'if' module: clarify documentation and test more thoroughly.

[perl5.git] / README.vos

If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the funny characters you
see. It is written in the POD format (see pod/perlpod.pod) which is
specially designed to be readable as is.

=head1 NAME

perlvos - Perl for Stratus OpenVOS

=head1 SYNOPSIS

This file contains notes for building perl on the Stratus OpenVOS
operating system.  Perl is a scripting or macro language that is
popular on many systems.  See L<perlbook> for a number of good books
on Perl.

These are instructions for building Perl from source.  This version of
Perl requires the dynamic linking support that is found in OpenVOS
Release 17.1 and thus is not supported on OpenVOS Release 17.0 or
earlier releases.

If you are running VOS Release 14.4.1 or later, you can obtain a
pre-compiled, supported copy of perl by purchasing the GNU Tools
product from Stratus Technologies.

=head1 BUILDING PERL FOR OPENVOS

To build perl from its source code on the Stratus V Series platform
you must have OpenVOS Release 17.1.0 or later, GNU Tools Release
3.5 or later, and the C/POSIX Runtime Libraries.

Follow the normal instructions for building perl; e.g, enter bash, run
the Configure script, then use "gmake" to build perl.

=head1 INSTALLING PERL IN OPENVOS

=over 4

=item 1

After you have built perl using the Configure script, ensure that you
have modify and default write permission to C<< >system>ported >> and
all subdirectories.  Then type

     gmake install

=item 2

While there are currently no architecture-specific extensions or
modules distributed with perl, the following directories can be
used to hold such files (replace the string VERSION by the
appropriate version number):

     >system>ported>lib>perl5>VERSION>i786

=item 3

Site-specific perl extensions and modules can be installed in one of
two places.  Put architecture-independent files into:

     >system>ported>lib>perl5>site_perl>VERSION

Put site-specific architecture-dependent files into one of the
following directories:

     >system>ported>lib>perl5>site_perl>VERSION>i786

=item 4

You can examine the @INC variable from within a perl program
to see the order in which Perl searches these directories.

=back

=head1 USING PERL IN OPENVOS

=head2 Restrictions of Perl on OpenVOS

This port of Perl version 5 prefers Unix-style, slash-separated
pathnames over OpenVOS-style greater-than-separated pathnames.
OpenVOS-style pathnames should work in most contexts, but if you have
trouble, replace all greater-than characters by slash characters.
Because the slash character is used as a pathname delimiter, Perl
cannot process OpenVOS pathnames containing a slash character in a
directory or file name; these must be renamed.

This port of Perl also uses Unix-epoch date values internally.
As long as you are dealing with ASCII character string
representations of dates, this should not be an issue.  The
supported epoch is January 1, 1980 to January 17, 2038.

See the file pod/perlport.pod for more information about the OpenVOS
port of Perl.

=head1 TEST STATUS

A number of the perl self-tests fails for various reasons; generally
these are minor and due to subtle differences between common
POSIX-based environments and the OpenVOS POSIX environment.  Ensure
that you conduct sufficient testing of your code to guarantee that it
works properly in the OpenVOS environment.

=head1 SUPPORT STATUS

I'm offering this port "as is".  You can ask me questions, but I
can't guarantee I'll be able to answer them.  There are some
excellent books available on the Perl language; consult a book
seller.

If you want a supported version of perl for OpenVOS, purchase the
OpenVOS GNU Tools product from Stratus Technologies, along with a
support contract (or from anyone else who will sell you support).

=head1 AUTHOR

Paul Green (Paul.Green@stratus.com)

=head1 LAST UPDATE

February 28, 2013

=cut