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1 | If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the equal signs on the left. |
2 | This file is written in the POD format (see [.POD]PERLPOD.POD;1) which is | |
3 | specially designed to be readable as is. | |
fb73857a | 4 | |
b4bc034f GS |
5 | =head1 NAME |
6 | ||
7 | README.vms - Configuring, building, testing, and installing perl on VMS | |
8 | ||
9 | =head1 SYNOPSIS | |
10 | ||
11 | To configure, build, test, and install perl on VMS: | |
12 | ||
13 | @ Configure | |
14 | mms | |
15 | mms test | |
16 | mms install | |
17 | ||
18 | mmk may be used in place of mms in the last three steps. | |
19 | ||
20 | =head1 DESCRIPTION | |
21 | ||
22 | =head2 Important safety tip | |
97abc6ad | 23 | |
3a385817 | 24 | The build and install procedures have changed significantly from the 5.004 |
b4bc034f GS |
25 | releases! Make sure you read the "Configuring the Perl Build", "Building |
26 | Perl", and "Installing Perl" sections of this document before you build or | |
e7948fac CB |
27 | install. Also please note other changes in the current release by having |
28 | a look at L<perldelta/VMS>. | |
97abc6ad | 29 | |
b4bc034f GS |
30 | Also note that, as of Perl version 5.005 and later, an ANSI C compliant |
31 | compiler is required to build Perl. VAX C is *not* ANSI compliant, as it | |
32 | died a natural death some time before the standard was set. Therefore | |
1bc81404 | 33 | VAX C will not compile Perl 5.005 or later. We are sorry about that. |
3bf5f72b | 34 | |
10019e56 CB |
35 | There have been no recent reports of builds using Gnu C, but latent |
36 | (and most likely outdated) support for it is still present in various | |
37 | parts of the sources. Currently the HP (formerly Compaq, and even | |
38 | more formerly DEC) C compiler is the only viable alternative for | |
39 | building Perl. | |
40 | ||
41 | There is minimal support for HP C++ but this support is not complete; | |
e7948fac CB |
42 | if you get it working please write to the vmsperl list (for info see |
43 | L</"Mailing Lists">). | |
3bf5f72b | 44 | |
b4bc034f | 45 | |
a83b6f46 | 46 | =head2 Introduction to Perl on VMS |
fb73857a | 47 | |
48 | The VMS port of Perl is as functionally complete as any other Perl port | |
49 | (and as complete as the ports on some Unix systems). The Perl binaries | |
50 | provide all the Perl system calls that are either available under VMS or | |
b4bc034f GS |
51 | reasonably emulated. There are some incompatibilities in process handling |
52 | (e.g. the fork/exec model for creating subprocesses doesn't do what you | |
fb73857a | 53 | might expect under Unix), mainly because VMS and Unix handle processes and |
54 | sub-processes very differently. | |
55 | ||
b4bc034f | 56 | There are still some unimplemented system functions, and of course we |
fb73857a | 57 | could use modules implementing useful VMS system services, so if you'd like |
b4bc034f | 58 | to lend a hand we'd love to have you. Join the Perl Porting Team Now! |
fb73857a | 59 | |
b4bc034f GS |
60 | There are issues with various versions of DEC C, so if you're not running a |
61 | relatively modern version, check the "DEC C issues" section later on in this | |
fb73857a | 62 | document. |
63 | ||
a83b6f46 | 64 | =head2 Other required software for Compiling Perl on VMS |
b4bc034f GS |
65 | |
66 | In addition to VMS and DCL you will need two things: | |
fb73857a | 67 | |
b4bc034f GS |
68 | =over 4 |
69 | ||
70 | =item 1 A C compiler. | |
71 | ||
10019e56 | 72 | HP (formerly Compaq, more formerly DEC) C for VMS (VAX, Alpha, or Itanium). |
b4bc034f GS |
73 | |
74 | =item 2 A make tool. | |
75 | ||
76 | DEC's MMS (v2.6 or later), or MadGoat's free MMS | |
77 | analog MMK (available from ftp.madgoat.com/madgoat) both work | |
78 | just fine. Gnu Make might work, but it's been so long since | |
79 | anyone's tested it that we're not sure. MMK is free though, so | |
80 | go ahead and use that. | |
81 | ||
82 | =back | |
83 | ||
a83b6f46 | 84 | =head2 Additional software that is optional for Perl on VMS |
fb73857a | 85 | |
9f3f8d50 | 86 | You may also want to have on hand: |
b4bc034f GS |
87 | |
88 | =over 4 | |
89 | ||
90 | =item 1 GUNZIP/GZIP.EXE for VMS | |
91 | ||
92 | A de-compressor for *.gz and *.tgz files available from a number | |
58979ab1 | 93 | of web/ftp sites and is distributed on the OpenVMS Freeware CD-ROM |
10019e56 | 94 | from HP. |
b4bc034f | 95 | |
10019e56 | 96 | http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/ |
1bc81404 | 97 | http://www.crinoid.com/utils/ |
b4bc034f GS |
98 | |
99 | =item 2 VMS TAR | |
100 | ||
101 | For reading and writing unix tape archives (*.tar files). Vmstar is also | |
58979ab1 | 102 | available from a number of web/ftp sites and is distributed on the OpenVMS |
10019e56 | 103 | Freeware CD-ROM from HP. |
b4bc034f | 104 | |
10019e56 | 105 | http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/ |
b4bc034f | 106 | |
d83fac45 PP |
107 | Recent versions of VMS tar on ODS-5 volumes may extract tape archive |
108 | files with ^. escaped periods in them. See below for further workarounds. | |
109 | ||
10019e56 CB |
110 | A port of GNU tar is also available as part of the GNV package: |
111 | ||
