--- App-Staticperl/staticperl.pod	2010/12/06 21:12:21	1.4
+++ App-Staticperl/staticperl.pod	2011/03/18 19:49:04	1.38
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 =head1 NAME
 
-staticperl - perl, libc, 50 modules all in one 500kb file
+staticperl - perl, libc, 100 modules, all in one 500kb file
 
 =head1 SYNOPSIS
 
@@ -16,27 +16,35 @@
    staticperl instcpan modulename... # install modules from CPAN
    staticperl mkbundle <bundle-args...> # see documentation
    staticperl mkperl <bundle-args...>   # see documentation
+   staticperl mkapp appname <bundle-args...> # see documentation
 
 Typical Examples:
 
    staticperl install   # fetch, configure, build and install perl
    staticperl cpan      # run interactive cpan shell
-   staticperl mkperl -M '"Config_heavy.pl"' # build a perl that supports -V
+   staticperl mkperl -MConfig_heavy.pl # build a perl that supports -V
    staticperl mkperl -MAnyEvent::Impl::Perl -MAnyEvent::HTTPD -MURI -MURI::http
                         # build a perl with the above modules linked in
+   staticperl mkapp myapp --boot mainprog mymodules
+                        # build a binary "myapp" from mainprog and mymodules
 
 =head1 DESCRIPTION
 
-This script helps you creating single-file perl interpreters, or embedding
-a perl interpreter in your applications. Single-file means that it is
-fully self-contained - no separate shared objects, no autoload fragments,
-no .pm or .pl files are needed. And when linking statically, you can
-create (or embed) a single file that contains perl interpreter, libc, all
-the modules you need and all the libraries you need.
-
-With F<uClibc> and F<upx> on x86, you can create a single 500kb binary that
-contains perl and 50 modules such as AnyEvent, EV, IO::AIO, Coro and so
-on. Or any other choice of modules.
+This script helps you to create single-file perl interpreters
+or applications, or embedding a perl interpreter in your
+applications. Single-file means that it is fully self-contained - no
+separate shared objects, no autoload fragments, no .pm or .pl files are
+needed. And when linking statically, you can create (or embed) a single
+file that contains perl interpreter, libc, all the modules you need, all
+the libraries you need and of course your actual program.
+
+With F<uClibc> and F<upx> on x86, you can create a single 500kb binary
+that contains perl and 100 modules such as POSIX, AnyEvent, EV, IO::AIO,
+Coro and so on. Or any other choice of modules.
+
+To see how this turns out, you can try out smallperl and bigperl, two
+pre-built static and compressed perl binaries with many and even more
+modules: just follow the links at L<http://staticperl.schmorp.de/>.
 
 The created files do not need write access to the file system (like PAR
 does). In fact, since this script is in many ways similar to PAR::Packer,
@@ -65,17 +73,21 @@
 F<staticperl> loads all required files directly from memory. There is no
 need to unpack files into a temporary directory.
 
-=item * More control over included files.
+=item * More control over included files, more burden.
 
 PAR tries to be maintenance and hassle-free - it tries to include more
-files than necessary to make sure everything works out of the box. The
-extra files (such as the unicode database) can take substantial amounts of
-memory and file size.
+files than necessary to make sure everything works out of the box. It
+mostly succeeds at this, but he extra files (such as the unicode database)
+can take substantial amounts of memory and file size.
 
 With F<staticperl>, the burden is mostly with the developer - only direct
 compile-time dependencies and L<AutoLoader> are handled automatically.
 This means the modules to include often need to be tweaked manually.
 
+All this does not preclude more permissive modes to be implemented in
+the future, but right now, you have to resolve state hidden dependencies
+manually.
+
 =item * PAR works out of the box, F<staticperl> does not.
 
 Maintaining your own custom perl build can be a pain in the ass, and while
@@ -83,6 +95,11 @@
 build and possibly fiddling with some modules. PAR is likely to produce
 results faster.
 
+Ok, PAR never has worked for me out of the box, and for some people,
+F<staticperl> does work out of the box, as they don't count "fiddling with
+module use lists" against it, but nevertheless, F<staticperl> is certainly
+a bit more difficult to use.
+
 =back
 
 =head1 HOW DOES IT WORK?
@@ -100,17 +117,19 @@
 except everything is compiled in), or you create bundle files (basically C
 sources you can use to embed all files into your project).
 
-This step is very fast (a few seconds if PPI is not used for stripping,
-more seconds otherwise, as PPI is very slow), and can be tweaked and
-repeated as often as necessary.
+This step is very fast (a few seconds if PPI is not used for stripping, or
+the stripped files are in the cache), and can be tweaked and repeated as
+often as necessary.
 
 =head1 THE F<STATICPERL> SCRIPT
 
 This module installs a script called F<staticperl> into your perl
-binary directory. The script is fully self-contained, and can be used
-without perl (for example, in an uClibc chroot environment). In fact,
-it can be extracted from the C<App::Staticperl> distribution tarball as
-F<bin/staticperl>, without any installation.
+binary directory. The script is fully self-contained, and can be
+used without perl (for example, in an uClibc chroot environment). In
+fact, it can be extracted from the C<App::Staticperl> distribution
+tarball as F<bin/staticperl>, without any installation. The
+newest (possibly alpha) version can also be downloaded from
+L<http://staticperl.schmorp.de/staticperl>.
 
 F<staticperl> interprets the first argument as a command to execute,
 optionally followed by any parameters.
@@ -122,7 +141,7 @@
 =head2 PHASE 1 COMMANDS: INSTALLING PERL
 
 The most important command is F<install>, which does basically
-everything. The default is to download and install perl 5.12.2 and a few
+everything. The default is to download and install perl 5.12.3 and a few
 modules required by F<staticperl> itself, but all this can (and should) be
 changed - see L<CONFIGURATION>, below.
 
@@ -130,18 +149,27 @@
 
    staticperl install
 
-Is normally all you need: It installs the perl interpreter in
+is normally all you need: It installs the perl interpreter in
 F<~/.staticperl/perl>. It downloads, configures, builds and installs the
 perl interpreter if required.
 
