dll not embedded in PAR::Packer's output

jowe has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hello PerlMonks, using

PAR::Packer 1.028
Filter::Crypto 2.07

in a 'Windows 7 (32bit)', 'Strawberry 5.22.0.1' environment.

It seems like not all required DLL's are included in the resulting output (.exe).

The following example will demonstrate it:

pp -f Crypto -M Filter::Crypto::Decrypt -C -x --vvv -L ppLog_tstCrypto
+.txt -o tstCrypto.exe -e "print 'Its_me';"
[download]

The pp-logfile has the following content:

C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: Packing C:\Users\indesu\AppData\Local\
+Temp\pp1bkn6.pl
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: Writing PAR on C:\Users\indesu\AppData
+\Local\Temp\ppa6vGT.par
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/lib/Carp
+.pm as lib/Carp.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/lib/Conf
+ig.pm as lib/Config.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/lib/Conf
+ig_git.pl as lib/Config_git.pl
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/lib/Conf
+ig_heavy.pl as lib/Config_heavy.pl
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/lib/Dyna
+Loader.pm as lib/DynaLoader.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/lib/Expo
+rter.pm as lib/Exporter.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/lib/Expo
+rter/Heavy.pm as lib/Exporter/Heavy.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/lib/File
+/Glob.pm as lib/File/Glob.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/site/lib
+/Filter/Crypto/Decrypt.pm as lib/Filter/Crypto/Decrypt.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/lib/XSLo
+ader.pm as lib/XSLoader.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/lib/auto
+/File/Glob/Glob.xs.dll as lib/auto/File/Glob/Glob.xs.dll
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/site/lib
+/auto/Filter/Crypto/Decrypt/Decrypt.xs.dll as lib/auto/Filter/Crypto/
+Decrypt/Decrypt.xs.dll
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Users/indesu/AppData/Loc
+al/Temp/pp1bkn6.pl as lib/pp1bkn6.pl
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/lib/stri
+ct.pm as lib/strict.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/lib/vars
+.pm as lib/vars.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/lib/warn
+ings.pm as lib/warnings.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/lib/warn
+ings/register.pm as lib/warnings/register.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding <string> as MANIFEST
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding <string> as META.yml
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding <string> as lib/Carp.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding <string> as lib/Config.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/lib/Conf
+ig_git.pl as lib/Config_git.pl
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/lib/Conf
+ig_heavy.pl as lib/Config_heavy.pl
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding <string> as lib/DynaLoader.
+pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding <string> as lib/Exporter.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding <string> as lib/Exporter/He
+avy.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding <string> as lib/File/Glob.p
+m
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding <string> as lib/Filter/Cryp
+to/Decrypt.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding <string> as lib/XSLoader.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/lib/auto
+/File/Glob/Glob.xs.dll as lib/auto/File/Glob/Glob.xs.dll
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding C:/Strawberry/perl/site/lib
+/auto/Filter/Crypto/Decrypt/Decrypt.xs.dll as lib/auto/Filter/Crypto/
+Decrypt/Decrypt.xs.dll