112 | http://gnv.sourceforge.net/ | |
113 | ||
b4bc034f GS |
114 | =item 3 UNZIP.EXE for VMS |
115 | ||
116 | A combination decompressor and archive reader/writer for *.zip files. | |
117 | Unzip is available from a number of web/ftp sites. | |
118 | ||
adc5a9a5 | 119 | http://www.info-zip.org/UnZip.html |
10019e56 CB |
120 | http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/ |
121 | ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/openvms | |
b4bc034f | 122 | ftp://ftp.madgoat.com/madgoat/ |
10019e56 | 123 | ftp://ftp.process.com/vms-freeware/fileserv |
b4bc034f GS |
124 | |
125 | =item 4 MOST | |
126 | ||
127 | Most is an optional pager that is convenient to use with perldoc (unlike | |
128 | TYPE/PAGE, MOST can go forward and backwards in a document and supports | |
129 | regular expression searching). Most builds with the slang | |
130 | library on VMS. Most and slang are available from: | |
131 | ||
132 | ftp://space.mit.edu/pub/davis/ | |
adc5a9a5 | 133 | ftp://ftp.process.com/vms-freeware/narnia/ |
b4bc034f | 134 | |
1bc81404 CB |
135 | =item 5 GNU PATCH and DIFFUTILS for VMS |
136 | ||
137 | Patches to Perl are usually distributed as GNU unified or contextual diffs. | |
138 | Such patches are created by the GNU diff program (part of the diffutils | |
139 | distribution) and applied with GNU patch. VMS ports of these utilities are | |
140 | available here: | |
141 | ||
142 | http://www.crinoid.com/utils/ | |
10019e56 | 143 | http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/ |
1bc81404 | 144 | |
b4bc034f GS |
145 | =back |
146 | ||
9f3f8d50 | 147 | Please note that UNZIP and GUNZIP are not the same thing (they work with |
b4bc034f | 148 | different formats). Many of the useful files from CPAN (the Comprehensive |
58979ab1 PP |
149 | Perl Archive Network) are in *.tar.gz or *.tgz format (this includes copies |
150 | of the source code for perl as well as modules and scripts that you may | |
151 | wish to add later) hence you probably want to have GUNZIP.EXE and | |
152 | VMSTAR.EXE on your VMS machine. | |
fb73857a | 153 | |
b4bc034f GS |
154 | If you want to include socket support, you'll need a TCP/IP stack and either |
155 | DEC C, or socket libraries. See the "Socket Support (optional)" topic | |
156 | for more details. | |
fb73857a | 157 | |
d83fac45 PP |
158 | =head1 Unpacking the Perl source code |
159 | ||
160 | You may need to set up a foreign symbol for the unpacking utility of choice. | |
161 | ||
162 | If you unpack a perl source kit with a name containing multiple periods on | |
163 | an ODS-5 volume using recent versions of vmstar (e.g. V3.4 or later) you may | |
164 | need to be especially careful in unpacking the tape archive file. Try to use | |
165 | the ODS-2 compatability qualifiers such as: | |
166 | ||
167 | vmstar /extract/verbose/ods2 perl-V^.VIII^.III.tar | |
168 | ||
169 | or: | |
170 | ||
171 | vmstar -xvof perl-5^.8^.3.tar | |
172 | ||
173 | If you neglected to use the /ODS2 qualifier or the -o switch then you | |
174 | could rename the source directory: | |
175 | ||
176 | set security/protection=(o:rwed) perl-5^.8^.3.dir | |
177 | rename perl-5^.8^.3.dir perl-5_8_3.dir | |
178 | ||
179 | Perl on VMS as of 5.8.3 does not completely handle extended file | |
180 | parse styles such as are encountered on ODS-5. While it can be built, | |
181 | installed, and run on ODS-5 filesystems; it may encounter | |
182 | trouble with characters that are otherwise illegal on ODS-2 | |
183 | volumes (notably the ^. escaped period sequence). | |
184 | ||
b4bc034f | 185 | =head1 Configuring the Perl build |
fb73857a | 186 | |
97abc6ad | 187 | To configure perl (a necessary first step), issue the command |
fb73857a | 188 | |
b4bc034f | 189 | @ Configure |
fb73857a | 190 | |
b4bc034f GS |
191 | from the top of an unpacked perl source directory. You will be asked a |
192 | series of questions, and the answers to them (along with the capabilities | |
193 | of your C compiler and network stack) will determine how perl is custom | |
194 | built for your machine. | |
fb73857a | 195 | |
b4bc034f GS |
196 | If you have multiple C compilers installed, you'll have your choice of |
197 | which one to use. Various older versions of DEC C had some caveats, so if | |
198 | you're using a version older than 5.2, check the "DEC C Issues" section. | |
fb73857a | 199 | |
b4bc034f GS |
200 | If you have any symbols or logical names in your environment that may |
201 | interfere with the build or regression testing of perl then configure.com | |
202 | will try to warn you about them. If a logical name is causing | |
7bb57f25 GS |
203 | you trouble but is in an LNM table that you do not have write access to |
204 | then try defining your own to a harmless equivalence string in a table | |
205 | such that it is resolved before the other (e.g. if TMP is defined in the | |
b4bc034f GS |
206 | SYSTEM table then try DEFINE TMP "NL:" or somesuch in your process table) |
207 | otherwise simply deassign the dangerous logical names. The potentially | |
208 | troublesome logicals and symbols are: | |
7bb57f25 | 209 | |
b3b333bf PP |
210 | COMP "LOGICAL" |
211 | EXT "LOGICAL" | |
212 | FOO "LOGICAL" | |
213 | LIB "LOGICAL" | |
214 | LIST "LOGICAL" | |
215 | MIME "LOGICAL" | |
