Using a perl script on windows without installing ActivePerl?

Question

I'm using Perl as my scripting language of choice under Windows and normally I just install ActivePerl (mostly 5.8 for personal legacy reasons) and be done with it.

I now face the problem that I'd like to use some small scripts on a machine where I do not have any admin rights and therefore cannot install the ActiveState distribution with its installer.

What needs to be zipped together from an installed ActiveState Perl to do an xcopy-style installation of Perl on Windows? (And which environment variables will then have to be set in a command shell to make it work?)

Answer 1

Strawberry Perl has a portable edition. I'd use that in preference to trying to hack ActivePerl into working without being properly installed.

Answer 2

You can install ActivePerl without admin rights by using the *.zip file installer instead of the *.msi. Download from the ActivePerl 5.26.3 download directory and run the installer.bat file in the root of the extracted tree.