NAME

Perl::Dist::WiX - Experimental 4th generation Win32 Perl distribution builder

DESCRIPTION

This package is the experimental upgrade to Perl::Dist based on Windows Install XML technology, instead of Inno Setup.

METHODS

new

The new method creates a new Perl Distribution build as an object.

Each object is used to create a single distribution, and then should be discarded.

Although there are about 30 potential constructor arguments that can be provided, most of them are automatically resolved and exist for overloading puposes only, or they revert to sensible defaults and generally never need to be modified.

The following is an example of the most likely attributes that will be specified.

  my $build = Perl::Dist::WiX->new(
      image_dir => 'C:\vanilla',
      temp_dir  => 'C:\tmp\vp',
	  msi_directory_tree_additions => [ qw(
        c\bin\program
        perl\lib\Acme
      )],
      cpan      => URI->new(('file://C|/minicpan/')),
  );

Attributes that are required to be set are marked as (required) below. They may often be set by subclasses.

image_dir (required)

Perl::Dist::WiX distributions can only be installed to fixed paths as of yet.

To facilitate a correctly working CPAN setup, the files that will ultimately end up in the installer must also be assembled under the same path on the author's machine.

The image_dir method specifies the location of the Perl install, both on the author's and end-user's host.

Please note that this directory will be automatically deleted if it already exists at object creation time. Trying to build a Perl distribution on the SAME distribution can thus have devastating results.
temp_dir

Perl::Dist::WiX needs a series of temporary directories while it is running the build, including places to cache downloaded files, somewhere to expand tarballs to build things, and somewhere to put debugging output and the final installer zip and exe files.

The temp_dir param specifies the root path for where these temporary directories should be created.

For convenience it is best to make these short paths with simple names, near the root.

This parameter defaults to a subdirectory of $ENV{TEMP} if not specified.
force

The force parameter determines if perl and perl modules are tested upon installation. If this parameter is true, then no testing is done.
trace

The trace parameter sets the level of tracing that is output.

Setting this parameter to 0 prints out only MAJOR stuff and errors.

Setting this parameter to 2 or above will print out the level as the first thing on the line.

Setting this parameter to 3 or above will print out the filename and line number after the trace level on those lines that require a trace level of 3 or above to print.

Setting this parameter to 5 or above will print out the filename and line number on every line.

Default is 1 if not set.
perl_version

The perl_version parameter specifies what version of perl is downloaded and built. Legal values for this parameter are '588', '589', and '5100' (for 5.8.8, 5.8.9, and 5.10.0, respectively.)

This parameter defaults to '5100' if not specified.
cpan

The cpan param provides a path to a CPAN or minicpan mirror that the installer can use to fetch any needed files during the build process.

The param should be a URI object to the root of the CPAN repository, including trailing slash.

If you are online and no cpan param is provided, the value will default to the http://cpan.strawberryperl.com repository as a convenience.
portable

The optional boolean portable param is used to indicate that the distribution is intended for installation on a portable storable device.
zip

The optional boolean zip param is used to indicate that a zip distribution package should be created.
msi

The optional boolean msi param is used to indicate that a Windows Installer distribution package (otherwise known as an msi file) should be created.
exe

The optional boolean exe param is deprecated.
checkpoint_after

Stops the installation at the stage that has this number.
checkpoint_before

Starts a saved installation at the stage that has this number.
app_id (required)

The app_id parameter provides the base identifier of the distribution that is used in constructing filenames. This must be a legal Perl identifier (no spaces, for example) and is required.
app_name (required)

The app_name parameter provides the name of the distribution. This is required.
app_publisher (required)

The app_publisher parameter provides the publisher of the distribution.
app_publisher_url (required)

The app_publisher_url parameter provides the URL of the publisher of the distribution.
default_group_name

The name for the Start menu group this program installs its shortcuts to. Defaults to app_name if none is provided.
msi_debug

The optional boolean msi_debug parameter is used to indicate that a debugging MSI (one that creates a log in $ENV{TEMP}) will be created if msi is also true.
build_number (required)

The required integer build_number parameter is used to set the build number portion of the distribution's version number, and is used in constructing filenames.
beta_number

The optional integer beta_number parameter is used to set the beta number portion of the distribution's version number (if this is a beta distribution), and is used in constructing filenames.

