Provided by: libpar-perl_1.010-1_all 
NAME
PAR::Tutorial - Cross-Platform Packaging and Deployment with PAR
SYNOPSIS
This is a tutorial on PAR, first appeared at the 7th Perl Conference. The HTML version of
this tutorial is available online as <http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?PAR::Tutorial>
DESCRIPTION
On Deploying Perl Applications
% sshnuke.pl 10.2.2.2 -rootpw="Z1ON0101"
Perl v5.6.1 required--this is only v5.6.0, stopped at sshnuke.pl line 1.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at sshnuke.pl line 1.
• Q: "Help! I can't run your program!"
• A1: Install Perl & "perl -MCPAN -e'install(...)'"
• How do we know which modules are needed?
• New versions of CPAN modules may break "sshnuke.pl"
• A2: Install Perl & "tar zxf my_perllib.tgz"
• Possibly overwriting existing modules; not cross-platform at all
• A3: Use the executable generated by "perlcc sshnuke.pl"
• Impossible to debug; "perlcc" usually does not work anyway
PAR, the Perl Archive Toolkit
• Do what JAR (Java Archive) does for Perl
• Aggregates modules, scripts and other files into a Zip file
• Easy to generate, update and extract
• Version consistency: solves forward-compatibility problems
• Developed by community: "par@perl.org"
• PAR files can be packed into self-contained scripts
• Automatically scans perl script for dependencies
• Bundles all necessary 3rd-party modules with it
• Requires only core Perl to run on the target machine
• PAR also comes with "pp", the Perl Packager:
% pp -o sshnuke.exe sshnuke.pl # stand-alone executable!
Simple Packaging
• PAR files are just Zip files with modules in it
• Any Zip tools can generate them:
% zip foo.par Hello.pm World.pm # pack two modules
% zip -r bar.par lib/ # grab all modules in lib/
• To load modules from PAR files:
use PAR;
use lib "foo.par"; # the .par part is optional
use Hello;
• This also works:
use PAR "/home/mylibs/*.par"; # put all of them into @INC
use Hello;
PAR Loaders
• Use "par.pl" to run files inside a PAR archive:
% par.pl foo.par # looks for 'main.pl' by default
% par.pl foo.par test.pl # runs script/test.pl in foo.par
• Same thing, with the stand-alone "parl" or "parl.exe":
% parl foo.par # no perl or PAR.pm needed!
% parl foo.par test.pl # ditto
• The PAR loader can prepend itself to a PAR file:
• "-b" bundles non-core modules needed by "PAR.pm":
% par.pl -b -O./foo.pl foo.par # self-contained script
• "-B" bundles core modules in addition to "-b":
% parl -B -O./foo.exe foo.par # self-contained binary
Dependency Scanning
• Recursively scan dependencies with "scandeps.pl":
% scandeps.pl sshnuke.pl
# Legend: [C]ore [X]ternal [S]ubmodule [?]NotOnCPAN
'Crypt::SSLeay' => '0', # X #
'Net::HTTP' => '0', # #
'Crypt::SSLeay::X509' => '0', # S # Crypt::SSLeay
'Net::HTTP::Methods' => '0', # S # Net::HTTP
'Compress::Zlib' => '0', # X # Net::HTTP::Methods
• Scan an one-liner, list all involved files:
% scandeps.pl -V -e "use Dynaloader;"
...
# auto/DynaLoader/dl_findfile.al [autoload]
# auto/DynaLoader/extralibs.ld [autoload]
# auto/File/Glob/Glob.bs [data]
# auto/File/Glob/Glob.so [shared]
...
Perl Packager: "pp"
• Combines scanning, zipping and loader-embedding:
% pp -o out.exe src.pl # self-contained .exe
% out.exe # runs anywhere on the same OS
• Bundle additional modules:
% pp -o out.exe -M CGI src.pl # pack CGI + its dependencies, too
• Pack one-liners:
% pp -o out.exe -e 'print "Hi!"' # turns one-liner into executable
• Generate PAR files instead of executables:
% pp -p src.pl # makes 'source.par'
% pp -B -p src.pl # include core modules
How it works
• Command-line options are almost identical to "perlcc"'s
• Also supports "gcc"-style long options:
% pp --gui --verbose --output=out.exe src.pl
• Small initial overhead; no runtime overhead
• Dependencies are POD-stripped before packing
• Loads modules directly into memory on demand
• Shared libraries (DLLs) are extracted with File::Temp
• Works on Perl 5.6.0 or above
• Tested on Win32 (VC++ and MinGW), FreeBSD, NetBSD, Linux, MacOSX, Cygwin, AIX,
Solaris, HP-UX, Tru64...
