[tex-live] opinion requested about Perl

Fabrice Popineau Fabrice.Popineau at supelec.fr
Mon Jun 23 22:26:53 CEST 2003


>     - compile the scripts with ActiveState Perl compiler into .exe
> files, How much space do the compiled scripts end up consuming?  When
> I've attempted perl compilation, the resulting binaries are huge.  (If
> it's a lot, we might just as well include perl in the first place.)

That's true, even if the perl58.dll file is shared across all of
them. They are between 200k and more than 1Mb each (and they  are
compressed).

>     Any idea on what is the most convenient solution ?

> All in all, if we could assume perl, that might prove useful in the
> future, since we could write other cross-platform scripts instead of
> having to have Windows binaries vs. Unix shell scripts (mktex...).

> I think the only place where the extra 40mb (plus sources?) would be a
> problem is the demo cd (or whatever we call it :).  Are the perl
> scripts needed for that?  If they are, however, I can't guess at what
> we could remove to make space ...

The deal is :

Perl/win32 on TeXLive:
- you can upgrade the scripts
- you can't run them out of the Live cd (texexec and co)
- you have the real Perl (say for new scripts)

Perlapp compiled exe on the cdrom:
- you can run any program out of the Live cd
- it is reliable (ie: it won't complain for unforeseen reason)
- you can't upgrade the scripts by yourself
- you can't add new scripts.

Plus the 'ideological' reason : I have always been more confident in
using the standard sources.

-- 
Fabrice



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