Golly 2.7 doesn't recognize perl path

[PC101]

First, the reason I am using an old version of Golly is because I want to run helix.pl from codeholic's old helix generator script (https://github.com/codeholic/helix) in golly. Golly 2.7 is the latest version that can run perl.

I am having trouble getting Golly 2.7 to recognize the perl510.dll file. I enter the directory correctly but I still get the "Could not load the Perl library" window when I press "OK".

https://strawberryperl.com/releases.html

I have tried the following:
- Downloading the zip version of Strawberry Perl 5.10.1.5, extracting it, then using the perl510.dll file in the extracted folder
- Downloading the "portable" version of Strawberry Perl 5.10.1.2, extracting it, then using the perl510.dll file in the extracted folder
- Using the MSI installer to install Perl 5.28 and using the perl528.dll file
- Using the MSI installer to install Strawberry Perl 5.32 and using the perl532.dll file

None of these options have worked. Golly 2.7 still gave me the same error for each of these attempts. (I made sure to try each solution on golly-2.7-win.zip and golly-2.7-win64.zip)

[dvgrn]

First, the reason I am using an old version of Golly is because I want to run helix.pl from codeholic's old helix generator script (https://github.com/codeholic/helix) in golly. Golly 2.7 is the latest version that can run perl.

That helix-builder script is pretty much the only reason anyone ever wants to use Perl with Golly. It's been mentioned elsewhere that the sensible solution would be to port build_helix.pl to either Python or Lua (or just rewrite it from scratch).

I'm on a computer that will refuse to run Golly 2.7 on the grounds of it being ancient and unknown software, so I can't help with the troubleshooting for getting Golly 2.7 and Perl working happily together. It would really be better not to have to do that.

Maybe a vaguely useful note is that the helix.pl script is just a generic Perl script -- it doesn't need Golly 2.7, and in fact shouldn't be run in Golly 2.7 since it just dumps its results to stdout. Here's what it produces for a 17c/45 Caterpillar once you make the necessary adjustments:

Code: Select all

c:\repos\helix>helix.pl 45 0 -17
n=1
n=2
n=3
n=4
572:572:572:3051:5155:2527:1624
572:572:3653:3653:5155:1202:75
572:572:1624:3653:3653:1624
572:1202:3653:5155:572:3653:75
572:2527:2527:5155:2527:2527:2343
572:3653:3653:3653:75:2527:1749
572:3653:3653:3653:703:2527:1624
572:3653:3653:1624:2527:3653:703
572:3653:3653:1749:2527:3653:75
572:3653:75:572:1202:3653:5155
572:3653:1624:572:3653:1624
1202:75:572:572:3653:3653:5155
2527:2527:2343:572:2527:2527:5155
2527:3653:75:572:3653:3653:1749
2527:3653:703:572:3653:3653:1624
2527:1624:572:572:572:3051:5155
2527:1624:572:3653:3653:3653:703
2527:1749:572:3653:3653:3653:75
3653:3653:1624:572:572:1624
n=5
80:572:572:3653:5155:572:572:2527:5155
80:572:572:3165:2527:3653:1624
80:572:572:4882:2527:3653:75
80:572:3653:75:2527:3653:3890
80:572:75:2527:3653:1624
80:572:1624:2527:3653:75 ...

So the interesting coding challenge here would be to write a build_helix.lua or build_helix.py that can accept a line of the above and produce a working 17c/45 helix.

Might have to either tell Lua how to read SQLite databases [or the same for Python, I guess] -- or get rid of that dependency, since it doesn't really make sense for the amount of data we're dealing with here, and rebuild helix.sqlite3 as a nice simple text file or some such.

EDIT: Well, I suppose it does make some sense to use SQLite, since helix.pl seems to be doing some recursive database queries to build its solutions. Yikes, I'm not finding it easy to read Perl code -- which is not surprising, since I only ever used Perl for just long enough to get existing Golly Python scripts ported to it. As soon as those scripts worked, I was very glad to drop the project and never do anything with Perl again.

EDIT2: I've attached a CSV export of the contents of the SQLite database, just in case that turns out to be useful for someone. There are three tables -- "pattern", "result", and "sqlite_sequence" (but the third table is just a one-liner saying how many records are in the pattern table.)

pattern.csv

conversion by https://inloop.github.io/sqlite-viewer/

(554.38 KiB) Downloaded 84 times

result.csv

conversion by https://inloop.github.io/sqlite-viewer/

(193.51 KiB) Downloaded 92 times

sqlite_sequence.txt

conversion by https://inloop.github.io/sqlite-viewer/

(22 Bytes) Downloaded 88 times

[PC101]

I figured out how to get Perl working on Golly 2.7. This is how I did it:
1. Download Strawberry Perl 5.10.1.5's MSI installer from here: https://strawberryperl.com/download/5.1 ... 10.1.5.msi
2. Install Strawberry Perl 5.10.1.5
3. Restart my computer
4. Open Golly 2.7
5. Enter the directory for perl*.dll, which was C:\strawberry\perl\bin\perl510.dll for me

After step 5, all the Perl scripts that came with Golly 2.7 worked properly.

[Scorbie]

Just fwiw, installing strawberry perl portable 5.10.1.2 also worked for me.

[ihatecorderships]

As we're on the topic of perl scripts, why is modify.pl in Golly/Help/Lexicon not converted to python or lua yet?

[dvgrn]

As we're on the topic of perl scripts, why is modify.pl in Golly/Help/Lexicon not converted to python or lua yet?

There's not much need to -- that's a Perl script, not a Golly Perl script.

It's not clear that that script really needs to be in the files distributed with Golly -- it's more meant to be used on standard Lexicon files to convert them to their Golly-compatible versions. That only has to be done once for each release of the Life Lexicon, and it's done by the Golly Gang and the results are checked in to SourceForge, so it works fine to leave it as a Perl script.