Aggregating multiple programs
• A common question:
> I have used pp to make several standalone applications which work
> great, the only problem is that for each executable that I make, I am
> assuming the parl.exe is somehow bundled into the resulting exe.
• The obvious workaround:
You can ship parl.exe by itself, along with .par files built
by "pp -p", and run those PAR files by associating them to parl.exe.
• On platforms that have "ln", there is a better solution:
% pp --output=a.out a.pl b.pl # two scripts in one!
% ln a.out b.out # symlink also works
% ./a.out # runs a.pl
% ./b.out # runs b.pl
Cross-platform Packages
• Of course, there is no cross-platform binary format
• Pure-perl PAR packages are cross-platform by default
• However, XS modules are specific to Perl version and platform
• Multiple versions of a XS module can co-exist in a PAR file
• Suppose we need "out.par" on both Win32 and Finix:
C:\> pp --multiarch --output=out.par src.pl
...copy src.pl and out.par to a Finix machine...
% pp --multiarch --output=out.par src.pl
• Now it works on both platforms:
% parl out.par # runs src.pl
% perl -MPAR=out.par -e '...' # uses modules inside out.par
The Anatomy of a PAR file
• Modules can reside in several directories:
/ # casual packaging only
/lib/ # standard location
/arch/ # for creating from blib/
/i386-freebsd/ # i.e. $Config{archname}
/5.8.0/ # i.e. Perl version number
/5.8.0/i386-freebsd/ # combination of the two above
• Scripts are stored in one of the two locations:
/ # casual packaging only
/script/ # standard location
• Shared libraries may be architecture- or perl-version-specific:
/shlib/(5.8.0/)?(i386-freebsd/)?
• PAR files may recursively contain other PAR files:
/par/(5.8.0/)?(i386-freebsd/)?
Special files
• MANIFEST
• Index of all files inside PAR
• Can be parsed with "ExtUtils::Manifest"
• META.yml
• Dependency, license, runtime options
• Can be parsed with "YAML"
• SIGNATURE
• OpenPGP-signed digital signature
• Can be parsed and verified with "Module::Signature"
Advantages over perlcc, PerlApp and Perl2exe
• This is not meant to be a flame
• All three maintainers have contributed to PAR directly; I'm grateful
• perlcc
• "The code generated in this way is not guaranteed to work... Use for production
purposes is strongly discouraged." (from perldoc perlcc)
• Guaranteed to not work is more like it
• PerlApp / Perl2exe
• Expensive: Need to pay for each upgrade
• Non-portable: Only available for limited platforms
• Proprietary: Cannot extend its features or fix bugs
• Obfuscated: Vendor and black-hats can see your code, but you can't
• Inflexible: Does not work with existing Perl installations
MANIFEST: Best viewed with Mozilla
• The URL of "MANIFEST" inside "/home/autrijus/foo.par":
jar:file:///home/autrijus/foo.par!/MANIFEST
• Open it in a Gecko browser (e.g. Netscape 6+) with Javascript enabled:
• No needed to unzip anything; just click on files to view them
META.yml: Metadata galore
• Static, machine-readable distribution metadata
• Supported by "Module::Build", "ExtUtils::MakeMaker", "Module::Install"
• A typical "pp"-generated "META.yml" looks like this:
build_requires: {}
conflicts: {}
dist_name: out.par
distribution_type: par
dynamic_config: 0
generated_by: 'Perl Packager version 0.03'
license: unknown
par:
clean: 0
signature: ''
verbatim: 0
version: 0.68
• The "par:" settings controls its runtime behavior
SIGNATURE: Signing and verifying packages
• OpenPGP clear-signed manifest with SHA1 digests
• Supported by "Module::Signature", "CPANPLUS" and "Module::Build"
• A typical "SIGNATURE" looks like this:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
SHA1 8a014cd6d0f6775552a01d1e6354a69eb6826046 AUTHORS
...
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
...
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
• Use "pp" and "cpansign" to work with signatures:
% pp -s -o foo.par bar.pl # make and sign foo.par from bar.pl
% cpansign -s foo.par # sign this PAR file
% cpansign -v foo.par # verify this PAR file
Perl Servlets with Apache::PAR
• Framework for self-contained Web applications
• Similar to Java's "Web Application Archive" (WAR) files
• Works with mod_perl 1.x or 2.x
• A complete web application inside a ".par" file
• Apache configuration, static files, Perl modules...
• Supports Static, Registry and PerlRun handlers
• Can also load all PARs under a directory
• One additional special file: "web.conf"
Alias /myapp/cgi-perl/ ##PARFILE##/
<Location /myapp/cgi-perl>
Options +ExecCGI
SetHandler perl-script
PerlHandler Apache::PAR::Registry
</Location>
Hon Dah, A-par-che!