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding <string> as lib/strict.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding <string> as lib/vars.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding <string> as lib/warnings.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding <string> as lib/warnings/re
+gister.pm
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding <string> as script/main.pl
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... adding <string> as script/pp1bkn6.
+pl
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... updating MANIFEST
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: ... updating META.yml
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: *** C:\Users\indesu\AppData\Local\Temp
+\ppa6vGT.par: 88951 bytes read, 62266 compressed, 29% saved.
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: Generating a fresh 'parl'.
C:\Strawberry\perl\site\bin/pp: Running C:\Users\indesu\AppData\Local\
+Temp\parlfS3P3Sd.exe -LppLog_tstCrypto.txt -B -OtstCrypto.exe C:\User
+s\indesu\AppData\Local\Temp\ppa6vGT.par
Packing "Config_git.pl"...
Written as "Config_git.pl"
Packing "Config.pm"...
Written as "Config.pm"
Packing "Compress/Raw/Zlib.pm"...
Written as "Compress/Raw/Zlib.pm"
Packing "Carp/Heavy.pm"...
Written as "Carp/Heavy.pm"
Packing "Compress/Zlib.pm"...
Written as "Compress/Zlib.pm"
Packing "Carp.pm"...
Written as "Carp.pm"
Packing "Config_heavy.pl"...
Written as "Config_heavy.pl"
Packing "Cwd.pm"...
Written as "Cwd.pm"
Packing "DynaLoader.pm"...
Written as "DynaLoader.pm"
Packing "Encode.pm"...
Written as "Encode.pm"
Packing "Encode/Alias.pm"...
Written as "Encode/Alias.pm"
Packing "Encode/Config.pm"...
Written as "Encode/Config.pm"
Packing "Encode/Encoding.pm"...
Written as "Encode/Encoding.pm"
Packing "Errno.pm"...
Written as "Errno.pm"
Packing "Exporter.pm"...
Written as "Exporter.pm"
Packing "Exporter/Heavy.pm"...
Written as "Exporter/Heavy.pm"
Packing "Fcntl.pm"...
Written as "Fcntl.pm"
Packing "File/Basename.pm"...
Written as "File/Basename.pm"
Packing "File/Copy.pm"...
Written as "File/Copy.pm"
Packing "File/Find.pm"...
Written as "File/Find.pm"
Packing "File/Glob.pm"...
Written as "File/Glob.pm"
Packing "File/GlobMapper.pm"...
Written as "File/GlobMapper.pm"
Packing "File/Path.pm"...
Written as "File/Path.pm"
Packing "File/Spec.pm"...
Written as "File/Spec.pm"
Packing "File/Spec/Unix.pm"...
Written as "File/Spec/Unix.pm"
Packing "File/Spec/Win32.pm"...
Written as "File/Spec/Win32.pm"
Packing "File/Temp.pm"...
Written as "File/Temp.pm"
Packing "FileHandle.pm"...
Written as "FileHandle.pm"
Packing "IO.pm"...
Written as "IO.pm"
Packing "IO/Compress/Adapter/Deflate.pm"...
Written as "IO/Compress/Adapter/Deflate.pm"
Packing "IO/Compress/Base.pm"...
Written as "IO/Compress/Base.pm"
Packing "IO/Compress/Base/Common.pm"...
Written as "IO/Compress/Base/Common.pm"
Packing "IO/Compress/Gzip.pm"...
Written as "IO/Compress/Gzip.pm"
Packing "IO/Compress/Gzip/Constants.pm"...
Written as "IO/Compress/Gzip/Constants.pm"
Packing "IO/Compress/RawDeflate.pm"...
Written as "IO/Compress/RawDeflate.pm"
Packing "IO/Compress/Zlib/Extra.pm"...
Written as "IO/Compress/Zlib/Extra.pm"
Packing "IO/File.pm"...
Written as "IO/File.pm"
Packing "IO/Handle.pm"...
Written as "IO/Handle.pm"
Packing "IO/Seekable.pm"...
Written as "IO/Seekable.pm"
Packing "IO/Uncompress/Adapter/Inflate.pm"...
Written as "IO/Uncompress/Adapter/Inflate.pm"
Packing "IO/Uncompress/Base.pm"...
Written as "IO/Uncompress/Base.pm"
Packing "IO/Uncompress/Gunzip.pm"...
Written as "IO/Uncompress/Gunzip.pm"
Packing "IO/Uncompress/RawInflate.pm"...
Written as "IO/Uncompress/RawInflate.pm"
Packing "List/Util.pm"...
Written as "List/Util.pm"
Packing "PerlIO.pm"...
Written as "PerlIO.pm"
Packing "PerlIO/scalar.pm"...
Written as "PerlIO/scalar.pm"
Packing "Scalar/Util.pm"...
Written as "Scalar/Util.pm"
Packing "SelectSaver.pm"...
Written as "SelectSaver.pm"
Packing "Symbol.pm"...