-Most of the following commands simply run one or more steps of this
-sequence.
+Most of the following F<staticperl> subcommands simply run one or more
+steps of this sequence.
+
+If it fails, then most commonly because the compiler options I selected
+are not supported by your compiler - either edit the F<staticperl> script
+yourself or create F<~/.staticperl> shell script where your set working
+C<PERL_CCFLAGS> etc. variables.
 
 To force recompilation or reinstallation, you need to run F<staticperl
 distclean> first.
 
 =over 4
 
+=item F<staticperl version>
+
+Prints some info about the version of the F<staticperl> script you are using.
+
 =item F<staticperl fetch>
 
 Runs only the download and unpack phase, unless this has already happened.
@@ -186,9 +214,13 @@
 
 =item F<staticperl clean>
 
-Runs F<make distclean> in the perl source directory (and potentially
-cleans up other intermediate files). This can be used to clean up
-intermediate files without removing the installed perl interpreter.
+Deletes the perl source directory (and potentially cleans up other
+intermediate files). This can be used to clean up files only needed for
+building perl, without removing the installed perl interpreter.
+
+At the moment, it doesn't delete downloaded tarballs.
+
+The exact semantics of this command will probably change.
 
 =item F<staticperl distclean>
 
@@ -222,7 +254,7 @@
    staticperl instcpan AnyEvent::HTTPD
 
    # now build the perl
-   staticperl mkperl -M'"Config_heavy.pl"' -MAnyEvent::Impl::Perl \
+   staticperl mkperl -MConfig_heavy.pl -MAnyEvent::Impl::Perl \
                      -MAnyEvent::HTTPD -MURI::http \
                      --add 'eg/httpd httpd.pm'
 
@@ -238,20 +270,64 @@
 to include that module. I found out about these dependencies by carefully
 watching any error messages about missing modules...
 
+Instead of building a new perl binary, you can also build a standalone
+application:
+
+   # build the app
+   staticperl mkapp app --boot eg/httpd \
+                    -MAnyEvent::Impl::Perl -MAnyEvent::HTTPD -MURI::http
+
+   # run it
+   ./app
+
+Here are the three phase 2 commands:
+
+=over 4
+
+=item F<staticperl mkbundle> args...
+
+The "default" bundle command - it interprets the given bundle options and
+writes out F<bundle.h>, F<bundle.c>, F<bundle.ccopts> and F<bundle.ldopts>
+files, useful for embedding.
+
+=item F<staticperl mkperl> args...
+
+Creates a bundle just like F<staticperl mkbundle> (in fact, it's the same
+as invoking F<staticperl mkbundle --perl> args...), but then compiles and
+links a new perl interpreter that embeds the created bundle, then deletes
+all intermediate files.
+
+=item F<staticperl mkapp> filename args...
+
+Does the same as F<staticperl mkbundle> (in fact, it's the same as
+invoking F<staticperl mkbundle --app> filename args...), but then compiles
+and links a new standalone application that simply initialises the perl
+interpreter.
+
+The difference to F<staticperl mkperl> is that the standalone application
+does not act like a perl interpreter would - in fact, by default it would
+just do nothing and exit immediately, so you should specify some code to
+be executed via the F<--boot> option.
+
+=back
+
 =head3 OPTION PROCESSING
 
 All options can be given as arguments on the command line (typically
 using long (e.g. C<--verbose>) or short option (e.g. C<-v>) style). Since
-specifying a lot of modules can make the command line very cumbersome,
-you can put all long options into a "bundle specification file" (with or
-without C<--> prefix) and specify this bundle file instead.
+specifying a lot of options can make the command line very long and
+unwieldy, you can put all long options into a "bundle specification file"
+(one option per line, with or without C<--> prefix) and specify this
+bundle file instead.
 
-For example, the command given earlier could also look like this:
+For example, the command given earlier to link a new F<perl> could also
+look like this:
 
    staticperl mkperl httpd.bundle
 
-And all options could be in F<httpd.bundle>:
-   
+With all options stored in the F<httpd.bundle> file (one option per line,
+everything after the option is an argument):
+
    use "Config_heavy.pl"
    use AnyEvent::Impl::Perl
    use AnyEvent::HTTPD
@@ -259,93 +335,127 @@
    add eg/httpd httpd.pm
 
 All options that specify modules or files to be added are processed in the
-order given on the command line (that affects the C<--use> and C<--eval>
-options at the moment).
+order given on the command line.
+
+=head3 BUNDLE CREATION WORKFLOW / STATICPELR MKBUNDLE OPTIONS
 
-=head3 MKBUNDLE OPTIONS
+F<staticperl mkbundle> works by first assembling a list of candidate
+files and modules to include, then filtering them by include/exclude
+patterns. The remaining modules (together with their direct dependencies,
+such as link libraries and L<AutoLoader> files) are then converted into
+bundle files suitable for embedding. F<staticperl mkbundle> can then
+optionally build a new perl interpreter or a standalone application.
 
 =over 4
 
-=item --verbose | -v
+=item Step 0: Generic argument processing.
 
-Increases the verbosity level by one (the default is C<1>).
+The following options influence F<staticperl mkbundle> itself.
 
-=item --quiet | -q
+=over 4
 
-Decreases the verbosity level by one.
+=item C<--verbose> | C<-v>
 
-=item --strip none|pod|ppi
+Increases the verbosity level by one (the default is C<1>).
 
-Specify the stripping method applied to reduce the file of the perl
-sources included.
+=item C<--quiet> | C<-q>
 
-The default is C<pod>, which uses the L<Pod::Strip> module to remove all
-pod documentation, which is very fast and reduces file size a lot.
+Decreases the verbosity level by one.
 
-The C<ppi> method uses L<PPI> to parse and condense the perl sources. This
-saves a lot more than just L<Pod::Strip>, and is generally safer, but
-is also a lot slower, so is best used for production builds. Note that
-this method doesn't optimise for raw file size, but for best compression
-(that means that the uncompressed file size is a bit larger, but the files
-compress better, e.g. with F<upx>).
-
-Last not least, in the unlikely case where C<pod> is too slow, or some
-module gets mistreated, you can specify C<none> to not mangle included
-perl sources in any way.
+=item any other argument
 
-=item --perl
+Any other argument is interpreted as a bundle specification file, which
+supports all options (without extra quoting), one option per line, in the
+format C<option> or C<option argument>. They will effectively be expanded
+and processed as if they were directly written on the command line, in
+place of the file name.
 
