Building and distributing applications

Programming guides

Building, or compiling, turns your source code into an application. A native executable is a program file made for a particular operating system and processor family. An operating system, such as Windows or Linux, manages the computer’s programs and devices. A target selects where the exported program should work.

The commands below belong in a terminal, not inside a .pliro program. A flag is an option beginning with -, such as --platform; the word after it supplies the choice. The CLI, or command-line interface, is this way of controlling Pliro with typed commands.

Understanding export options

Architecture means the processor family an application is built for. AMD64, also called x86-64, is a 64-bit x86 architecture; the name does not mean AMD processors only. ARM64 and ARMv7 are ARM architectures used by different devices. Pliro’s windows-386 target means 32-bit x86. These labels describe compatibility, not difficulty levels: choose the one your destination supports. SSE2 names a set of processor instructions required by Pliro’s Windows x86 build. RISC-V is another processor architecture; that target is currently experimental in Pliro.

Compression packs the executable into fewer bytes. UPX is the tool used for that packing. It reduces file size; it does not change the target operating system. A splash screen is the opening picture shown briefly before the program begins.

Metadata is information about the application, such as its title and version in Windows file properties. It is separate from the instructions your program performs. A version component is one number between the dots in a version such as 1.0.0.0.

Deploying means preparing and transferring an application to the computer where it will run. SSH means Secure Shell: an encrypted connection for remote terminal access. Pliro’s Pi deployment uses SSH; see the Raspberry Pi SSH explanation.

Deterministic formatting means the same code and formatting rules produce the same layout. A canonical execution document is a machine-readable description of the program using Pliro’s shared model, so English and Dutch syntax can describe the same operations.

Command reference

Useful examples:

pliro check program.pliro
pliro run project.bipli
pliro repl --locale en --diagnostics en
pliro build -o program.exe program.pliro
pliro build --platform windows-386 -o program-x86.exe project.bipli
pliro build --compress upx -o small-game.exe project.bipli
pliro build --platform windows-arm64 -o program-arm64.exe project.bipli
pliro build --platform linux-amd64 -o program-linux project.bipli
pliro build --platform linux-arm64 -o program-linux-arm64 project.bipli
pliro build --platform raspberry-pi-arm64 -o program-pi project.bipli
pliro build --platform raspberry-pi-armv7 -o program-pi-armv7 project.bipli
pliro build --platform linux-riscv64 -o program-riscv64 project.bipli

Branded graphical exports show a localized Pli splash for one second. Add an optional bundled PNG/JPEG with --splash assets/intro.png; --splash-duration 2s controls its display time (0.5–10 seconds), and --splash-locale en|nl selects the Pli artwork language. Programs and their timers start after these screens. The IDE remembers accepted Build dialog settings for each saved source/project.

Use --compress upx to pack an exported executable and report saved bytes. --compress none is the default. Windows Build Tools includes UPX; the exported application needs no UPX installation.

Native build modes are auto, console, and window. Stable targets include host, Windows x86 (32-bit), Windows ARM64, Linux AMD64/ARM64, and Raspberry Pi ARM64/ARMv7. Windows x86 requires Windows 10 or later and an SSE2-capable processor; it uses the existing build tools and does not support Windows XP. Linux RISC-V 64 is experimental and console-only. The android-arm64 target name is reserved by the CLI but is not an available native backend yet. A target must support every capability used by the program.

Windows exports embed file properties in console and window modes. --window-title selects the application title. Branded exports receive an automatic Pliro credit in the file description. With paid Pro and the branding-removal grant, select Remove Pliro branding or use --remove-branding. A trial cannot disable that credit.

Product name defaults to the final title; company and copyright default to empty. Custom copyright text is preserved without adding attribution. Existing saved copyright text remains editable. File and product versions default to 1.0.0.0; one to four decimal components in 0..65535 are accepted and padded to four components. Set these with --product-name, --company-name, --copyright, --file-version, and --product-version. Windows --icon accepts PNG or ICO. Title and metadata are export settings, not Pliro syntax. Generated applications contain no Pliro product-license check and run independently of the author’s later subscription state.

Edition and target

Learner can export with mandatory branding for the host OS family and explicit Raspberry Pi targets. Other supported cross-OS exports require Pro. A trial entitlement provides Pro targets with mandatory branding for noncommercial evaluation. Commercial application development under the v1 terms requires paid Pro. See editions and activation for rights and availability.

Native graphical Windows/Linux/Pi applications support 2D, 3D, sprites, basic forms and synthesized music. Use supported PCM WAV for packaged sound; other codecs may produce a diagnostic. Choose resolution and initial window size in project display settings.

Related entries

Syntax and values · Built-ins · Programming guides

Pro tooling and advanced native apps

pliro debug, pliro test and pliro profile provide development tools. Advanced native apps require Go 1.25 or newer to build and use the user-supplied --pliro-permissions file for data/network access. They contain no Pliro licence check; the author’s later subscription does not affect the generated app.