216 | POSIX "LOGICAL" | |
217 | SYS "LOGICAL" | |
218 | T "LOGICAL" | |
219 | THREAD "LOGICAL" | |
220 | THREADS "LOGICAL" | |
221 | TIME "LOGICAL" | |
222 | TMP "LOGICAL" | |
223 | UNICODE "LOGICAL" | |
224 | UTIL "LOGICAL" | |
225 | TEST "SYMBOL" | |
fb73857a | 226 | |
97abc6ad HM |
227 | As a handy shortcut, the command: |
228 | ||
b4bc034f GS |
229 | @ Configure "-des" |
230 | ||
231 | (note the quotation marks and case) will choose reasonable defaults | |
232 | automatically (it takes DEC C over Gnu C, DEC C sockets over SOCKETSHR | |
1bc81404 CB |
233 | sockets, and either over no sockets). Some options can be given |
234 | explicitly on the command line; the following example specifies a | |
235 | non-default location for where Perl will be installed: | |
236 | ||
237 | @ Configure "-d" "-Dprefix=dka100:[utils.perl5.]" | |
238 | ||
dab31494 | 239 | Note that the installation location would be by default where you unpacked |
fe05d1a7 | 240 | the source with a "_ROOT." appended. For example if you unpacked the perl |
dab31494 PP |
241 | source into: |
242 | ||
243 | DKA200:[PERL-5_10_2...] | |
244 | ||
adc5a9a5 | 245 | Then the PERL_SETUP.COM that gets written out by CONFIGURE.COM will |
dab31494 PP |
246 | try to DEFINE your installation PERL_ROOT to be: |
247 | ||
fe05d1a7 | 248 | DKA200:[PERL-5_10_2_ROOT.] |
dab31494 | 249 | |
1bc81404 | 250 | More help with configure.com is available from: |
b4bc034f GS |
251 | |
252 | @ Configure "-h" | |
253 | ||
254 | See the "Changing compile-time options (optional)" section below to learn | |
255 | even more details about how to influence the outcome of the important | |
256 | configuration step. If you find yourself reconfiguring and rebuilding | |
257 | then be sure to also follow the advice in the "Cleaning up and starting | |
258 | fresh (optional)" and the checklist of items in the "CAVEATS" sections | |
259 | below. | |
260 | ||
a83b6f46 | 261 | =head2 Changing compile-time options (optional) for Perl on VMS |
b4bc034f GS |
262 | |
263 | Most of the user definable features of Perl are enabled or disabled in | |
adc5a9a5 CB |
264 | configure.com, which processes the hints file config_h.SH. There is |
265 | code in there to Do The Right Thing, but that may end up being the | |
266 | wrong thing for you. Make sure you understand what you are doing since | |
267 | inappropriate changes to configure.com or config_h.SH can render perl | |
268 | unbuildable; odds are that there's nothing in there you'll need to | |
269 | change. | |
b4bc034f | 270 | |
a83b6f46 | 271 | =head2 Socket Support (optional) for Perl on VMS |
b4bc034f GS |
272 | |
273 | Perl includes a number of functions for IP sockets, which are available if | |
274 | you choose to compile Perl with socket support. Since IP networking is an | |
275 | optional addition to VMS, there are several different IP stacks available. | |
276 | How well integrated they are into the system depends on the stack, your | |
277 | version of VMS, and the version of your C compiler. | |
278 | ||
17d4810c | 279 | The default solution available is to use the socket routines built into DEC |
b4bc034f GS |
280 | C. Which routines are available depend on the version of VMS you're |
281 | running, and require proper UCX emulation by your TCP/IP vendor. | |
282 | Relatively current versions of Multinet, TCPWare, Pathway, and UCX all | |
283 | provide the required libraries--check your manuals or release notes to see | |
284 | if your version is new enough. | |
285 | ||
17d4810c JM |
286 | The other solution uses the SOCKETSHR library. Before VAX/VMS 5.5-2 it was |
287 | the most portable solution. The SOCKETSHR library has not been maintained | |
288 | since VAX/VMS 5.5-2, and it is not known if will even compile with the ANSI | |
289 | C that Perl currently requires. It remains an option for historical reasons, | |
290 | just in case someone might find it useful. | |
291 | ||
292 | In combination with either UCX or NetLib, this supported all the major TCP | |
293 | stacks (Multinet, Pathways, TCPWare, UCX, and CMU) on all versions of VMS | |
294 | Perl ran on up to VAX/VMS 6.2 and Alpha VMS 1.5 with all the compilers on | |
295 | both VAX and Alpha. The portion of the socket interface was also consistent | |
296 | across versions of VMS and C compilers. | |
297 | ||
298 | It has a problem with UDP sockets when used with Multinet, though, so you | |
299 | should be aware of that. | |
300 | ||
301 | As of VAX/VMS 5.5-2 and later, CMU is the only TCP/IP program that requires | |
302 | socketshr, and the sources have been lost to the most recent CMU bug fixes, | |
303 | so CMU is limited to OpenVMS/VAX 6.2 or earlier, which is the last release | |
304 | that binaries for the last released patches are known to exist. | |
305 | ||
306 | There is currently no official web site for downloading either CMU or | |
307 | SOCKETSHR; however, copies may be found in the DECUS archives. | |
308 | ||
b4bc034f GS |
309 | =head1 Building Perl |
310 | ||
311 | The configuration script will print out, at the very end, the MMS or MMK | |
312 | command you need to compile perl. Issue it (exactly as printed) to start | |
313 | the build. | |
97abc6ad | 314 | |
b4bc034f GS |
