| 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 | specially designed to be readable as is. |
| 4 | |
| 5 | =head1 NAME |
| 6 | |
| 7 | perlwin32 - Perl under Win32 |
| 8 | |
| 9 | =head1 SYNOPSIS |
| 10 | |
| 11 | These are instructions for building Perl under WindowsNT (versions |
| 12 | 3.51 or 4.0), using Visual C++ (versions 2.0 through 5.0). Currently, |
| 13 | this port may also build under Windows95, but you can expect problems |
| 14 | stemming from the unmentionable command shell that infests that |
| 15 | platform. Note this caveat is only about B<building> perl. Once |
| 16 | built, you should be able to B<use> it on either Win32 platform (modulo |
| 17 | the problems arising from the inferior command shell). |
| 18 | |
| 19 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Before you start, you should glance through the README file |
| 22 | found in the top-level directory where the Perl distribution |
| 23 | was extracted. Make sure you read and understand the terms under |
| 24 | which this software is being distributed. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | Also make sure you read the L<BUGS AND CAVEATS> section below for the |
| 27 | known limitations of this port. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | The INSTALL file in the perl top-level has much information that is |
| 30 | only relevant to people building Perl on Unix-like systems. In |
| 31 | particular, you can safely ignore any information that talks about |
| 32 | "Configure". |
| 33 | |
| 34 | You should probably also read the README.os2 file, which gives a |
| 35 | different set of rules to build a Perl that will work on Win32 |
| 36 | platforms. That method will probably enable you to build a more |
| 37 | Unix-compatible perl, but you will also need to download and use |
| 38 | various other support software described in that file. |
| 39 | |
| 40 | This set of instructions is meant to describe a so-called "native" |
| 41 | port of Perl to Win32 platforms. The resulting Perl requires no |
| 42 | additional software to run (other than what came with your operating |
| 43 | system). Currently, this port is only capable of using Microsoft's |
| 44 | Visual C++ compiler. The ultimate goal is to support the other major |
| 45 | compilers that can be used to build Win32 applications. |
| 46 | |
| 47 | This port currently supports MakeMaker (the set of modules that |
| 48 | is used to build extensions to perl). Therefore, you should be |
| 49 | able to build and install most extensions found in the CPAN sites. |
| 50 | |
| 51 | =head2 Setting Up |
| 52 | |
| 53 | =over 4 |
| 54 | |
| 55 | =item * |
| 56 | |
| 57 | Use the default "cmd" shell that comes with NT. In particular, do |
| 58 | *not* use the 4DOS/NT shell. The Makefile has commands that are not |
| 59 | compatible with that shell. You are mostly on your own if you can |
| 60 | muster the temerity to attempt this with Windows95. |
| 61 | |
| 62 | =item * |
| 63 | |
| 64 | Run the VCVARS32.BAT file usually found somewhere like C:\MSDEV4.2\BIN. |
| 65 | This will set your build environment. |
| 66 | |
| 67 | =item * |
| 68 | |
| 69 | Depending on how you extracted the distribution, you have to make sure |
| 70 | all the files are writable by you. The easiest way to make sure of |
| 71 | this is to execute: |
| 72 | |
| 73 | attrib -R *.* /S |
| 74 | |
| 75 | from the perl toplevel directory. You don't I<have> to do this if you |
| 76 | used the right tools to extract the files in the standard distribution, |
| 77 | but it doesn't hurt to do so. |
| 78 | |
| 79 | =back |
| 80 | |
| 81 | =head2 Building |
| 82 | |
| 83 | =over 4 |
| 84 | |
| 85 | =item * |
| 86 | |
| 87 | Make sure you are in the "win32" subdirectory under the perl toplevel. |
| 88 | This directory contains a "Makefile" that will work with |
| 89 | versions of NMAKE that come with Visual C++ ver. 2.0 and above. |
| 90 | |
| 91 | =item * |
| 92 | |
| 93 | Edit the Makefile and change the values of INST_DRV and INST_TOP |
| 94 | if you want perl to be installed in a location other than "C:\PERL". |
| 95 | |
| 96 | =item * |
| 97 | |
| 98 | If you are using Visual C++ ver. 4.0 and above: type "nmake". |
| 99 | If you are using a Visual C++ ver. 2.0: type "nmake CCTYPE=MSVC20". |
| 100 | |
| 101 | This should build everything. Specifically, it will create perl.exe, |
| 102 | perl.dll, and perlglob.exe at the perl toplevel, and various other |
| 103 | extension dll's under the lib\auto directory. If the make fails for |
| 104 | any reason, make sure you have done the previous steps correctly. |
| 105 | |
| 106 | =back |
| 107 | |
| 108 | =head2 Testing |
| 109 | |