It defaults to 0 if not set, which will construct distributions without a beta number.
msi_license_file

The optional msi_license_file parameter specifies the location of an .rtf or .txt file to be displayed at the point where the MSI asks you to accept a license.

Perl::Dist::WiX provides a default one if none is supplied here.
msi_banner_top

The optional msi_banner_top parameter specifies the location of a 493x58 .bmp file that is used on the top of most of the dialogs in the MSI file.

WiX will use its default if no file is supplied here.
msi_banner_side

The optional msi_banner_side parameter specifies the location of a 493x312 .bmp file that is used in the introductory dialog in the MSI file.

WiX will use its default if no file is supplied here.
msi_help_url

The optional msi_help_url parameter specifies the URL that Add/Remove Programs directs you to for support when you click the "Click here for support information." text.
msi_readme_file

The optional msi_readme_file parameter specifies a .txt or .rtf file or a URL (TODO: check) that is linked in Add/Remove Programs in the "Click here for support information." text.
msi_product_icon

The optional msi_product_icon parameter specifies the icon that is used in Add/Remove Programs for this MSI file.
msi_directory_tree_additions

The optional msi_directory_tree_additions parameter is a reference to an array of directories under image_dir (i.e. perl\lib\Module, as opposed to C:\distribution\perl\lib\module) that need to be in the initial directory tree because they are used by more than one fragment.

If upon running the distribution module, you see LGHT0091 or LGHT0130 errors at the end that refer to directories, add the applicable directories to this parameter.

The new constructor returns a Perl::Dist object, which you should then call run on to generate the distribution.

Accessors

$id = $dist->bin_candle;

Accessors will return a specified portion of the distribution state.

If it can also be set as a parameter to new, it is marked as (also new parameter) below.

binary_root

(also new parameter)

The binary_root accessor returns the URL (as a string, not including the filename) where the distribution will be uploaded.

Defaults to 'http://strawberryperl.com/package'.

modules_dir

(also new parameter)

The directory where the modules for the distribution will be downloaded to.

Defaults to download_dir . '\modules'.

license_dir

(also new parameter)

The subdirectory of image_dir where the licenses for the different portions of the distribution will be copied to.

Defaults to image_dir . '\licenses'.

build_dir

(also new parameter)

The directory where the source files for the distribution will be extracted and built from.

Defaults to temp_dir . '\build'.

checkpoint_dir

(also new parameter)

The directory where Perl::Dist::WiX will store its checkpoints.

Defaults to temp_dir . '\checkpoint'.

bin_perl, bin_make, bin_pexports, bin_dlltool

The location of perl.exe, dmake.exe, pexports.exe, and dlltool.exe.

These only are available (not undef) once the appropriate packages are installed.

env_path

An arrayref storing the different directories under image_dir that need to be added to the PATH.

debug_stdout, debug_stderr

The files where STDOUT and STDERR is redirected to to receive the output of make and perl.

Defaults to output_dir . '\debug.out' and output_dir . '\debug.err'

perl_version_corelist

A hash containing the versions of the core modules in the version of perl being distributed. Retrieved from Module::Corelist.

output_file

The list of distributions created as an array reference.

filters

Provides an array reference of files and directories that will not be installed.

Initialized in new.

dist_dir

Provides a shortcut to the location of the shared files directory.

Returns a directory as a string or dies on error.

offline

The Perl::Dist module has limited ability to build offline, if all packages have already been downloaded and cached.

The connectedness of the Perl::Dist object is checked automatically be default using LWP::Online. It can be overidden by providing an offline param to the constructor.

The offline accessor returns true if no connection to "the internet" is available and the object will run in offline mode, or false otherwise.

download_dir

(also new parameter)

The download_dir accessor returns the path to the directory that packages of various types will be downloaded and cached to.

An explicit value can be provided via a download_dir param to the constructor. Otherwise the value is derived from temp_dir.

image_dir

(also new parameter)

The image_dir accessor returns the path to the built distribution image. That is, the directory in which the build C/Perl code and modules will be installed on the build server.

At the present time, this is also the path to which Perl will be installed on the user's machine via the source_dir accessor, which is an alias to the Perl::Dist::WiX::Installer method source_dir. (although theoretically they can be different, this is likely to break the user's Perl install)

perl_version

The perl_version accessor returns the shorthand perl version as a string (consisting of the three-part version with dots removed).

Thus Perl 5.8.8 will be "588" and Perl 5.10.0 will return "5100".

perl_version_literal

The perl_version_literal method returns the literal numeric Perl version for the distribution.