315 | Once you issue your MMS or MMK command, sit back and wait. Perl should |
316 | compile and link without a problem. If a problem does occur check the | |
317 | "CAVEATS" section of this document. If that does not help send some | |
318 | mail to the VMSPERL mailing list. Instructions are in the "Mailing Lists" | |
319 | section of this document. | |
97abc6ad | 320 | |
b4bc034f | 321 | =head1 Testing Perl |
fb73857a | 322 | |
b4bc034f GS |
323 | Once Perl has built cleanly you need to test it to make sure things work. |
324 | This step is very important since there are always things that can go wrong | |
325 | somehow and yield a dysfunctional Perl for you. | |
fb73857a | 326 | |
327 | Testing is very easy, though, as there's a full test suite in the perl | |
b4bc034f | 328 | distribution. To run the tests, enter the *exact* MMS line you used to |
fb73857a | 329 | compile Perl and add the word "test" to the end, like this: |
330 | ||
b4bc034f | 331 | If the compile command was: |
fb73857a | 332 | |
b4bc034f | 333 | MMS |
fb73857a | 334 | |
b4bc034f | 335 | then the test command ought to be: |
fb73857a | 336 | |
b4bc034f | 337 | MMS test |
fb73857a | 338 | |
b4bc034f GS |
339 | MMS (or MMK) will run all the tests. This may take some time, as there are |
340 | a lot of tests. If any tests fail, there will be a note made on-screen. | |
341 | At the end of all the tests, a summary of the tests, the number passed and | |
342 | failed, and the time taken will be displayed. | |
fb73857a | 343 | |
96d6186e CB |
344 | The test driver invoked via MMS TEST has a DCL wrapper ([.VMS]TEST.COM) that |
345 | downgrades privileges to NETMBX, TMPMBX for the duration of the test run, | |
346 | and then restores them to their prior state upon completion of testing. | |
347 | This is done to ensure that the tests run in a private sandbox and can do no | |
348 | harm to your system even in the unlikely event something goes badly wrong in | |
349 | one of the test scripts while running the tests from a privileged account. | |
350 | A side effect of this safety precaution is that the account used to run the | |
351 | test suite must be the owner of the directory tree in which Perl has been | |
352 | built; otherwise the manipulations of temporary files and directories | |
353 | attempted by some of the tests will fail. | |
354 | ||
b4bc034f | 355 | If any tests fail, it means something is wrong with Perl. If the test suite |
fb73857a | 356 | hangs (some tests can take upwards of two or three minutes, or more if |
9f3f8d50 | 357 | you're on an especially slow machine, depending on your machine speed, so |
fb73857a | 358 | don't be hasty), then the test *after* the last one displayed failed. Don't |
359 | install Perl unless you're confident that you're OK. Regardless of how | |
360 | confident you are, make a bug report to the VMSPerl mailing list. | |
361 | ||
b4bc034f GS |
362 | If one or more tests fail, you can get more information on the failure by |
363 | issuing this command sequence: | |
fb73857a | 364 | |
b4bc034f | 365 | @ [.VMS]TEST .typ "" "-v" [.subdir]test.T |
fb73857a | 366 | |
367 | where ".typ" is the file type of the Perl images you just built (if you | |
368 | didn't do anything special, use .EXE), and "[.subdir]test.T" is the test | |
369 | that failed. For example, with a normal Perl build, if the test indicated | |
96d6186e | 370 | that t/op/time failed, then you'd do this: |
fb73857a | 371 | |
b4bc034f | 372 | @ [.VMS]TEST .EXE "" "-v" [.OP]TIME.T |
fb73857a | 373 | |
96d6186e CB |
374 | Note that test names are reported in UNIX syntax and relative to the |
375 | top-level build directory. When supplying them individually to the test | |
376 | driver, you can use either UNIX or VMS syntax, but you must give the path | |
377 | relative to the [.T] directory and you must also add the .T extension to the | |
378 | filename. So, for example if the test lib/Math/Trig fails, you would run: | |
379 | ||
380 | @ [.VMS]TEST .EXE "" -"v" [-.lib.math]trig.t | |
381 | ||
fb73857a | 382 | When you send in a bug report for failed tests, please include the output |
383 | from this command, which is run from the main source directory: | |
384 | ||
b4bc034f GS |
385 | MCR []MINIPERL "-V" |
386 | ||
387 | Note that -"V" really is a capital V in double quotes. This will dump out a | |
388 | couple of screens worth of configuration information, and can help us | |
389 | diagnose the problem. If (and only if) that did not work then try enclosing | |
390 | the output of: | |
391 | ||
392 | MMS printconfig | |
fb73857a | 393 | |
9f3f8d50 PP |
394 | If (and only if) that did not work then try enclosing the output of: |
395 | ||
b4bc034f | 396 | @ [.vms]myconfig |
fb73857a | 397 | |
b4bc034f GS |
398 | You may also be asked to provide your C compiler version ("CC/VERSION NL:" |
399 | with DEC C, "gcc --version" with GNU CC). To obtain the version of MMS or | |
400 | MMK you are running try "MMS/ident" or "MMK /ident". The GNU make version | |
401 | can be identified with "make --version". | |
402 | ||
a83b6f46 | 403 | =head2 Cleaning up and starting fresh (optional) installing Perl on VMS |
fb73857a | 404 | |
405 | If you need to recompile from scratch, you have to make sure you clean up | |
b4bc034f GS |
