fatten - Pack your dependencies onto your script file
This document describes version 0.31 of fatten (from Perl distribution App-fatten), released on 2015-04-02.
Basic usage (input & output):
# by default outputs to '<script>.fatpack' in the source directory, or in # current directory if source directory is not writable. % fatten bin/script.pl # specify output path % fatten bin/script.pl -o /tmp/script.pl # output to stdout % fatten bin/script.pl -o - # input from stdin (output will default to stdout, unless you give -o) % download-perl-script | fatten # see debug messages (what modules are being traced and included, etc) % fatten --debug <script.pl >script.fatpack
Including and excluding modules:
# add some more modules not detected by the tracer % fatten -I Foo::Bar -I Foo::Baz bin/script.pl -o script.fatpack # change trace method, usually 'require' will give pretty complete result % fatten -t require <script.pl >script.fatpack # don't trace modules from script, but include all modules found under 'fatlib' % fatten -t none --include-from fatlib bin/script.pl -o script.fatpack
See more options:
% fatten --help
"Thank you for a freakin awesome app. Seriously, fatten is great! <3" -- Paul J. Fenwick
fatten is an alternative command-line script for App::FatPacker. I had a few problems when using the fatpack script which comes with App::FatPacker, namely: 1) using fatpack to produce a fatpacked-script is a multistep process and I always forget the steps; 2) some modules that ought to be included are often not included; 3) I can't exclude some modules that I don't want to include, e.g. Perl core modules which should always already be available.
App::FatPacker
Thus, here are the differences of fatten compared to fatpack:
A simpler interface and some nice defaults
Using fatten, you only need a single step to produce the final result.
Currently fatten ignores fatlib/ and XS modules. It only focuses on creating free-standing Perl script which depends on pure-Perl modules (.pm files) only. Including fatlib/ to a stand-alone script will require an approach like PAR::Archive (i.e. bundling the required files in an archive and extracting the required files into a temporary directory).
fatlib/
.pm
By default fatten skips Perl core modules. This results in a smaller product.
fatpack sometimes fails to include some modules because it can't find the .packlist for said modules. fatten goes ahead and tries the next best thing which is to copy just the .pm files.
.packlist
Alternative methods to trace script's dependencies
There are various methods of tracing a script's dependencies, each with their own pro's and con's. fatpack checks %INC in the CHECK phase, and this misses modules loaded during run-time using require. Other methods include: trapping require (but this can also miss modules loaded conditionally depending on execution path), static analysis using Perl::PrereqScanner (this can also miss some modules loaded in unusual ways).
%INC
CHECK
require
fatten uses App::tracepm, which provides various methods of tracing. See App::tracepm documentation for more details.
Of course, like fatpack, you can also specify additional modules to include. And, unlike fatpack, you can specify modules to exclude as well.
Some extra options
Like an option to strip/squish the module source codes with Perl::Strip (--strip) or Perl::Stripper (--stripper) or Perl::Squish (--squish).
--strip
--stripper
--squish
Configuration file support
See "CONFIGURATION FILE" for more details.
* marks required options.
*
Keep temporary directory for debugging.
Script arguments (JSON-encoded).
See --args.
--args
Script arguments.
Will be used when running your script, e.g. when `trace_method` is `require`. For example, if your script requires three arguments: `--foo`, `2`, `"bar baz"` then you can either use:
% fatten script output --args --foo --args 2 --args "bar baz"
or:
% fatten script output --args-json '["--foo",2,"bar baz"]'
Can be specified multiple times.
Set path to configuration file.
Set configuration profile to use.
Set log level to debug.
Choose output format, e.g. json, text.
Default value:
undef
Display this help message.
Path to input file (script to be fatpacked).
"-"
`-` (or if unspecified) means to take from standard input (internally, a temporary file will be created to handle this).
Set output format to json.
Set log level.
When outputing as JSON, strip result envelope.
0
By default, when outputing as JSON, the full enveloped result is returned, e.g.:
[200,"OK",[1,2,3],{"func.extra"=>4}]
The reason is so you can get the status (1st element), status message (2nd element) as well as result metadata/extra result (4th element) instead of just the result (3rd element). However, sometimes you want just the result, e.g. when you want to pipe the result for more post-processing. In this case you can use `--naked-res` so you just get:
[1,2,3]
Do not use any configuration file.
Perl version to target, defaults to current running version.
This is for determining which modules are considered core and should be skipped by default (when `exclude_core` option is enabled). Different perl versions have different sets of core modules as well as different versions of the modules.
Set log level to quiet.
Set shebang line/path.
"/usr/bin/perl"
Set log level to trace.
Set log level to info.
Exclude all modules of dist (JSON-encoded).
See --exclude-dist.
--exclude-dist
Exclude all modules of dist.
Just like the `exclude` option, but will exclude module as well as other modules from the same distribution. Module name must be the main module of the distribution. Will determine other modules from the `.packlist` file.
