Conditional Perl Shebang? - perl

Question

I have a situation where I need to detect if a particular perl executable, /usr/goofy/bin/perl exists and if so use it to run the Perl script otherwise use /usr/bin/perl.
I have been struggling with this small POC script, called perlshebang.pl:
#!/bin/sh -e
perls="/usr/goofy/bin/perl /usr/bin/perl"
for pl_exec in $perls
do
if [ -x $pl_exec ]; then
exec "$pl_exec -w -S \"$0\" ${1+\"$#\"}"
fi
done
print "[$^X] Whoop!\n";
When I run this on a system that does not have /usr/goofy/bin/perl I get this error message:
./perlshebang.pl: 6: exec: /usr/bin/perl -w -S "./perlshebang.pl" : not found
And when I run it on a system that does have /usr/goofy/bin/perl I get a similuar error message:
./perlshebang.pl: line 6: /usr/goofy/bin/perl -w -S "./perlshebang.pl" : No such file or directory
I think I am close but cannot figure out why I am getting these error messages.
Thanks!

Answer 1

To answer your question, "Why am I getting these error messages?", the problem is your exec line:
exec "/path/to/cmd arg arg"
# This will attempt to execute a file named "cmd arg arg"
# (with spaces in name) in directory /path/to/
Contrast that with
exec /path/to/cmd arg arg
# This will attempt to execute a file named "cmd" in directory
# /path/to/, with arguments "arg" and "arg"
So, that is why the shell complains that it cannot find your executable. You don't have a file named perl -w -s "perlshebang.pl", neither under /usr/bin/ nor under /usr/goofy/bin/.

Answer 2

This sounds a little ugly to me if you are releasing software that uses this hack
If you have no other choice, then I suggest you make sure there is always a /usr/goofy/bin/perl, and use the shebang line
#!/usr/goofy/bin/perl
on all your scripts.
For those systems where you want to use the system perl, just make /usr/goofy/bin/perl a symlink to /usr/bin/perl

Answer 3

A co-worker of mine came up with this. I am not sure I fully understand it but it seems to work fine:
#!/bin/sh
#! -*-perl-*-
eval ' if test -x /usr/goofy/bin/perl ; then
exec /usr/goofy/bin/perl -x -S $0 ${1+"$#"};
elif test -x /usr/bin/perl ; then
exec /usr/bin/perl -x -S $0 ${1+"$#"};
fi '
if $running_under_some_shell;
use strict;
use warnings;
print "hello world\n"; # if $foo;
printf("running %s v(%vd)\n", $^X, $^V);
__END__
unpod like docs.
See http://perldoc.perl.org/perlrun.html

Answer 4

You can run the idea out of a Perl script running /usr/bin/perl. Use the shebang line with the 'goofy perl' in your script that should run. Then run the following wrapper, followed by the normal invocation of the script (its name and arguments).
#!/usr/bin/perl
exec "#ARGV";
exec "/usr/bin/perl #ARGV";
print STDERR "Couldn't execute either.\n";
Let's call the above pick_perl.pl, and your script is script.pl. Run it all as
pick_perl.pl script.pl args-for-script
The exec replaces the running program altogether with the one it executes, ie. it loads the new program. Thus your script runs with its own shebang. If that failes exec returns quietly (with false) and the next statement is executed so the other Perl runs the script (overriding the shebang). This happens if script's shebang fails, but also if the first exec fails to execute for any reason.
If you wish/need to run checks then put exec in a full if block. One can also interrogate the 'goofy_perl' file further if -e isn't assuring enough.
#!/usr/bin/perl
$system_perl = "/usr/bin/perl";
$goofy_perl = "/usr/goofy/bin/perl";
# Your 'goofy_perl' script with its arguments
#script_cmd = #ARGV;
if (-x $goofy_perl) { exec "#script_cmd" }
exec "$system_perl #script_cmd";
The #script_cmd has the full command line for your script (which has 'goofy_perl' shebang).