You have presumably obtained the metaconfig from the repository e.g.
- $ git clone github.com:perl5-metaconfig/metaconfig metaconfig
+ $ git clone git@github.com:Perl/metaconfig metaconfig
When working with metaconfig you will generally have two git checkouts
next to each other: (1) this metaconfig checkout; and (2) a checkout of
-the Perl 5 source code in which you will generate a new Configure
-script. In this README, we will refer to these directories as the
-'metaconfig' directory and the 'perl' directory.
+the Perl source code in which you will generate a new Configure script. In this
+README, we will refer to these directories as the 'metaconfig' directory and
+the 'perl' directory.
Since these two directories are normally next to each other, so ../perl
will get you to perl and ../perl/../metaconfig will get you back here.
Development workflow:
-(a) In order to assemble Configure from its units, you need mlint/metaline and
+(a) In order to assemble Configure from its units, you need mlint/metalint and
mconfig/metaconfig from the "dist" package installed and available in your
$PATH. You can either use the version that comes with your OS (Debian ships
it) or the versions that are included in this checkout: just add the full
name of this folder/bin to your $PATH. If you are not planning to analyse
differences of the current state with upstream dist, you can skip the rest
- op step (a) now.
+ of step (a) now.
If you also want to play with or compare to the original meta/dist, you
can checkout that too.
(aa) We have not yet arranged for metaconfig to use perl's versions of the
'units' by default so you need some housekeeping in the perl directory...
- Then add metaconfig/bin to your $PATH or create aliases like
+ Add metaconfig/bin to your $PATH or create aliases like
$ export MC5=/your/path/to/metaconfig
$ alias ml="perl $MC5/bin/mlint -O"
ln -s MANIFEST MANIFEST.new
chmod +w Configure config_h.SH Porting/Glossary Porting/config*
-(c) Create a new file for the new unit as U/foo/d_bar.U
- ('foo' is one of the existing folders in U except for 'all'. It most
- likely will be 'perl', but it could also be 'modified', 'compline' or any
- other existing folder). Choose the best appropriate subdir of U. See
- U/README for a description of the various subdirectories.) You should
- choose the closest existing unit file as a starting point, and first copy
- it to the new file. For example, the unit for seeing if strtold_l() exists
- was created as U/threads/d_strtold_l.U, copied from perl/d_strtold.U, then
- adjusted. It goes under 'threads' because it is used only on threaded
- perls.
+(c) Create a new file for the unit as U/foo/d_bar.U
+ ('foo' is one of the existing folders in U except for 'all'. If you are
+ modifying a unit already in dist, simply copy the dist version to
+ 'modified' as a starting point. Otherwise, create a new file in one of the
+ other directories. It most likely will be 'perl', but it could also be
+ 'compline' or any other existing folder). Choose the best appropriate
+ subdir of U. See U/README for a description of the various subdirectories.
+ You should choose the closest existing unit file as a starting point, and
+ first copy it to the new file. For example, the unit for seeing if
+ strtold_l() exists was created as U/threads/d_strtold_l.U, copied from
+ perl/d_strtold.U, then adjusted. It goes under 'threads' because it is
+ used only on threaded perls.
(d) Run "mlint -O" to see nits: as opposed to lint, the gripings of mlint
are usually serious and need fixing