cvs commit: perlfaq perlfaq3.pod

cvsuser     05/01/21 04:08:04

  Modified:    .        perlfaq3.pod
  Log:
  * How can I compile my Perl program into byte code or C?
  
     + I completely replaced the answer to update it for this
     millineum :)
  
     + Mention Perl2Exe, Perl Dev Kit, PAR, and B::Bytecode
  
     + I assume the real question is "How can I bundle everything
     in one file" or "How do I hide my source?"
  
     + Point to "How can I make my Perl program run faster?"
     in case that's really what they want
  
     + Along with this, I think we should update the answers
     on making Perl run faster and hiding source code, but I'll
     save those for another day.
  
  Revision  Changes    Path
  1.44      +35 -36    perlfaq/perlfaq3.pod
  
  Index: perlfaq3.pod
  ===================================================================
  RCS file: /cvs/public/perlfaq/perlfaq3.pod,v
  retrieving revision 1.43
  retrieving revision 1.44
  diff -u -r1.43 -r1.44
  --- perlfaq3.pod	3 Jan 2005 18:43:37 -0000	1.43
  +++ perlfaq3.pod	21 Jan 2005 12:08:04 -0000	1.44
  @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
   =head1 NAME
   
  -perlfaq3 - Programming Tools ($Revision: 1.43 $, $Date: 2005/01/03 18:43:37 $)
  +perlfaq3 - Programming Tools ($Revision: 1.44 $, $Date: 2005/01/21 12:08:04 $)
   
   =head1 DESCRIPTION
   
  @@ -753,41 +753,40 @@
   
   =head2 How can I compile my Perl program into byte code or C?
   
  -Malcolm Beattie has written a multifunction backend compiler,
  -available from CPAN, that can do both these things.  It is included
  -in the perl5.005 release, but is still considered experimental.
  -This means it's fun to play with if you're a programmer but not
  -really for people looking for turn-key solutions.
  -
  -Merely compiling into C does not in and of itself guarantee that your
  -code will run very much faster.  That's because except for lucky cases
  -where a lot of native type inferencing is possible, the normal Perl
  -run-time system is still present and so your program will take just as
  -long to run and be just as big.  Most programs save little more than
  -compilation time, leaving execution no more than 10-30% faster.  A few
  -rare programs actually benefit significantly (even running several times
  -faster), but this takes some tweaking of your code.
  -
  -You'll probably be astonished to learn that the current version of the
  -compiler generates a compiled form of your script whose executable is
  -just as big as the original perl executable, and then some.  That's
  -because as currently written, all programs are prepared for a full
  -eval() statement.  You can tremendously reduce this cost by building a
  -shared I<libperl.so> library and linking against that.  See the
  -F<INSTALL> podfile in the Perl source distribution for details.  If
  -you link your main perl binary with this, it will make it minuscule.
  -For example, on one author's system, F</usr/bin/perl> is only 11k in
  -size!
  -
  -In general, the compiler will do nothing to make a Perl program smaller,
  -faster, more portable, or more secure.  In fact, it can make your
  -situation worse.  The executable will be bigger, your VM system may take
  -longer to load the whole thing, the binary is fragile and hard to fix,
  -and compilation never stopped software piracy in the form of crackers,
  -viruses, or bootleggers.  The real advantage of the compiler is merely
  -packaging, and once you see the size of what it makes (well, unless
  -you use a shared I<libperl.so>), you'll probably want a complete
  -Perl install anyway.
  +(contributed by brian d foy)
  +
  +In general, you can't do this.  There are some things that may work
  +for your situation though.  People usually ask this question
  +because they want to distribute their works without giving away 
  +the source code, and most solutions trade disk space for convenience.
  +You probably won't see much of a speed increase either, since most
  +solutions simply bundle a Perl interpreter in the final product 
  +(but see L<How can I make my Perl program run faster?>).
  +
  +The Perl Archive Toolkit (http://par.perl.org/index.cgi) is
  +Perl's analog to Java's JAR.  It's freely available and on
  +CPAN (http://search.cpan.org/dist/PAR/).
  +
  +The B::* namespace, often called "the Perl compiler", but is really a
  +way for Perl programs to peek at its innards rather than create
  +pre-compiled versions of your program.  However. the B::Bytecode
  +module can turn your script  into a bytecode format that could be
  +loaded later by the ByteLoader module and executed as a regular Perl
  +script.
  +
  +There are also some commercial products that may work for
  +you, although you have to buy a license for them.
  +
  +The Perl Dev Kit
  +(http://www.activestate.com/Products/Perl_Dev_Kit/) from
  +ActiveState can "Turn your Perl programs into ready-to-run
  +executables for HP-UX, Linux, Solaris and Windows."
  +
  +Perl2Exe (http://www.indigostar.com/perl2exe.htm) is a
  +command line program for converting perl scripts to
  +executable files.  It targets both Windows and unix
  +platforms.
  +
   
   =head2 How can I compile Perl into Java?