Using Par::Packer I've generated a standalone executable for a script that needs to run on systems with no Perl installed. pp is using the visual C++ compiler.

The executable runs fine on a dev machine with ActiveState 5.10 installed. On the first test machine (same OS as the dev machine) I'm getting side by side errors.

The first error was

Resolve Partial Assembly failed for Microsoft.VC90.CRT. Reference error message: The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.

I assumed this was because the test machine didn't have the visual c++ libraries installed.

Once I put the libraries from the /redist/x86/Microsoft.VC90.CRT directory in the same directory as the executable I got this error

Syntax error in manifest or policy file "E:\Microsoft.VC90.CRT.MANIFEST" on line 4

The manifest file in question was taken directly from the redist directory in visual c++. Here's the manifest file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.
+0">
    <noInheritable></noInheritable>
    <assemblyIdentity type="win32"name="Microsoft.VC90.CRT"version="9.
+0.30729.1" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e
+3b"></assemblyIdentity>
.
.  
(Truncated for brevity)
.
.
</file>
</assembly>
[download]

Has anyone else encountered these issues?

Update: Turns out installing the Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable solves the issues. Now if only there were a Perl module to create an installer to install the Redistributable package with the executable...