-After writing out the bundle files, try to link a new perl interpreter. It
-will be called F<perl> and will be left in the current working
-directory. The bundle files will be removed.
+=back
 
-This switch is automatically used when F<staticperl> is invoked with the
-C<mkperl> command (instead of C<mkbundle>):
+=item Step 1: gather candidate files and modules
 
-   # build a new ./perl with only common::sense in it - very small :)
-   staticperl mkperl -Mcommon::sense
+In this step, modules, perl libraries (F<.pl> files) and other files are
+selected for inclusion in the bundle. The relevant options are executed
+in order (this makes a difference mostly for C<--eval>, which can rely on
+earlier C<--use> options to have been executed).
 
-=item --use module | -Mmodule
+=over 4
+
+=item C<--use> F<module> | C<-M>F<module>
 
-Include the named module and all direct dependencies. This is done by
-C<require>'ing the module in a subprocess and tracing which other modules
-and files it actually loads. If the module uses L<AutoLoader>, then all
-splitfiles will be included as well.
+Include the named module or perl library and trace direct
+dependencies. This is done by loading the module in a subprocess and
+tracing which other modules and files it actually loads.
 
 Example: include AnyEvent and AnyEvent::Impl::Perl.
 
    staticperl mkbundle --use AnyEvent --use AnyEvent::Impl::Perl
 
 Sometimes you want to load old-style "perl libraries" (F<.pl> files), or
-maybe other weirdly named files. To do that, you need to quote the name in
-single or double quotes. When given on the command line, you probably need
-to quote once more to avoid your shell interpreting it. Common cases that
-need this are F<Config_heavy.pl> and F<utf8_heavy.pl>.
+maybe other weirdly named files. To support this, the C<--use> option
+actually tries to do what you mean, depending on the string you specify:
+
+=over 4
+
+=item a possibly valid module name, e.g. F<common::sense>, F<Carp>,
+F<Coro::Mysql>.
+
+If the string contains no quotes, no F</> and no F<.>, then C<--use>
+assumes that it is a normal module name. It will create a new package and
+evaluate a C<use module> in it, i.e. it will load the package and do a
+default import.
+
+The import step is done because many modules trigger more dependencies
+when something is imported than without.
+
+=item anything that contains F</> or F<.> characters,
+e.g. F<utf8_heavy.pl>, F<Module/private/data.pl>.
+
+The string will be quoted and passed to require, as if you used C<require
+$module>. Nothing will be imported.
+
+=item "path" or 'path', e.g. C<"utf8_heavy.pl">.
+
+If you enclose the name into single or double quotes, then the quotes will
+be removed and the resulting string will be passed to require. This syntax
+is form compatibility with older versions of staticperl and should not be
+used anymore.
+
+=back
+
+Example: C<use> AnyEvent::Socket, once using C<use> (importing the
+symbols), and once via C<require>, not importing any symbols. The first
+form is preferred as many modules load some extra dependencies when asked
+to export symbols.
+
+   staticperl mkbundle -MAnyEvent::Socket     # use + import
+   staticperl mkbundle -MAnyEvent/Socket.pm   # require only
 
 Example: include the required files for F<perl -V> to work in all its
-glory (F<Config.pm> is included automatically by this).
+glory (F<Config.pm> is included automatically by the dependency tracker).
 
-   # bourne shell
-   staticperl mkbundle --use '"Config_heavy.pl"'
+   # shell command
+   staticperl mkbundle -MConfig_heavy.pl
 
    # bundle specification file
-   use "Config_heavy.pl"
+   use Config_heavy.pl
 
-The C<-Mmodule> syntax is included as an alias that might be easier to
-remember than C<use>. Or maybe it confuses people. Time will tell. Or
-maybe not. Argh.
+The C<-M>module syntax is included as a convenience that might be easier
+to remember than C<--use> - it's the same switch as perl itself uses
+to load modules. Or maybe it confuses people. Time will tell. Or maybe
+not. Sigh.
 
-=item --eval "perl code" | -e "perl code"
+=item C<--eval> "perl code" | C<-e> "perl code"
 
 Sometimes it is easier (or necessary) to specify dependencies using perl
 code, or maybe one of the modules you use need a special use statement. In
-that case, you can use C<eval> to execute some perl snippet or set some
-variables or whatever you need. All files C<require>'d or C<use>'d in the
-script are included in the final bundle.
-
-Keep in mind that F<mkbundle> will only C<require> the modules named
-by the C<--use> option, so do not expect the symbols from modules you
-C<--use>'d earlier on the command line to be available.
+that case, you can use C<--eval> to execute some perl snippet or set some
+variables or whatever you need. All files C<require>'d or C<use>'d while
+executing the snippet are included in the final bundle.
+
+Keep in mind that F<mkbundle> will not import any symbols from the modules
+named by the C<--use> option, so do not expect the symbols from modules
+you C<--use>'d earlier on the command line to be available.
 
 Example: force L<AnyEvent> to detect a backend and therefore include it
 in the final bundle.
@@ -353,69 +463,375 @@
    staticperl mkbundle --eval 'use AnyEvent; AnyEvent::detect'
 
    # or like this
-   staticperl mkbundle -MAnyEvent --eval 'use AnyEvent; AnyEvent::detect'
+   staticperl mkbundle -MAnyEvent --eval 'AnyEvent::detect'
 
 Example: use a separate "bootstrap" script that C<use>'s lots of modules
-and include this in the final bundle, to be executed automatically.
+and also include this in the final bundle, to be executed automatically
+when the interpreter is initialised.
 
    staticperl mkbundle --eval 'do "bootstrap"' --boot bootstrap
 
-=item --boot filename
+=item C<--boot> F<filename>
+
+Include the given file in the bundle and arrange for it to be
+executed (using C<require>) before the main program when the new perl
+is initialised. This can be used to modify C<@INC> or do similar
+modifications before the perl interpreter executes scripts given on the
+command line (or via C<-e>). This works even in an embedded interpreter -
+the file will be executed during interpreter initialisation in that case.
+
+=item C<--incglob> pattern
 
-Include the given file in the bundle and arrange for it to be executed
-(using a C<require>) before anything else when the new perl is
-initialised. This can be used to modify C<@INC> or anything else before
-the perl interpreter executes scripts given on the command line (or via
-C<-e>). This works even in an embedded interpreter.
+This goes through all standard library directories and tries to match any
+F<.pm> and F<.pl> files against the extended glob pattern (see below). If
+a file matches, it is added. The pattern is matched against the full path
+of the file (sans the library directory prefix), e.g. F<Sys/Syslog.pm>.
 
