depak - Pack dependencies onto your script file
This document describes version 0.587 of depak (from Perl distribution App-depak), released on 2023-11-20.
Basic usage:
# outputs to stdout % depak yourscript.pl # specify output filename % depak yourscript.pl /tmp/yourscript.pl.packed # use datapack instead of the default fatpack % depak --pack-method datapack script script.packed # See debug messages: % depak --debug script >script.packed
Including and excluding modules:
# add some more modules not detected by the tracer % depak -I Foo::Bar -I Foo::Baz script script.packed # change trace method, usually 'require' will give pretty complete result % depak -t require <script >script.packed
See more options:
% depak --help
depak*) is a CLI application to pack your dependencies (required pure-Perl modules) along with your Perl script into a single file. It will trace what modules your script requires using one of several available methods, and include them inside the script either using the fatpack or datapack technique. The result is a free-standing script which can run on vanilla/core Perl installation.
*) the name is a spelling variation of "dep-pack" (for "dependency pack"), and is also an Indonesian word.
* marks required options.
*
Prefer modules from other sources (filesystem) first.
Normally, the fatpack or datapack require hook will be put at the front of @INC. If this option is set to true, the require hook will be put at the end. This means Perl will search modules from the regular sources (filesystem) first. This is useful for example if you want your application to use the possibly newer version of modules on the filesystem before using the packed version as the fallback when some modules are not installed.
fatpack
datapack
@INC
Set path to configuration file.
Can actually be specified multiple times to instruct application to read from multiple configuration files (and merge them).
Set configuration profile to use.
A single configuration file can contain profiles, i.e. alternative sets of values that can be selected. For example:
[profile=dev] username=foo pass=beaver [profile=production] username=bar pass=honey
When you specify --config-profile=dev, username will be set to foo and password to beaver. When you specify --config-profile=production, username will be set to bar and password to honey.
--config-profile=dev
username
foo
password
beaver
--config-profile=production
bar
honey
Do not use any configuration file.
If you specify --no-config, the application will not read any configuration file.
--no-config
Keep temporary directory for debugging.
Do not read environment for default options.
If you specify --no-env, the application wil not read any environment variable.
--no-env
Path to input file (script to be packed).
Default value:
"-"
- (or if unspecified) means to take from standard input (internally, a temporary file will be created to handle this).
-
Can also be specified as the 1st command-line argument.
Shortcut for --log-level=debug.
Set log level.
By default, these log levels are available (in order of increasing level of importance, from least important to most): trace, debug, info, warn/warning, error, fatal. By default, the level is usually set to warn, which means that log statements with level info and less important levels will not be shown. To increase verbosity, choose info, debug, or trace.
trace
debug
info
warn
warning
error
fatal
For more details on log level and logging, as well as how new logging levels can be defined or existing ones modified, see Log::ger.
Shortcut for --log-level=error.
Shortcut for --log-level=trace.
Shortcut for --log-level=info.
See --allow-xs.
--allow-xs
Allow adding a specified XS module.
Can be specified multiple times.
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.
exclude
.packlist
Exclude modules from a list in a file.
Modules to exclude (JSON-encoded).
See --exclude-module.
--exclude-module
Exclude a module.
When you don't want to include a module, specify it here.
Regex patterns of modules to exclude (JSON-encoded).
See --exclude-pattern.
--exclude-pattern
Regex pattern of modules to exclude.
When you don't want to include a pattern of modules, specify it here.
See --exclude-prereq.
--exclude-prereq
Allow script to depend on a module instead of packing it.
This option can be used to express that script will depend on a specified module, instead of including it packed. The prereq-ed module, as well as other modules in the same distribution, as well as its prereqs and so on recursively, will be excluded from packing as well.
This option can be used to express dependency to an XS module, since XS modules cannot be packed.
To query dependencies, a local CPAN index is used for querying speed. Thus, this option requires that lcpan is installed and a fairly recent lcpan index is available.
lcpan
Do not exclude core modules.
Include extra modules under directories (JSON-encoded).
See --include-dir.
--include-dir
Include extra modules under a directory.
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
Include extra modules from a list in a file.
Include extra modules (JSON-encoded).
See --include-module.
--include-module
Include an extra module.
When the tracing process fails to include a required module, you can add it here.
See --include-prereq.
--include-prereq
Include module and its recursive dependencies for packing.
This option can be used to include a module, as well as other modules in the same distribution as that module, as well as the distribution's recursive dependencies, for packing. Dependencies will be searched using a local CPAN index. This is a convenient alternative to tracing a module. So you might want to use this option together with setting trace_method to none.
trace_method
none
This option requires that lcpan is installed and a fairly recent lcpan index is available.
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.
exclude_core
Instead of dying, skip when module to add is not found.
