I need to package a Perl Dancer application for installation using RPM. Pretty much all of the Perl module/distribution tools deal with installing files into Perl specific locations, such as /usr/lib/perl. I need to be able to create an installation in a self contained location, such as /opt/foo.
I know about App::Build, which looks like it might be useful, and provides facilities missing from Module::Build. I expect there might be a Dist::Zilla plugin to do this sort of thing but I've been unable to locate one.
What tools would you suggest using for building, testing and packaging a Perl 'application'?
The layout of the application would follow normal Dancer style, with /public, /views, /lib, etc
You are mistaken in saying that Module::Build is missing the functionality to install additional (non-lib) directories. See the Cookbook.
I don't know if this helps at all. It describes what we do at work:
http://www.slideshare.net/p3castro/packaging-perl
Caveat: we use a common Perl install across all applications.
Related
I wrote a script for my company and I am using some libraries I obtained from CPAN. My manager wanted me to consolidate and remove the extra libraries - which is a little funny because I include them for the script to work.
A few notes:
I do not have root access on this server nor can I request access
To use CPAN modules w/o root I have them installed to my user directory
To allow other users to run my scripts I usually include a folder called 'libs' and inside of my script's directory and in the script I have: use 'libs'; at the top before I use my CPAN modules.
The only solution I have right now is to literally put the contents of the perl modules inside of my perl script. However I want to give credit where it is due and also not get in trouble for including opensource code w/o proper credit to its authors and organizations.
Therefore, how should I go about this? I am not trying to get away with anything.. I honestly want to go about doing this the right way.
All three modules say "licensed under the same terms as Perl itself" but I feel like it shouldn't be this easy.
I would also like to explore any other ideas too!
The modules are:
Text::Table
Text::Aligner
Term::ANSIColor
Is using PAR Packager an option for you? That would generate a standalone executable.
If the modules are pure Perl modules, you may be able to simply append the code (including those package statements) into your program. I'd also include the POD which would include the copyright statements and the names of the authors too. That should satisfy the Artistic License Requirement (but may not satisfy GNU licensing requirements).
Another possibility is to use Perlbrew which will allow you to install a user version of Perl on the system. This way, you can install CPAN modules without needing Administrative permission, and you can tell other users to use Perlbrew too.
I use it because I can install and switch between various versions of Perl which allows me to test my Perl scripts in various versions of Perl. I've also used it on our servers where I need a newer version of Perl or modules that weren't included in the standard release.
You need to get your IT approval before installing Perlbrew, but a lot of times they're relieved that they no longer have to be bothered with maintaining and installing CPAN modules for your use.
Interesting question & perspective. I don't understand what is against using libraries or modules, but I'll let your manager do the thinking ;-)
Regarding copyright, you're best to consult a lawyer if you want to be sure, but as far as I understand it, you can combine the work of others provided you retain the copyright notices. The combined work may not be covered by copyleft, so you may be able to use it commercially (i.e., distribute it without disclosing the source). But do check with a lawyer.
But, since you said you wanted to explore other ideas, App::Staticperl may be a solution? I do not have experience with it, but I tried it with a simple example and got a working executable.
App::Staticperl builds a stand-alone executable from the Perl interpreter with embedded CPAN modules. The steps I followed were roughly (you'll need to adapt, because obviously I couldn't test with your script):
latest version of App::Staticperl is 1.43: https://cpan.metacpan.org/authors/id/M/ML/MLEHMANN/App-Staticperl-1.43.tar.gz
either install the module via CPAN, or simply extract bin/staticperl from the tar - it's a standalone script
edit staticperl to change EMAIL and CPAN (optional, but you may want to change the CPAN mirror)
./staticperl install downloads and builds Perl; it ended with an error message on my box, but did produce a working Perl
./staticperl cpan enters an interactive CPAN prompt; install Text::Table, install Term::ANSIColor, and whatever else you need
./staticperl mkapp my_app --boot path/to/your/script -MText::Table -MText::Aligner -MTerm::ANSIColor
try the app: ./my_app - it will most likely fail with an error message about missing modules; repeat the previous step and include the missing modules in the -M flags
Good luck!
Can you reduce the unnecessary code (to satisfy your manager's concerns). Leave in tact the needed code in the file it came in - and give the author's credit within that module/package.
Eg: This was inspired (stolen) from Joe E Perl.
I've written any number of perl modules in the past, and more than a few stand-alone perl programs, but I've never released a multi-file perl program into the wild before.
I have a perl program that is almost at the beta stage and is going to be released open source. It requires a number of data files, as well as some external perl modules -- some I've written myself, and some from CPAN -- that I'll have to bundle with it so as to ensure that someone can just download my program and install it without worrying about hunting for obscure modules.