-=item --add "file" | --add "file alias"
+This is very useful to include "everything":
+
+   --incglob '*'
+
+It is also useful for including perl libraries, or trees of those, such as
+the unicode database files needed by some perl built-ins, the regex engine
+and other modules.
+
+   --incglob '/unicore/**.pl'
+
+=item C<--add> F<file> | C<--add> "F<file> alias"
 
 Adds the given (perl) file into the bundle (and optionally call it
-"alias"). This is useful to include any custom files into the bundle.
+"alias"). The F<file> is either an absolute path or a path relative to the
+current directory. If an alias is specified, then this is the name it will
+use for C<@INC> searches, otherwise the path F<file> will be used as the
+internal name.
+
+This switch is used to include extra files into the bundle.
 
-Example: embed the file F<httpd> as F<httpd.pm> when creating the bundle.
+Example: embed the file F<httpd> in the current directory as F<httpd.pm>
+when creating the bundle.
 
    staticperl mkperl --add "httpd httpd.pm"
 
-It is also a great way to add any custom modules:
+   # can be accessed via "use httpd"
+
+Example: add a file F<initcode> from the current directory.
+
+   staticperl mkperl --add 'initcode &initcode'
+
+   # can be accessed via "do '&initcode'"
+
+Example: add local files as extra modules in the bundle.
 
