[perl5.git] / README.freebsd

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
specifically designed to be readable as is.

=head1 NAME

README.freebsd - Perl version 5 on FreeBSD systems

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This document describes various features of FreeBSD that will affect how Perl
version 5 (hereafter just Perl) is compiled and/or runs.

=head2 FreeBSD core dumps from readdir_r with ithreads

When perl is configured to use ithreads, it will use re-entrant library calls
in preference to non-re-entrant versions.  There is a bug in FreeBSD's
C<readdir_r> function in versions 4.5 and earlier that can cause a SEGV when
reading large directories. A patch for FreeBSD libc is available
(see http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=misc/30631 )
which has been integrated into FreeBSD 4.6.

=head2 $^X doesn't always contain a full path in FreeBSD

perl 5.8.0 sets C<$^X> where possible to a full path by asking the operating
system. On FreeBSD the full path of the perl interpreter is found by reading
the symlink F</proc/curproc/file>. FreeBSD has a bug where reading this
symlink sometimes returns an incorrect value
(see http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=35703 ).
In these cases perl will fall back to the old behaviour of using C's
argv[0] value for C<$^X>.

=head1 AUTHOR

Nicholas Clark <nick@ccl4.org>, collating wisdom supplied by Slaven Rezic
and Tim Bunce.

Please report any errors, updates, or suggestions to F<perlbug@perl.org>.
Commit	Line	Data
d41150a6 NC	1	If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the funny characters you
	2	see. It is written in the POD format (see pod/perlpod.pod) which is
	3	specifically designed to be readable as is.
	4
	5	=head1 NAME
	6
	7	README.freebsd - Perl version 5 on FreeBSD systems
	8
	9	=head1 DESCRIPTION
	10
	11	This document describes various features of FreeBSD that will affect how Perl
	12	version 5 (hereafter just Perl) is compiled and/or runs.
	13
3df9be30	14	=head2 FreeBSD core dumps from readdir_r with ithreads
d41150a6 NC	15
	16	When perl is configured to use ithreads, it will use re-entrant library calls
	17	in preference to non-re-entrant versions. There is a bug in FreeBSD's
e8d8eebf NC	18	C<readdir_r> function in versions 4.5 and earlier that can cause a SEGV when
e8d8eebf NC	19	reading large directories. A patch for FreeBSD libc is available
d41150a6	20	(see http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=misc/30631 )
e8d8eebf	21	which has been integrated into FreeBSD 4.6.
d41150a6	22
3df9be30	23	=head2 $^X doesn't always contain a full path in FreeBSD
d41150a6 NC	24
	25	perl 5.8.0 sets C<$^X> where possible to a full path by asking the operating
	26	system. On FreeBSD the full path of the perl interpreter is found by reading
a74b42b2 TH	27	the symlink F</proc/curproc/file>. FreeBSD has a bug where reading this
a74b42b2 TH	28	symlink sometimes returns an incorrect value
d41150a6 NC	29	(see http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=35703 ).
	30	In these cases perl will fall back to the old behaviour of using C's
	31	argv[0] value for C<$^X>.
	32
	33	=head1 AUTHOR
	34
	35	Nicholas Clark <nick@ccl4.org>, collating wisdom supplied by Slaven Rezic
	36	and Tim Bunce.
	37
	38	Please report any errors, updates, or suggestions to F<perlbug@perl.org>.
	39