[erlang-questions] Stand Alone Erlang or Equivalent

[Benjamin Tolputt]

Bob Ippolito wrote:
> I don't buy it. I never see files distributed online as a single
> ".exe" file unless it's an installer. More often it's either as a zip
> or a msi, either of which will carry multi-file payloads just fine.
>   
It need not be a "single file executable" (though this is preferable 
given the methods of "copyright protection" employed by game 
publishers), but requiring a "directory tree" is a pain to manage simply 
for the underlying language.

Take a look at the deployment/file tree of most commercially released 
games. They have a very simple tree usually consisting of a "root" 
having all executable files with their DLL's, a data directory (with 
generally a handful of "archive" files collating & compressing the game 
resources), and a save file directory. It has only been open-source 
(i.e. non-commercial) games & applications that have used the default 
"deployment directory tree" used by Python, Erlang, and other languages 
without compressing &/or somehow collating the files.

For open-source &/or server applications needing to be easily updated, 
being able to access the individual files is a good thing. However, 
games (and a variety of other application deployments) are meant to be 
"solid" when delivered. This means delivering as simple & compact a 
deployment tree as possible. This may or may not be the best practice as 
far as us "server developers" go, but this is standard practice in the 
game development.

Being able to have a single executable with one or two other files would 
also be good. It is just my belief (right or wrong) that if we are going 
this far, we may as well make it a single executable.

Regards,
B.J.Tolputt