    # specification file
-   add file1 myfiles/file1
-   add file2 myfiles/file2
-   add file3 myfiles/file3
-
-=item --static
-
-When C<--perl> is also given, link statically instead of dynamically. The
-default is to link the new perl interpreter fully dynamic (that means all
-perl modules are linked statically, but all external libraries are still
+   add file1 myfiles/file1.pm
+   add file2 myfiles/file2.pm
+   add file3 myfiles/file3.pl
+
+   # then later, in perl, use
+   use myfiles::file1;
+   require myfiles::file2;
+   my $res = do "myfiles/file3.pl";
+
+=item C<--binadd> F<file> | C<--add> "F<file> alias"
+
+Just like C<--add>, except that it treats the file as binary and adds it
+without any postprocessing (perl files might get stripped to reduce their
+size).
+
+If you specify an alias you should probably add a C<&> prefix to avoid
+clashing with embedded perl files (whose paths never start with C<&>),
+and/or use a special directory prefix, such as C<&res/name>.
+
+You can later get a copy of these files by calling C<staticperl::find
+"alias">.
+
+An alternative way to embed binary files is to convert them to perl and
+use C<do> to get the contents - this method is a bit cumbersome, but works
+both inside and outside of a staticperl bundle:
+
+   # a "binary" file, call it "bindata.pl"
+   <<'SOME_MARKER'
+   binary data NOT containing SOME_MARKER
+   SOME_MARKER
+
+   # load the binary
+   chomp (my $data = do "bindata.pl");
+
+=back
+
+=item Step 2: filter all files using C<--include> and C<--exclude> options.
+
+After all candidate files and modules are added, they are I<filtered>
+by a combination of C<--include> and C<--exclude> patterns (there is an
+implicit C<--include *> at the end, so if no filters are specified, all
+files are included).
+
+All that this step does is potentially reduce the number of files that are
+to be included - no new files are added during this step.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item C<--include> pattern | C<-i> pattern | C<--exclude> pattern | C<-x> pattern
+
+These specify an include or exclude pattern to be applied to the candidate
+file list. An include makes sure that the given files will be part of the
+resulting file set, an exclude will exclude remaining files. The patterns
+are "extended glob patterns" (see below).
+
+The patterns are applied "in order" - files included via earlier
+C<--include> specifications cannot be removed by any following
+C<--exclude>, and likewise, and file excluded by an earlier C<--exclude>
+cannot be added by any following C<--include>.
+
+For example, to include everything except C<Devel> modules, but still
+include F<Devel::PPPort>, you could use this:
+
+   --incglob '*' -i '/Devel/PPPort.pm' -x '/Devel/**'
+
+=back
+
+=item Step 3: add any extra or "hidden" dependencies.
+
+F<staticperl> currently knows about three extra types of depdendencies
+that are added automatically. Only one (F<.packlist> files) is currently
+optional and can be influenced, the others are always included:
+
+=over 4
+
+=item C<--usepacklists>
+
+Read F<.packlist> files for each distribution that happens to match a
+module name you specified. Sounds weird, and it is, so expect semantics to
+change somehow in the future.
+
+The idea is that most CPAN distributions have a F<.pm> file that matches
+the name of the distribution (which is rather reasonable after all).
+
+If this switch is enabled, then if any of the F<.pm> files that have been
+selected match an install distribution, then all F<.pm>, F<.pl>, F<.al>
+and F<.ix> files installed by this distribution are also included.
+
+For example, using this switch, when the L<URI> module is specified, then
+all L<URI> submodules that have been installed via the CPAN distribution
+are included as well, so you don't have to manually specify them.
+
+=item L<AutoLoader> splitfiles
+
+Some modules use L<AutoLoader> - less commonly (hopefully) used functions
+are split into separate F<.al> files, and an index (F<.ix>) file contains
+the prototypes.
+
+Both F<.ix> and F<.al> files will be detected automatically and added to
+the bundle.
+
+=item link libraries (F<.a> files)
+
+Modules using XS (or any other non-perl language extension compiled at
+installation time) will have a static archive (typically F<.a>). These
+will automatically be added to the linker options in F<bundle.ldopts>.
+
+Should F<staticperl> find a dynamic link library (typically F<.so>) it
+will warn about it - obviously this shouldn't happen unless you use
+F<staticperl> on the wrong perl, or one (probably wrongly) configured to
+use dynamic loading.
+
+=item extra libraries (F<extralibs.ld>)
+
+Some modules need linking against external libraries - these are found in
+F<extralibs.ld> and added to F<bundle.ldopts>.
+
+=back
+
+=item Step 4: write bundle files and optionally link a program
+
+At this point, the select files will be read, processed (stripped) and
+finally the bundle files get written to disk, and F<staticperl mkbundle>
+is normally finished. Optionally, it can go a step further and either link
+a new F<perl> binary with all selected modules and files inside, or build
+a standalone application.
+
+Both the contents of the bundle files and any extra linking is controlled
+by these options:
+
+=over 4
+
+=item C<--strip> C<none>|C<pod>|C<ppi>
+
+Specify the stripping method applied to reduce the file of the perl
+sources included.
+
+The default is C<pod>, which uses the L<Pod::Strip> module to remove all
+pod documentation, which is very fast and reduces file size a lot.
+
+The C<ppi> method uses L<PPI> to parse and condense the perl sources. This
+saves a lot more than just L<Pod::Strip>, and is generally safer,
+but is also a lot slower (some files take almost a minute to strip -
+F<staticperl> maintains a cache of stripped files to speed up subsequent
+runs for this reason). Note that this method doesn't optimise for raw file
+size, but for best compression (that means that the uncompressed file size
+is a bit larger, but the files compress better, e.g. with F<upx>).
+
+Last not least, if you need accurate line numbers in error messages,
+or in the unlikely case where C<pod> is too slow, or some module gets
+mistreated, you can specify C<none> to not mangle included perl sources in
+any way.
+
+=item C<--perl>
+
+After writing out the bundle files, try to link a new perl interpreter. It
+will be called F<perl> and will be left in the current working
+directory. The bundle files will be removed.
+
+This switch is automatically used when F<staticperl> is invoked with the
+C<mkperl> command instead of C<mkbundle>.
+
+Example: build a new F<./perl> binary with only L<common::sense> inside -
+it will be even smaller than the standard perl interpreter as none of the
+modules of the base distribution (such as L<Fcntl>) will be included.
+
+   staticperl mkperl -Mcommon::sense
+
+=item C<--app> F<name>
+
+After writing out the bundle files, try to link a new standalone
+program. It will be called C<name>, and the bundle files get removed after
+linking it.
+
+This switch is automatically used when F<staticperl> is invoked with the
+C<mkapp> command instead of C<mkbundle>.
+
+The difference to the (mutually exclusive) C<--perl> option is that the
+binary created by this option will not try to act as a perl interpreter -
+instead it will simply initialise the perl interpreter, clean it up and
+exit.
+
+This means that, by default, it will do nothing but burn a few CPU cycles
+- for it to do something useful you I<must> add some boot code, e.g. with
+the C<--boot> option.
+
+Example: create a standalone perl binary called F<./myexe> that will
+execute F<appfile> when it is started.
+
+   staticperl mkbundle --app myexe --boot appfile
+
+=item C<--ignore-env>
+
+Generates extra code to unset some environment variables before
+initialising/running perl. Perl supports a lot of environment variables
+that might alter execution in ways that might be undesirablre for
+standalone applications, and this option removes those known to cause
+trouble.
+
+Specifically, these are removed:
+
+C<PERL_HASH_SEED_DEBUG> and C<PERL_DEBUG_MSTATS> can cause underaible
+output, C<PERL5OPT>, C<PERL_DESTRUCT_LEVEL>, C<PERL_HASH_SEED> and
+C<PERL_SIGNALS> can alter execution significantly, and C<PERL_UNICODE>,
+C<PERLIO_DEBUG> and C<PERLIO> can affect input and output.
+
+The variables C<PERL_LIB> and C<PERL5_LIB> are always ignored because the
+startup code used by F<staticperl> overrides C<@INC> in all cases.
+
+This option will not make your program more secure (unless you are
+running with elevated privileges), but it will reduce the surprise effect
+when a user has these environment variables set and doesn't expect your
+standalone program to act like a perl interpreter.
+
+=item C<--static>
+
+Add C<-static> to F<bundle.ldopts>, which means a fully static (if
+supported by the OS) executable will be created. This is not immensely
+useful when just creating the bundle files, but is most useful when
+linking a binary with the C<--perl> or C<--app> options.
+
+The default is to link the new binary dynamically (that means all perl
+modules are linked statically, but all external libraries are still
 referenced dynamically).
 
 Keep in mind that Solaris doesn't support static linking at all, and
-systems based on GNU libc don't really support it in a usable fashion
-either. Try uClibc if you want to create fully statically linked
-executables, or try the C<--staticlibs> option to link only some libraries
+systems based on GNU libc don't really support it in a very usable
+fashion either. Try uClibc if you want to create fully statically linked
+executables, or try the C<--staticlib> option to link only some libraries
 statically.
 
-=item any other argument
+=item C<--staticlib> libname
 
-Any other argument is interpreted as a bundle specification file, which
-supports most long options (without extra quoting), one option per line.
+When not linking fully statically, this option allows you to link specific
+libraries statically. What it does is simply replace all occurrences of
+C<-llibname> with the GCC-specific C<-Wl,-Bstatic -llibname -Wl,-Bdynamic>
+option.
+
+This will have no effect unless the library is actually linked against,
+specifically, C<--staticlib> will not link against the named library
+unless it would be linked against anyway.
+
+Example: link libcrypt statically into the final binary.
+
+   staticperl mkperl -MIO::AIO --staticlib crypt
+
+   # ldopts might now contain:
+   # -lm -Wl,-Bstatic -lcrypt -Wl,-Bdynamic -lpthread
+
+=back
 