• First, make a "hondah.par" from an one-liner:
# use the "web.conf" from the previous slide
% pp -p -o hondah.par -e 'print "Hon Dah!\n"' \
--add web.conf
% chmod a+x hondah.par
• Add this to "httpd.conf", then restart apache:
<IfDefine MODPERL2>
PerlModule Apache2
</IfDefine>
PerlAddVar PARInclude /home/autrijus/hondah.par
PerlModule Apache::PAR
• Test it out:
% GET http://localhost/myapp/cgi-perl/main.pl
Hon Dah!
• Instant one-liner web application that works!
On-demand library fetching
• With LWP installed, your can use remote PAR files:
use PAR;
use lib 'http://aut.dyndns.org/par/DBI-latest.par';
use DBI; # always up to date!
• Modules are now cached under $ENV{PAR_GLOBAL_TEMP}
• Auto-updates with "LWP::Simple::mirror"
• Download only if modified
• Safe for offline use after the first time
• May use "SIGNATURE" to prevent DNS-spoofing
• Makes large-scale deployment a breeze
• Upgrades from a central location
• No installers needed
Code Obfuscation
• Also known as source-hiding techniques
• It is not encryption
• Offered by PerlApp, Perl2Exe, Stunnix...
• Usually easy to defeat
• Take optree dump from memory, feed to "B::Deparse"
• If you just want to stop a casual "grep", "deflate" already works
• PAR now supports pluggable input filters with "pp -f"
• Bundled examples: Bleach, PodStrip and PatchContent
• True encryption using "Crypt::*"
• Or even _product activation_ over the internet
• Alternatively, just keep core logic in your server and use RPC
Accessing packed files
• To get the host archive from a packed program:
my $zip = PAR::par_handle($0); # an Archive::Zip object
my $content = $zip->contents('MANIFEST');
• Same thing, but with "read_file()":
my $content = PAR::read_file('MANIFEST');
• Loaded PAR files are stored in %PAR::LibCache:
use PAR '/home/mylibs/*.par';
while (my ($filename, $zip) = each %PAR::LibCache) {
print "[$filename - MANIFEST]\n";
print $zip->contents('MANIFEST');
}
Packing GUI applications
• GUI toolkits often need to link with shared libraries:
# search for libncurses under library paths and pack it
% pp -l ncurses curses_app.pl # same for Tk, Wx, Gtk, Qt...
• Use "pp --gui" on Win32 to eliminate the console window:
# pack 'src.pl' into a console-less 'out.exe' (Win32 only)
% pp --gui -o out.exe src.pl
• "Can't locate Foo/Widget/Bar.pm in @INC"?
• Some toolkits (notably Tk) autoloads modules without "use" or "require"
• Hence "pp" and "Module::ScanDeps" may fail to detect them
• Tk problems mostly fixed by now, but other toolkits may still break
• You can work around it with "pp -M" or an explicit "require"
• Or better, send a short test-case to "par@perl.org" so we can fix it
Precompiled CPAN distributions
• Installing XS extensions from CPAN was difficult
• Some platforms do not come with a compiler (Win32, MacOSX...)
• Some headers or libraries may be missing
• PAR.pm itself used to suffer from both problems
• ...but not anymore -- "Module::Install" to the rescue!
# same old Makefile.PL, with a few changes
use inc::Module::Install; # was "use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;"
WriteMakefile( ... ); # same as the original
check_nmake(); # make sure the user have nmake
par_base('AUTRIJUS'); # your CPAN ID or a URL
fetch_par() unless can_cc(); # use precompiled PAR only if necessary
• Users will not notice anything, except now it works
• Of course, you still need to type "make par" and upload the precompiled package
• PAR users can also install it directly with "parl -i"
Platform-specific Tips
• Win32 and other icon-savvy platforms
• Needs 3rd-party tools to add icons to "pp"-generated executables
• PE Header manipulation in Perl -- volunteers wanted!
• Linux and other libc-based platforms
• Try to avoid running "pp" on a bleeding-edge version of the OS
• Older versions with an earlier libc won't work with new ones
• Solaris and other zlib-lacking platforms (but not Win32)
• You need a static-linked "Compress::Zlib" before installing PAR
• In the future, PAR may depend on "Compress::Zlib::Static" instead
• Any platform with limited bandwidth or disk space
• Use UPX to minimize the executable size
Thank you!
• Additional resources
• Mailing list: "par@perl.org"
• Subscribe: Send a blank email to "par-subscribe@perl.org"
• List archive: <http://nntp.x.perl.org/group/perl.par>
• PAR::Intro: <http://search.cpan.org/dist/PAR/lib/PAR/Intro.pod>
• Apache::PAR: <http://search.cpan.org/dist/Apache-PAR/>
• Module::Install: <http://search.cpan.org/dist/Module-Install/>
• Any questions?
