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

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have been trying to add a data file to windows executable created with pp. The program cannot find the file unless it is in the same folder as .exe file as a separate file. The original .pl file expects the data file to be in the same directory as the script. It is in the archive, and I've tried placing it in /, /script, /lib. Nothing works. I can copy both the .exe file and the data file somewhere else and it does work but I want to not have to copy the data file, since it's already in the archive. I thought that the -a flag is for this purpose. I must be missing something here. test script named test.pl 
#!/usr/bin/perl
# OS is windows XP perl 5.8.8 build 820 

open FH,"hello.txt" or die "$!\n";
while ( <FH> ) {
    print;
}

[download]
I have a text file in the same directory as the script named hello.txt. I then want to make an executable using pp: >pp -a hello.txt -o test.exe test.pl This creates an executable, but unless a copy of hello.txt is in the same folder, it will not find it. The -a flag did put the hello.txt file in the archive, but the script can't find it. Any ideas?

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: correct way to use pp -a
by walto (Pilgrim) on May 03, 2008 at 15:50 UTC
    Not a solution, but a workaround is to place the content of hello.txt in the code of the script
    #!/usr/bin/perl
# OS is windows XP perl 5.8.8 build 820 

#open FH,"hello.txt" or die "$!\n";
while ( <DATA> ) {
    print;
}
__DATA__
one
two
three
four

    [download]

[reply]
[d/l]
Re: correct way to use pp -a
by Cody Pendant (Prior) on May 03, 2008 at 21:39 UTC
    I bet this previous thread is the answer to your question.

    Nobody says perl looks like line-noise any more
    kids today don't know what line-noise IS ...
[reply]
      You are right. I asked this question last year and forgot all about it. Sorry
[reply]
Re: correct way to use pp -a
by perl-diddler (Chaplain) on May 02, 2008 at 23:14 UTC
    Sorry for my cluelessness, but what's "pp"? When I type it in on my systems, it says "command not found". Doesn't seem to be a valid windows command or program. -l
[reply]
[reply]

Back to Seekers of Perl Wisdom