Various possible configurations are discussed below. These are the deprecated variants and are here mostly for completeness. The recommended configuration is the Networked ActiveState model.

Ccperl 5.001

Use of the bundled ccperl is strongly deprecated. The day may come when Rational updates ccperl to something modern, at which point it will be more viable and this configuration will look more like the following:

Local-only Modern Perl

A completely standalone but modern Win32 install on every PC. This is relatively easy to do and we won't discuss how to do it. The problem with this model is that even moderately advanced Perl programs will want to use a few modules. If any programs need non-core modules or if any core modules need a bugfix, you're faced with visiting and updating each system.

The typical choice is to install ActiveState Perl on each client, perhaps even getting it onto a standard disk image used to build new PC's. It may be possible to have an automatically updated local Perl install using SMS or similar. This solution is left for Windows experts.

Use of other Perl builds such as those bundled with Cygwin or MKS Toolkit fall into this same category. There are differences between these Perls of course but that's an orthogonal subject. Again, these are useable and may be appropriate in some circumstances but require some specialized knowledge of those environments.

Local With Network Modules

A local modern install which derives add-on modules from a common network location. Similar to the above but searches a standard network place for modules before looking locally. This buys most of the performance advantages of a local install with much better maintainability. Discussed in HOW TO SET UP A LOCALLY-INSTALLED WIN32 PERL WITH NETWORKED ADD-ON MODULES .

Standard Networked

A fully network build which requires no local installation or configuration, built directly from the original Perl source. This version includes just the core-Perl modules, the same set that comes with a UNIX build. A compiler is required. Discussed in HOW TO BUILD A STANDARD NETWORKED WIN32 PERL. A viable option but more work than the ActiveState version and does not have the Win32::* module set.