[ViewVC] Diff of: cvs/App-Staticperl/staticperl.pod

Comparing App-Staticperl/staticperl.pod (file contents):
Revision 1.22 by root, Mon Dec 13 17:25:17 2010 UTC vs.
Revision 1.26 by root, Tue Dec 21 19:14:56 2010 UTC

 The command
    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
+Most of the following F<staticperl> subcommands simply run one or more
-sequence.
+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 clean>
 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, or to
+building perl, without removing the installed perl interpreter.
-force a re-build from scratch.
 At the moment, it doesn't delete downloaded tarballs.
+The exact semantics of this command will probably change.
 =item F<staticperl distclean>
 This wipes your complete F<~/.staticperl> directory. Be careful with this,
 it nukes your perl download, perl sources, perl distribution and any
                     -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,
+specifying a lot of modules can make the command line very cumbersome, you
-you can put all long options into a "bundle specification file" (with or
+can put all long options into a "bundle specification file" (one option
-without C<--> prefix) and specify this bundle file instead.
+per line, with or without C<--> prefix) and specify this bundle file
+instead.
 For example, the command given earlier could also look like this:
    staticperl mkperl httpd.bundle
    use AnyEvent::HTTPD
    use URI::http
    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>
+order given on the command line.
-options at the moment).
-=head3 PACKAGE SELECTION WORKFLOW
+=head3 BUNDLE CREATION WORKFLOW
-F<staticperl mkbundle> has a number of options to control package
+F<staticperl mkbundle> works by first assembling a list of candidate
-selection. This section describes how they interact with each other. Also,
+files and modules to include, then filtering them by include/exclude
-since I am still a newbie w.r.t. these issues, maybe future versions of
+patterns. The remaining modules (together with their direct depdendencies,
-F<staticperl> will change this, so watch out :)
+such as link libraries and AutoLoader files) are then converted into
+bundle files suitable for embedding. Afterwards, F<staticperl mkbundle>
+can optionally build a new perl interpreter or a standalone application.
-The idiom "in order" means "in order that they are specified on the
-commandline". If you use a bundle specification file, then the options
-will be processed as if they were given in place of the bundle file name.
 =over 4
-=item 1. apply all C<--use>, C<--eval>, C<--add>, C<--addbin> and
+=item Step 0: Generic argument processing.
-C<--incglob> options, in order.
-In addition, C<--use> and C<--eval> dependencies will be added when the
+The following options influence F<staticperl mkbundle> itself.
-options are processed.
-=item 2. apply all C<--include> and C<--exclude> options, in order.
-All this step does is potentially reduce the number of files already
-selected or found in phase 1.
-=item 3. find all modules (== F<.pm> files), gather their static archives
-(F<.a>) and AutoLoader splitfiles (F<.ix> and F<.al> files), find any
-extra libraries they need for linking (F<extralibs.ld>) and optionally
-evaluate any F<.packlist> files.
-This step is required to link against XS extensions and also adds files
-required for L<AutoLoader> to do it's job.
-=back
-After this, all the files selected for bundling will be read and processed
-(stripped), the bundle files will be written, and optionally a new F<perl>
-or application binary will be linked.
-=head3 MKBUNDLE OPTIONS
 =over 4
 =item --verbose | -v
 =item --quiet | -q
 Decreases the verbosity level by one.
+=item any other argument
+Any other argument is interpreted as a bundle specification file, which
+supports most long options (without extra quoting), one option per line.
+=back
+=item Step 1: gather candidate files and modules
+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).
+=over 4
+=item C<--use> F<module> | C<-M>F<module>
+Include the named module and trace direct dependencies. This is done by
+C<require>'ing 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>.
+Example: include the required files for F<perl -V> to work in all its
+glory (F<Config.pm> is included automatically by this).
+   # bourne shell
+   staticperl mkbundle --use '"Config_heavy.pl"'
+   # bundle specification file
+   use "Config_heavy.pl"
+The C<-M>module 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. Sigh.
+=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 while
+executing the snippet 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.
+Example: force L<AnyEvent> to detect a backend and therefore include it
+in the final bundle.
+   staticperl mkbundle --eval 'use AnyEvent; AnyEvent::detect'
+   # or like this
+   staticperl mkbundle -MAnyEvent --eval 'AnyEvent::detect'
+Example: use a separate "bootstrap" script that C<use>'s lots of modules
+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 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
+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>.
+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 builtins, 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"). 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, otherfile the 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> in the current directory as F<httpd.pm>
+when creating the bundle.
+   staticperl mkperl --add "httpd httpd.pm"
+Example: add local files as extra modules in the bundle.
+   # specification file
+   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).
+You should probably add a C</> prefix to avoid clashing with embedded perl
+files (whose paths do not 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<--usepacklist>