So, it sounds to me like I need to write an installer to copy all the files to standard locations so that a user can easily install everything. The trouble is, I have no idea what the standard practice would be for this. I have found lots of tutorials on perl module standards, but none on perl program standards.
Does anyone have any pointers to standard paths, installation proceedures, etc, for perl programs? This is going to be complicated by the fact that the program is multi-platform. I've been testing it in Linux, but its designed to work equally well in Windows.
Take a look at PAR and PAR::Packer. You can bundle all of your requirements (even non-Perl requirements) into one file. With PAR::Packer, the user doesn't even need to have Perl installed for it to work.
You might also look at how the various App::* distributions are setup.
The standard installers for modules (ExtUtils::MakeMaker, Module::Build, Module::Install) also work the same way for scripts.
Using such a standard Perl tool will help you to:
distribute your application on the
CPAN (and you'll benefit from
automated tests on various platforms
by CPAN Testers), and so your app
will be installable (with all its dependencies) from the CPAN
shell
help packagers of Linux/BSD distributions to make packages for your product
This is a follow-up to my previous question about developing Perl applications. Let’s say I develop an application as a CPAN module using Module::Install. Now I upload the code to the production server, say using a git push, and I would like to install the application dependencies listed in Makefile.PL. If I simply run cpan ., the thing tries to install the application like a regular Perl module, ie. starts to copy the modules and documentation to standard Perl directories all over the system.
Is this the way it’s supposed to be? Do you install the application into the standard Perl directories? I am used to having my Perl applications in one directory with separate lib. Otherwise it seems I’d have to manage a lot of other things, like installing the resources somewhere on path etc. If I just want to install the deps declared in Makefile.PL and run the application tests to make sure everything works, what should I do?
(Is this documented somewhere? I mean, is there something like best practice for deploying and updating non-trivial Perl applications? Or is everybody doing this his own way?)
I might be misunderstanding, but I think what you're looking for is
perl Makefile.PL
make installdeps
If you are using Module::Install, you're really using ExtUtils::MakeMaker behind the scenes. You can use all of the MakeMaker features and the targets it provides. Although the documentation doesn't show every feature, there are some valuable things to be found in the generated Makefile.
However, MakeMaker is old news and most everyone has asked Santa Claus for it to disappear. If you want better control, including creating your own targets and process, Module::Build is orders of magnitude easier to work with as well as cross-platform (even if that just means not using a different make, gmake, or whatever on the same OS on different boxes). If you deviate from the normal, consumer-grade installation process, you're life will be easier without MakeMaker.
Some people appreciate the brevity of the Module::Install build file, but once constructed, you don't spend a lot of time messing with your build file so it's not that much of a real benefit. When the little benefit you get locks you into MakeMaker, it's not a win at all.
A 2014 update: Module::Build has now fallen out of favor and needs a maintainer. It never quite got to the point where people could use it to build and distribute XS modules. It was deprecated in Perl v5.19 although you can still get it from CPAN.
You could look at Module::ScanDeps to generate a list of dependent modules for installing. Or Par::Packer for packaging up the whole thing as an "app".
I have several scripts that I supply to users as tools for their engineering projects. These scripts contain a lot of duplicated code. I want to extract this code and maintain it in a set of modules. However, in order for this to work, the users would have to install these modules. I don't want to have to tell my users to "make install", etc., as I'm sure none of them would have the patience for that.
I understand that one option is to package everything together with PAR, but ideally the user would be able to open up && edit these scripts if they need to, just like they can now. They also need to be able to move them to whatever directory they want, and I don't want them to have to move a bunch of library files as well.
Is it possible to make a double-click file that installs some bundled Perl modules?
I distribute my script as modules, and then use the normal CPAN toolchain to install them. See my articles Scripts as Modules and Automating Script Distributions with scriptdist. Once you have them in a conventional module distribution, you can install them from their current directory with cpan:
% cpan . # install from distribution in the current directory
Depending on how complex your situation is, you might want to create a DPAN, which is a private version of CPAN that your CPAN tools can draw from. You put all of your private modules there, point your CPAN tools at it, and everything happens as it does with a real CPAN mirror. You never have to share your work though.
yeah package with either PAR or Shipwright (not sure about binaries). Also use scandeps.pl along the way.
If the users are using systems with a packaging system (dpkg, cygwin, etc.), consider using that.
If you don't mind spending some green, one of the better bet is Perl Dev Kit from Activestate.
From their own description of the product,
Develop and deploy your Perl programs
to anyone on any platform with
PerlApp's new cross-platform
wrapping.
Deliver code as
executables or as Windows Services,
ActiveX components, .NET assemblies
or in the System Tray.