 =back
 
-=head2 F<STATCPERL> CONFIGURATION AND HOOKS
+=head3 EXTENDED GLOB PATTERNS
 
-During (each) startup, F<staticperl> tries to source the following shell
-files in order:
+Some options of F<staticperl mkbundle> expect an I<extended glob
+pattern>. This is neither a normal shell glob nor a regex, but something
+in between. The idea has been copied from rsync, and there are the current
+matching rules:
+
+=over 4
+
+=item Patterns starting with F</> will be a anchored at the root of the library tree.
+
+That is, F</unicore> will match the F<unicore> directory in C<@INC>, but
+nothing inside, and neither any other file or directory called F<unicore>
+anywhere else in the hierarchy.
+
+=item Patterns not starting with F</> will be anchored at the end of the path.
+
+That is, F<idna.pl> will match any file called F<idna.pl> anywhere in the
+hierarchy, but not any directories of the same name.
+
+=item A F<*> matches anything within a single path component.
+
+That is, F</unicore/*.pl> would match all F<.pl> files directly inside
+C</unicore>, not any deeper level F<.pl> files. Or in other words, F<*>
+will not match slashes.
+
+=item A F<**> matches anything.
+
+That is, F</unicore/**.pl> would match all F<.pl> files under F</unicore>,
+no matter how deeply nested they are inside subdirectories.
+
+=item A F<?> matches a single character within a component.
+
+That is, F</Encode/??.pm> matches F</Encode/JP.pm>, but not the
+hypothetical F</Encode/J/.pm>, as F<?> does not match F</>.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 F<STATICPERL> CONFIGURATION AND HOOKS
+
+During (each) startup, F<staticperl> tries to source some shell files to
+allow you to fine-tune/override configuration settings.
+
+In them you can override shell variables, or define shell functions
+("hooks") to be called at specific phases during installation. For
+example, you could define a C<postinstall> hook to install additional
+modules from CPAN each time you start from scratch.
+
+If the env variable C<$STATICPERLRC> is set, then F<staticperl> will try
+to source the file named with it only. Otherwise, it tries the following
+shell files in order:
 
    /etc/staticperlrc
    ~/.staticperlrc
    $STATICPERL/rc
 
-They can be used to override shell variables, or define functions to be
-called at specific phases.
-
 Note that the last file is erased during F<staticperl distclean>, so
 generally should not be used.
 
@@ -430,64 +846,84 @@
 The e-mail address of the person who built this binary. Has no good
 default, so should be specified by you.
 
-=back
+=item C<CPAN>
 
-=head4 Variables you I<might want> to override
+The URL of the CPAN mirror to use (e.g. L<http://mirror.netcologne.de/cpan/>).
 
-=over 4
+=item C<EXTRA_MODULES>
 
-=item C<PERLVER>
+Additional modules installed during F<staticperl install>. Here you can
+set which modules you want have to installed from CPAN.
 
-The perl version to install - default is currently C<5.12.2>, but C<5.8.9>
-is also a good choice (5.8.9 is much smaller than 5.12.2, while 5.10.1 is
-about as big as 5.12.2).
+Example: I really really need EV, AnyEvent, Coro and AnyEvent::AIO.
 
-=item C<CPAN>
+   EXTRA_MODULES="EV AnyEvent Coro AnyEvent::AIO"
 
-The URL of the CPAN mirror to use (e.g. L<http://mirror.netcologne.de/cpan/>).
+Note that you can also use a C<postinstall> hook to achieve this, and
+more.
 
-=item C<PERL_CPPFLAGS>, C<PERL_OPTIMIZE>, C<PERL_LDFLAGS>, C<PERL_LIBS>
+=back
 
-These flags are passed to perl's F<Configure> script, and are generally
-optimised for small size (at the cost of performance). Since they also
-contain subtle workarounds around various build issues, changing these
-usually requires understanding their default values - best look at the top
-of the F<staticperl> script for more info on these.
+=head4 Variables you might I<want> to override
+
+=over 4
 
 =item C<STATICPERL>
 
 The directory where staticperl stores all its files
 (default: F<~/.staticperl>).
 
-=item C<PREFIX>
-
-The prefix where perl gets installed (default: F<$STATICPERL/perl>),
-i.e. where the F<bin> and F<lib> subdirectories will end up.
-
-=item C<PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT>, C<EV_EXTRA_DEFS>, others
+=item C<PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT>, C<EV_EXTRA_DEFS>, ...
 
 Usually set to C<1> to make modules "less inquisitive" during their
 installation, you can set any environment variable you want - some modules
 (such as L<Coro> or L<EV>) use environment variables for further tweaking.
 
-=item C<EXTRA_MODULES>
+=item C<PERL_VERSION>
 
-Additional modules installed during F<staticperl install>. Here you can
-set which modules you want have to installed from CPAN.
+The perl version to install - default is currently C<5.12.3>, but C<5.8.9>
+is also a good choice (5.8.9 is much smaller than 5.12.3, while 5.10.1 is
+about as big as 5.12.3).
 
-Example: I really really need EV, AnyEvent, Coro and IO::AIO.
+=item C<PERL_PREFIX>
 
-   EXTRA_MODULES="EV AnyEvent Coro IO::AIO"
+The prefix where perl gets installed (default: F<$STATICPERL/perl>),
+i.e. where the F<bin> and F<lib> subdirectories will end up.
 
-Note that you can also use a C<postinstall> hook to achieve this, and
-more.
+=item C<PERL_CONFIGURE>
+
+Additional Configure options - these are simply passed to the perl
+Configure script. For example, if you wanted to enable dynamic loading,
+you could pass C<-Dusedl>. To enable ithreads (Why would you want that
+insanity? Don't! Use L<forks> instead!) you would pass C<-Duseithreads>
+and so on.
+
+More commonly, you would either activate 64 bit integer support
+(C<-Duse64bitint>), or disable large files support (-Uuselargefiles), to
+reduce filesize further.
+
+=item C<PERL_CC>, C<PERL_CCFLAGS>, C<PERL_OPTIMIZE>, C<PERL_LDFLAGS>, C<PERL_LIBS>
+
+These flags are passed to perl's F<Configure> script, and are generally
+optimised for small size (at the cost of performance). Since they also
+contain subtle workarounds around various build issues, changing these
+usually requires understanding their default values - best look at
+the top of the F<staticperl> script for more info on these, and use a
+F<~/.staticperlrc> to override them.
+
+Most of the variables override (or modify) the corresponding F<Configure>
+variable, except C<PERL_CCFLAGS>, which gets appended.
 
 =back
 
-=head4 Variables you I<probably do not want> to override
+=head4 Variables you probably I<do not want> to override
 
 =over 4
 
+=item C<MAKE>
+
+The make command to use - default is C<make>.
+
 =item C<MKBUNDLE>
 
 Where F<staticperl> writes the C<mkbundle> command to
@@ -506,6 +942,10 @@
 shell functions that are called at specific times. To provide your own
 commands, just define the corresponding function.
 
