- Jarkko's How to build Configure tweaked by Nick.
+ Jarkko's How to build Configure tweaked by Nick and Merijn.
The Configure script and config_h.SH file in the Perl distribution are
generated by a program called metaconfig. Metaconfig was originally
written by Larry Wall, and was subsequently enhanced and maintained
-by Raphael Manfredi.
+by Raphael Manfredi. The binary that invokes the generation of the
+Configure file is called mconfig.
+
+As sort order and filenaming are vital in this process, make sure you
+are working on a case-sensitive file system! (Case preserving is not
+sufficient).
You have presumably obtained the metaconfig from the repository e.g.
- p4 sync //depot/metaconfig/...
-(those are three literal dots) or some other way to obtain this file,
-like a complete compressed archive from the previous pumpkin.
-Normally this directory and perl directory are next to each other
-so ../perl will get you to perl and ../perl/../metaconfig will get you
-back here.
+ $ git clone github.com:perl5-metaconfig/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.
+
+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.
+You should establish a symbolic link to the checkout in which Configure
+is generated such as this:
+
+ $ cd metaconfig
+ $ ln -s ../perl perl
Contents of this directory:
README: This file.
- U: Metaconfig units used for buliding Perl's Configure
+ U: Metaconfig units used for building Perl's Configure
U.check: Sample directory used for testing new metaconfig units.
see U.check/README for more information.
- dist-3.0at70:
- dist-3.0 at patchlevel 70. This is the final version released
- by Raphael Manfredi. Don't use it. Instead, use ...
- dist-3.0at70b:
- dist-3.0 at patchlevel 70 with unofficial patches 'a' and 'b'
- applied. This version was never officially released, but
- the patches are essential, so this is the version we use for
- perl. Actually, I've also applied U/dist_patches/dist-p70c
- to this tree. If someone with perforce access wants to change
- the name of the directory, that'd be fine. Otherwise, it really
- doesn't matter.
+ dist-git:
+ a git clone of "dist". Optionally present. See (a) below.
+ This is where dist/meta resides as of 2016-04-01
+ dist:
+ The folder where the original units from dist are in.
+ These may differ from dist-git, as upstream also moves
+ on and develops.
(a) You need to have dist installed so that you have metalint and metaconfig
- in your $PATH.
- The dist version used for perl is dist-3.0at70b in this directory.
+ in your $PATH. As dist/meta binaries are now included in the git checkout,
+ you do NOT need to install dist/meta itself.
+
+ If you also want to play with or compare to the original meta/dist, you
+ can checkout that too.
+
+ The dist version used for perl is dist-3.5-20 in this directory, which is
+ a slightly modified version of the original, which you can get at GITHUB
+ repository https://github.com/rmanfredi/dist.git. If you'd like to keep
+ up to date with changes in dist, you can use git to create your own clone.
+ For git, that would be something like:
+
+ $ git clone https://github.com/rmanfredi/dist.git dist-git
+
Unsurprisingly 'dist' uses (its) Configure to generate itself:
- cd dist-3.0at70b
- chmod -R +w . # We have derived files in perforce :-(
- ./Configure
- make
- make install
+ $ cd dist-3.5-20 # or dist-git
+ $ chmod -R +w . # We have derived files in git :-(
+ $ ./Configure
+ $ make
+ $ make install
+
+ After make install, remove lib/U/d_debugging.U in your target lib, as perl
+ uses its own way to set/define debugging (see INSTALL)
- dist's 'Configure' is similar to perl's but perhaps not
- quite as polished.
+ dist's 'Configure' is similar to perl's but perhaps not quite as polished.
There are some perl specific "dist units" in the 'U' directory.
- The U directory also contains some patches to 'dist' which
- have already been applied to dist-3.0at70b directory.
- 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...
-
-(b) You need to be in a/the Perl directory, i.e. either
- something from //depot/perl/... or one of its branches
- (e.g. Nick I-S is usually in //depot/perlio/...)
- and you need:
+ The U directory also contains some patches to 'dist' which have already
+ been applied to dist-3.5-20 directory.
+ 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
+
+ $ export MC5=/your/path/to/metaconfig
+ $ alias ml="perl $MC5/bin/mlint -O"
+ $ alias mc="perl $MC5/bin/mconfig -m -O"
+
+ examples in the rest of this README will just refer to mlint and mconfig
+ as if they appear in your $PATH
+
+(aa)
+
+ If you plan to make changes to mconfig or mlint locally (and you might
+ want to, as both are written for perl4), consider installing mconfig and
+ mlint from the cmon subdirectory into your $PATH too. These are the
+ non-autoloading versions and can easily be changed. As these are used by
+ all team members, please communicate changes on github first.
+
+(b) You need to be in the 'perl' checkout directory, which you created the symbolic
+ link for in preparation. In this working directory, you need symbolic
+ links too, which are already known to perl itself to ignore. Assuming
+ you have metaconfig and perl side by side on the same level:
1) have a symlink to ../metaconfig/U called U
2) have a symlink to ../metaconfig/.package called .package
3) have a symlink to MANIFEST called MANIFEST.new
4) chmod +w Configure config_h.SH Porting/Glossary Porting/config*
-(c) Write the new unit as U/foo/bar.U (usually 'foo' is just 'perl',
- but sometimes there's some more appropriate subdir of U. See
- U/README for a description of the various subdirectories.)
