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1 | # vim: syntax=pod |
2 | ||
b4bc034f | 3 | If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the equal signs on the left. |
f1bf079f | 4 | This file is written in the POD format (see [.pod]perlpod.pod) which is |
b4bc034f | 5 | specially designed to be readable as is. |
fb73857a | 6 | |
b4bc034f GS |
7 | =head1 NAME |
8 | ||
de2902a6 | 9 | perlvms - Configuring, building, testing, and installing perl on VMS |
b4bc034f GS |
10 | |
11 | =head1 SYNOPSIS | |
12 | ||
13 | To configure, build, test, and install perl on VMS: | |
14 | ||
961b17fa CB |
15 | @configure |
16 | mmk | |
17 | mmk test | |
18 | mmk install | |
b4bc034f GS |
19 | |
20 | =head1 DESCRIPTION | |
21 | ||
22 | =head2 Important safety tip | |
97abc6ad | 23 | |
ec55d5e4 CB |
24 | For best results, make sure you read the "Configuring the Perl Build", |
25 | "Building Perl", and "Installing Perl" sections of this document before | |
26 | you build or install. Also please note other changes in the current | |
27 | release by having a look at L<perldelta/VMS>. | |
97abc6ad | 28 | |
a83b6f46 | 29 | =head2 Introduction to Perl on VMS |
fb73857a | 30 | |
31 | The VMS port of Perl is as functionally complete as any other Perl port | |
32 | (and as complete as the ports on some Unix systems). The Perl binaries | |
33 | provide all the Perl system calls that are either available under VMS or | |
b4bc034f GS |
34 | reasonably emulated. There are some incompatibilities in process handling |
35 | (e.g. the fork/exec model for creating subprocesses doesn't do what you | |
fb73857a | 36 | might expect under Unix), mainly because VMS and Unix handle processes and |
37 | sub-processes very differently. | |
38 | ||
b4bc034f | 39 | There are still some unimplemented system functions, and of course we |
fb73857a | 40 | could use modules implementing useful VMS system services, so if you'd like |
b4bc034f | 41 | to lend a hand we'd love to have you. Join the Perl Porting Team Now! |
fb73857a | 42 | |
a83b6f46 | 43 | =head2 Other required software for Compiling Perl on VMS |
b4bc034f | 44 | |
961b17fa | 45 | In addition to VMS and DCL you will need three things: |
fb73857a | 46 | |
b4bc034f GS |
47 | =over 4 |
48 | ||
49 | =item 1 A C compiler. | |
50 | ||
f1bf079f CB |
51 | VSI (formerly DEC/Compaq/HP/HPE) C for VMS (Alpha or Itanium). Various |
52 | ancient versions of DEC C had some caveats, so if you're using a version | |
53 | older than 7.x, you may need to upgrade to get a successful build. | |
b4bc034f | 54 | |
961b17fa CB |
55 | There have been no recent reports of builds using Gnu C, but latent |
56 | (and most likely outdated) support for it is still present in various | |
57 | parts of the sources. | |
58 | ||
59 | There is rudimentary but not quite complete support for HP C++; to try it out, | |
60 | configure with C<-"Dusecxx" -"Duser_c_flags=/WARN=INFORMATIONAL=NOCTOBUTCONREFM">. | |
61 | ||
b4bc034f GS |
62 | =item 2 A make tool. |
63 | ||
961b17fa CB |
64 | You will need the free MMS analog MMK (available from |
65 | L<http://ftp.endlesssoftware.com.au/mmk/kits/> or | |
66 | L<https://github.com/endlesssoftware/mmk>). HP's MMS has not been known to work for | |
67 | some time as Perl's automatically-generated description files are too complex for it, | |
68 | but MMS support may return in the future. Gnu Make might work, but it's been so long | |
69 | since anyone's tested it that we're not sure. | |
70 | ||
71 | =item 3 ODS-5 and Extended Parse | |
72 | ||
73 | All development and testing of Perl on VMS takes place on ODS-5 volumes with | |
74 | extended parse enabled in the environment via the command C<SET PROCESS/PARSE=EXTENDED>. | |
f1bf079f CB |
75 | Latent support for ODS-2 volumes is still present, but there have been some reports |
76 | that it no longer works, and even if it builds, there will be many test failures, | |
