ActivePerl, IndigoPerl or Cygwin Perl?

[Jan Gunnar Moe]

Question is caused by a useful answer I got in another thread.

I do not want to start a competition on what is *best* or *strongest.* Don't
need to know that.

I am only to run *one* existing script on a LaTeX file, and I feel pretty
sure that all alternatives can do it. So I ask:

Which alternative provides for troublefree installation and running of a
small script?

I do not want to have to learn more than necessary now, I do want to use my
time on editing a book.

Jan Gunnar Moe

[Robin Fairbairns]

Post by Jan Gunnar Moe
Question is caused by a useful answer I got in another thread.
I do not want to start a competition on what is *best* or *strongest.* Don't
need to know that.
I am only to run *one* existing script on a LaTeX file, and I feel pretty
Which alternative provides for troublefree installation and running of a
small script?

i've only ever used active perl, and it's always been easy to install,
and trouble-free. i've installed it on w98, wnt and w2k; my colleague
also installed it on our w2003 server and i use it there regularly.

otoh, i've not tried either of your alternatives.

and i've just installed sfu on my wxp workstation, and it's provided
me with yet another perl implementation.

Post by Jan Gunnar Moe
I do not want to have to learn more than necessary now, I do want to use my
time on editing a book.

i don't imagine you'll go far wrong with active perl.

[Cameron Kerr]

Post by Jan Gunnar Moe
I am only to run *one* existing script on a LaTeX file, and I feel pretty

Hehe, just one. That's funny. They always seem to grow.

Post by Jan Gunnar Moe
Which alternative provides for troublefree installation and running of a
small script?

ActivePerl would be your best bet, as the most commonly used (and
therefore best tested by userbase). Also, it has ppm (Perl Package
Manager).

Post by Jan Gunnar Moe
I do not want to have to learn more than necessary now, I do want to use my
time on editing a book.

I would also suggest vim then. Works quite well on Win32 from my
(limited) experience. Of course, ignore this if you're inclined to emacs
or something else.

However, since you're doing LaTeX stuff, you would probably want make et
al. Are you using TeTeX on Cygwin, or some Win32 LaTeX distribution.
With all this in mind, you're likely to benefit from Cygwin, so go with
Cygwin Perl.

[Donald Arseneau]

Post by Jan Gunnar Moe
Which alternative provides for troublefree installation and running of a
small script?

If you already have Cygwin installed, adding perl may be
easy, but installing Cygwin just for this would be crazy.

Donald Arseneau ***@triumf.ca