+(c) Write the new unit as U/perl/d_bar.U ('perl' can also be 'modified',
+ 'compline' or any other existing folder, except for 'all'). Choose
+ the best appropriate subdir of U. See U/README for a description of
+ the various subdirectories.)
-(d) Run metalint to see nits: as opposed to lint, the gripings of
- metalint are usually serious :-) and need fixing
+(d) Run "mlint -O" to see nits: as opposed to lint, the gripings of mlint
+ are usually serious and need fixing
- Exceptions are lots of
- Your private U/modified/voidflags.U overrides the public one.
+ Without -O, exceptions are lots of
+ Your private U/modified/issymlink.U overrides the public one.
due to the perl special units
and
which is apparently normal ...
-(e) p4 edit Configure config_h.SH
+-- the next steps are in the perl folder
+
+(e) chmod +w Configure config_h.SH
-(f) metaconfig -m to regenerate Configure
+ mlint and mconfig will probably die when these are read-only
+
+(f) mconfig -m -O to regenerate Configure and config_h.SH
+
+ Make *sure* your mconfig is the correct one in your $PATH, as the mono-web
+ package will install /usr/bin/mconfig which will do something completely
+ different.
(g) metaconfig does not deal with depends in config_h.SH, so some
reorganization is needed.
- perl Porting/config_h.SH
+ $ cd perl
+ $ perl Porting/config_h.pl
will fix the ordering
-(h) The messy not-yet-automated part is that the knowledge of the new symbol
+(h) The messy semi-automated part is that the knowledge of the new symbol
needs to be propagated to non-Configure lands like Win32, WinCE, Netware,
VMS, VOS, EPOC, ... see previous Configure changes to see which are these
heathen lands. Files to take care of are
{win32,wince,NetWare}/config_[hH]*, (Win32, WinCE, NetWare),
- configure.com (VMS), VOS/config* (since 5.9 VOS uses Configure, though),
- epoc/config.sh (EPOC). Depending on the kind of patch djgpp/config*
- might also need adjusting (for example when adding/changing the list
- of extensions)
+ configure.com (VMS), epoc/config.sh (EPOC). Depending on the kind of
+ patch djgpp/config* might also need adjusting (for example when
+ adding/changing the list of extensions)
+
+ Most can be checked and updated by a tool Nicholas provided:
+
+ $ cd perl
+ $ perl Porting/checkcfgvar.pl
+
+ and if it shows differences,
+
+ $ perl Porting/checkcfgvar.pl --regen --default=define
+
+ (of course "define" can also be "undef" based on the changes you made
For Win32 the process is semi-automated - if you have a Win32
machine to run dmake on ...
-(i) Edit U/mkglossary (right near the top) to point to where you keep
+(i) Check if U/mkglossary (right near the top) points to where you keep
dist's standard metaconfig units as well as your perl-specific ones.
-(j) Run U/mksample to freshen the Porting/config* and Porting/Glossary.
+(j) Run the perl build chain
+
+ $ cd perl
+ $ make veryclean
+ $ ./Configure -Duse64bitall -Dusethreads -Dusedevel -des
+
+ The dependency for uconfig.h isn't carved in stone, so you might
+ need to regenerate it
+
+ $ perl regen/uconfig_h.pl
+
+ Then make and make test or make test_harness
+
+ $ make -j12
+ $ env TEST_JOBS=13 make test_harness
+
+ Before you start committing, make sure that the other developers
+ are happy and run
+
+ $ make test_porting
+
+ again
+
+(k) Run Porting/mksample to freshen the Porting/config*.
Adjust the various compile-time options (e.g. 64bit, threads) as
you see fit.
You can skip this phase, it's not essential, just good housekeeping.
-(k) make veryclean;sh Configure -des -Dusedevel;make all test
+ Most of this only works if you have run the core-tests with the new
+ generated files
+
+(kk) Run U/mkgloss.pl to freshen Porting/Glossary
+
+ You should at least check
+
+ $ perl U/mkgloss.pl | diff Porting/Glossary -
+
+ This will show two warnings that you can ignore:
+
+ U/mkglossary: couldn't find libdb_needs_pthread
+ U/mkglossary: couldn't find libdirs
+
+ all other things need a review
+
+-- the next steps are in the metaconfig folder again
+
+(l) git add U/perl/foo/bar.U when you are ready ...
+
+(m) git commit -m "Your commit description"
-(l) p4 add ../metaconfig/foo/bar.U when you are ready ...
+(n) When all patches are applied, tested and committed, and you are happy,
+ git push
-(m) p4 submit
- IF your $EDITOR and/or $VISUAL start a background edit session
- ('elvis -fork' or 'gvim'), be sure to set $P4EDITOR to an
- editor call that is waited for.
+(o) Documentation on 'dist' may be found at these locations:
+ https://github.com/rmanfredi/dist/blob/master/mcon/man/mconfig.SH
+ https://manpages.debian.org/stretch/dist/metaconfig.1.en.html
https://perl5.git.perl.org / metaconfig.git / blobdiff