Written as "Symbol.pm"
Packing "Tie/Hash/NamedCapture.pm"...
Written as "Tie/Hash/NamedCapture.pm"
Packing "Time/Local.pm"...
Written as "Time/Local.pm"
Packing "Win32.pm"...
Written as "Win32.pm"
Packing "XSLoader.pm"...
Written as "XSLoader.pm"
Packing "attributes.pm"...
Written as "attributes.pm"
Packing "base.pm"...
Written as "base.pm"
Packing "bytes.pm"...
Written as "bytes.pm"
Packing "constant.pm"...
Written as "constant.pm"
Packing "integer.pm"...
Written as "integer.pm"
Packing "lib.pm"...
Written as "lib.pm"
Packing "overload.pm"...
Written as "overload.pm"
Packing "overloading.pm"...
Written as "overloading.pm"
Packing "parent.pm"...
Written as "parent.pm"
Packing "strict.pm"...
Written as "strict.pm"
Packing "utf8.pm"...
Written as "utf8.pm"
Packing "vars.pm"...
Written as "vars.pm"
Packing "warnings.pm"...
Written as "warnings.pm"
Packing "warnings/register.pm"...
Written as "warnings/register.pm"
Packing "PAR.pm"...
Written as "PAR.pm"
Packing "PAR/Filter.pm"...
Written as "PAR/Filter.pm"
Packing "PAR/Filter/PatchContent.pm"...
Written as "PAR/Filter/PatchContent.pm"
Packing "PAR/Filter/PodStrip.pm"...
Written as "PAR/Filter/PodStrip.pm"
Packing "PAR/Heavy.pm"...
Written as "PAR/Heavy.pm"
Packing "PAR/SetupProgname.pm"...
Written as "PAR/SetupProgname.pm"
Packing "PAR/SetupTemp.pm"...
Written as "PAR/SetupTemp.pm"
Packing "Archive/Zip.pm"...
Written as "Archive/Zip.pm"
Packing "Archive/Zip/Archive.pm"...
Written as "Archive/Zip/Archive.pm"
Packing "Archive/Zip/DirectoryMember.pm"...
Written as "Archive/Zip/DirectoryMember.pm"
Packing "Archive/Zip/FileMember.pm"...
Written as "Archive/Zip/FileMember.pm"
Packing "Archive/Zip/Member.pm"...
Written as "Archive/Zip/Member.pm"
Packing "Archive/Zip/NewFileMember.pm"...
Written as "Archive/Zip/NewFileMember.pm"
Packing "Archive/Zip/StringMember.pm"...
Written as "Archive/Zip/StringMember.pm"
Packing "Archive/Zip/ZipFileMember.pm"...
Written as "Archive/Zip/ZipFileMember.pm"
Packing "PAR/Dist.pm"...
Written as "PAR/Dist.pm"
Packing "C:\Users\indesu\AppData\Local\Temp\par-696e64657375\cache-681
+a18272ef4aadac39226f3a69834785c8a12e6/42f0da6c.dll"...
Written as "auto/attributes/attributes.xs.dll"
Packing "C:\Users\indesu\AppData\Local\Temp\par-696e64657375\cache-681
+a18272ef4aadac39226f3a69834785c8a12e6/6381b17c.dll"...
Written as "auto/Fcntl/Fcntl.xs.dll"
Packing "C:\Users\indesu\AppData\Local\Temp\par-696e64657375\cache-681
+a18272ef4aadac39226f3a69834785c8a12e6/65a2e229.dll"...
Written as "auto/List/Util/Util.xs.dll"
Packing "C:\Users\indesu\AppData\Local\Temp\par-696e64657375\cache-681
+a18272ef4aadac39226f3a69834785c8a12e6/7013e796.dll"...
Written as "auto/IO/IO.xs.dll"
Packing "C:\Users\indesu\AppData\Local\Temp\par-696e64657375\cache-681
+a18272ef4aadac39226f3a69834785c8a12e6/71e37bc8.dll"...
Written as "auto/Compress/Raw/Zlib/Zlib.xs.dll"
Packing "C:\Users\indesu\AppData\Local\Temp\par-696e64657375\cache-681
+a18272ef4aadac39226f3a69834785c8a12e6/85aec634.dll"...
Written as "auto/File/Glob/Glob.xs.dll"
Packing "C:\Users\indesu\AppData\Local\Temp\par-696e64657375\cache-681
+a18272ef4aadac39226f3a69834785c8a12e6/ae1b6876.dll"...
Written as "auto/Tie/Hash/NamedCapture/NamedCapture.xs.dll"
Packing "C:\Users\indesu\AppData\Local\Temp\par-696e64657375\cache-681
+a18272ef4aadac39226f3a69834785c8a12e6/af0170c5.dll"...
Written as "auto/Encode/Encode.xs.dll"
Packing "C:\Users\indesu\AppData\Local\Temp\par-696e64657375\cache-681
+a18272ef4aadac39226f3a69834785c8a12e6/d276a8be.dll"...
Written as "auto/Cwd/Cwd.xs.dll"
Packing "C:\Users\indesu\AppData\Local\Temp\par-696e64657375\cache-681
+a18272ef4aadac39226f3a69834785c8a12e6/e2898345.dll"...
Written as "auto/Win32/Win32.xs.dll"
Packing "C:\Users\indesu\AppData\Local\Temp\par-696e64657375\cache-681
+a18272ef4aadac39226f3a69834785c8a12e6/f3af5040.dll"...
Written as "auto/PerlIO/scalar/scalar.xs.dll"
[download]