Bonus Slides: PAR Internals
Overview of PAR.pm's Implementation
• Here begins the scary part
• Grues, Dragons and Jabberwocks abound...
• You are going to learn weird things about Perl internals
• PAR invokes four areas of Perl arcana:
• @INC code references
• On-the-fly source filtering
• Overriding "DynaLoader::bootstrap()" to handle XS modules
• Making self-bootstrapping binary executables
• The first two only works on 5.6 or later
• DynaLoader and %INC are there since Perl 5 was born
• PAR currently needs 5.6, but a 5.005 port is possible
Code References in @INC
• On 1999-07-19, Ken Fox submitted a patch to P5P
• To _enable using remote modules_ by putting hooks in @INC
• It's accepted to come in Perl 5.6, but undocumented until 5.8
• Type "perldoc -f require" to read the nitty-gritty details
• Coderefs in @INC may return a fh, or undef to 'pass':
push @INC, sub {
my ($coderef, $filename) = @_; # $coderef is \&my_sub
open my $fh, "wget ftp://example.com/$filename |";
return $fh; # using remote modules, indeed!
};
• Perl 5.8 let you open a file handle to a string, so we just use that:
open my $fh, '<', \($zip->memberNamed($filename)->contents);
return $fh;
• But Perl 5.6 does not have that, and I don't want to use temp files...
Source Filtering without Filter::* Modules
• ... Undocumented features to the rescue!
• It turns out that @INC hooks can return two values
• The first is still the file handle
• The second is a code reference for line-by-line source filtering!
• This is how "Acme::use::strict::with::pride" works:
# Force all modules used to use strict and warnings
open my $fh, "<", $filename or return;
my @lines = ("use strict; use warnings;\n", "#line 1 \"$full\"\n");
return ($fh, sub {
return 0 unless @lines;
push @lines, $_; $_ = shift @lines; return length $_;
});
Source Filtering without Filter::* Modules (cont.)
• But we don't really have a filehandle for anything
• Another undocumented feature saves the day!
• We can actually omit the first return value altogether:
# Return all contents line-by-line from the file inside PAR
my @lines = split(
/(?<=\n)/,
$zip->memberNamed($filename)->contents
);
return (sub {
$_ = shift(@lines);
return length $_;
});
Overriding DynaLoader::bootstrap
• XS modules have dynamically loaded libraries
• They cannot be loaded as part of a zip file, so we extract them out
• Must intercept DynaLoader's library-finding process
• Module names are passed to "bootstrap" for XS loading
• During the process, it calls "dl_findfile" to locate the file
• So we install pre-hooks around both functions
• Our "_bootstrap" just checks if the library is in PARs
• If yes, extract it to a "File::Temp" temp file
• The file will be automatically cleaned up when the program ends
• It then pass the arguments to the original "bootstrap"
• Finally, our "dl_findfile" intercepts known filenames and return it
Anatomy of a Self-Contained PAR executable
• The par script ($0) itself
• May be in plain-text or native executable format
• Any number of embedded files
• Typically used to bootstrap PAR's various dependencies
• Each section begins with the magic string "FILE"
• Length of filename in pack('N') format and the filename (auto/.../)
• File length in pack('N') and the file's content (not compressed)
• One PAR file
• Just a regular zip file with the magic string "PK\003\004"
• Ending section
• A pack('N') number of the total length of FILE and PAR sections
• Finally, there must be a 8-bytes magic string: "\012PAR.pm\012"
Self-Bootstrapping Tricks
• All we can expect is a working perl interpreter
• The self-contained script *must not* use any modules at all
• But to process PAR files, we need XS modules like Compress::Zlib
• Answer: bundle all modules + libraries used by PAR.pm
• That's what the "FILE" section in the previous slide is for
• Load modules to memory, and write object files to disk
• Then use a local @INC hook to load them on demand
• Minimizing the amount of temporary files
• First, try to load PerlIO::scalar and File::Temp
• Set up an END hook to unlink all temp files up to this point
• Load other bundled files, and look in the compressed PAR section
• This can be much easier with a pure-perl "inflate()"; patches welcome!
Thank you (again)!
• Any questions, please?
SEE ALSO
PAR, pp, par.pl, parl
ex::lib::zip, Acme::use::strict::with::pride
App::Packer, Apache::PAR, CPANPLUS, Module::Install
AUTHORS
Audrey Tang <cpan@audreyt.org>
<http://par.perl.org/> is the official PAR website. You can write to the mailing list at
<par@perl.org>, or send an empty mail to <par-subscribe@perl.org> to participate in the
discussion.
Please submit bug reports to <bug-par@rt.cpan.org>.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 by Audrey Tang <cpan@audreyt.org>.
This document is free documentation; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
same terms as Perl itself.
See <http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html>