406 | first. There is a procedure to do it--enter the *exact* MMS line you used |
407 | to compile and add "realclean" at the end, like this: | |
fb73857a | 408 | |
b4bc034f | 409 | if the compile command was: |
fb73857a | 410 | |
b4bc034f | 411 | MMS |
fb73857a | 412 | |
b4bc034f | 413 | then the cleanup command ought to be: |
fb73857a | 414 | |
b4bc034f | 415 | MMS realclean |
fb73857a | 416 | |
b4bc034f GS |
417 | If you do not do this things may behave erratically during the subsequent |
418 | rebuild attempt. They might not, too, so it is best to be sure and do it. | |
fb73857a | 419 | |
b4bc034f | 420 | =head1 Installing Perl |
fb73857a | 421 | |
422 | There are several steps you need to take to get Perl installed and | |
3a385817 | 423 | running. |
fb73857a | 424 | |
a3ef2c6f | 425 | =over 4 |
b4bc034f | 426 | |
a3ef2c6f | 427 | =item 1 |
fb73857a | 428 | |
a3ef2c6f | 429 | Check your default file protections with |
fb73857a | 430 | |
a3ef2c6f | 431 | SHOW PROTECTION /DEFAULT |
fb73857a | 432 | |
a3ef2c6f | 433 | and adjust if necessary with SET PROTECTION=(code)/DEFAULT. |
fb73857a | 434 | |
a3ef2c6f | 435 | =item 2 |
3a385817 | 436 | |
1bc81404 CB |
437 | Decide where you want Perl to be installed (unless you have already done so |
438 | by using the "prefix" configuration parameter -- see the example in the | |
439 | "Configuring the Perl build" section). | |
b4bc034f | 440 | |
1bc81404 CB |
441 | The DCL script PERL_SETUP.COM that is written by CONFIGURE.COM will help you |
442 | with the definition of the PERL_ROOT and PERLSHR logical names and the PERL | |
443 | foreign command symbol. Take a look at PERL_SETUP.COM and modify it if you | |
444 | want to. The installation process will execute PERL_SETUP.COM and copy | |
445 | files to the directory tree pointed to by the PERL_ROOT logical name defined | |
446 | there, so make sure that you have write access to the parent directory of | |
447 | what will become the root of your Perl installation. | |
fb73857a | 448 | |
a3ef2c6f | 449 | =item 3 |
b4bc034f | 450 | |
a3ef2c6f | 451 | Run the install script via: |
b4bc034f | 452 | |
a3ef2c6f | 453 | MMS install |
b4bc034f | 454 | |
a3ef2c6f | 455 | or |
9f3f8d50 | 456 | |
a3ef2c6f | 457 | MMK install |
b4bc034f | 458 | |
a3ef2c6f GS |
459 | If for some reason it complains about target INSTALL being up to date, |
460 | throw a /FORCE switch on the MMS or MMK command. | |
b4bc034f | 461 | |
a3ef2c6f GS |
462 | =back |
463 | ||
1bc81404 CB |
464 | Copy PERL_SETUP.COM to a place accessible to your perl users. |
465 | ||
a3ef2c6f | 466 | For example: |
fb73857a | 467 | |
a3ef2c6f | 468 | COPY PERL_SETUP.COM SYS$LIBRARY: |
b4bc034f | 469 | |
a3ef2c6f GS |
470 | If you want to have everyone on the system have access to perl |
471 | then add a line that reads | |
fb73857a | 472 | |
a3ef2c6f | 473 | $ @sys$library:perl_setup |
491527d0 | 474 | |
a3ef2c6f | 475 | to SYS$MANAGER:SYLOGIN.COM. |
85988417 | 476 | |
a3ef2c6f GS |
477 | Two alternatives to the foreign symbol would be to install PERL into |
478 | DCLTABLES.EXE (Check out the section "Installing Perl into DCLTABLES | |
479 | (optional)" for more information), or put the image in a | |
480 | directory that's in your DCL$PATH (if you're using VMS V6.2 or higher). | |
85988417 | 481 | |
a3ef2c6f GS |
482 | An alternative to having PERL_SETUP.COM define the PERLSHR logical name |
483 | is to simply copy it into the system shareable library directory with: | |
484 | ||
485 | copy perl_root:[000000]perlshr.exe sys$share: | |
85988417 | 486 | |
a3ef2c6f | 487 | See also the "INSTALLing images (optional)" section. |
491527d0 | 488 | |
a83b6f46 | 489 | =head2 Installing Perl into DCLTABLES (optional) on VMS |
fb73857a | 490 | |
9ef4b0a6 | 491 | Execute the following command file to define PERL as a DCL command. |
b4bc034f | 492 | You'll need CMKRNL privilege to install the new dcltables.exe. |
fb73857a | 493 | |
7bb57f25 GS |
494 | $ create perl.cld |
495 | ! | |
496 | ! modify to reflect location of your perl.exe | |
497 | ! | |
498 | define verb perl | |
499 | image perl_root:[000000]perl.exe | |
500 | cliflags (foreign) | |
501 | $! | |
502 | $ set command perl /table=sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe - | |
503 | /output=sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe | |
504 | $ install replace sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe | |
505 | $ exit | |
fb73857a | 506 | |
a83b6f46 | 507 | =head2 INSTALLing Perl images (optional) on VMS |
9f3f8d50 PP |
508 | |
509 | On systems that are using perl quite a bit, and particularly those with | |
510 | minimal RAM, you can boost the performance of perl by INSTALLing it as | |
adc5a9a5 | 511 | a known image. PERLSHR.EXE is typically larger than 3000 blocks |
9f3f8d50 PP |
512 | and that is a reasonably large amount of IO to load each time perl is |
513 | invoked. | |
514 | ||
515 | INSTALL ADD PERLSHR/SHARE | |
b4bc034f | 516 | INSTALL ADD PERL/HEADER |
9f3f8d50 PP |
517 | |
518 | should be enough for PERLSHR.EXE (/share implies /header and /open), | |
519 | while /HEADER should do for PERL.EXE (perl.exe is not a shared image). | |
520 | ||
b4bc034f GS |
521 | If your code 'use's modules, check to see if there is a shareable image for |