77 | mostly related to the failure to preserve filename case. ODS-2 support may be | |
78 | explicity disabled in a future release. | |
b4bc034f GS |
79 | |
80 | =back | |
81 | ||
a83b6f46 | 82 | =head2 Additional software that is optional for Perl on VMS |
fb73857a | 83 | |
9f3f8d50 | 84 | You may also want to have on hand: |
b4bc034f GS |
85 | |
86 | =over 4 | |
87 | ||
961b17fa | 88 | =item 1 gunzip/gzip for VMS |
b4bc034f GS |
89 | |
90 | A de-compressor for *.gz and *.tgz files available from a number | |
961b17fa | 91 | of web/ftp sites such as: |
b4bc034f | 92 | |
961b17fa CB |
93 | L<http://www.antinode.info/dec/sw/gzip.html> |
94 | L<http://vms.process.com/scripts/fileserv/fileserv.com?GZIP> | |
b4bc034f | 95 | |
961b17fa | 96 | =item 2 VMS tar |
b4bc034f | 97 | |
961b17fa CB |
98 | For reading and writing Unix tape archives (*.tar files). Vmstar is also |
99 | available from a number of sites such as: | |
b4bc034f | 100 | |
961b17fa CB |
101 | L<http://www.antinode.info/dec/sw/vmstar.html> |
102 | L<http://vms.process.com/scripts/fileserv/fileserv.com?VMSTAR> | |
d83fac45 | 103 | |
10019e56 CB |
104 | A port of GNU tar is also available as part of the GNV package: |
105 | ||
961b17fa | 106 | L<http://h71000.www7.hp.com/opensource/gnv.html> |
10019e56 | 107 | |
961b17fa | 108 | =item 3 unzip for VMS |
b4bc034f GS |
109 | |
110 | A combination decompressor and archive reader/writer for *.zip files. | |
111 | Unzip is available from a number of web/ftp sites. | |
112 | ||
961b17fa CB |
113 | L<http://www.info-zip.org/UnZip.html> |
114 | L<http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/> | |
115 | L<http://vms.process.com/fileserv-software.html> | |
b4bc034f | 116 | |
961b17fa | 117 | =item 5 GNU patch and diffutils for VMS |
1bc81404 CB |
118 | |
119 | Patches to Perl are usually distributed as GNU unified or contextual diffs. | |
120 | Such patches are created by the GNU diff program (part of the diffutils | |
121 | distribution) and applied with GNU patch. VMS ports of these utilities are | |
122 | available here: | |
123 | ||
961b17fa CB |
124 | L<http://www.antinode.info/dec/sw/diffutils.html> |
125 | L<http://vms.pdv-systeme.de/users/martinv/gnupatch.zip> | |
1bc81404 | 126 | |
b4bc034f GS |
127 | =back |
128 | ||
961b17fa | 129 | Please note that unzip and gunzip are not the same thing (they work with |
b4bc034f | 130 | different formats). Many of the useful files from CPAN (the Comprehensive |
58979ab1 PP |
131 | Perl Archive Network) are in *.tar.gz or *.tgz format (this includes copies |
132 | of the source code for perl as well as modules and scripts that you may | |
133 | wish to add later) hence you probably want to have GUNZIP.EXE and | |
134 | VMSTAR.EXE on your VMS machine. | |
fb73857a | 135 | |
d83fac45 PP |
136 | =head1 Unpacking the Perl source code |
137 | ||
961b17fa CB |
138 | You may need to set up a foreign symbol for the unpacking utility of |
139 | choice. Once you have done so, use a command like the following to | |
140 | unpack the archive: | |
718752a5 | 141 | |
0036fddf | 142 | vmstar -xvf perl-5^.37^.9.tar |
d83fac45 | 143 | |
961b17fa CB |
144 | Then set default to the top-level source directory like so: |
145 | ||
0036fddf | 146 | set default [.perl-5^.37^.9] |
d83fac45 | 147 | |
961b17fa | 148 | and proceed with configuration as described in the next section. |
d83fac45 | 149 | |
d83fac45 | 150 | |
b4bc034f | 151 | =head1 Configuring the Perl build |
fb73857a | 152 | |
97abc6ad | 153 | To configure perl (a necessary first step), issue the command |
fb73857a | 154 | |
961b17fa | 155 | @configure.com |
fb73857a | 156 | |
b4bc034f GS |
157 | from the top of an unpacked perl source directory. You will be asked a |
158 | series of questions, and the answers to them (along with the capabilities | |
961b17fa | 159 | of your C compiler and network stack) will determine how perl is custom- |
b4bc034f | 160 | built for your machine. |
fb73857a | 161 | |
