Distributing application with modules as a single file

[zoul]

Hello!

I have a small Perl application that consists of a single Perl script.
I'd like to improve it and split the code into modules, so that it is
easier for me to work on it. But I like the single-file approach,
because it is so simple - all my users have to do is download a
single file and place it in their ~/bin or wherever they like. If I
split the application into modules, I will have to think of some more
complicated installation procedure.

I thought maybe there was some module to put all the files together
into one single Perl script that would automatically load the modules
and then run the code? This way I could split the code into modules,
work on the modularized code and then create a special all-in-one
script for distribution. Note that I do not want some
auto-decompressing gizmo that would dump the modules on the appropriate
places in the system, I just want the code to stay in one single file
on the user system. I am also not trying to solve module dependencies
- I just want *my* modularized code to stay in a single file. (But I
want to be able to work on separate files while developing, because it
is pain to jump around in one large file.)

Thanks, T.

 

[John Bokma]

I thought maybe there was some module to put all the files together
into one single Perl script that would automatically load the modules
and then run the code?

Yup: PAR

 

[anno4000]

Hello!

I have a small Perl application that consists of a single Perl script.
I'd like to improve it and split the code into modules, so that it is
easier for me to work on it. But I like the single-file approach,
because it is so simple - all my users have to do is download a
single file and place it in their ~/bin or wherever they like. If I
split the application into modules, I will have to think of some more
complicated installation procedure.

I thought maybe there was some module to put all the files together
into one single Perl script that would automatically load the modules
and then run the code? This way I could split the code into modules,
work on the modularized code and then create a special all-in-one
script for distribution. Note that I do not want some
auto-decompressing gizmo that would dump the modules on the appropriate
places in the system, I just want the code to stay in one single file
on the user system. I am also not trying to solve module dependencies
- I just want *my* modularized code to stay in a single file. (But I
want to be able to work on separate files while developing, because it
is pain to jump around in one large file.)

You can replace a statement

use My::Module arg1, ..., argn;

with this functional equivalent

BEGIN {
# content of My/Module.pm here
}
BEGIN {
My::Module->import( arg1, ..., argn);
}

If My::Module doesn't have an import method that part can go.

It shouldn't be hard to do that transformation for certain modules
automatically.

Anno

 

[zoul]

Yup: PAR

That's exactly it, thank You.

T.

 

[Ben Morrow]

Quoth (e-mail address removed)-berlin.de:

You can replace a statement

use My::Module arg1, ..., argn;

with this functional equivalent

BEGIN {
# content of My/Module.pm here
}
BEGIN {

A slight nit: I would put

$INC{'My/Module.pm'} = $0;

here, just in case anything is checking.

My::Module->import( arg1, ..., argn);
}

If My::Module doesn't have an import method that part can go.

It shouldn't be hard to do that transformation for certain modules
automatically.

....but of course it doesn't work for XS modules (which the OP wasn't
asking about, but it's worth noting anyway, especially as it will
probably seem to work on the dev box that has the modules installed
).

Ben

--
"Awww, I'm going to miss her."
"Don't you hate her?"
"Yes, with a fiery vengeance."
[[email protected]]

Miles to go. Little Miss Muffet counting down from 7-3-0.
[[email protected]]

 

[anno4000]

Quoth (e-mail address removed)-berlin.de:

A slight nit: I would put

$INC{'My/Module.pm'} = $0;

here, just in case anything is checking.

Yes, good idea.

...but of course it doesn't work for XS modules (which the OP wasn't
asking about, but it's worth noting anyway, especially as it will
probably seem to work on the dev box that has the modules installed
).

Both true. Inline should work, but the initial startup will be slow.

Another thing that breaks is __DATA__ sections. __FILE__ and __LINE__
will also be affected. There's probably more...

Anno