[perl5.git] / README.os400

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

README.os400 - Perl version 5 on OS/400

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This document describes various features of IBM's OS/400 operating
system that will affect how Perl version 5 (hereafter just Perl) is
compiled and/or runs.

By far the easiest way to build Perl for OS/400 is to use the PASE
(Portable Application Solutions Environment), for more information see
http://www.iseries.ibm.com/developer/factory/pase/index.html
This environment allows one to use AIX APIs while programming, and it
provides a runtime that allows AIX binaries to execute directly on the
PowerPC iSeries.

=head2 Compiling Perl for OS/400 PASE

The recommended way to build Perl for the OS/400 PASE is to build the
Perl 5 source code (release 5.8.1 or later) under AIX.

The trick is to give a special parameter to the Configure shell script
when running it on AIX:

  sh Configure -DPASE ...

The default installation directory of Perl under PASE is /QOpenSys/perl.
This can be modified if needed with Configure parameter -Dprefix=/some/dir.

Starting from OS/400 V5R2 the IBM Visual Age compiler is supported
on OS/400 PASE, so it is possible to build Perl natively on OS/400.  
The easier way, however, is to compile in AIX, as just described.

If building natively on PASE, please do the build under the /QOpenSys
directory, since Perl is happier when built on a case sensitive filesystem.

=head2 Installing Perl in OS/400 PASE

If you are compiling on AIX, simply do a "make install" on the AIX box.
Once the install finishes, tar up the /QOpenSys/perl directory.  Transfer
the tarball to the OS/400 using FTP with the following commands:

  > binary
  > site namefmt 1
  > put perl.tar /QOpenSys

Once you have it on, simply bring up a PASE shell and extract the tarball.

If you are compiling in PASE, then "make install" is the only thing you
will need to do.

The default path for perl binary is /QOpenSys/perl/bin/perl.  You'll
want to symlink /QOpenSys/usr/bin/perl to this file so you don't have
to modify your path.

=head2 Using Perl in OS/400 PASE

Perl in PASE may be used in the same manner as you would use Perl on AIX.

Scripts starting with #!/usr/bin/perl should work if you have
/QOpenSys/usr/bin/perl symlinked to your perl binary.  This will not
work if you've done a setuid/setgid or have environment variable
PASE_EXEC_QOPENSYS="N".  If you have V5R1, you'll need to get the
latest PTFs to have this feature.  Scripts starting with
#!/QOpenSys/perl/bin/perl should always work.

=head2 Known Problems

When compiling natively in PASE, there is no "oslevel" command as
there is in AIX-- this will confuse the Configure script.  Therefore,
before running Configure you may want to create a script (in your
$PATH) called "oslevel" that prints out the level of AIX that your
version of PASE supports.  Consult your documentation to find out
what this is, or just use "4.3.3.0".

When using sockets, you probably will want a signal handler for
SIGPIPE since there seems to be some signal handling differences
between AIX and PASE.  Especially, PASE doesn't seem to allow
writing to a closed socket but instead throws SIGPIPE immediately.
Because of this the subtest #18 of io_sock in IO::Socket fails.

Some tests in Time::HiRes are failing because some of the system
calls being used aren't really implemented in PASE.

=head2 Perl on ILE

There exists a port of Perl to the ILE environment.  This port, however,
is based quite an old release of Perl, Perl 5.00502 (August 1998).
(As of July 2002 the latest release of Perl is 5.8.0, and even 5.6.1
has been out since April 2001.)  If you need to run Perl on ILE, though,
you may need this older port: http://www.cpan.org/ports/#os400
Note that any Perl release later than 5.00502 has not been ported to ILE.

If you need to use Perl in the ILE environment, you may want to consider
using Qp2RunPase() to call the PASE version of Perl.

=head1 AUTHORS

Jarkko Hietaniemi <jhi@iki.fi>
Bryan Logan <bryanlog@us.ibm.com>
David Larson <larson1@us.ibm.com>

