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[perl5.git] / README.qnx

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=head1 NAME

README.qnx - Perl version 5 on QNX

=head1 DESCRIPTION

As of perl5.8.0 all tests pass under:

  QNX 4.24G
  Watcom 10.6 with Beta/970211.wcc.update.tar.F
  socket3r.lib Nov21 1996.

Some tests may complain under known circumstances. See
below and hints/qnx.sh for more information.

[ Perl 5.6.0 is shipping with QNX RTP (aka QNX6, Neutrino), but
the build does not appear to be straightforward. If anyone has
more data in this regard, please let me know.

These notes were originally written for QNX4 and do not
necessarily apply to Neutrino, but see hints/qnx.sh for
more information. ] 

=head2 Required Software for Compiling Perl on QNX

As with many unix ports, this one depends on a few "standard"
unix utilities which are not necessarily standard for QNX.

=over 4

=item /bin/sh

This is used heavily by Configure and then by
perl itself. QNX's version is fine, but Configure
will choke on the 16-bit version, so if you are
running QNX 4.22, link /bin/sh to /bin32/ksh

=item ar

This is the standard unix library builder.
We use wlib. With Watcom 10.6, when wlib is
linked as "ar", it behaves like ar and all is
fine. Under 9.5, a cover is required. One is
included in ../qnx

=item nm

This is used (optionally) by configure to list
the contents of libraries. I will generate
a cover function on the fly in the UU directory.

=item cpp

Configure and perl need a way to invoke a C
preprocessor. I have created a simple cover
for cc which does the right thing. Without this,
Configure will create its own wrapper which works,
but it doesn't handle some of the command line arguments
that perl will throw at it.

=item make

You really need GNU make to compile this. GNU make
ships by default with QNX 4.23, but you can get it
from quics for earlier versions.

=back

=head2 Outstanding Issues with Perl on QNX

There is no support for dynamically linked libraries in QNX4.

The following tests may report errors:

ext/Cwd/Cwd.t will complain if `pwd` and cwd don't give
the same results. cwd calls `fullpath -t`, so if you
cd `fullpath -t` before running the test, it will
pass.

lib/File/Find/taint.t will complain if '.' is in your
PATH. The PATH test is triggered because cwd calls
`fullpath -t`.

ext/IO/lib/IO/t/io_sock.t: Subtest 14 is skipped due to
the fact that the functionality to read back the non-blocking
status of a socket is not implemented in QNX's TCP/IP. This
has been reported to QNX and it may work with later versions
of TCP/IP.

=head2 QNX auxiliary files

The files in the "qnx" directory are:

=over 4

=item qnx/ar

A script that emulates the standard unix archive (aka library)
utility.  Under Watcom 10.6, ar is linked to wlib and provides the
expected interface. With Watcom 9.5, a cover function is
required. This one is fairly crude but has proved adequate for
compiling perl.  A more thorough version is available at:

	http://www.fdma.com/pub/qnx/porting/ar

=item qnx/cpp

A script that provides C preprocessing functionality.  Configure can
generate a similar cover, but it doesn't handle all the command-line
options that perl throws at it. This might be reasonably placed in
/usr/local/bin.

=back

=head1 AUTHOR

Norton T. Allen (allen@huarp.harvard.edu)