using PAR to create a Perl environment on another PC

[spurperl]

One of Perl's greatest strengths is CPAN - the staggering collection of modules that help solving a very wide range of tasks. This strength has a catch, though - some of these modules are very, very difficult to install, especially on Windows machines.

One of such modules is Win32::SerialPort and its brethen, which I use at work to amaze my colleagues in showing off that "this Perl thing" can even speak to our hardware via RS232.

Win32::SerialPort is a torture to install, however, requiring a C compiler (not always present in EE development computers) and a lot of tweaking. I managed to install it on my PC some time ago and I don't want to repeat this experience.

But, a need arouse to run custom Perl scripts with SerialPort on another computer. I like working with Perl code instead of a GUI. Send "abs", no probs - uncomment a little code that does it and run, this allows great flexibility. So, to "port" this method to a colleague's PC I used an original approach with PAR:

First, I created a simple "host" script that "use"s SerialPort and other modules I need. This script allows to write a Perl file (using a simple GUI) and then "eval"s it, so that file can use these modules.

Then, I wrapped the script in a simple GUI and packed it to an .exe with PAR. Voila ! I can now run my small Perl scripts with Win32::SerialPort even on the laboratory laptop that has no network connection.

[CountZero]

Interesting, but you could have installed Win32::SerialPort through ppm. Activestate has the Perl 5.6 version and http://www.bribes.org also has the Perl 5.8 version.

[spurperl]

I could have, on a PC with an internet connection, which unfortunately isn't the case with some machines at work.

[CountZero]

That is not entirely true: you can download (on another computer) the ppd files and such put them on a CD or floppy and have it install from this.