+The actual order in which hooks are invoked during a full install
+from scratch is C<preconfigure>, C<patchconfig>, C<postconfigure>,
+C<postbuild>, C<postinstall>.
+
 Example: install extra modules from CPAN and from some directories
 at F<staticperl install> time.
 
@@ -519,14 +959,27 @@
 
 =over 4
 
+=item preconfigure
+
+Called just before running F<./Configure> in the perl source
+directory. Current working directory is the perl source directory.
+
+This can be used to set any C<PERL_xxx> variables, which might be costly
+to compute.
+
+=item patchconfig
+
+Called after running F<./Configure> in the perl source directory to create
+F<./config.sh>, but before running F<./Configure -S> to actually apply the
+config. Current working directory is the perl source directory.
+
+Can be used to tailor/patch F<config.sh> or do any other modifications.
+
 =item postconfigure
 
 Called after configuring, but before building perl. Current working
 directory is the perl source directory.
 
-Could be used to tailor/patch config.sh (followed by F<./Configure -S>) or
-do any other modifications.
-
 =item postbuild
 
 Called after building, but before installing perl. Current working
@@ -550,6 +1003,308 @@
 
 =back
 
+=head1 ANATOMY OF A BUNDLE
+
+When not building a new perl binary, C<mkbundle> will leave a number of
+files in the current working directory, which can be used to embed a perl
+interpreter in your program.
+
+Intimate knowledge of L<perlembed> and preferably some experience with
+embedding perl is highly recommended.
+
+C<mkperl> (or the C<--perl> option) basically does this to link the new
+interpreter (it also adds a main program to F<bundle.>):
+
+   $Config{cc} $(cat bundle.ccopts) -o perl bundle.c $(cat bundle.ldopts)
+
+=over 4
+
+=item bundle.h
+
+A header file that contains the prototypes of the few symbols "exported"
+by bundle.c, and also exposes the perl headers to the application.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item staticperl_init (xs_init = 0)
+
+Initialises the perl interpreter. You can use the normal perl functions
+after calling this function, for example, to define extra functions or
+to load a .pm file that contains some initialisation code, or the main
+program function:
+
+   XS (xsfunction)
+   {
+     dXSARGS;
+
+     // now we have items, ST(i) etc.
+   }
+
+   static void
+   run_myapp(void)
+   {
+      staticperl_init (0);
+      newXSproto ("myapp::xsfunction", xsfunction, __FILE__, "$$;$");
+      eval_pv ("require myapp::main", 1); // executes "myapp/main.pm"
+   }
+
+When your bootcode already wants to access some XS functions at
+compiletime, then you need to supply an C<xs_init> function pointer that
+is called as soon as perl is initialised enough to define XS functions,
+but before the preamble code is executed:
+
+   static void
+   xs_init (pTHX)
+   {
+     newXSproto ("myapp::xsfunction", xsfunction, __FILE__, "$$;$");
+   }
+
+   static void
+   run_myapp(void)
+   {
+      staticperl_init (xs_init);
+   }
+
+=item staticperl_cleanup ()
+
+In the unlikely case that you want to destroy the perl interpreter, here
+is the corresponding function.
+
+=item staticperl_xs_init (pTHX)
+
+Sometimes you need direct control over C<perl_parse> and C<perl_run>, in
+which case you do not want to use C<staticperl_init> but call them on your
+own.
+
+Then you need this function - either pass it directly as the C<xs_init>
+function to C<perl_parse>, or call it as one of the first things from your
+own C<xs_init> function.
+
+=item PerlInterpreter *staticperl
+
+The perl interpreter pointer used by staticperl. Not normally so useful,
+but there it is.
+
+=back
+
+=item bundle.ccopts
+
+Contains the compiler options required to compile at least F<bundle.c> and
+any file that includes F<bundle.h> - you should probably use it in your
+C<CFLAGS>.
+
+=item bundle.ldopts
+
+The linker options needed to link the final program.
+
+=back
+
+=head1 RUNTIME FUNCTIONALITY
+
+Binaries created with C<mkbundle>/C<mkperl> contain extra functions, which
+are required to access the bundled perl sources, but might be useful for
+other purposes.
+
+In addition, for the embedded loading of perl files to work, F<staticperl>
+overrides the C<@INC> array.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item $file = staticperl::find $path
+
+Returns the data associated with the given C<$path>
+(e.g. C<Digest/MD5.pm>, C<auto/POSIX/autosplit.ix>), which is basically
+the UNIX path relative to the perl library directory.
+
+Returns C<undef> if the file isn't embedded.
+
+=item @paths = staticperl::list
+
+Returns the list of all paths embedded in this binary.
+
+=back
+
+=head1 FULLY STATIC BINARIES - UCLIBC AND BUILDROOT
+
+To make truly static (Linux-) libraries, you might want to have a look at
+buildroot (L<http://buildroot.uclibc.org/>).
+
+Buildroot is primarily meant to set up a cross-compile environment (which
+is not so useful as perl doesn't quite like cross compiles), but it can also compile
+a chroot environment where you can use F<staticperl>.
+
+To do so, download buildroot, and enable "Build options => development
+files in target filesystem" and optionally "Build options => gcc
+optimization level (optimize for size)". At the time of writing, I had
+good experiences with GCC 4.4.x but not GCC 4.5.
+
+To minimise code size, I used C<-pipe -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections
+-finline-limit=8 -fno-builtin-strlen -mtune=i386>. The C<-mtune=i386>
+doesn't decrease codesize much, but it makes the file much more
+compressible.
+
+If you don't need Coro or threads, you can go with "linuxthreads.old" (or
+no thread support). For Coro, it is highly recommended to switch to a
+uClibc newer than 0.9.31 (at the time of this writing, I used the 20101201
+snapshot) and enable NPTL, otherwise Coro needs to be configured with the
+ultra-slow pthreads backend to work around linuxthreads bugs (it also uses
+twice the address space needed for stacks).
+