When executing this example in a Windows 7 (32bit) non-Perl environment I receive the following error message:

C:\>tstCrypto.exe
Can't load 'C:\Users\Jo\AppData\Local\Temp\par-4a6f\temp-2432\nmtRPcuQ
+p9.xs.dll'
 for module Filter::Crypto::Decrypt: load_file:Das angegebene Modul wu
+rde nicht
gefunden at C:/Strawberry/perl/lib/DynaLoader.pm line 193.
  at C:/Strawberry/perl/site/lib/PAR/Heavy.pm line 120.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at Filter/Crypto/Decrypt.pm line 37.
Compilation failed in require at script/pp1bkn6.pl line 1.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at script/pp1bkn6.pl line 1.

C:\>

----------------------------------------------------

Remark: Das angegebene Modul wurde nicht gefunden = Requested module n
+ot found

----------------------------------------------------
[download]

Is there anything I am doing wrong? Your help is very much appreciated.

Thanks very much in advance - Jo

Comment on dll not embedded in PAR::Packer's output Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: dll not embedded in PAR::Packer's output by Discipulus (Canon) on Nov 26, 2015 at 18:38 UTC
I read in the docs for pp i read that `-l` is indicated for missing dll. Maybe the module you want to include is not pure Perl and needs some dll to run. `--link nmtRPcuQp9.xs.dll #or --link c:\full\path\to\nmtRPcuQp9.xs.dll` [download] Also Re: Delay running Perl execs in Windows is interesting. L* There are no rules, there are no thumbs.. Reinvent the wheel, then learn The Wheel; may be one day you reinvent one of THE WHEELS.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: dll not embedded in PAR::Packer's output by Anonymous Monk on Nov 26, 2015 at 20:13 UTC
Probably what is missing is openssl dlls, so probably one of these is sufficient `pp -l ssleay32 -l libeay32 -x ... pp -l ssleay32_ -l libeay32_ -x ... pp -l ssleay32__ -l libeay32__ -x ...` [download] As a debugging step you can run depends.exe /c /f:1 /pb /ot:temp.txt ... ...\perl.exe ...\foo.pl ... to see which .dlls are loaded exactly , then just let PAR/pp know :)	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: dll not embedded in PAR::Packer's output by Discipulus (Canon) on Nov 26, 2015 at 21:11 UTC
Another Anonymous Monks's Authoritative Answer!! L* There are no rules, there are no thumbs.. Reinvent the wheel, then learn The Wheel; may be one day you reinvent one of THE WHEELS.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: dll not embedded in PAR::Packer's output by jowe (Sexton) on Nov 27, 2015 at 10:22 UTC
The DLL's do exist (in my case) in C:\Strawberry\c\bin and the directory is part of the 'Path'-environment variable. Even if I include the missing DLL manually using the '-l'-option then other DLL's are missing. Btw: I used this Perl-one-liner just as an example to demonstrate the problem. In reality there is a 20,000-lines-of-code application with a lot of required DLL's.	[reply]
Re: dll not embedded in PAR::Packer's output by syphilis (Archbishop) on Nov 26, 2015 at 22:39 UTC
Can't load 'C:\Users\Jo\AppData\Local\Temp\par-4a6f\temp-2432\nmtRPcuQp9.xs.dll' I would run: objdump -x C:\Users\Jo\AppData\Local\Temp\par-4a6f\temp-2432\nmtRPcuQp9.xs.dll \| grep "DLL Name" That will list the names of all of the dlls that particular dll wants to load. Obviously it relies on the presence of "objdump.exe" (which ships with Strawberry) and "grep.exe" (which does not ship with Strawberry, but is available from here). Cheers, Rob	[reply]
Re^2: dll not embedded in PAR::Packer's output by jowe (Sexton) on Nov 28, 2015 at 15:31 UTC
Thank you guys for your help. Question: Are your suggestions workarounds or is this the way pp is supposed to work? Thanks again - Jo	[reply]
Re^3: dll not embedded in PAR::Packer's output by syphilis (Archbishop) on Nov 29, 2015 at 00:06 UTC
Are your suggestions workarounds or is this the way pp is supposed to work? Ideally, pp would pack all of the needed dlls except, I guess, for the Windows system dlls. Unfortunately, it can sometimes miss one or more dlls that need to be packed in. When that happens you need to firstly identify, and then explicitly include, those dlls. I think it's safe to leave out missing Windows system dlls, as the ones on the destination machine should load ok. If the "destination" machine is the machine that built the executable, then the executable should run ok (without any need to pack in the missing dlls) if the path includes the location of those "missing" dlls. Cheers, Rob	[reply]