For Perl 5.8.8 this will be '5.008008', Perl 5.8.9 will be '5.008009', and for Perl 5.10.0 this will be '5.010000'.

perl_version_human

The perl_version_human method returns the "marketing" form of the Perl version.

This will be either '5.8.8', '5.8.9' or '5.10.0'.

run

The run method is the main method for the class.

It does a complete build of a product, spitting out an installer.

Returns true, or throws an exception on error.

This method may take an hour or more to run.

Routines used by `run`

install_custom

The install_custom method is an empty install stub provided to allow sub-classed distributions to add vastly different additional packages on top of Strawberry Perl.

For example, this class is used by the Parrot distribution builder (which needs to sit on a full Strawberry install).

Notably, the install_custom method comes AFTER remove_waste, so that the file deletion logic in remove_waste won't accidntally delete files that may result in a vastly more damaging effect on the custom software.

Returns true, or throws an error on exception.

install_c_toolchain

The install_c_toolchain method is used by run to install various binary packages to provide a working C development environment.

By default, the C toolchain consists of dmake, gcc (C/C++), binutils, pexports, the mingw runtime environment, and the win32api C package.

Although dmake is the "standard" make for Perl::Dist distributions, it will also install the mingw version of GNU make for use with those modules that require it.

install_c_libraries

The install_c_libraries method is an empty install stub provided to allow sub-classed distributions to add vastly different additional packages on top of Strawberry Perl.

Returns true, or throws an error on exception.

install_perl_* (* = 588, 589, or 5100)

$self->install_perl_5100;

The install_perl_* method provides a simplified way to install Perl into the distribution.

It takes care of calling install_perl_*_bin with the standard params, and then calls install_perl_toolchain to set up the CPAN toolchain.

Returns true, or throws an exception on error.

install_perl_*_bin

$self->install_perl_5100_bin(
    name       => 'perl',
    dist       => 'RGARCIA/perl-5.10.0.tar.gz',
    unpack_to  => 'perl',
    license    => {
        'perl-5.10.0/Readme'   => 'perl/Readme',
        'perl-5.10.0/Artistic' => 'perl/Artistic',
        'perl-5.10.0/Copying'  => 'perl/Copying',
    },
    install_to => 'perl',
);

The install_perl_*_bin method takes care of the detailed process of building the Perl binary and installing it into the distribution.

A short summary of the process would be that it downloads or otherwise fetches the named package, unpacks it, copies out any license files from the source code, then tweaks the Win32 makefile to point to the specific build directory, and then runs make/make test/make install. It also registers some environment variables for addition to the Inno Setup script.

It is normally called directly by install_perl_* rather than directly from the API, but is documented for completeness.

It takes a number of parameters that are sufficiently detailed above.

Returns true (after 20 minutes or so) or throws an exception on error.

install_dmake

$dist->install_dmake

The install_dmake method installs the dmake make tool into the distribution, and is typically installed during "C toolchain" build phase.

It provides the approproate arguments to install_binary and then validates that the binary was installed correctly.

Returns true or throws an exception on error.

install_gcc

$dist->install_gcc

The install_gcc method installs the GNU C Compiler into the distribution, and is typically installed during "C toolchain" build phase.

It provides the appropriate arguments to several install_binary calls. The default install_gcc method installs two binary packages, the core compiler 'gcc-core' and the C++ compiler 'gcc-c++'.

Returns true or throws an exception on error.

install_binutils

$dist->install_binutils

The install_binutils method installs the GNU binutils package into the distribution.

The most important of these is dlltool.exe, which is used to extract static library files from .dll files. This is needed by some libraries to let the Perl interfaces build against them correctly.

Returns true or throws an exception on error.

install_pexports

$dist->install_pexports

The install_pexports method installs the MinGW pexports package into the distribution.

This is needed by some libraries to let the Perl interfaces build against them correctly.

Returns true or throws an exception on error.

install_mingw_runtime

$dist->install_mingw_runtime

The install_mingw_runtime method installs the MinGW runtime package into the distribution, which is basically the MinGW version of libc and some other very low level libs.

Returns true or throws an exception on error.

install_zlib

$dist->install_zlib

The install_zlib method installs the GNU zlib compression library into the distribution, and is typically installed during "C toolchain" build phase.

