racket/collects/scribblings/raco/dist.scrbl

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3.7 KiB
Racket

#lang scribble/doc
@(require scribble/manual
"common.ss"
(for-label racket/runtime-path))
@title[#:tag "exe-dist"]{@exec{raco distribute}: Sharing Stand-Alone Executables}
The @exec{raco distribute} command combines a
stand-alone executable created by @exec{raco exe} with all of the
shared libraries that are needed to run it, along with any run-time
files declared via @racket[define-runtime-path]. The resulting
package can be moved to other machines that run the same operating
system.
After the @exec{raco distribute} command, supply a directory to
contain the combined files for a distribution. Each command-line
argument is an executable to include in the distribution, so multiple
executables can be packaged together. For example, under Windows,
@commandline{raco distribute greetings hello.exe goodbye.exe}
creates a directory @filepath{greetings} (if the directory doesn't
exist already), and it copies the executables @filepath{hello.exe} and
@filepath{goodbye.exe} into @filepath{greetings}. It also creates a
@filepath{lib} sub-directory in @filepath{greetings} to contain DLLs,
and it adjusts the copied @filepath{hello.exe} and
@filepath{goodbye.exe} to use the DLLs in @filepath{lib}.
The layout of files within a distribution directory is
platform-specific:
@itemize[
@item{Under Windows, executables are put directly into the
distribution directory, and DLLs and other run-time files go
into a @filepath{lib} sub-directory.}
@item{Under Mac OS X, GUI executables go into the distribution
directory, other executables go into a @filepath{bin}
subdirectory, and frameworks (i.e., shared libraries) go into a
@filepath{lib} sub-directory along with other run-time files. As
a special case, if the distribution has a single @DFlag{gui-exe}
executable, then the @filepath{lib} directory is hidden inside
the application bundle.}
@item{Under Unix, executables go into a @filepath{bin} subdirectory,
shared libraries (if any) go into a @filepath{lib} subdirectory
along with other run-time files, and wrapped executables are
placed into a @filepath{lib/plt} subdirectory with
version-specific names. This layout is consistent with Unix
installation conventions; the version-specific names for shared
libraries and wrapped executables means that distributions can
be safely unpacked into a standard place on target machines
without colliding with an existing Racket installation or
other executables created by @exec{raco exe}.}
]
A distribution also has a @filepath{collects} directory that is used
as the main library collection directory for the packaged executables.
By default, the directory is empty. Use the
@as-index{@DPFlag{copy-collects}} flag of @exec{raco distribute} to
supply a directory whose content is copied into the distribution's
@filepath{collects} directory. The @DPFlag{copy-collects} flag can be
used multiple times to supply multiple directories.
When multiple executables are distributed together, then separately
creating the executables with @exec{raco exe} can generate multiple
copies of collection-based libraries that are used by multiple
executables. To share the library code, instead, specify a target
directory for library copies using the
@as-index{@DFlag{collects-dest}} flag with @exec{raco exe}, and
specify the same directory for each executable (so that the set of
libraries used by all executables are pooled together). Finally, when
packaging the distribution with @exec{raco distribute}, use the
@DPFlag{copy-collects} flag to include the copied libraries in the
distribution.
@; ----------------------------------------------------------------------
@include-section["dist-api.scrbl"]
@include-section["bundle-api.scrbl"]