| 110 | Type "nmake test". This will run most of the tests from the |
| 111 | testsuite (many tests will be skipped, and but no test should fail). |
| 112 | |
| 113 | If some tests do fail, it may be because you are using a different command |
| 114 | shell than the native "cmd.exe". |
| 115 | |
| 116 | Please report any failures as described under L<BUGS AND CAVEATS>. |
| 117 | |
| 118 | =head2 Installation |
| 119 | |
| 120 | Type "nmake install". This will put the newly built perl and the |
| 121 | libraries under "C:\PERL" (actually whatever you set INST_TOP to |
| 122 | in the Makefile). To use the Perl you just installed, set your |
| 123 | PATH environment variable to "C:\PERL\BIN" (or $(INST_TOP)\BIN, if you |
| 124 | changed the default as above). |
| 125 | |
| 126 | =head1 BUGS AND CAVEATS |
| 127 | |
| 128 | This is still very much an experimental port, and should be considered |
| 129 | alpha quality software. You can expect changes in virtually all of |
| 130 | these areas: build process, installation structure, supported |
| 131 | utilities/modules, and supported perl functionality. Specifically, |
| 132 | functionality specific to the Win32 environment may ultimately |
| 133 | be supported as either core modules or extensions. |
| 134 | |
| 135 | If you have had prior exposure to Perl on Unix platforms, you will notice |
| 136 | this port exhibits behavior different from what is documented. Most of the |
| 137 | differences fall under one of these categories. |
| 138 | |
| 139 | =over 8 |
| 140 | |
| 141 | =item * |
| 142 | |
| 143 | C<stat()> and C<lstat()> functions may not behave as documented. They |
| 144 | may return values that bear no resemblance to those reported on Unix |
| 145 | platforms, and some fields may be completely bogus. |
| 146 | |
| 147 | =item * |
| 148 | |
| 149 | The following functions are currently unavailable: C<fork()>, C<exec()>, |
| 150 | C<dump()>, C<chown()>, C<link()>, C<symlink()>, C<chroot()>, |
| 151 | C<setpgrp()>, C<getpgrp()>, C<setpriority()>, C<getpriority()>, |
| 152 | C<syscall()>, C<fcntl()>, C<flock()>. This list is possibly very |
| 153 | incomplete. |
| 154 | |
| 155 | =item * |
| 156 | |
| 157 | Various C<socket()> related calls are supported, but they may not |
| 158 | behave as on Unix platforms. |
| 159 | |
| 160 | =item * |
| 161 | |
| 162 | The four-argument C<select()> call is only supported on sockets. |
| 163 | |
| 164 | =item * |
| 165 | |
| 166 | The behavior of C<system()> or the C<qx[]> operator (a.k.a. "backticks"), |
| 167 | when used to call interactive commands, is ill-defined. |
| 168 | |
| 169 | =item * |
| 170 | |
| 171 | C<$?> ends up with the exitstatus of the subprocess (this is different |
| 172 | from Unix, where the exitstatus is actually given by "$? >> 8"). |
| 173 | Failure to spawn() the subprocess is indicated by setting $? to |
| 174 | "255<<8". This is subject to change. |
| 175 | |
| 176 | =item * |
| 177 | |
| 178 | Building modules available on CPAN is mostly supported, but this |
| 179 | hasn't been tested much yet. Expect strange problems, and be |
| 180 | prepared to deal with the consequences. |
| 181 | |
| 182 | =item * |
| 183 | |
| 184 | C<utime()>, C<times()> and process-related functions may not |
| 185 | behave as described in the documentation, and some of the |
| 186 | returned values or effects may be bogus. |
| 187 | |
| 188 | =item * |
| 189 | |
| 190 | Signal handling may not behave as on Unix platforms. |
| 191 | |
| 192 | =item * |
| 193 | |
| 194 | File globbing may not behave as on Unix platforms. |
| 195 | |
| 196 | =item * |
| 197 | |
| 198 | Not all of the utilities that come with the Perl distribution |
| 199 | are supported yet. |
| 200 | |
| 201 | =back |
| 202 | |
| 203 | Please send detailed descriptions of any problems and solutions that |
| 204 | you may find to <F<perlbug@perl.com>>, along with the output produced |
| 205 | by C<perl -V>. |
| 206 | |
| 207 | =head1 AUTHORS |
| 208 | |
| 209 | =over 4 |
| 210 | |
| 211 | =item Gary Ng <F<71564.1743@CompuServe.COM>> |
| 212 | |
| 213 | =item Gurusamy Sarathy <F<gsar@umich.edu>> |
| 214 | |
| 215 | =item Nick Ing-Simmons <F<nick@ni-s.u-net.com>> |
| 216 | |
| 217 | =back |
| 218 | |
| 219 | =head1 SEE ALSO |
| 220 | |
| 221 | L<perl> |
| 222 | |
| 223 | =head1 HISTORY |
| 224 | |
| 225 | This port was originally contributed by Gary Ng around 5.003_24, |
| 226 | and borrowed from the Hip Communications port that was available |
| 227 | at the time. |
| 228 | |
| 229 | Nick Ing-Simmons and Gurusamy Sarathy have made numerous and |
| 230 | sundry hacks since then. |
| 231 | |
| 232 | Last updated: 13 April 1997 |
| 233 | |
| 234 | =cut |