b4bc034f | 162 | If you have any symbols or logical names in your environment that may |
961b17fa | 163 | interfere with the build or regression testing of perl then F<configure.com> |
b4bc034f | 164 | will try to warn you about them. If a logical name is causing |
7bb57f25 GS |
165 | you trouble but is in an LNM table that you do not have write access to |
166 | then try defining your own to a harmless equivalence string in a table | |
167 | such that it is resolved before the other (e.g. if TMP is defined in the | |
b4bc034f GS |
168 | SYSTEM table then try DEFINE TMP "NL:" or somesuch in your process table) |
169 | otherwise simply deassign the dangerous logical names. The potentially | |
961b17fa | 170 | troublesome logicals and symbols include: |
7bb57f25 | 171 | |
b3b333bf PP |
172 | COMP "LOGICAL" |
173 | EXT "LOGICAL" | |
174 | FOO "LOGICAL" | |
175 | LIB "LOGICAL" | |
176 | LIST "LOGICAL" | |
177 | MIME "LOGICAL" | |
178 | POSIX "LOGICAL" | |
179 | SYS "LOGICAL" | |
180 | T "LOGICAL" | |
181 | THREAD "LOGICAL" | |
182 | THREADS "LOGICAL" | |
183 | TIME "LOGICAL" | |
184 | TMP "LOGICAL" | |
185 | UNICODE "LOGICAL" | |
186 | UTIL "LOGICAL" | |
187 | TEST "SYMBOL" | |
fb73857a | 188 | |
97abc6ad HM |
189 | As a handy shortcut, the command: |
190 | ||
961b17fa | 191 | @configure "-des" |
b4bc034f GS |
192 | |
193 | (note the quotation marks and case) will choose reasonable defaults | |
046cc26c CB |
194 | automatically. Some options can be given explicitly on the command line; |
195 | the following example specifies a non-default location for where Perl | |
196 | will be installed: | |
1bc81404 | 197 | |
961b17fa | 198 | @configure "-d" "-Dprefix=dka100:[utils.perl5.]" |
1bc81404 | 199 | |
dab31494 | 200 | Note that the installation location would be by default where you unpacked |
fe05d1a7 | 201 | the source with a "_ROOT." appended. For example if you unpacked the perl |
dab31494 PP |
202 | source into: |
203 | ||
961b17fa | 204 | F<DKA200:[PERL-5^.18^.0...]> |
dab31494 | 205 | |
961b17fa | 206 | Then the F<PERL_SETUP.COM> that gets written out by F<configure.com> will |
dab31494 PP |
207 | try to DEFINE your installation PERL_ROOT to be: |
208 | ||
961b17fa | 209 | F<DKA200:[PERL-5^.18^.0_ROOT.]> |
dab31494 | 210 | |
1bc81404 | 211 | More help with configure.com is available from: |
b4bc034f | 212 | |
961b17fa | 213 | @configure "-h" |
b4bc034f | 214 | |
961b17fa | 215 | If you find yourself reconfiguring and rebuilding then be sure to also follow |
f1bf079f | 216 | the advice in the "Cleaning up and starting fresh (optional)" and the checklist |
961b17fa | 217 | of items in the "CAVEATS" sections below. |
b4bc034f | 218 | |
a83b6f46 | 219 | =head2 Changing compile-time options (optional) for Perl on VMS |
b4bc034f | 220 | |
961b17fa | 221 | Most of the user-definable features of Perl are enabled or disabled in |
adc5a9a5 CB |
222 | configure.com, which processes the hints file config_h.SH. There is |
223 | code in there to Do The Right Thing, but that may end up being the | |
224 | wrong thing for you. Make sure you understand what you are doing since | |
225 | inappropriate changes to configure.com or config_h.SH can render perl | |
226 | unbuildable; odds are that there's nothing in there you'll need to | |
961b17fa CB |
227 | change. Note also that non-default options are tested less than default |
228 | options, so you may end up being more of a pioneer than you intend to be. | |
b4bc034f | 229 | |
b4bc034f GS |
230 | =head1 Building Perl |
231 | ||
232 | The configuration script will print out, at the very end, the MMS or MMK | |
233 | command you need to compile perl. Issue it (exactly as printed) to start | |
234 | the build. | |
97abc6ad | 235 | |
b4bc034f GS |
236 | Once you issue your MMS or MMK command, sit back and wait. Perl should |
237 | compile and link without a problem. If a problem does occur check the | |
238 | "CAVEATS" section of this document. If that does not help send some | |