522 | them, too. In the base perl build, POSIX, IO, Fcntl, Opcode, SDBM_File, | |
e7948fac CB |
523 | DCLsym, and Stdio, and other extensions all have shared images that can be |
524 | installed /SHARE. | |
9f3f8d50 | 525 | |
b4bc034f | 526 | How much of a win depends on your memory situation, but if you are firing |
9f3f8d50 | 527 | off perl with any regularity (like more than once every 20 seconds or so) |
b4bc034f | 528 | it is probably beneficial to INSTALL at least portions of perl. |
9f3f8d50 PP |
529 | |
530 | While there is code in perl to remove privileges as it runs you are advised | |
531 | to NOT INSTALL PERL.EXE with PRIVs! | |
fb73857a | 532 | |
dab31494 PP |
533 | =head2 Running h2ph to create perl header files (optional) on VMS |
534 | ||
10019e56 CB |
535 | If using HP C, ensure that you have extracted loose versions of your |
536 | compiler's header or *.H files. Be sure to check the contents of: | |
dab31494 PP |
537 | |
538 | SYS$LIBRARY:DECC$RTLDEF.TLB | |
539 | SYS$LIBRARY:SYS$LIB_C.TLB | |
540 | SYS$LIBRARY:SYS$STARLET_C.TLB | |
541 | ||
542 | etcetera. | |
543 | ||
544 | If using GNU cc then also check your GNU_CC:[000000...] tree for the locations | |
545 | of the GNU cc headers. | |
546 | ||
b4bc034f | 547 | =head1 Reporting Bugs |
fb73857a | 548 | |
549 | If you come across what you think might be a bug in Perl, please report | |
550 | it. There's a script in PERL_ROOT:[UTILS], perlbug, that walks you through | |
551 | the process of creating a bug report. This script includes details of your | |
552 | installation, and is very handy. Completed bug reports should go to | |
9f3f8d50 | 553 | perlbug@perl.com. |
fb73857a | 554 | |
b4bc034f | 555 | =head1 CAVEATS |
fb73857a | 556 | |
557 | Probably the single biggest gotcha in compiling Perl is giving the wrong | |
b4bc034f GS |
558 | switches to MMS/MMK when you build. Use *exactly* what the configure.com |
559 | script prints! | |
560 | ||
561 | The next big gotcha is directory depth. Perl can create directories four, | |
562 | five, or even six levels deep during the build, so you don't have to be | |
dab31494 PP |
563 | too deep to start to hit the RMS 8 level limit (for ODS 2 volumes which were |
564 | common on versions of VMS prior to V7.2 and even with V7.2 on the VAX). | |
565 | It is best to do: | |
b4bc034f GS |
566 | |
567 | DEFINE/TRANS=(CONC,TERM) PERLSRC "disk:[dir.dir.dir.perldir.]" | |
568 | SET DEFAULT PERLSRC:[000000] | |
569 | ||
570 | before building in cases where you have to unpack the distribution so deep | |
571 | (note the trailing period in the definition of PERLSRC). Perl modules | |
572 | from CPAN can be just as bad (or worse), so watch out for them, too. Perl's | |
573 | configuration script will warn if it thinks you are too deep (at least on | |
574 | a VAX or on Alpha versions of VMS prior to 7.2). But MakeMaker will not | |
575 | warn you if you start out building a module too deep in a directory. | |
576 | ||
d83fac45 PP |
577 | As noted above ODS-5 escape sequences such as ^. can break the perl |
578 | build. Solutions include renaming files and directories as needed or | |
579 | being careful to use the -o switch or /ODS2 qualifier with latter | |
580 | versions of the vmstar utility when unpacking perl or CPAN modules | |
581 | on ODS-5 volumes. | |
582 | ||
b4bc034f GS |
583 | Be sure that the process that you use to build perl has a PGFLQ greater |
584 | than 100000. Be sure to have a correct local time zone to UTC offset | |
585 | defined (in seconds) in the logical name SYS$TIMEZONE_DIFFERENTIAL before | |
586 | running the regression test suite. The SYS$MANAGER:UTC$CONFIGURE_TDF.COM | |
587 | procedure will help you set that logical for your system but may require | |
588 | system privileges. For example, a location 5 hours west of UTC (such as | |
589 | the US East coast while not on daylight savings time) would have: | |
590 | ||
591 | DEFINE SYS$TIMEZONE_DIFFERENTIAL "-18000" | |
592 | ||
593 | A final thing that causes trouble is leftover pieces from a failed | |
594 | build. If things go wrong make sure you do a "(MMK|MMS|make) realclean" | |
fb73857a | 595 | before you rebuild. |
596 | ||
a83b6f46 | 597 | =head2 DEC C issues with Perl on VMS |
fb73857a | 598 | |
b4bc034f | 599 | Note to DEC C users: Some early versions (pre-5.2, some pre-4. If you're DEC |
c54e8273 | 600 | C 5.x or higher, with current patches if any, you're fine) of the DECCRTL |
fb73857a | 601 | contained a few bugs which affect Perl performance: |
b4bc034f GS |
602 | |
603 | =over 4 | |
604 | ||
605 | =item - pipes | |
606 | ||
607 | Newlines are lost on I/O through pipes, causing lines to run together. | |
608 | This shows up as RMS RTB errors when reading from a pipe. You can | |
609 | work around this by having one process write data to a file, and | |
610 | then having the other read the file, instead of the pipe. This is | |
611 | fixed in version 4 of DEC C. | |
612 | ||
613 | =item - modf() | |
614 | ||
615 | The modf() routine returns a non-integral value for some values above | |
616 | INT_MAX; the Perl "int" operator will return a non-integral value in | |
617 | these cases. This is fixed in version 4 of DEC C. | |
618 | ||
619 | =item - ALPACRT ECO | |
620 | ||