This option is useful when you use include_prereq, because modules without its own .pm files will also be included (CPAN indexes packages, including those that do not have their own .pm files).
include_prereq
By default, this option is turned off unless when you use include_prereq where this option is by default turned on. You can of course override the default by explicitly specify this option.
Pass more options to `App::tracepm` (JSON-encoded).
See --trace-extra-opts.
--trace-extra-opts
Pass more options to `App::tracepm`.
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.
fatpacker
fatpack trace
App::tracepm
A special value of none is also provided. If this is selected, then depak will not perform any tracing. Usually used in conjunction with --include-from.
--include-from
Additional modules to "use" (JSON-encoded).
See --use.
--use
Additional module to "use".
Will be passed to the tracer. Will currently only affect the fatpacker and require methods (because those methods actually run your script).
require
Add some code right after shebang line.
Choose output format, e.g. json, text.
undef
Output can be displayed in multiple formats, and a suitable default format is chosen depending on the application and/or whether output destination is interactive terminal (i.e. whether output is piped). This option specifically chooses an output format.
Set output format to json.
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:
--naked-res
[1,2,3]
Path to output file.
- (or if unspecified) means to output to stdout.
Can also be specified as the 2nd command-line argument.
Overwrite output if previously exists.
Filter output through a pager.
This option will pipe the output to a specified pager program. If pager program is not specified, a suitable default e.g. less is chosen.
less
Set shebang line/path.
"/usr/bin/perl"
View output using a viewer.
This option will first save the output to a temporary file, then open a viewer program to view the temporary file. If a viewer program is not chosen, a suitable default, e.g. the browser, is chosen.
Packing method to use.
"fatpack"
["fatpack","datapack"]
Either fatpack (the default) or datapack. Fatpack puts packed modules inside Perl variables and load them via require hook. Datapack puts packed modules in DATA section. For more details about each method, please consult Module::FatPack and Module::DataPack.
Module::FatPack
Module::DataPack
One thing to remember is, with datapack, your script cannot load modules during compile-time (use): all modules must be loaded during run-time (require) when data section is already available. Also, your script currently cannot contain data section of its own.
use
Set strip_comment=0 (don't strip comments) in Perl::Stripper.
Set strip_pod=0 (don't strip POD) in Perl::Stripper.
Set strip_ws=0 (don't strip whitespace) in Perl::Stripper.
Squish included modules using Perl::Squish.
Strip included modules using Perl::Strip.
Strip included modules using Perl::Stripper.
Set strip_log=1 (strip log statements) in Perl::Stripper.
Set maintain_linum=1 in Perl::Stripper.
Test the resulting output.
Testing is done by running the resulting packed script with perl. To test, at least one test case is required (see --test-case-json). Test cases specify what arguments to give to program, what exit code we expect, and what the output should contain.
--test-case-json
See --test-cases.
--test-cases
Example case:
{"args":["--help"], "exit_code":0, "perl_args":["-Mlib::core::only"], "output_like":"Usage:"}
Script argument.
Will be used when running your script, e.g. when trace_method is fatpacker or require. For example, if your script requires three arguments: --foo, 2, "bar baz" then you can either use:
--foo
2
"bar baz"
% depak script output --args --foo --args 2 --args "bar baz"
or:
% depak script output --args-json '["--foo",2,"bar baz"]'
Script arguments (JSON-encoded).
See --arg.
--arg
Pass to tracepm (JSON-encoded).
See --multiple-runs.
--multiple-runs
Pass to tracepm.
Display help message and exit.
Display program's version and exit.
This script has shell tab completion capability with support for several shells.
To activate bash completion for this script, put:
complete -C depak depak
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.
It is recommended, however, that you install modules using cpanm-shcompgen which can activate shell completion for scripts immediately.
To activate tcsh completion for this script, put:
complete depak 'p/*/`depak`/'
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.
It is also recommended to install shcompgen (see above).
For fish and zsh, install shcompgen as described above.
This script can read configuration files. Configuration files are in the format of IOD, which is basically INI with some extra features.
By default, these names are searched for configuration filenames (can be changed using --config-path): /home/u1/.config/depak.conf, /home/u1/depak.conf, or /etc/depak.conf.
--config-path
All found files will be read and merged.
To disable searching for configuration files, pass --no-config.
You can put multiple profiles in a single file by using section names like [profile=SOMENAME] or [SOMESECTION profile=SOMENAME]. Those sections will only be read if you specify the matching --config-profile SOMENAME.
[profile=SOMENAME]
[SOMESECTION profile=SOMENAME]
--config-profile SOMENAME
You can also put configuration for multiple programs inside a single file, and use filter program=NAME in section names, e.g. [program=NAME ...] or [SOMESECTION program=NAME]. The section will then only be used when the reading program matches.
program=NAME
[program=NAME ...]
