikely to change often. There is also a -gui switch which makes Perl/Tk apps run without the "DOS box" console window.
Can anyone offer some info on the amount of "obfuscation" that these EXE packagers provide? -- Mark Aisenberg ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of James Eshelman Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2002 11:24 AM To: Greg London; mongers of perl Subject: Re: [Boston.pm] obfuscation/compiler/summary That's cool, Greg. If you need to ship several executeables can they share one perl binary somehow (some sort of dll-like scheme) or do they all roll in their own? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Greg London" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "mongers of perl" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2002 9:53 AM Subject: [Boston.pm] obfuscation/compiler/summary I purchased and downloaded ActiveState's Perl Dev Kit 4.0 last night. It compiled a perl script with a bunch of Tk widgets without me having to look at a single FAQ, readme, or -help menu. I was quite impressed with how easy-to-use ActiveState made their tools. as it turns out, this solves several problems in one fell swoop. First, I can sell a stand-alone executable, rather than have to worry about customers trying to install perl, and then get my script to run. and my customers will be basic computer users. Second, it gives me a level of obfuscation for the program that would be hard for me to replicate on my own. It's impossible to write uncrackable software that is sold to the public, but this is more like a lock on the front door, knowing that professional burgulars will simply smash a window. and the only reason I'm taking time to write this program is because I hope to get some money back from selling it. apparently, there are no open source solutions for this application, and one has been in need for several years. Anyway, that's the summary: ActiveState PDK 4.0 appears to work very nicely. Now I just have to finish the application. Greg
