

=head1 NAME

LibZip - Create very low weight self executables. (This is the generator of TinyPerl).

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This module will create low weight self executables, that have this features:

=over 4

=item Perl library compressed in a lib.zip file.

=item Zlib compiled inside the executable (binary).

=item Initialize Package code is compressed in the sources.

=item Appended code to the executable can be compressed with LZW.

=item Remove POD from the source of files inside lib.zip.

=item Can work with UPX to automatically compress the binaries inside lib.zip.

=back

All this featues will generate a I<Initialize Package> of only 28 Kb,
and a executable of less than 80Kb (Win32), plus PerlLib. This means that a
hello world script as a self executable will have only 350KB (Win32).

The main idea of this module is to create the smaller Perl distribution as possible,
having all the Perl enverioment compressed, including the distribution of scripts
in a small package. One good example is TinyPerl (L<http://tinyperl.sf.net>),
that have Perl CORE and a basic library in less than 550Kb, what make possible
to install Perl fast in any computer connected to the internet.

=head2 Initialize Package

I<Initialize Package (LibZip + user script) is a LibZip code responsible to
load all the LibZip enverioment, enabling the use of a lib.zip file as the Perl
library directory. This code will be the 1st thing evaluated when Perl is executed,
and only after load all the enverioment the user script starts. This package is
what is appended to the Perl binary to create the self executable>.

=head1 USAGE

The usage of this module is through the I<libzip> script:

=over 4

=item OPTIONS:

  -allowopts    Allow the Perl options.
  -compile|o    Compile the file.
  -file|f       Define the 2nd file for the options pack, perlbin and lib.
  -gui          Create GUI (non console) executable (Win32 only).
  -icon         Set the icon of the executable (Win32 only).
  -keepsrc      Keep sources created for compilation.
  -lib|l        Create a lib in this directory.
  -lzw          Apply LZW compression to the package.
  -obetter|ob   Compile the file with all the options that can compress better.
  -overwrite    Overwrite already existent files.
  -pack|p       Create a package.
  -perlbin|pb   Create a binary from a package.
  -striplib     Strip POD from libs.
  -upx          UPX the PerlLib binary.
  -upxlib       UPX binaries from the lib.zip

=item EXAMPLES:

  COMPILE:
    libzip -o file.pl
    ## Creates file.exe (combine -pack, -perlbin and -lib autoamtically).

  CREATE A PACKAGE FROM SCRIPT:
    libzip.bat -p file.pack -f file.pl
    ## Creates file.pack (used to create the executable) with file.pl inside.

  CREATE LIB.ZIP:
    libzip -l lib.zip -f libzip.modules
    ## Create a library (lib.zip) with the modules in the file libzip.modules

  CREATE BINATY:
    libzip -perlbin script.pack -f script.exe
    ## Create the binary from the package.

  FULL EXAMPLE:

    libzip -o script.pl -allowopts vVw -lzw -upx -upxlib -striplib -keepsrc -overwrite

=back

=head1 STEP BY STEP EXAMPLE

Script hello.pl:

  #!/usr/bin/perl
  print "Hello World!\n" ;
  exit;

Creating the list of modules to be inside lib.zip:

  $> perl -MLibZip::Scan hello.pl
  ## A file libzip.modules will be created in the current directory.
  ## You can edit it if needed.

Converting the script to executable:

  $> libzip -ob hello.pl
  ## hello.exe (or just hello on Linux) and lib.zip were created.

=head1 CREATING THE lib.zip AUTOMATICALLY FROM YOU SCRIPT

To create a lib.zip file you need a list of modules that will be inside it.
To create this automatically when compiling your script, just add in the same
path of it 2 files:

  - libzip.modules ## list of modules to be inside lib.zip
  - libzip.skip    ## list of modules to NOT add.

To generate libzip.modules automatically just run your script with:

  $> perl -MLibZip::Scan foo.pl

... and the file will be in the same path of foo.pl.

Example of a libzip.skip file:

  Socket
  IO::Socket
  qr/^IO::*/
  qr/\.pl$/

This list will skip the modules 'Socket' and 'IO::Socket', and any file or
module name that match the 2 REGEXP will be skiped too, so, all the modules
inside IO:: and any file .pl won't be inside lib.zip.

=head1 LZW

Can be used to compress the I<Initialize Package> source and the user script,
what will save 10Kb+.

=head1 PAR

LibZip is not a substitute of L<PAR>, that have much more resources.
L<LibZip> has a different architecture, and the main idea of it is to create the
smaller Perl distribution as possible.

=head1 UPX

UPX is a tool that can be used to compress executables and run them compressed.
To enable it with I<LibZip> install the upx binary (will look for upx) in the I<PATH>.

=head1 Source Obfuscation

B<I<LibZip> doesn't have obfuscation resource for the user script, and I don't have
plans to add it>, since is very easy to break any obfuscation system if we know what
module is in use and the key used to encrypt the sources.

If you want to obfuscate your code against simple users just enable the I<-lzw> option,
since a complex obfuscation system won't give you much more obfuscation than this.

=head1 SEE ALSO

=over 4

=item TinyPerl (L<http://tinyperl.sf.net>).

=item UPX - Ultimate Packer for eXecutables (L<http://upx.sf.net>)

=back

L<PAR>.

L<Compress::Zlib>, L<Archive::Zip>, L<Compress::LZW>.

L<Pod::Stripper>.

=head1 AUTHOR

Graciliano M. P. <gm@virtuasites.com.br>

I will appreciate any type of feedback (include your opinions and/or suggestions). ;-P

=head1 COPYRIGHT

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

=cut