016af039 | 239 | mail to the VMSPERL mailing list. Instructions are in the L</"Mailing Lists"> |
b4bc034f | 240 | section of this document. |
97abc6ad | 241 | |
b4bc034f | 242 | =head1 Testing Perl |
fb73857a | 243 | |
b4bc034f GS |
244 | Once Perl has built cleanly you need to test it to make sure things work. |
245 | This step is very important since there are always things that can go wrong | |
246 | somehow and yield a dysfunctional Perl for you. | |
fb73857a | 247 | |
248 | Testing is very easy, though, as there's a full test suite in the perl | |
da80cd87 | 249 | distribution. To run the tests, enter the I<exact> MMS line you used to |
fb73857a | 250 | compile Perl and add the word "test" to the end, like this: |
251 | ||
b4bc034f | 252 | If the compile command was: |
fb73857a | 253 | |
961b17fa | 254 | MMK |
fb73857a | 255 | |
b4bc034f | 256 | then the test command ought to be: |
fb73857a | 257 | |
961b17fa | 258 | MMK test |
fb73857a | 259 | |
961b17fa | 260 | MMK (or MMS) will run all the tests. This may take some time, as there are |
b4bc034f GS |
261 | a lot of tests. If any tests fail, there will be a note made on-screen. |
262 | At the end of all the tests, a summary of the tests, the number passed and | |
263 | failed, and the time taken will be displayed. | |
fb73857a | 264 | |
961b17fa | 265 | The test driver invoked via MMK TEST has a DCL wrapper ([.VMS]TEST.COM) that |
96d6186e CB |
266 | downgrades privileges to NETMBX, TMPMBX for the duration of the test run, |
267 | and then restores them to their prior state upon completion of testing. | |
268 | This is done to ensure that the tests run in a private sandbox and can do no | |
269 | harm to your system even in the unlikely event something goes badly wrong in | |
270 | one of the test scripts while running the tests from a privileged account. | |
271 | A side effect of this safety precaution is that the account used to run the | |
272 | test suite must be the owner of the directory tree in which Perl has been | |
273 | built; otherwise the manipulations of temporary files and directories | |
274 | attempted by some of the tests will fail. | |
275 | ||
718752a5 CB |
276 | If any tests fail, it means something is wrong with Perl, or at least |
277 | with the particular module or feature that reported failure. If the test suite | |
fb73857a | 278 | hangs (some tests can take upwards of two or three minutes, or more if |
9f3f8d50 | 279 | you're on an especially slow machine, depending on your machine speed, so |
da80cd87 | 280 | don't be hasty), then the test I<after> the last one displayed failed. Don't |
fb73857a | 281 | install Perl unless you're confident that you're OK. Regardless of how |
282 | confident you are, make a bug report to the VMSPerl mailing list. | |
283 | ||
b4bc034f GS |
284 | If one or more tests fail, you can get more information on the failure by |
285 | issuing this command sequence: | |
fb73857a | 286 | |
961b17fa | 287 | @[.vms]test .typ "" "-v" [.subdir]test.t |
fb73857a | 288 | |
289 | where ".typ" is the file type of the Perl images you just built (if you | |
961b17fa | 290 | didn't do anything special, use .EXE), and "[.subdir]test.t" is the test |
fb73857a | 291 | that failed. For example, with a normal Perl build, if the test indicated |
96d6186e | 292 | that t/op/time failed, then you'd do this: |
fb73857a | 293 | |
f1bf079f | 294 | @ .vms]test .EXE "" "-v" [.op]time.t |
fb73857a | 295 | |
96d6186e CB |
296 | Note that test names are reported in UNIX syntax and relative to the |
297 | top-level build directory. When supplying them individually to the test | |
f1bf079f CB |
298 | driver, you must specify them in Unix format if they are outside of the [.t] |
299 | directory; otherwise VMS syntax is ok. Note that you must also give the path | |
961b17fa | 300 | relative to the [.t] directory and you must also add the .t extension to the |
