Perl in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

ActivePerl

The canonical source for the ActivePerl distribution at the time of this writing is at http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Downloads/ActivePerl/. Included in the distribution are:

Perl for Win32

Binary for the core Perl distribution

Perl for ISAPI

IIS plug-in for use with ISAPI-compliant web servers

PerlScript

ActiveX scripting engine

Perl Package Manager

Manager for Perl modules and extensions

The ActivePerl binary comes as a self-extracting executable that uses the standard Win32 InstallShield setup wizard to guide you through the installation process. By default, Perl is installed into the directory C:\Perl\version, in which version is the current version number (e.g., 5.005). (For information on customizing your installation, see the Win32 FAQ on the ActiveState web site.) The installation also associates the file extension .pl with Perl and adds the directory into which you installed Perl to your PATH environment variable.

If you want to install ActivePerl, you can do so by running the MSI archive that’s shipped by ActiveState. If the MSI archive is not associated with the MSI application, you need to obtain InstMsi.exe from the downloads section at http://www.microsoft.com.

If you don’t (or can’t) install MSI on your system, ActiveState has made available a Perl installer that doesn’t use MSI, but be aware that this installer doesn’t have a corresponding de-installer.