Easily create
MSI files using Perl code.
You may also consider using sparrow - scripts distribution system. Sparrow plays nice with Perl as it writen on it. It supports CPAN modules dependencies via carton tool.
PS Disclaimer - I am the tool author
It seems that most of the installers for Perl are centered around installing Perl modules, not applications. Things like ExtUtils::MakeMaker and Module::Build are very well suited for modules, but require some additional work for Web Apps.
Ideally it would be nice to be able to do the following after checking out the source from the repository:
Have missing dependencies detected
Download and install dependencies from CPAN
Run a command to "Build" the source into a final state (perform any source parsing or configuration necessary for the local environment).
Run a command to install the built files into the appropriate locations. Not only the perl modules, but also things like template (.tt) files, and CGI scripts, JS and image files that should be web-accessible.
Make sure proper permissions are set on installed files (and SELinux context if necessary).
Right now we have a system based on Module::Build that does most of this. The work was done by done by my co-worker who was learning to use Module::Build at the time, and we'd like some advice on generalizing our solution, since it's fairly app-specific right now. In particular, our system requires us to install dependencies by hand (although it does detect them).
Is there any particular system you've used that's been particularly successful? Do you have to write an installer based on Module::Build or ExtUtils::MakeMaker that's particular to your application, or is something more general available?
EDIT: To answer brian's questions below:
We can log into the machines
We do not have root access to the machines
The machines are all (ostensibly) identical builds of RHEL5 with SELinux enabled
Currently, the people installing the machines are only programmers from our group, and our source is not available to the general public. However, it's conceivable our source could eventually be installed on someone else's machines in our organization, to be installed by their programmers or systems people.
We install by checking out from the repository, though we'd like to have the option of using a distributed archive (see above).
The answer suggesting RPM is definitely a good one. Using your system's package manager can definitely make your life easier. However, it might mean you also need to package up a bunch of other Perl modules.
You might also take a look at Shipwright. This is a Perl-based tool for packaging up an app and all its Perl module dependencies. It's early days yet, but it looks promising.
As far as installing dependencies, it wouldn't be hard to simply package up a bunch of tarballs and then have you Module::Build-based solution install them. You should take a look at pip, which makes installing a module from a tarball quite trivial. You could package this with your code base and simply call it from your own installer to handle the deps.
I question whether relying on CPAN is a good idea. The CPAN shell always fetches the latest version of a distro, rather than a specific version. If you're interested in ensuring repeatable installs, it's not the right tool.
What are your limitations for installing web apps? Can you log into the machine? Are all of the machines running the same thing? Are the people installing the web apps co-workers or random people from the general public? Are the people installing this sysadmins, programmers, web managers, or something else? Do you install by distributed an archive or checking out from source control?
For most of my stuff, which involves sysadmins familiar with Perl installing in control environments, I just use MakeMaker. It's easy to get it to do all the things you listed if you know a little about MakeMaker. If you want to know more about that, ask a another question. ;) Module::Build is just as easy, though, and the way to go if you don't already like using MakeMaker.
Module::Build would be a good way to go to handle lots of different situations if the people are moderately clueful about the command line and installing software. You'll have a lot of flexibility with Module::Build, but also a bit more work. And, the cpan tool (which comes with Perl), can install from the current directory and handle dependencies for you. Just tell it to install the current directory:
$ cpan .
If you only have to install on a single platorm, you'll probably have an easier time making a package in the native format. You could even have Module::Build make that package for you so the developers have the flexibility of Module::Build, but the installers have the ease of the native process. Sticking with Module::Build also means that you could create different packages for different platforms from a single build tool.
If the people installing the web application really have no idea about command lines, CPAN, and other things, you'll probably want to use a packager and installer that doesn't scare them or make them think about what is going on, and can accurately report problems to you automatically.
As Dave points out, using a real CPAN mirror always gets you the latest version of a module, but you can also make your own "fake" CPAN mirror with exactly the distributions you want and have the normal CPAN tools install from that. For our customers, we make "CPAN on a CD" (although thumb drives are good now too). With a simple "run me" script everything gets installed in exactly the versions they need. See, for instance, my Making my own CPAN talk if you're interested in that. Again, consider the audience when you think about that. It's not something you'd hand to the general public.
Good luck, :)
I'd recommend seriously considering a package system such as RPM to do this. Even if you're running on Windows I'd consider RPM and cygwin to do the installation. You could even set up a yum or apt repository to deliver the packages to remote systems.
If you're looking for a general installer for customers running any number of OSes and distros, then the problem becomes much harder.
Take a look at PAR.
Jonathan Rockway as a small section on using this with Catalyst in his book.