[ANN] XpackerX - free packager for script based applications

Dear Rebol List I've been lurking around for too long now - its time to put something back for you all to enjoy :-) If you want to just go and download XpackerX without reading my preamble, goto: http://www.marmaladefoo.com/docs/software/xpackerx Software adoption issues seem to come up again and again on this list. We all want REBOL to succeed as a technology, but there are various barriers in the way, especially in terms of competing with other technologies (e.g. python) and reaping the benefits of a broader developer base. Some obvious barriers include (among others): (1) some aspects of the licensing policies (2) accessibility of platform libraries for the free version (REBOL/core) (3) the practical issue of software deployment At the moment Rebol SDK and Encap seem to be the only way of creating a self-contained executable based on Rebol. Not any more! XpackerX is a simple deployment system for script based applications on Windows. I wrote it originally for Rebol (Core and View) applications, but now it is generic enough to do Perl, Python, and many more. You create an XML project script containing references to the files you want to include, then compile it to create a standalone Windows executable that you just distribute as you would any other. On running, it unpacks the files into a unique temporary folder and runs a command - usually passing a script to an interpreter. When the command finishes, everything is cleaned up to leave the user's system intact. More information available on the website and in the documentation. Sample applications available for Rebol, Perl and Python. Depending on the type of application and licensing context, you can choose to package up the interpreter inside the executable, or use one that already resides on the end user's machine. Currently the application (XpackerX Editor/compiler) is available as a free beta version. In addition to the free version, there will be a full version later on which has extra benefits (user defined icon and splash screen), but functionality-wise they are identical. Hope you enjoy it. Any feedback is much appreciated. - Luke Orlando __________________________________________ Various gadgets widgets, links and chat http://www.marmaladefoo.com

Hi Luke, Sounds excellent! Thanks for posting! -- Gregg