Modules to exclude (JSON-encoded).
See --exclude.
--exclude
Regex patterns of modules to exclude (JSON-encoded).
See --exclude-pattern.
--exclude-pattern
Regex patterns of modules to exclude.
When you don't want to include a pattern of modules, specify it here.
Modules to exclude.
When you don't want to include a module, specify it here.
Include all modules of dist (JSON-encoded).
See --include-dist.
--include-dist
Include all modules of dist.
Just like the `include` option, but will include module as well as other modules from the same distribution. Module name must be the main module of the distribution. Will determine other modules from the `.packlist` file.
Include extra modules under directories (JSON-encoded).
See --include-from.
--include-from
Include extra modules under directories.
Include extra modules (JSON-encoded).
See --include.
--include
Include extra modules.
When the tracing process fails to include a required module, you can add it here.
Do not exclude core modules.
Which method to use to trace dependencies.
"fatpacker"
Valid values:
["fatpacker","require","prereqscanner","prereqscanner_lite","prereqscanner_recurse","prereqscanner_lite_recurse","none"]
The default is `fatpacker`, which is the same as what `fatpack trace` does. Different tracing methods have different pro's and con's, one method might detect required modules that another method does not, and vice versa. There are several methods available, please see `App::tracepm` for more details.
A special value of `none` is also provided. If this is selected, then fatten will not perform any tracing. Usually used in conjunction with `--include-from`.
Additional modules to "use" (JSON-encoded).
See --use.
--use
Additional modules to "use".
Will be passed to the tracer. Will currently only affect the `fatpacker` and `require` methods (because those methods actually run your script).
Path to output file.
If input is from stdin, then output defaults to stdout. You can also specify stdout by using `-`.
Otherwise, defaults to `<script>.fatpack` in source directory. If source directory happens to be unwritable by the script, will try `<script>.fatpack` in current directory. If that fails too, will die.
Whether to overwrite output if previously exists.
Set strip_comment=0 (don't strip comments) in Perl::Stripper.
Only relevant when stripping using Perl::Stripper.
Set strip_pod=0 (don't strip POD) in Perl::Stripper.
Set strip_ws=0 (don't strip whitespace) in Perl::Stripper.
Whether to squish included modules using Perl::Squish.
Whether to strip included modules using Perl::Strip.
Whether to strip included modules using Perl::Stripper.
Set strip_log=1 (strip log statements) in Perl::Stripper.
Set maintain_linum=1 in Perl::Stripper.
FATTEN_OPT
~/fatten.conf
/etc/fatten.conf
(Note: configuration file support is via Perinci::CmdLine).
Configuration file is expected to be at /etc/fatten.conf or ~/fatten.conf in the format of IOD (basically INI). You can put a section like this:
[profile=parse-id-phone] trace_method=require #overwrite=1 include=Parse::PhoneNumber::ID include=Perinci::CmdLine::Lite include=Data::Check::Structure include=Text::Table::Tiny
which will automatically be used when you fatten a script named parse-id-phone. Or you can select a profile explicitly using --config-profile option.
parse-id-phone
--config-profile
The config parameters are command-line options. The short aliases are not recognized, use long names. Dashes (-) becomes underscores (_). See App::fatten for known options/parameters.
-
_
For producing free-standing Perl scripts/applications, there are other alternatives like PAR::Packer (can also pack XS modules and compress the included files in a special archive, but with higher startup time and temporary directory to extract stuffs).
Perl::Stripper
This script has shell tab completion capability with support for several shells.
To activate bash completion for this script, put:
complete -C fatten fatten
in your bash startup (e.g. ~/.bashrc). Your next shell session will then recognize tab completion for the command. Or, you can also directly execute the line above in your shell to activate immediately.
~/.bashrc
It is recommended, however, that you install shcompgen which allows you to activate completion scripts for several kinds of scripts on multiple shells. Some CPAN distributions (those that are built with Dist::Zilla::Plugin::GenShellCompletion) will even automatically enable shell completion for their included scripts (using shcompgen) at installation time, so you can immadiately have tab completion.
shcompgen
To activate tcsh completion for this script, put:
complete fatten 'p/*/`fatten`/'
in your tcsh startup (e.g. ~/.tcshrc). Your next shell session will then recognize tab completion for the command. Or, you can also directly execute the line above in your shell to activate immediately.
~/.tcshrc
It is also recommended to install shcompgen (see above).
For fish and zsh, install shcompgen as described above.
Please visit the project's homepage at https://metacpan.org/release/App-fatten.
Source repository is at https://github.com/perlancar/perl-App-fatten.
Please report any bugs or feature requests on the bugtracker website https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=App-fatten
When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature.
perlancar <perlancar@cpan.org>
This software is copyright (c) 2015 by perlancar@cpan.org.
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.
To install App::fatten, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm
cpanm App::fatten
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install App::fatten
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.