621 | On the AXP, if SYSNAM privilege is enabled, the CRTL chdir() routine | |
622 | changes the process default device and directory permanently, even | |
623 | though the call specified that the change should not persist after | |
624 | Perl exited. This is fixed by DEC CSC patch ALPACRT04_061 or later. | |
625 | See also: | |
626 | ||
172b4273 | 627 | http://ftp.support.compaq.com/patches/.new/openvms.shtml |
b4bc034f GS |
628 | |
629 | =back | |
630 | ||
631 | Please note that in later versions "DEC C" may also be known as | |
632 | "Compaq C". | |
633 | ||
a83b6f46 | 634 | =head2 GNU issues with Perl on VMS |
b4bc034f GS |
635 | |
636 | It has been a while since the GNU utilities such as GCC or GNU make | |
637 | were used to build perl on VMS. Hence they may require a great deal | |
638 | of source code modification to work again. | |
639 | ||
640 | http://slacvx.slac.stanford.edu/HELP/GCC | |
641 | http://www.progis.de/ | |
b4bc034f GS |
642 | http://www.lp.se/products/gnu.html |
643 | ||
e7948fac CB |
644 | =head2 Floating Point Considerations |
645 | ||
646 | Prior to 5.8.0, Perl simply accepted the default floating point options of the | |
647 | C compiler, namely representing doubles with D_FLOAT on VAX and G_FLOAT on | |
648 | Alpha. Single precision floating point values are represented in F_FLOAT | |
649 | format when either D_FLOAT or G_FLOAT is in use for doubles. Beginning with | |
650 | 5.8.0, Alpha builds now use IEEE floating point formats by default, which in | |
651 | VMS parlance are S_FLOAT for singles and T_FLOAT for doubles. IEEE is not | |
652 | available on VAX, so F_FLOAT and D_FLOAT remain the defaults for singles and | |
653 | doubles respectively. The available non-default options are G_FLOAT on VAX | |
654 | and D_FLOAT or G_FLOAT on Alpha. | |
655 | ||
656 | The use of IEEE on Alpha introduces NaN, infinity, and denormalization | |
657 | capabilities not available with D_FLOAT and G_FLOAT. When using one of those | |
658 | non-IEEE formats, silent underflow and overflow are emulated in the conversion | |
659 | of strings to numbers, but it is preferable to get the real thing by using | |
660 | IEEE where possible. | |
661 | ||
662 | Regardless of what floating point format you consider preferable, be aware | |
663 | that the choice may have an impact on compatibility with external libraries, | |
664 | such as database interfaces, and with existing data, such as data created with | |
665 | the C<pack> function and written to disk, or data stored via the Storable | |
666 | extension. For example, a C<pack("d", $foo)")> will create a D_FLOAT, | |
667 | G_FLOAT, or T_FLOAT depending on what your Perl was configured with. When | |
668 | written to disk, the value can only be retrieved later by a Perl configured | |
669 | with the same floating point option that was in effect when it was created. | |
670 | ||
671 | To obtain a non-IEEE build on Alpha, simply answer no to the "Use IEEE math?" | |
672 | question during the configuration. To obtain an option different from the C | |
673 | compiler default on either VAX or Alpha, put in the option that you want in | |
674 | answer to the "Any additional cc flags?" question. For example, to obtain a | |
675 | G_FLOAT build on VAX, put in C</FLOAT=G_FLOAT>. | |
676 | ||
49fd6f17 PP |
677 | =head2 Multinet issues with Perl on VMS |
678 | ||
679 | Prior to the release of Perl 5.8.0 it was noted that the regression | |
680 | test for lib/Net/hostent (in file [.lib.Net]hostent.t) will fail owing | |
681 | to problems with the hostent structure returned by C calls to either | |
682 | gethostbyname() or gethostbyaddr() using DEC or Compaq C with a | |
683 | Multinet TCP/IP stack. The problem was noted in Multinet 4.3A | |
684 | using either Compaq C 6.5 or DEC C 6.0, and with Multinet 4.2A | |
685 | using DEC C 5.2, but could easily affect other versions of Multinet. | |
c2a352b2 CB |
686 | Process Software Inc. has acknowledged a bug in the Multinet version |
687 | of UCX$IPC_SHR and has provided an ECO for it. The ECO is called | |
688 | UCX_LIBRARY_EMULATION-010_A044 and is available from: | |
49fd6f17 PP |
689 | |
690 | http://www.multinet.process.com/eco.html | |
691 | ||
c2a352b2 CB |
692 | As of this writing, the ECO is only available for Multinet versions |
693 | 4.3A and later. You may determine the version of Multinet that you | |
694 | are running using the command: | |
49fd6f17 PP |
695 | |
696 | multinet show /version | |
697 | ||
698 | from the DCL command prompt. | |
699 | ||
c2a352b2 CB |
700 | If the ECO is unavailable for your version of Multinet and you are |
701 | unable to upgrade, you might try using Perl programming constructs | |
702 | such as: | |
49fd6f17 PP |
703 | |
704 | $address = substr($gethostbyname_addr,0,4); | |
705 | ||
706 | to temporarily work around the problem, or if you are brave | |
707 | and do not mind the possibility of breaking IPv6 addresses, | |
708 | you might modify the pp_sys.c file to add an ad-hoc correction | |
709 | like so: | |
710 | ||
711 | ||
712 | --- pp_sys.c;1 Thu May 30 14:42:17 2002 | |
713 | +++ pp_sys.c Thu May 30 12:54:02 2002 | |
714 | @@ -4684,6 +4684,10 @@ | |
715 | } | |
716 | #endif | |
717 | ||
718 | + if (hent) { | |