It provides the appropriate arguments to a install_library call that will extract the standard zlib win32 package, and generate the additional files that Perl needs.

Returns true or throws an exception on error.

install_win32api

$dist->install_win32api

The install_win32api method installs MinGW win32api layer, to allow C code to compile against native Win32 APIs.

Returns true or throws an exception on error.

install_mingw_make

$dist->install_mingw_make

The install_mingw_make method installs the MinGW build of the GNU make build tool.

While GNU make is not used by Perl itself, some C libraries can't be built using the normal dmake tool and explicitly need GNU make. So we install it as mingw-make and certain Alien:: modules will use it by that name.

Returns true or throws an exception on error.

install_libiconv

$dist->install_libiconv

The install_libiconv method installs the GNU libiconv library, which is used for various character encoding tasks, and is needed for other libraries such as libxml.

Returns true or throws an exception on error.

install_libxml

$dist->install_libxml

The install_libxml method installs the Gnome libxml library, which is a fast, reliable, XML parsing library, and the new standard library for XML parsing.

Returns true or throws an exception on error.

install_expat

$dist->install_expat

The install_expat method installs the Expat XML library, which was the first popular C XML parser. Many Perl XML libraries are based on Expat.

Returns true or throws an exception on error.

install_gmp

$dist->install_gmp

The install_gmp method installs the GNU Multiple Precision Arithmetic Library, which is used for fast and robust bignum support.

Returns true or throws an exception on error.

install_pari

$dist->install_pari

The install_pari method install (via a PAR package) libpari and the Math::Pari module into the distribution.

This method should only be called at during the install_modules phase.

General installation methods

install_binary

$self->install_binary(
    name => 'gmp',
);

The install_binary method is used by library-specific methods to install pre-compiled and un-modified tar.gz or zip archives into the distribution.

Returns true or throws an exception on error.

install_library

$self->install_binary(
    name => 'gmp',
);

The install_binary method is used by library-specific methods to install pre-compiled and un-modified tar.gz or zip archives into the distribution.

Returns true or throws an exception on error.

install_distribution

$self->install_distribution(
    name              => 'ADAMK/File-HomeDir-0.69.tar.gz,
    force             => 1,
    automated_testing => 1,
    makefilepl_param  => [
        'LIBDIR=' . File::Spec->catdir(
            $self->image_dir, 'c', 'lib',
        ),
    ],
);

The install_distribution method is used to install a single CPAN or non-CPAN distribution directly, without installing any of the dependencies for that distribution.

It is used primarily during CPAN bootstrapping, to allow the installation of the toolchain modules, with the distribution install order precomputed or hard-coded.

It takes a compulsory 'name' param, which should be the AUTHOR/file path within the CPAN mirror.

The optional 'force' param allows the installation of distributions with spuriously failing test suites.

The optional 'automated_testing' param allows for installation with the AUTOMATED_TESTING environment flag enabled, which is used to either run more-intensive testing, or to convince certain Makefile.PL that insists on prompting that there is no human around and they REALLY need to just go with the default options.

The optional 'makefilepl_param' param should be a reference to an array of additional params that should be passwd to the perl Makefile.PL. This can help with distributions that insist on taking additional options via Makefile.PL.

Returns true or throws an exception on error.

install_module

$self->install_module(
    name => 'DBI',
);

The install_module method is a high level installation method that can be used during the install_perl_modules phase, once the CPAN toolchain has been been initialized.

It makes the installation call using the CPAN client directly, allowing the CPAN client to both do the installation and fulfill all of the dependencies for the module, identically to if it was installed from the CPAN shell via an "install Module::Name" command.

The compulsory 'name' param should be the class name of the module to be installed.

The optional 'force' param can be used to force the install of module. This does not, however, force the installation of the dependencies of the module.

The optional 'packlist' param sshould be 0 if a .packlist file is not installed with the module.

Returns true or throws an exception on error.

install_modules

$self->install_modules( qw{
    Foo::Bar
    This::That
    One::Two
} );

The install_modules method is a convenience shorthand that makes it trivial to install a series of modules via install_module.

As a convenience, it does not support any additional params to the underlying install_module call other than the name.

install_par

The install_par method extends the available installation options to allow for the install of pre-compiled modules and pre-compiled C libraries via "PAR" packages.

The compulsory 'name' param should be a simple identifying name, and does not have any functional use.

The compulsory 'uri' param should be a URL string to the PAR package.