+If you use C<linuxthreads.old>, then you should also be aware that
+uClibc shares C<errno> between all threads when statically linking. See
+L<http://lists.uclibc.org/pipermail/uclibc/2010-June/044157.html> for a
+workaround (And L<https://bugs.uclibc.org/2089> for discussion).
+
+C<ccache> support is also recommended, especially if you want
+to play around with buildroot options. Enabling the C<miniperl>
+package will probably enable all options required for a successful
+perl build. F<staticperl> itself additionally needs either C<wget>
+(recommended, for CPAN) or C<curl>.
+
+As for shells, busybox should provide all that is needed, but the default
+busybox configuration doesn't include F<comm> which is needed by perl -
+either make a custom busybox config, or compile coreutils.
+
+For the latter route, you might find that bash has some bugs that keep
+it from working properly in a chroot - either use dash (and link it to
+F</bin/sh> inside the chroot) or link busybox to F</bin/sh>, using it's
+built-in ash shell.
+
+Finally, you need F</dev/null> inside the chroot for many scripts to work
+- F<cp /dev/null output/target/dev> or bind-mounting your F</dev> will
+both provide this.
+
+After you have compiled and set up your buildroot target, you can copy
+F<staticperl> from the C<App::Staticperl> distribution or from your
+perl f<bin> directory (if you installed it) into the F<output/target>
+filesystem, chroot inside and run it.
+
+=head1 RECIPES / SPECIFIC MODULES
+
+This section contains some common(?) recipes and information about
+problems with some common modules or perl constructs that require extra
+files to be included.
+
+=head2 MODULES
+
+=over 4
+
+=item utf8
+
+Some functionality in the utf8 module, such as swash handling (used
+for unicode character ranges in regexes) is implemented in the
+C<"utf8_heavy.pl"> library:
+
+   -Mutf8_heavy.pl
+
+Many Unicode properties in turn are defined in separate modules,
+such as C<"unicore/Heavy.pl"> and more specific data tables such as
+C<"unicore/To/Digit.pl"> or C<"unicore/lib/Perl/Word.pl">. These tables
+are big (7MB uncompressed, although F<staticperl> contains special
+handling for those files), so including them on demand by your application
+only might pay off.
+
+To simply include the whole unicode database, use:
+
+   --incglob '/unicore/**.pl'
+
+=item AnyEvent
+
+AnyEvent needs a backend implementation that it will load in a delayed
+fashion. The L<AnyEvent::Impl::Perl> backend is the default choice
+for AnyEvent if it can't find anything else, and is usually a safe
+fallback. If you plan to use e.g. L<EV> (L<POE>...), then you need to
+include the L<AnyEvent::Impl::EV> (L<AnyEvent::Impl::POE>...) backend as
+well.
+
+If you want to handle IRIs or IDNs (L<AnyEvent::Util> punycode and idn
+functions), you also need to include C<"AnyEvent/Util/idna.pl"> and
+C<"AnyEvent/Util/uts46data.pl">.
+
+Or you can use C<--usepacklists> and specify C<-MAnyEvent> to include
+everything.
+
+=item Carp
+
+Carp had (in older versions of perl) a dependency on L<Carp::Heavy>. As of
+perl 5.12.2 (maybe earlier), this dependency no longer exists.
+
+=item Config
+
+The F<perl -V> switch (as well as many modules) needs L<Config>, which in
+turn might need L<"Config_heavy.pl">. Including the latter gives you
+both.
+
+=item Term::ReadLine::Perl
+
+Also needs L<Term::ReadLine::readline>, or C<--usepacklists>.
+
+=item URI
+
+URI implements schemes as separate modules - the generic URL scheme is
+implemented in L<URI::_generic>, HTTP is implemented in L<URI::http>. If
+you need to use any of these schemes, you should include these manually,
+or use C<--usepacklists>.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 RECIPES
+
+=over 4
+
+=item Just link everything in
+
+To link just about everything installed in the perl library into a new
+perl, try this (the first time this runs it will take a long time, as a
+lot of files need to be parsed):
+
+   staticperl mkperl -v --strip ppi --incglob '*'
+
+If you don't mind the extra megabytes, this can be a very effective way of
+creating bundles without having to worry about forgetting any modules.
+
+You get even more useful variants of this method by first selecting
+everything, and then excluding stuff you are reasonable sure not to need -
+L<bigperl|http://staticperl.schmorp.de/bigperl.html> uses this approach.
+
+=item Getting rid of netdb functions
+
+The perl core has lots of netdb functions (C<getnetbyname>, C<getgrent>
+and so on) that few applications use. You can avoid compiling them in by
+putting the following fragment into a C<preconfigure> hook:
+
+   preconfigure() {
+      for sym in \
+         d_getgrnam_r d_endgrent d_endgrent_r d_endhent \
+         d_endhostent_r d_endnent d_endnetent_r d_endpent \
+         d_endprotoent_r d_endpwent d_endpwent_r d_endsent \
+         d_endservent_r d_getgrent d_getgrent_r d_getgrgid_r \
+         d_getgrnam_r d_gethbyaddr d_gethent d_getsbyport \
+         d_gethostbyaddr_r d_gethostbyname_r d_gethostent_r \
+         d_getlogin_r d_getnbyaddr d_getnbyname d_getnent \
+         d_getnetbyaddr_r d_getnetbyname_r d_getnetent_r \
+         d_getpent d_getpbyname d_getpbynumber d_getprotobyname_r \
+         d_getprotobynumber_r d_getprotoent_r d_getpwent \
+         d_getpwent_r d_getpwnam_r d_getpwuid_r d_getsent \
+         d_getservbyname_r d_getservbyport_r d_getservent_r \
+         d_getspnam_r d_getsbyname
+         # d_gethbyname
+      do
+         PERL_CONFIGURE="$PERL_CONFIGURE -U$sym"
+      done
+   }
+
+This mostly gains space when linking statically, as the functions will
+likely not be linked in. The gain for dynamically-linked binaries is
+smaller.
+
+Also, this leaves C<gethostbyname> in - not only is it actually used
+often, the L<Socket> module also exposes it, so leaving it out usually
+gains little. Why Socket exposes a C function that is in the core already
+is anybody's guess.
+
+=back
+
 =head1 AUTHOR
 
  Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>