Perl/CGI/MySQL executable on windows via CD-ROM?

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

I've tried researching this a time or two, only to come up nearly empty. It is possible to install ActiveState Perl on Windoze, and then there is a Windoze version of MySQL that is truly a pain to setup (at least, when you've never done it before, and I would venture even for some others), BUT...can it all be installed and executable via a CD?

Basically, I have put a ton of time into developing an online website that essentially amounts to a searchable database on existing material (read-only DB). It is incredibly useful to people via the web, but I would like to extend its usability to the Windows desktop via a CD-ROM. Ideally, it could run from the CD solely, but optionally, something from the CD could be installed in a very user-friendly way for the rest to work (i.e. this should be useful to the average non-geek).

Any ideas? Anyone here ever tried to do a similar thing? It seems this wheel must have been invented before...and if not, it's high time, no?

Blessings,

~Polyglot~

Comment on Perl/CGI/MySQL executable on windows via CD-ROM?

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Re: Perl/CGI/MySQL executable on windows via CD-ROM? by moritz (Cardinal) on Jul 08, 2009 at 12:45 UTC
I don't know about ActiveState perl, there's a portable Strawberry Perl. I also know nothing about MySQL on Windows, but SQLite should be pretty easy to put on a CD-ROM. And for most web applications it should have enough features.	[reply]
Re^2: Perl/CGI/MySQL executable on windows via CD-ROM? by Polyglot (Chaplain) on Jul 08, 2009 at 14:23 UTC
Thank you, Moritz, for your very prompt response! As a result of your suggestions, I was able to expand the range of terms I had been casting into the Google waters hoping to drag out the right information...and as a result of casting the wider net, I have found something that looks quite promising. I'm not ready to say I've "netted" it yet, but I will try to remember to post back here if/when I have gotten a working solution. There are actually several possibilities I've found. One of them is this: Server2Go It's claims to be a free (donations accepted) utility that can run a webserver from a CD-ROM. The others which I have found so far do not seem to be so free. (I might be willing to pay something, but not royalties every time I distribute a CD...that would be simply too much hassle.) Nevertheless, here are a couple of those pay-wares: Stunnix Perl Web Server 2.10 DWebPro 6.8.26 (free for non-commercial) Blessings, ~Polyglot~	[reply]
Re^3: Perl/CGI/MySQL executable on windows via CD-ROM? by Polyglot (Chaplain) on Jul 15, 2009 at 14:19 UTC
I just wanted to report back on my progress. I was finally successful in making Server2Go work for me, after about a full day spent installing, reinstalling, configuring, and tinkering. It is not well documented for the MySQL and the Perl portions of its usefulness. If you wished to run merely the simplest of Perl scripts, and no MySQL required, you should have an easier time of it. I successfully imported a 300 MB+ MySQL database into it and added appropriate users and reconfigured root permissions via phpMyAdmin, which comes with the server. All of the configuring was done on the hard drive of a Windows Vista machine, and once the server2go.exe file is run, the server runs PHP, Perl, HTML, etc. website, and I found all of the modules for Perl that I needed most already installed. Considering the price, I am happy. If one paid much for it, one might expect more documentation. Blessings, ~Polyglot~	[reply]