I am not sure how to name this module. I consider its existence a joke.
Like Acme::Bleach. PE=Portable Executable, the Win32 exe/dll file
format. Should it be in App::? Acme::? or is Win32:: fine? is PEPM fine
or should it be PE::PM? There is the "Win32::Exe" and "Win32::PEFile"
distros but I share nothing with them except all of them read PE files
on a binary level. PEPM is pronounceable as "pep-em". PMPE is more
difficult to pronounce as "pum-pe". Anyone disagree? One name could be
Win32::PE::Fat as in Fat Binary (but this really isn't a fat binary,
unless you call Perl a CPU architecture, and technically it is true that
this module creates a DOS executable binary that contains "machine code"
for the "Wall CPU" architecture that debuted on 1994-Oct-17), but this
still isnt a Fat Binary since the Perl code is not a PP version of the
x86/x64 XS machine code in the file, instead the Perl code is the PP
side of the XS module.
This module takes a jab at the moribund ".pmc" file format. Its output
could be called a .pmc "perl module [with C] compiled [code]".
I've included its WIP POD to give a taste of what it does/name/purpose.
=head1 NAME
Win32::PEPM - turn your XS .dll+.pm into being simultaneously a .pm and .dll
=head1 SYNOPSIS
#in your Makefile.PL
use Win32::PEPM::Build;
my %hash = {
NAME => 'Foo::Bar',
AUTHOR => 'A. U. Thor <a.u.t...@a.galaxy.far.far.away>',
...
Win32::PEPM::Build::WMHash(\%hash);
WriteMakefile(%hash;)
#in your .pm
use Win32::PEPM;
Win32::PEPM::load(__FILE__, $VERSION);
1;
__END__ #you must have this
=head1 DESCRIPTION
This module is a packager that allows you to build a .pm that is
simultaneously
a .pm that can be C<do>, C<require>d, or C<use>d, and the same .pm is a 100%
real DLL containing XS code. The generated file meets the file format
standards
of both a .pm and a PE (Portable Executable). The author of this module sees
this module as a joke since with this "packager", the .pm text is stored
uncompressed in the .dll, and there is no sane reason to keep .pm text
memory
mapped into a process since after parsing/compiling .pm, the .pm text is
never
referenced again, yet with this "packager", if the XS DLL is loaded, so
is the
.pm text, into the process. Google says IMAGE_SCN_MEM_DISCARDABLE
doesn't work.
The resulting .pm that is built can not be edited even though it mostly
looks
like plain text. If it is edited, the DLL will be corrupt. The resulting
.pm,
although superficially looking like pure perl can not be moved between perl
installations/version, since the XS DLL inside the .pm, like all XS
DLLs/SOs is
bound to a particular perl installation.
=head1 FUNCTIONS
=head2 load
Win32::PEPM::load(__FILE__, $VERSION);
Similar to L<XSLoader|XSLoader's> C<load> sub except takes a filename as
first
arg. This file name must be the C<__FILE__> token.
=head1 KNOWN ISSUES
=over 4
=item *
Mingw/GCC support not implemented. Patches welcome. The author has no clue
what VC's C<-stub> is with C<ld>.
=back
=head1 AUTHOR
bulk88, E<lt>bul...@cpan.orge<gt>
