Multiple strawberry Perl distribution organization problems and the hunt for Win32::SerialPort installation that works

Perl_question has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I'm trying to get a Perl module working (Win32::SerialPort). Doesn't work with my version of Perl:(v5.20.1) built for MSWin32-x64-multi-thread Windows 7, 64bit

It fails with many test errors, undefined variables, and I saw some reply that said it wouldn't work with 64-bit Perl. If that's not true, please let me know.

Now that it is not working, I'm on the hunt for the right Perl that's going to work. I already have Perl running in the house, and I'm not looking forward to managing multiple distributions of it on the same machine.

So, to the Monks who are experienced with this, I ask, how can I easily set up another distribution and automatically launch it? I'm not familiar with batch files, and I did do a super search with one answer that gave back to file response that doesn't fit my filesystem set up. How is everyone else doing this?

And as a side question, if someone has used the module that I want to use, can you tell me the setup that I need? Perl coding is all well and good, but this infrastructure set up is troublesome for me. Thanks for your reply.

Comment on Multiple strawberry Perl distribution organization problems and the hunt for Win32::SerialPort installation that works

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Re: Multiple strawberry Perl distribution organization problems and the hunt for Win32::SerialPort installation that works by VinsWorldcom (Prior) on Aug 07, 2015 at 03:45 UTC
I have multiple Strawberry Perls on Windows 7 x64. I installed the first one and then I just grab the ZIP files for the others and unzip them. I moved them all to a "\Program Files\Strawberry\" directory. Then, I use a batch file to manage the different versions by creating a link from "C:\strawberry" to the version I want to use. This way, I never have to change my %PATH% and everything just works. It's my version of perlbrew for Windows. See Re: Strawberry Perl, from 5.18 to 5.22 Example in action: VinsWorldcom@C:\Users\VinsWorldcom> dir c:\straw* Directory of c:\ 08/06/2015 11:41 PM <JUNCTION> strawberry [C:\Program Files\st +rawberry\strawberry_5.18.1-MSWin32-x64-multi-thread] VinsWorldcom@C:\Users\VinsWorldcom> dir "c:\Program Files\strawberry" Directory of c:\Program Files\strawberry 12/20/2013 11:52 AM <DIR> strawberry_5.18.1-MSWin32-x64-m +ulti-thread 06/13/2014 08:20 PM <DIR> strawberry_5.18.1-MSWin32-x86-m +ulti-thread-64int 10/26/2012 12:14 PM <DIR> strawberry_5.8.8-MSWin32-x86-mu +lti-thread VinsWorldcom@C:\Users\VinsWorldcom> plroot.bat C:\strawberry [C:\Program Files\strawberry\strawberry_5.18.1-MSWin32-x +64-multi-thread] C:\Users\VinsWorldcom\perl [C:\Users\VinsWorldcom\perl5\5.18.1-MSWin32 +-x64-multi-thread] 5.018001 @ C:\strawberry\perl\bin\perl.exe Available: 5.18.1-MSWin32-x64-multi-thread 5.18.1-MSWin32-x86-multi-thread-64int 5.8.8-MSWin32-x86-multi-thread VinsWorldcom@C:\Users\VinsWorldcom> plroot.bat 5.8.8-MSWin32-x86-multi +-thread Junction created for C:\strawberry <<===>> C:\Program Files\strawberry +\strawberry_5.8.8-MSWin32-x86-multi-thread Junction created for C:\Users\VinsWorldcom\perl <<===>> C:\Users\VinsW +orldcom\perl5\5.8.8-MSWin32-x86-multi-thread 5.008008 @ C:\strawberry\perl\bin\perl.exe VinsWorldcom@C:\Users\VinsWorldcom> perl -v This is perl, v5.8.8 built for MSWin32-x86-multi-thread [...] VinsWorldcom@C:\Users\VinsWorldcom> plroot.bat 5.18.1-MSWin32-x64-mult +i-thread Junction created for C:\strawberry <<===>> C:\Program Files\strawberry +\strawberry_5.18.1-MSWin32-x64-multi-thread Junction created for C:\Users\VinsWorldcom\perl <<===>> C:\Users\VinsW +orldcom\perl5\5.18.1-MSWin32-x64-multi-thread 5.018001 @ C:\strawberry\perl\bin\perl.exe VinsWorldcom@C:\Users\VinsWorldcom> perl -v This is perl 5, version 18, subversion 1 (v5.18.1) built for MSWin32-x +64-multi-thread [...] [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Multiple strawberry Perl distribution organization problems and the hunt for Win32::SerialPort installation that works by Discipulus (Canon) on Aug 07, 2015 at 07:11 UTC
we miss the source of your batch file.. L* UPDATE: oops it seems i'm little blind this morning There are no rules, there are no thumbs.. Reinvent the wheel, then learn The Wheel; may be one day you reinvent one of THE WHEELS.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Multiple strawberry Perl distribution organization problems and the hunt for Win32::SerialPort installation that works by Discipulus (Canon) on Aug 07, 2015 at 07:10 UTC
Hello Perl_question, You can use, easily, many different Strawberry installation you desire, just picking the portable versions on the site: then you go in the extracted folder and launch portable.bat file. If you are corious read the bat file to see what strawberry needs to run portably. You will be albe to install the module you need in different Perl versions. About the module it seems a bit aged and the tester's matrix show at least one installation succesful for Perl 5.20. There are very few tests anyway. If you succeds please share your passes in this thread. L* UPDATE: i succesfully installed the module under `Perl 5.14 osname=MSWin32, osvers=4.0, archname=MSWin32-x86-multi-thread` even if i had to skip the tests: `The tests for 'Win32::SerialPort' failed. Would you like me to proceed + anyway or should we abort? Proceed anyway? [y/N]: y *** Install log written to: C:\strawberry\cpanplus\install-logs\Win32-SerialPort-0.22-1438931897 +.log Module 'Win32::SerialPort' installed successfully No errors installing all modules c>perl -MWin32::SerialPort -ce 0 -e syntax OK` [download] HtH L* There are no rules, there are no thumbs.. Reinvent the wheel, then learn The Wheel; may be one day you reinvent one of THE WHEELS.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Multiple strawberry Perl distribution organization problems and the hunt for Win32::SerialPort installation that works by anonymized user 468275 (Curate) on Aug 07, 2015 at 12:28 UTC
Re 64 bit: the caveat in the docs is that the module was only tested on Intel processors - perhaps the tale got twisted in the retelling? One world, one people	[reply]
Re: Multiple strawberry Perl distribution organization problems and the hunt for Win32::SerialPort installation that works by dasgar (Priest) on Aug 08, 2015 at 07:24 UTC
Older computer systems would usually come with one or more serial ports. Most new computers that you can buy in stores today do not come with any serial ports. Does your computer have any serial ports? I vaguely remember having trouble installing Win32::SerialPort on a Windows system that does not have any serial ports, but I don't remember the details. The closest open issue that I could was Win32-SerialPort: Install fails when Com1 is not present. I'm wondering if you might be hitting this type of scenario.	[reply]
Re^2: Multiple strawberry Perl distribution organization problems and the hunt for Win32::SerialPort installation that works by Perl_question (Initiate) on Aug 08, 2015 at 15:10 UTC
Not sure how to reply to everyone, but this is for all who replied. Thank you! I appreciate your time. I installed Strawberry version 5.12 32-bit, which plays nice with my existing modules so far. So I'm just going to scrap the 64-bit for now because I really need the serial port access most of all. After that, I'll work on getting another 64-bit installation.	[reply]