f1bf079f | 301 | filename. So, for example if the test lib/warnings.t fails, you would run: |
96d6186e | 302 | |
f1bf079f | 303 | @[.vms]test .EXE "" -"v" "../lib/warnings.t" |
96d6186e | 304 | |
fb73857a | 305 | When you send in a bug report for failed tests, please include the output |
306 | from this command, which is run from the main source directory: | |
307 | ||
961b17fa | 308 | MCR []MINIPERL "-Ilib" "-V" |
b4bc034f GS |
309 | |
310 | Note that -"V" really is a capital V in double quotes. This will dump out a | |
311 | couple of screens worth of configuration information, and can help us | |
312 | diagnose the problem. If (and only if) that did not work then try enclosing | |
313 | the output of: | |
314 | ||
961b17fa | 315 | MMK printconfig |
fb73857a | 316 | |
9f3f8d50 PP |
317 | If (and only if) that did not work then try enclosing the output of: |
318 | ||
961b17fa | 319 | @[.vms]myconfig |
fb73857a | 320 | |
b4bc034f GS |
321 | You may also be asked to provide your C compiler version ("CC/VERSION NL:" |
322 | with DEC C, "gcc --version" with GNU CC). To obtain the version of MMS or | |
323 | MMK you are running try "MMS/ident" or "MMK /ident". The GNU make version | |
324 | can be identified with "make --version". | |
325 | ||
a83b6f46 | 326 | =head2 Cleaning up and starting fresh (optional) installing Perl on VMS |
fb73857a | 327 | |
328 | If you need to recompile from scratch, you have to make sure you clean up | |
961b17fa | 329 | first. There is a procedure to do it--enter the I<exact> MMK line you used |
b4bc034f | 330 | to compile and add "realclean" at the end, like this: |
fb73857a | 331 | |
b4bc034f | 332 | if the compile command was: |
fb73857a | 333 | |
961b17fa | 334 | MMK |
fb73857a | 335 | |
b4bc034f | 336 | then the cleanup command ought to be: |
fb73857a | 337 | |
961b17fa | 338 | MMK realclean |
fb73857a | 339 | |
b4bc034f GS |
340 | If you do not do this things may behave erratically during the subsequent |
341 | rebuild attempt. They might not, too, so it is best to be sure and do it. | |
fb73857a | 342 | |
b4bc034f | 343 | =head1 Installing Perl |
fb73857a | 344 | |
345 | There are several steps you need to take to get Perl installed and | |
3a385817 | 346 | running. |
fb73857a | 347 | |
a3ef2c6f | 348 | =over 4 |
b4bc034f | 349 | |
a3ef2c6f | 350 | =item 1 |
fb73857a | 351 | |
a3ef2c6f | 352 | Check your default file protections with |
fb73857a | 353 | |
a3ef2c6f | 354 | SHOW PROTECTION /DEFAULT |
fb73857a | 355 | |
961b17fa | 356 | and adjust if necessary with C<SET PROTECTION=(code)/DEFAULT>. |
fb73857a | 357 | |
a3ef2c6f | 358 | =item 2 |
3a385817 | 359 | |
1bc81404 CB |
360 | Decide where you want Perl to be installed (unless you have already done so |
361 | by using the "prefix" configuration parameter -- see the example in the | |
362 | "Configuring the Perl build" section). | |
b4bc034f | 363 | |
961b17fa | 364 | The DCL script PERL_SETUP.COM that is written by configure.com will help you |
1bc81404 CB |
365 | with the definition of the PERL_ROOT and PERLSHR logical names and the PERL |
366 | foreign command symbol. Take a look at PERL_SETUP.COM and modify it if you | |
367 | want to. The installation process will execute PERL_SETUP.COM and copy | |
368 | files to the directory tree pointed to by the PERL_ROOT logical name defined | |
369 | there, so make sure that you have write access to the parent directory of | |
370 | what will become the root of your Perl installation. | |
fb73857a | 371 | |
a3ef2c6f | 372 | =item 3 |
b4bc034f | 373 | |
a3ef2c6f | 374 | Run the install script via: |
b4bc034f | 375 | |
a3ef2c6f | 376 | MMK install |
b4bc034f | 377 | |
a3ef2c6f GS |
378 | If for some reason it complains about target INSTALL being up to date, |
379 | throw a /FORCE switch on the MMS or MMK command. | |
b4bc034f | 380 | |
a3ef2c6f GS |
381 | =back |
382 | ||
356230c9 CB |
383 | Installation will copy F<PERL_SETUP.COM> to the root of your installation |
