in reply to Windows precompiled binaries or DIY compile

I have attempted to replicate my Linux-based Perl applications on a friend's Windows laptop on several occasions. In every case, I found it most difficult to achieve. The temptation was just to install an Ubuntu VM, and have the Perl apps run there (but this meant many GB of extra space on disk, plus more issues with copy/paste between Linux and Windows, etc.). I tried both ActiveState Perl and Strawberry Perl, neither of which ran properly at first blush. The Windows pathways were one issue, but a major part was that the "make" routines (make, dmake, cmake, etc.) for compiling various Perl packages all seemed to be broken...it was a major pain just getting the installation to work!

I finally figured out that XAMPP did most of what I needed if I manually installed Strawberry Perl to replace the Perl it came packaged with, and then redirected my Perl scripts to Strawberry. For me, Perl needed to run in CGI fashion, from Apache (or similar--but I tried in vain with Windows-native options...probably just too ignorant to get them to work). And I needed MySQL/MariaDB, again failing to understand how the MicroSoft options could replace this.

In my case, while speed is always nice, I was just happy to get the scripts to even run at all on Windows. Stability seemed fine whenever I was the one on the computer--my friend seemed to have some issues with getting XAMPP to load up consistently. It may be that he needed to manually start the various services in XAMPP when freshly booted, and being less tech-savvy, this was more challenging for him.

If speed is your thing, my educated guess would be that a Linux platform, even if that has to be a VM on a Windows machine, would be superior. I'd reckon the same would be true for stability with Perl. But owing to difficulties with packages on Windows, compiling from source, unless you are super-savvy with Windows' alternatives for building packages, will probably mean a considerable time investment and/or a hair-pulling experience. Best wishes!

Blessings,

~Polyglot~

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