719 | + hent->h_length = 4; | |
720 | + } | |
721 | + | |
722 | if (GIMME != G_ARRAY) { | |
723 | PUSHs(sv = sv_newmortal()); | |
724 | if (hent) { | |
725 | ||
726 | then re-compile and re-test your perl. After the installation | |
727 | of the Multinet ECO you ought to back out any such changes though. | |
728 | ||
b4bc034f GS |
729 | =head1 Mailing Lists |
730 | ||
731 | There are several mailing lists available to the Perl porter. For VMS | |
fb73857a | 732 | specific issues (including both Perl questions and installation problems) |
b4bc034f | 733 | there is the VMSPERL mailing list. It is usually a low-volume (10-12 |
fb73857a | 734 | messages a week) mailing list. |
735 | ||
1bc81404 CB |
736 | To subscribe, send a mail message to VMSPERL-SUBSCRIBE@PERL.ORG. The VMSPERL |
737 | mailing list address is VMSPERL@PERL.ORG. Any mail sent there gets echoed | |
738 | to all subscribers of the list. There is a searchable archive of the list | |
739 | on the web at: | |
b4bc034f GS |
740 | |
741 | http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/vmsperl/ | |
a83b6f46 | 742 | |
1bc81404 CB |
743 | To unsubscribe from VMSPERL send a message to VMSPERL-UNSUBSCRIBE@PERL.ORG. |
744 | Be sure to do so from the subscribed account that you are canceling. | |
b4bc034f | 745 | |
a83b6f46 | 746 | =head2 Web sites for Perl on VMS |
b4bc034f GS |
747 | |
748 | Vmsperl pages on the web include: | |
749 | ||
750 | http://www.sidhe.org/vmsperl/index.html | |
1bc81404 | 751 | http://www.crinoid.com/ |
b4bc034f | 752 | http://duphy4.physics.drexel.edu/pub/cgi_info.htmlx |
468f45d5 | 753 | http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-module/VMS/ |
60d9c7be | 754 | http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/vmsperl/ |
b4bc034f | 755 | http://www.best.com/~pvhp/vms/ |
adc5a9a5 | 756 | http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~binder/perl.html |
60d9c7be PP |
757 | http://lists.perl.org/showlist.cgi?name=vmsperl |
758 | http://archive.develooper.com/vmsperl@perl.org/ | |
10019e56 | 759 | http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/products/ips/apache/csws_modperl.html |
fb73857a | 760 | |
b4bc034f GS |
761 | =head1 SEE ALSO |
762 | ||
763 | Perl information for users and programmers about the port of perl to VMS is | |
764 | available from the [.VMS]PERLVMS.POD file that gets installed as L<perlvms>. | |
765 | For administrators the perlvms document also includes a detailed discussion | |
766 | of extending vmsperl with CPAN modules after Perl has been installed. | |
767 | ||
768 | =head1 AUTHORS | |
769 | ||
adc5a9a5 | 770 | Revised 10-October-2001 by Craig Berry craigberry@mac.com. |
1bc81404 CB |
771 | Revised 25-February-2000 by Peter Prymmer pvhp@best.com. |
772 | Revised 27-October-1999 by Craig Berry craigberry@mac.com. | |
b4bc034f GS |
773 | Revised 01-March-1999 by Dan Sugalski dan@sidhe.org. |
774 | Originally by Charles Bailey bailey@newman.upenn.edu. | |
775 | ||
776 | =head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | |
fb73857a | 777 | |
778 | A real big thanks needs to go to Charles Bailey | |
b4bc034f | 779 | bailey@newman.upenn.edu, who is ultimately responsible for Perl 5.004 |
fb73857a | 780 | running on VMS. Without him, nothing the rest of us have done would be at |
781 | all important. | |
782 | ||
783 | There are, of course, far too many people involved in the porting and testing | |
784 | of Perl to mention everyone who deserves it, so please forgive us if we've | |
785 | missed someone. That said, special thanks are due to the following: | |
b4bc034f GS |
786 | |
787 | Tim Adye T.J.Adye@rl.ac.uk | |
fb73857a | 788 | for the VMS emulations of getpw*() |
b4bc034f | 789 | David Denholm denholm@conmat.phys.soton.ac.uk |
fb73857a | 790 | for extensive testing and provision of pipe and SocketShr code, |
b4bc034f | 791 | Mark Pizzolato mark@infocomm.com |
fb73857a | 792 | for the getredirection() code |
b4bc034f | 793 | Rich Salz rsalz@bbn.com |
fb73857a | 794 | for readdir() and related routines |
b4bc034f | 795 | Peter Prymmer pvhp@best.com |
fb73857a | 796 | for extensive testing, as well as development work on |
797 | configuration and documentation for VMS Perl, | |
b4bc034f | 798 | Dan Sugalski dan@sidhe.org |
fb73857a | 799 | for extensive contributions to recent version support, |
800 | development of VMS-specific extensions, and dissemination | |
801 | of information about VMS Perl, | |
802 | the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory and the | |
803 | Laboratory of Nuclear Studies at Cornell University for | |
9f3f8d50 | 804 | the opportunity to test and develop for the AXP, |
a3ef2c6f GS |
805 | John Hasstedt John.Hasstedt@sunysb.edu |
806 | for VAX VMS V7.2 support | |
b4bc034f | 807 | |
fb73857a | 808 | and to the entire VMSperl group for useful advice and suggestions. In |
809 | addition the perl5-porters deserve credit for their creativity and | |
810 | willingness to work with the VMS newcomers. Finally, the greatest debt of | |
b4bc034f | 811 | gratitude is due to Larry Wall larry@wall.org, for having the ideas which |
fb73857a | 812 | have made our sleepless nights possible. |
813 | ||
814 | Thanks, | |
815 | The VMSperl group | |
b4bc034f GS |
816 | |
817 | =cut | |
818 |