How can I deploy a Perl/Python/Ruby script without installing an interpreter?

Question

I want to write a piece of software which is essentially a regex data scrubber. I am going to take a contact list in CSV and remove all non-word characters and such from the person's name.

This project has Perl written all over it but my client base is largely non-technical and installing Perl on Windows would not be worth it for them.

Any ideas on how I can use a Perl/Python/Ruby type language without all the headaches of getting the interpreter on their computer?

Thought about web for a second but it would not work for business reasons.

Answer 1

You can get Windows executables in all three languages.

• As usual with Perl, there's more than one way to do it:
  • PAR Packer (free/open-source)
  • perl2exe (shareware)
  • PerlApp (part of the Perl Dev Kit from ActiveState, commercial)
• Python
  • py2exe
  • PyInstaller
• Ruby
  • RubyScript2Exe
  • OCRA

Answer 2

You can use Perl Archive Toolkit to bring a minimal perl core + needed modules + your Perl program with you.

And you can even convert it using PAR Packer to a windows exe file that will run just like any other program, from an end user's perspective.