Re^4: dll not embedded in PAR::Packer's output (ppsimple.pl) by Anonymous Monk on Nov 29, 2015 at 09:36 UTC
Re: dll not embedded in PAR::Packer's output by RonW (Parson) on Dec 01, 2015 at 18:51 UTC
Since you are packaging a large-ish application, it would probably be better to create an installer that makes a self-contained folder tree with your application, Perl and the libraries you depend on. (Executables created by pp (or perl2exe or similar) have a long startup time because everything bundled in to the exe file has to be extracted to a temporary folder, first. Also, creating an installer will give you more control.) In the past, I have used the "portable edition" of Strawberry Perl as a base for creating installers for custom Perl installations under Windows. Including your application as part of such a custom Perl installer would not be much more work. Disclaimer: Last time I did this was well over a year ago, so I've forgotten some details. I found the information I needed by searching the web and reading various scripts in the portable Perl installation. What I remember about what I did: "Installed" the "portable edition" of Strawberry Perl on a Windows PC that had no other Perl installed. Launched the .bat file in PESP to start a command console to run Perl commands. Used `cpan` to install needed modules. Copied known required DLLs to the bin folder. You can copy your Perl programs to the bin folder. Then test that it works. Add any missing DLLs and test again. Made a copy of the above mentioned .bat file to SetUp.bat Modified this new SetUp.bat to perform needed set up actions, including running a Perl program that adds entries to the Windows registry. Created a README.txt file saying to run the SetUp.bat file. Created a zip file of the customized Perl installation. Copied the zip file to another PC with no Perl, extracted it, ran SetUp.bat and tested several Perl programs to make sure they ran correctly. And test your program. If any DLLs are missing, go back, add them to the bin folder, create a new zip file and test it. Distributed the zip file with the instructions to extract to `c:\CompanyPerl` and read the README.txt file. If this is too hard for your users, try rewriting SetUp.bat as SetUp.pl, then use `pp -a CompanyPerl.zip SetUp.pl` to create a SetUp.exe - then test it on another PC If your users demand a "proper" Windows installer, you can use, for example, 7-zip or NSIS, to create a Windows installer. Once the initial install is done, more Perl programs can be "installed" by copying them to the bin folder in the custom Perl installation.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: dll not embedded in PAR::Packer's output by afoken (Chancellor) on Dec 01, 2015 at 21:08 UTC
If your users demand a "proper" Windows installer, you can use, for example, 7-zip or NSIS, to create a Windows installer. My tip: Don't freak out trying to understand NSIS ("A lovely coding experience with elements of PHP and assembly" - the worst parts of PHP and assembler, on the edge of Brainfuck), just use Inno Setup. Trivial for the most common cases, everything else can be scripted in plain Pascal. See also Re: How do you distribute your Perl application to your customers? and Re^3: How do you distribute your Perl application to your customers?, using the same trick with an ancient version of ActivePerl. Alexander -- Today I will gladly share my knowledge and experience, for there are no sweeter words than "I told you so". ;-)	[reply]
Re^3: dll not embedded in PAR::Packer's output by Anonymous Monk on Dec 01, 2015 at 22:31 UTC
Um, yeah, there is no need to work so hard or support scientology... :D make your own just like the berry folks with Perl::Dist::Strawberry/perldist_strawberry - Build strawberry-perl-like distribution for MS Windows also working, nice gui, http://citrusperl.com/ / http://cavapackager.com/	[reply]
Re^3: dll not embedded in PAR::Packer's output by RonW (Parson) on Dec 02, 2015 at 16:51 UTC
Had not heard of Inno Setup before. Thanks. I had used NSIS once, years ago, but was a lot of work. Then I discovered that 7-zip files can be converted into installers. Basically, it's a variant of a self-extracting archive that auto-runs a cmd file (like a bat file) after the extraction. Was not a lot of work. I had the cmd file set some environment variables, copy files, then start a Perl program to finish the installation.	[reply]
Re^4: dll not embedded in PAR::Packer's output by afoken (Chancellor) on Dec 03, 2015 at 00:24 UTC


"be consistent"
	PerlMonks