384 | tree. If you want to give everyone on the system access to Perl (and you | |
385 | have, for example, installed to F<dsa0:[utils.perl_root]>) then add a line | |
386 | that reads: | |
1bc81404 | 387 | |
356230c9 | 388 | $ @dsa0:[utils.perl_root]perl_setup |
fb73857a | 389 | |
356230c9 CB |
390 | to F<SYS$MANAGER:SYLOGIN.COM>. Or for your own use only, simply place |
391 | that line in F<SYS$LOGIN:LOGIN.COM>. | |
85988417 | 392 | |
a3ef2c6f GS |
393 | Two alternatives to the foreign symbol would be to install PERL into |
394 | DCLTABLES.EXE (Check out the section "Installing Perl into DCLTABLES | |
395 | (optional)" for more information), or put the image in a | |
961b17fa | 396 | directory that's in your DCL$PATH. |
85988417 | 397 | |
a3ef2c6f | 398 | See also the "INSTALLing images (optional)" section. |
491527d0 | 399 | |
a83b6f46 | 400 | =head2 Installing Perl into DCLTABLES (optional) on VMS |
fb73857a | 401 | |
9ef4b0a6 | 402 | Execute the following command file to define PERL as a DCL command. |
b4bc034f | 403 | You'll need CMKRNL privilege to install the new dcltables.exe. |
fb73857a | 404 | |
7bb57f25 GS |
405 | $ create perl.cld |
406 | ! | |
407 | ! modify to reflect location of your perl.exe | |
408 | ! | |
409 | define verb perl | |
410 | image perl_root:[000000]perl.exe | |
411 | cliflags (foreign) | |
412 | $! | |
413 | $ set command perl /table=sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe - | |
414 | /output=sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe | |
415 | $ install replace sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe | |
416 | $ exit | |
fb73857a | 417 | |
a83b6f46 | 418 | =head2 INSTALLing Perl images (optional) on VMS |
9f3f8d50 PP |
419 | |
420 | On systems that are using perl quite a bit, and particularly those with | |
421 | minimal RAM, you can boost the performance of perl by INSTALLing it as | |
adc5a9a5 | 422 | a known image. PERLSHR.EXE is typically larger than 3000 blocks |
9f3f8d50 PP |
423 | and that is a reasonably large amount of IO to load each time perl is |
424 | invoked. | |
425 | ||
426 | INSTALL ADD PERLSHR/SHARE | |
b4bc034f | 427 | INSTALL ADD PERL/HEADER |
9f3f8d50 | 428 | |
961b17fa CB |
429 | should be enough for F<PERLSHR.EXE> (/share implies /header and /open), |
430 | while /HEADER should do for FPERL.EXE> (perl.exe is not a shared image). | |
9f3f8d50 | 431 | |
b4bc034f GS |
432 | If your code 'use's modules, check to see if there is a shareable image for |
433 | them, too. In the base perl build, POSIX, IO, Fcntl, Opcode, SDBM_File, | |
e7948fac CB |
434 | DCLsym, and Stdio, and other extensions all have shared images that can be |
435 | installed /SHARE. | |
9f3f8d50 | 436 | |
b4bc034f | 437 | How much of a win depends on your memory situation, but if you are firing |
9f3f8d50 | 438 | off perl with any regularity (like more than once every 20 seconds or so) |
b4bc034f | 439 | it is probably beneficial to INSTALL at least portions of perl. |
9f3f8d50 PP |
440 | |
441 | While there is code in perl to remove privileges as it runs you are advised | |
961b17fa | 442 | to NOT INSTALL F<PERL.EXE> with PRIVs! |
fb73857a | 443 | |
dab31494 PP |
444 | =head2 Running h2ph to create perl header files (optional) on VMS |
445 | ||
10019e56 CB |
446 | If using HP C, ensure that you have extracted loose versions of your |
447 | compiler's header or *.H files. Be sure to check the contents of: | |
dab31494 PP |
448 | |
449 | SYS$LIBRARY:DECC$RTLDEF.TLB | |
450 | SYS$LIBRARY:SYS$LIB_C.TLB | |
451 | SYS$LIBRARY:SYS$STARLET_C.TLB | |
452 | ||
453 | etcetera. | |
454 | ||
455 | If using GNU cc then also check your GNU_CC:[000000...] tree for the locations | |
456 | of the GNU cc headers. | |
457 | ||
b4bc034f | 458 | =head1 Reporting Bugs |
fb73857a | 459 | |
460 | If you come across what you think might be a bug in Perl, please report | |
8166b4e0 DB |
