/me

• @gugod / Kang-min Liu / 劉康民
• https://gugod.org
• https://dev.to/gugod
• Mastodon: @gugod@g0v.social
• Perl, Kotlin, Javascript

my recent works

• perlbrew
• Perl::Critic::TooMuchCode
• PerlX::ScopeFunction
• PerlX::SafeNav make $o->{a}[42]->foo() safe.
• Hijk minimal HTTP client
• LINE::Bot::API LINE Chatbot SDK

perlbrew install perl-5.38.0
perlbrew use perl-5.38.0

perlbrew install perl-5.18.4
perlbrew use perl-5.18.4

Why perlbrew

• try newer perls, new operators, new features
• leave vendor perl alone
• run tests against multiple perl versions

Big Thanks to Travis CI for choosing perlbrew

$tagline[0] = "perl environment manager.";
$tagline[1] = await thinking();

# perlbrew switch 5.36
# cpanm App::Ack App::Uni

# uni JOY | ack CAT
😹 - U+1F639 - CAT FACE WITH TEARS OF JOY

% perlbrew use 5.18
% uni WEARY | ack FACE
zsh: uni: command not found...
zsh: ack: command not found...

😩 🙀

xsawyerx> Riak distribution is awesome. You download a tarball, exract it, then run bin/riak. Everything works from there.

xsawyerx> Can we do the same for perl apps ?

gugod> ok

Seacan

https://metacpan.org/dist/App-Seacan

(proof of concept)-ish

The Seacan approach

Seeacan is a directory containing

• full perl installation
• app code
• app dependencies
• shebang adjustments

Shipment of Seacan = rsync -ar the entire directory

Pakket

https://github.com/bookingcom/pakket

Basically a solution to a bigger problem.

meanwhile…

how do we distribute
pre-packaged software ?

fatpack (perl)

• "concatenate" all modules in one program
• very lightweight
• used by cpanm, cpm, perlbrew… etc

PAR (perl)

• perl modules + XS modules
• perl itself
• all sorts of static file
• self-extracting zip file

static linking (golang)

• requires no golang libraries to be present on the same system

contianerization (docker)

• depends on a container runtime (docker, podman)
• can make non-relocatable app relocatable

macOS .app

• A app directory contains everything required by the main program
• dynamic libs, images, videos, text translations…

Linux AppImage

• An archived version of app directory
• app can be in all programming languages
• require app to be relocatable

zipapp (python)

• self-executable zip file
• (yes, same as PAR)

pipx

Install and run python applications
in isolated environments.

https://pypa.github.io/pipx/

The pipx approach

• requires /usr/bin/python
• ~/.local/pipx/venvs/$APP/
• ~/.local/bin/$APP -> ~/.local/pipx/venvs/$APP/bin/$APP

pau

pau install uni -M App::Uni
pau install ack -M App::Ack

pau install cpanoc -M Pod::Cpandoc

* Installs App::ccdiff
pau instll ccdiff

pau |> PAR::Packer

pau install ack -M App::Ack
 
pau pp ack

pau's props

• Isolated: upgrade A can never break B
• Uninstlling becomes trivial
• If app A requires certain version of its dependencies… it's OK.
• Make it easier to invoke pp

perlbrew make-shim

perlbrew use 5.38
cpanm App::Uni App::Ack

perlbrew make-shim uni
perlbrew make-shim ack

cp ./uni ./ack ~/.local/bin

export PATH=~/.local/bin:$PATH

# uni cat grinning

😸 - U+1F638 - GRINNING CAT FACE WITH SMILING EYES

packaging perl itself with AppImage

perl.AppDir
├── app
│   └── perl-5.38  # relocatableinc
│       ...
├── AppRun -> ./app/perl-5.38/bin/perl
├── perl.desktop
└── perl.png

appimagetool-x86_64.AppImage perl.AppDir

#=> perl-x86_64.AppImage

# ./perl-x86_64.AppImage -E 'say "Hello from $^V"'

Hello from v5.38.0

packaging uni with AppImage

uni.AppDir
├── app
│   ├── perl-5.38
│   └── uni
├── AppRun
├── uni.desktop
└── uni.png

uni.Appdir/app/uni/

## uni.AppDir
# ./app/perl-5.38/bin/perl =cpanm -L ./app/uni --notest -q App::Uni
...
Successfully installed App-Uni-9.006

AppRun

#!/bin/sh
export PATH=$APPDIR/app/perl-5.38/bin:$APPDIR/app/uni/bin:$PATH
export PERL5LIB=$APPDIR/app/uni/lib/perl5
exec perl $APPDIR/app/uni/bin/uni "$@"

# ./uni-x86_64.AppImage cat grinning
😸 - U+1F638 - GRINNING CAT FACE WITH SMILING EYES

New perlbrew commands

• make-shim
• make-pp
• make-fatpack
• make-appimage
• make-flatpak

perlbrew

• env. manager
• app packaging helper

more?

• perlbrew 1.00 (the 91st release since 0.10)
• skaji/relocatable-perl (binary. macOS + linux)
  • use/switch already worked
• perl-1.0
  • (any volunteers?)
• perl-[234].0 ?
  • (any volunteers?)
• more non-p5p perl releases