Returns true on success or throws an exception on error.

install_file

# Overwrite the CPAN::Config
$self->install_file(
    share      => 'Perl-Dist CPAN_Config.pm',
    install_to => 'perl/lib/CPAN/Config.pm',
);

# Install a custom icon file
$self->install_file(
    name       => 'Strawberry Perl Website Icon',
    url        => 'http://strawberryperl.com/favicon.ico',
    install_to => 'Strawberry Perl Website.ico',
);

The install_file method is used to install a single specific file from various sources into the distribution.

It is generally used to overwrite modules with distribution-specific customisations, or to install licenses, README files, or other miscellaneous data files which don't need to be compiled or modified.

It takes a variety of different params.

The optional 'name' param provides an optional plain name for the file. It does not have any functional purpose or meaning for this method.

One of several alternative source methods must be provided.

The 'url' method is used to provide a fully-resolved path to the source file and should be a fully-resolved URL.

The 'file' method is used to provide a local path to the source file on the local system, and should be a fully-resolved filesystem path.

The 'share' method is used to provide a path to a file installed as part of a CPAN distribution, and accessed via File::ShareDir.

It should be a string containing two space-seperated value, the first of which is the distribution name, and the second is the path within the share dir of that distribution.

The final compulsory method is the 'install_to' method, which provides either a destination file path, or alternatively a path to an existing directory that the file be installed below, using its source file name.

Returns true or throws an exception on error.

install_launcher

$self->install_launcher(
    name => 'CPAN Client',
    bin  => 'cpan',
);

The install_launcher method is used to describe a binary program launcher that will be added to the Windows "Start" menu when the distribution is installed.

It takes two compulsory param.

The compulsory 'name' param is the name of the launcher, and the text that label will be displayed in the start menu (Currently this only supports ASCII, and is not language-aware in any way).

The compulsory 'bin' param should be the name of a .bat script launcher in the Perl bin directory. The program itself MUST be installed before trying to add the launcher.

Returns true or throws an exception on error.

install_website

$self->install_website(
    name       => 'Strawberry Perl Website',
    url        => 'http://strawberryperl.com/',
    icon_file  => 'Strawberry Perl Website.ico',
    icon_index => 1,
);

The install_website param is used to install a "Start" menu entry that will load a website using the default system browser.

The compulsory 'name' param should be the name of the website, and will be the labelled displayed in the "Start" menu.

The compulsory 'url' param is the fully resolved URL for the website.

The optional 'icon_file' param should be the path to a file that contains the icon for the website.

The optional 'icon_index' param should be the icon index within the icon file. This param is optional even if the 'icon_file' param has been provided, by default the first icon in the file will be used.

Returns true on success, or throws an exception on error.

write_zip

The write_zip method is used to generate a standalone .zip file containing the entire distribution, for situations in which a full installer executable is not wanted (such as for "Portable Perl" type installations).

The executable file is written to the output directory, and the location of the file is printed to STDOUT.

Returns true or throws an exception or error.

SUPPORT

No support of any kind is provided for this module

AUTHORS

Curtis Jewell <csjewell@cpan.org>

Adam Kennedy <adamk@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included with this module.

To install Perl::Dist::WiX, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm Perl::Dist::WiX

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Perl::Dist::WiX

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

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`g` `a`	Go to author
`g` `c`	Go to changes
`g` `i`	Go to issues
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NAME

DESCRIPTION

METHODS

new

Accessors

binary_root

modules_dir

license_dir

build_dir

checkpoint_dir

bin_perl, bin_make, bin_pexports, bin_dlltool

env_path

debug_stdout, debug_stderr

perl_version_corelist

output_file

filters

dist_dir

offline

download_dir

image_dir

perl_version

perl_version_literal

perl_version_human

run

Routines used by run

install_custom

install_c_toolchain

install_c_libraries

install_perl_* (* = 588, 589, or 5100)

install_perl_*_bin

install_dmake

install_gcc

install_binutils

install_pexports

install_mingw_runtime

install_zlib

install_win32api

install_mingw_make

install_libiconv

install_libxml

install_expat

install_gmp

install_pari

General installation methods

install_binary

install_library

install_distribution

install_module

install_modules

install_par

install_file

install_launcher

install_website

write_zip

SUPPORT

AUTHORS

SEE ALSO

COPYRIGHT

Module Install Instructions

Routines used by `run`