461 | it. The issue tracker at L<https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues> walks you |
462 | through the process of creating a bug report and including details of your | |
463 | installation. | |
fb73857a | 464 | |
b4bc034f | 465 | =head1 CAVEATS |
fb73857a | 466 | |
467 | Probably the single biggest gotcha in compiling Perl is giving the wrong | |
da80cd87 | 468 | switches to MMS/MMK when you build. Use I<exactly> what the configure.com |
b4bc034f GS |
469 | script prints! |
470 | ||
e00f6020 CB |
471 | Be sure that the process that you use to build Perl has a PGFLQUO of at |
472 | least 400000. Be sure to have a correct local time zone to UTC offset | |
b4bc034f GS |
473 | defined (in seconds) in the logical name SYS$TIMEZONE_DIFFERENTIAL before |
474 | running the regression test suite. The SYS$MANAGER:UTC$CONFIGURE_TDF.COM | |
475 | procedure will help you set that logical for your system but may require | |
476 | system privileges. For example, a location 5 hours west of UTC (such as | |
477 | the US East coast while not on daylight savings time) would have: | |
478 | ||
479 | DEFINE SYS$TIMEZONE_DIFFERENTIAL "-18000" | |
480 | ||
481 | A final thing that causes trouble is leftover pieces from a failed | |
482 | build. If things go wrong make sure you do a "(MMK|MMS|make) realclean" | |
fb73857a | 483 | before you rebuild. |
484 | ||
e7948fac CB |
485 | =head2 Floating Point Considerations |
486 | ||
487 | Prior to 5.8.0, Perl simply accepted the default floating point options of the | |
f1bf079f CB |
488 | C compiler, namely representing doubles with G_FLOAT on Alpha. Single |
489 | precision floating point values are represented in F_FLOAT format when either | |
490 | D_FLOAT or G_FLOAT is in use for doubles. Beginning with 5.8.0, Alpha builds | |
491 | now use IEEE floating point formats by default, which in VMS parlance are S_FLOAT | |
492 | for singles and T_FLOAT for doubles. Itanium builds have always used IEEE by | |
493 | default. The available non-default options are D_FLOAT or G_FLOAT on Alpha | |
494 | or Itanium. | |
495 | ||
496 | The use of IEEE introduces NaN, infinity, and denormalization capabilities not | |
497 | available with D_FLOAT and G_FLOAT. When using one of those non-IEEE formats, | |
498 | silent underflow and overflow are emulated in the conversion of strings to | |
499 | numbers, but it is preferable to get the real thing by using IEEE where possible. | |
500 | You are likely to see quite a few test failures when not using IEEE floating point. | |
e7948fac CB |
501 | |
502 | Regardless of what floating point format you consider preferable, be aware | |
503 | that the choice may have an impact on compatibility with external libraries, | |
504 | such as database interfaces, and with existing data, such as data created with | |
505 | the C<pack> function and written to disk, or data stored via the Storable | |
506 | extension. For example, a C<pack("d", $foo)")> will create a D_FLOAT, | |
507 | G_FLOAT, or T_FLOAT depending on what your Perl was configured with. When | |
508 | written to disk, the value can only be retrieved later by a Perl configured | |
509 | with the same floating point option that was in effect when it was created. | |
510 | ||
f1bf079f CB |
511 | To obtain a non-IEEE build, simply answer no to the "Use IEEE math?" question |
512 | during the configuration or specify -"Uuseieee" as a parameter to configure.com | |
513 | on the command line. | |
e7948fac | 514 | |
b4bc034f GS |
515 | =head1 Mailing Lists |
516 | ||
517 | There are several mailing lists available to the Perl porter. For VMS | |
fb73857a | 518 | specific issues (including both Perl questions and installation problems) |
b4bc034f | 519 | there is the VMSPERL mailing list. It is usually a low-volume (10-12 |
fb73857a | 520 | messages a week) mailing list. |
521 | ||
1bc81404 CB |
522 | To subscribe, send a mail message to VMSPERL-SUBSCRIBE@PERL.ORG. The VMSPERL |