+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 --strip none|pod|ppi
+=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
 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>):
+C<mkperl> command instead of C<mkbundle>.
-   # build a new ./perl with only common::sense in it - very small :)
+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 --app 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 switch is automatically used when F<staticperl> is invoked with the
+This means that, by default, it will do nothing but burna few CPU cycles
-C<mkapp> command (instead of C<mkbundle>):
-To let it do something useful you I<must> add some boot code, e.g. with
+- 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 that will execute F<appfile> when
+Example: create a standalone perl binary called F<./myexe> that will
-it is started.
+execute F<appfile> when it is started.
    staticperl mkbundle --app myexe --boot appfile
-=item --use module | -Mmodule
-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.
-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>.
-Example: include the required files for F<perl -V> to work in all its
-glory (F<Config.pm> is included automatically by this).
-   # bourne shell
-   staticperl mkbundle --use '"Config_heavy.pl"'
-   # bundle specification file
-   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.
-=item --eval "perl code" | -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.
-Example: force L<AnyEvent> to detect a backend and therefore include it
-in the final bundle.
-   staticperl mkbundle --eval 'use AnyEvent; AnyEvent::detect'
-   # or like this
-   staticperl mkbundle -MAnyEvent --eval 'use AnyEvent; 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.
-   staticperl mkbundle --eval 'do "bootstrap"' --boot bootstrap
-=item --boot filename
-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.
-=item --usepacklist
-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 --incglob pattern
-This goes through all 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. This switch will automatically detect L<AutoLoader>
-files and the required link libraries for XS modules, but it will I<not>
-scan the file for dependencies (at the moment).
-This is mainly useful to include "everything":
-   --incglob '*'
-Or to include perl libraries, or trees of those, such as the unicode
-database files needed by many other modules:
-   --incglob '/unicore/**.pl'
-=item --add file | --add "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.
-Example: embed the file F<httpd> 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:
-   # specification file
-   add file1 myfiles/file1
-   add file2 myfiles/file2
-   add file3 myfiles/file3
-=item --binadd file | --add "file alias"
-Just like C<--add>, except that it treats the file as binary and adds it
-without any processing.
-You should probably add a C</> prefix to avoid clashing with embedded
-perl files (whose paths do not start with C</>), and/or use a special
-directory, such as C</res/name>.
-You can later get a copy of these files by calling C<staticperl::find
-"alias">.
-=item --include pattern | -i pattern | --exclude pattern | -x pattern
-These two options define an include/exclude filter that is used after all
-files selected by the other options have been found. Each include/exclude
-is applied to all files found so far - an include makes sure that the
-given files will be part of the resulting file set, an exclude will
-exclude files. The patterns are "extended glob patterns" (see below).
-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/**'
 =item --static
-When C<--perl> is also given, link statically instead of dynamically. The
+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.
-default is to link the new perl interpreter fully dynamic (that means all
+The default is to link the new binary dynamically (that means all perl
-perl modules are linked statically, but all external libraries are still
+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
+systems based on GNU libc don't really support it in a very usable
-either. Try uClibc if you want to create fully statically linked
+fashion either. Try uClibc if you want to create fully statically linked
-executables, or try the C<--staticlibs> option to link only some libraries
+executables, or try the C<--staticlib> option to link only some libraries
 statically.
 =item --staticlib libname
 When not linking fully statically, this option allows you to link specific
 Example: link libcrypt statically into the binary.
    staticperl mkperl -MIO::AIO --staticlib crypt
-   # ldopts might nwo contain:
+   # ldopts might now contain:
    # -lm -Wl,-Bstatic -lcrypt -Wl,-Bdynamic -lpthread
-=item any other argument
+=back
-Any other argument is interpreted as a bundle specification file, which
-supports most long options (without extra quoting), one option per line.
 =back
 =head3 EXTENDED GLOB PATTERNS
 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_CPPFLAGS>, C<PERL_OPTIMIZE>, C<PERL_LDFLAGS>, C<PERL_LIBS>
+=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
+usually requires understanding their default values - best look at
-of the F<staticperl> script for more info on these.
+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 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
 (default: F<$STATICPERL/mkbundle>).

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Comparing App-Staticperl/staticperl.pod (file contents): Revision 1.22 by root, Mon Dec 13 17:25:17 2010 UTC vs. Revision 1.26 by root, Tue Dec 21 19:14:56 2010 UTC

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Comparing App-Staticperl/staticperl.pod (file contents):
Revision 1.22 by root, Mon Dec 13 17:25:17 2010 UTC vs.
Revision 1.26 by root, Tue Dec 21 19:14:56 2010 UTC