Deployment & distribution: PerlApp or ActivePerl OEM?

Deployment & distribution: PerlApp or ActivePerl OEM?

With thousands of people downloading ActivePerl and Perl Dev Kit to get started with creating applications or scripts with Perl, one of the questions we often get is – “When can I use PerlApp to distribute my application, and when do I need an OEM license to redistribute ActivePerl?”
So here are some basic guidelines:

  • You can take your Perl script, ActivePerl and PerlApp and wrap or compile the script into a single, simple-to-install standalone executable that can be redistributed without the need for an OEM license. The PerlApp feature in Perl Dev Kit makes it a popular product for creating applications when you don’t want users to touch your code or run scripts.
  • If you allow a user to interact with the underlying language (have the executable run scripts), or wrap up the entire language build into the executable, or if the user can see that the underlying language is ActivePerl, then an OEM license is required.

It’s not always black and white, so if in doubt, please contact us while you’re in development.
Other resources:
ActivePerl Community Edition
ActivePerl Community Edition license (for information & pricing OEM license and redistribution rights, please contact us.)
Title image courtesy of Arek Socha on Pixabay.

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