523 | mailing list address is VMSPERL@PERL.ORG. Any mail sent there gets echoed | |
cba88c42 | 524 | to all subscribers of the list. There is an archive of the list |
1bc81404 | 525 | on the web at: |
b4bc034f | 526 | |
cba88c42 | 527 | L<https://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.vmsperl/> |
a83b6f46 | 528 | |
1bc81404 CB |
529 | To unsubscribe from VMSPERL send a message to VMSPERL-UNSUBSCRIBE@PERL.ORG. |
530 | Be sure to do so from the subscribed account that you are canceling. | |
b4bc034f | 531 | |
a83b6f46 | 532 | =head2 Web sites for Perl on VMS |
b4bc034f GS |
533 | |
534 | Vmsperl pages on the web include: | |
535 | ||
961b17fa | 536 | L<http://www.sidhe.org/vmsperl/index.html> |
cba88c42 MM |
537 | L<https://www.cpan.org/modules/by-module/VMS/> |
538 | L<https://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.vmsperl/> | |
f1bf079f | 539 | L<https://sourceforge.net/projects/vmsperlkit/> |
fb73857a | 540 | |
b4bc034f GS |
541 | =head1 SEE ALSO |
542 | ||
543 | Perl information for users and programmers about the port of perl to VMS is | |
f1bf079f | 544 | available from the [.pod]perlvms.pod file that gets installed as L<perlvms>. |
b4bc034f GS |
545 | For administrators the perlvms document also includes a detailed discussion |
546 | of extending vmsperl with CPAN modules after Perl has been installed. | |
547 | ||
548 | =head1 AUTHORS | |
549 | ||
ec55d5e4 CB |
550 | Originally by Charles Bailey bailey@newman.upenn.edu. See the git repository |
551 | for history. | |
b4bc034f GS |
552 | |
553 | =head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | |
fb73857a | 554 | |
555 | A real big thanks needs to go to Charles Bailey | |
b4bc034f | 556 | bailey@newman.upenn.edu, who is ultimately responsible for Perl 5.004 |
fb73857a | 557 | running on VMS. Without him, nothing the rest of us have done would be at |
558 | all important. | |
559 | ||
560 | There are, of course, far too many people involved in the porting and testing | |
561 | of Perl to mention everyone who deserves it, so please forgive us if we've | |
562 | missed someone. That said, special thanks are due to the following: | |
b4bc034f GS |
563 | |
564 | Tim Adye T.J.Adye@rl.ac.uk | |
fb73857a | 565 | for the VMS emulations of getpw*() |
b4bc034f | 566 | David Denholm denholm@conmat.phys.soton.ac.uk |
fb73857a | 567 | for extensive testing and provision of pipe and SocketShr code, |
b4bc034f | 568 | Mark Pizzolato mark@infocomm.com |
fb73857a | 569 | for the getredirection() code |
b4bc034f | 570 | Rich Salz rsalz@bbn.com |
fb73857a | 571 | for readdir() and related routines |
b4bc034f | 572 | Peter Prymmer pvhp@best.com |
fb73857a | 573 | for extensive testing, as well as development work on |
574 | configuration and documentation for VMS Perl, | |
b4bc034f | 575 | Dan Sugalski dan@sidhe.org |
fb73857a | 576 | for extensive contributions to recent version support, |
577 | development of VMS-specific extensions, and dissemination | |
578 | of information about VMS Perl, | |
579 | the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory and the | |
580 | Laboratory of Nuclear Studies at Cornell University for | |
9f3f8d50 | 581 | the opportunity to test and develop for the AXP, |
a3ef2c6f GS |
582 | John Hasstedt John.Hasstedt@sunysb.edu |
583 | for VAX VMS V7.2 support | |
ec55d5e4 CB |
584 | John Malmberg wb8tyw@qsl.net |
585 | for ODS-5 filename handling and other modernizations | |
b4bc034f | 586 | |
fb73857a | 587 | and to the entire VMSperl group for useful advice and suggestions. In |
588 | addition the perl5-porters deserve credit for their creativity and | |
589 | willingness to work with the VMS newcomers. Finally, the greatest debt of | |
b4bc034f | 590 | gratitude is due to Larry Wall larry@wall.org, for having the ideas which |
fb73857a | 591 | have made our sleepless nights possible. |
592 | ||
593 | Thanks, | |
594 | The VMSperl group | |
b4bc034f GS |
595 | |
596 | =cut | |
597 |