[SOMESECTION program=NAME]
You can also filter a section by environment variable using the filter env=CONDITION in section names. For example if you only want a section to be read if a certain environment variable is true: [env=SOMEVAR ...] or [SOMESECTION env=SOMEVAR ...]. If you only want a section to be read when the value of an environment variable equals some string: [env=HOSTNAME=blink ...] or [SOMESECTION env=HOSTNAME=blink ...]. If you only want a section to be read when the value of an environment variable does not equal some string: [env=HOSTNAME!=blink ...] or [SOMESECTION env=HOSTNAME!=blink ...]. If you only want a section to be read when the value of an environment variable includes some string: [env=HOSTNAME*=server ...] or [SOMESECTION env=HOSTNAME*=server ...]. If you only want a section to be read when the value of an environment variable does not include some string: [env=HOSTNAME!*=server ...] or [SOMESECTION env=HOSTNAME!*=server ...]. Note that currently due to simplistic parsing, there must not be any whitespace in the value being compared because it marks the beginning of a new section filter or section name.
env=CONDITION
[env=SOMEVAR ...]
[SOMESECTION env=SOMEVAR ...]
[env=HOSTNAME=blink ...]
[SOMESECTION env=HOSTNAME=blink ...]
[env=HOSTNAME!=blink ...]
[SOMESECTION env=HOSTNAME!=blink ...]
[env=HOSTNAME*=server ...]
[SOMESECTION env=HOSTNAME*=server ...]
[env=HOSTNAME!*=server ...]
[SOMESECTION env=HOSTNAME!*=server ...]
To load and configure plugins, you can use either the -plugins parameter (e.g. -plugins=DumpArgs or -plugins=DumpArgs@before_validate_args), or use the [plugin=NAME ...] sections, for example:
-plugins
-plugins=DumpArgs
-plugins=DumpArgs@before_validate_args
[plugin=NAME ...]
[plugin=DumpArgs] -event=before_validate_args -prio=99 [plugin=Foo] -event=after_validate_args arg1=val1 arg2=val2
which is equivalent to setting -plugins=-DumpArgs@before_validate_args@99,-Foo@after_validate_args,arg1,val1,arg2,val2.
-plugins=-DumpArgs@before_validate_args@99,-Foo@after_validate_args,arg1,val1,arg2,val2
List of available configuration parameters:
allow_xs (see --allow-xs) args (see --arg) code_after_shebang (see --code-after-shebang) debug_keep_tempdir (see --debug-keep-tempdir) exclude_core (see --include-core) exclude_dist (see --exclude-dist) exclude_list (see --exclude-list) exclude_module (see --exclude-module) exclude_pattern (see --exclude-pattern) exclude_prereq (see --exclude-prereq) format (see --format) include_dir (see --include-dir) include_dist (see --include-dist) include_list (see --include-list) include_module (see --include-module) include_prereq (see --include-prereq) input_file (see --input-file) log_level (see --log-level) multiple_runs (see --multiple-runs) naked_res (see --naked-res) output_file (see --output-file) overwrite (see --overwrite) pack_method (see --pack-method) perl_version (see --perl-version) put_hook_at_the_end (see --put-hook-at-the-end) shebang (see --shebang) skip_not_found (see --skip-not-found) squish (see --squish) strip (see --strip) stripper (see --stripper) stripper_comment (see --no-stripper-comment) stripper_log (see --stripper-log) stripper_maintain_linum (see --stripper-maintain-linum) stripper_pod (see --no-stripper-pod) stripper_ws (see --no-stripper-ws) test (see --test) test_cases (see --test-cases) trace_extra_opts (see --trace-extra-opts) trace_method (see --trace-method) use (see --use)
Profiles are also automatically matched to the name of the script being processed, if not specified. For example:
[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 depak a script named parse-id-phone.
parse-id-phone
String. Specify additional command-line options.
Set default for debug_keep_tempdir option.
debug_keep_tempdir
Please visit the project's homepage at https://metacpan.org/release/App-depak.
Source repository is at https://github.com/perlancar/perl-App-depak.
App::FatPacker, Module::FatPack, App::FatPackUtils
Module::DataPack, App::DataPackUtils
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), App::staticperl (packs perl, core modules, and your modules/scripts in a single static binary).
perlancar <perlancar@cpan.org>
To contribute, you can send patches by email/via RT, or send pull requests on GitHub.
Most of the time, you don't need to build the distribution yourself. You can simply modify the code, then test via:
% prove -l
If you want to build the distribution (e.g. to try to install it locally on your system), you can install Dist::Zilla, Dist::Zilla::PluginBundle::Author::PERLANCAR, Pod::Weaver::PluginBundle::Author::PERLANCAR, and sometimes one or two other Dist::Zilla- and/or Pod::Weaver plugins. Any additional steps required beyond that are considered a bug and can be reported to me.
This software is copyright (c) 2023, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 by perlancar <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.
Please report any bugs or feature requests on the bugtracker website https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=App-depak
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.
To install App::depak, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm
cpanm App::depak
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install App::depak
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.