=cut
Commit	Line	Data
522b859a JH	1	If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the funny characters you see.
	2	It is written in the POD format (see pod/perlpod.pod) which is specially
	3	designed to be readable as is.
	4
	5	=head1 NAME
	6
	7	README.os400 - Perl version 5 on OS/400
	8
	9	=head1 DESCRIPTION
	10
	11	This document describes various features of IBM's OS/400 operating
	12	system that will affect how Perl version 5 (hereafter just Perl) is
	13	compiled and/or runs.
	14
	15	By far the easiest way to build Perl for OS/400 is to use the PASE
	16	(Portable Application Solutions Environment), for more information see
	17	http://www.iseries.ibm.com/developer/factory/pase/index.html
	18	This environment allows one to use AIX APIs while programming, and it
	19	provides a runtime that allows AIX binaries to execute directly on the
	20	PowerPC iSeries.
	21
	22	=head2 Compiling Perl for OS/400 PASE
	23
	24	The recommended way to build Perl for the OS/400 PASE is to build the
	25	Perl 5 source code (release 5.8.1 or later) under AIX.
	26
	27	The trick is to give a special parameter to the Configure shell script
	28	when running it on AIX:
	29
	30	sh Configure -DPASE ...
	31
	32	The default installation directory of Perl under PASE is /QOpenSys/perl.
	33	This can be modified if needed with Configure parameter -Dprefix=/some/dir.
	34
	35	Starting from OS/400 V5R2 the IBM Visual Age compiler is supported
	36	on OS/400 PASE, so it is possible to build Perl natively on OS/400.
	37	The easier way, however, is to compile in AIX, as just described.
	38
	39	If building natively on PASE, please do the build under the /QOpenSys
	40	directory, since Perl is happier when built on a case sensitive filesystem.
	41
	42	=head2 Installing Perl in OS/400 PASE
	43
	44	If you are compiling on AIX, simply do a "make install" on the AIX box.
	45	Once the install finishes, tar up the /QOpenSys/perl directory. Transfer
	46	the tarball to the OS/400 using FTP with the following commands:
	47
	48	> binary
	49	> site namefmt 1
	50	> put perl.tar /QOpenSys
	51
	52	Once you have it on, simply bring up a PASE shell and extract the tarball.
	53
	54	If you are compiling in PASE, then "make install" is the only thing you
	55	will need to do.
	56
	57	The default path for perl binary is /QOpenSys/perl/bin/perl. You'll
	58	want to symlink /QOpenSys/usr/bin/perl to this file so you don't have
	59	to modify your path.
	60
	61	=head2 Using Perl in OS/400 PASE
	62
	63	Perl in PASE may be used in the same manner as you would use Perl on AIX.
	64
65	Scripts starting with #!/usr/bin/perl should work if you have
66	/QOpenSys/usr/bin/perl symlinked to your perl binary. This will not
67	work if you've done a setuid/setgid or have environment variable
68	PASE_EXEC_QOPENSYS="N". If you have V5R1, you'll need to get the
69	latest PTFs to have this feature. Scripts starting with
70	#!/QOpenSys/perl/bin/perl should always work.
71
954a4c1b JH	72	=head2 Known Problems
	73
	74	When compiling natively in PASE, there is no "oslevel" command as
	75	there is in AIX-- this will confuse the Configure script. Therefore,
	76	before running Configure you may want to create a script (in your
	77	$PATH) called "oslevel" that prints out the level of AIX that your
	78	version of PASE supports. Consult your documentation to find out
	79	what this is, or just use "4.3.3.0".
	80
	81	When using sockets, you probably will want a signal handler for
	82	SIGPIPE since there seems to be some signal handling differences
	83	between AIX and PASE. Especially, PASE doesn't seem to allow
	84	writing to a closed socket but instead throws SIGPIPE immediately.
	85	Because of this the subtest #18 of io_sock in IO::Socket fails.
	86
	87	Some tests in Time::HiRes are failing because some of the system
	88	calls being used aren't really implemented in PASE.
	89
522b859a JH	90	=head2 Perl on ILE
	91
	92	There exists a port of Perl to the ILE environment. This port, however,
	93	is based quite an old release of Perl, Perl 5.00502 (August 1998).
	94	(As of July 2002 the latest release of Perl is 5.8.0, and even 5.6.1
	95	has been out since April 2001.) If you need to run Perl on ILE, though,
	96	you may need this older port: http://www.cpan.org/ports/#os400
	97	Note that any Perl release later than 5.00502 has not been ported to ILE.
	98
	99	If you need to use Perl in the ILE environment, you may want to consider
	100	using Qp2RunPase() to call the PASE version of Perl.
	101
	102	=head1 AUTHORS
	103
	104	Jarkko Hietaniemi <jhi@iki.fi>
	105	Bryan Logan <bryanlog@us.ibm.com>
	106	David Larson <larson1@us.ibm.com>
	107
	108	=cut