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.
7 perlwin32 - Perl under Windows
11 These are instructions for building Perl under Windows 9x/NT/2000/XP
12 on the Intel x86 and Itanium architectures.
16 Before you start, you should glance through the README file
17 found in the top-level directory to which the Perl distribution
18 was extracted. Make sure you read and understand the terms under
19 which this software is being distributed.
21 Also make sure you read L<BUGS AND CAVEATS> below for the
22 known limitations of this port.
24 The INSTALL file in the perl top-level has much information that is
25 only relevant to people building Perl on Unix-like systems. In
26 particular, you can safely ignore any information that talks about
29 You may also want to look at two other options for building
30 a perl that will work on Windows NT: the README.cygwin and
31 README.os2 files, each of which give a different set of rules to
32 build a Perl that will work on Win32 platforms. Those two methods
33 will probably enable you to build a more Unix-compatible perl, but
34 you will also need to download and use various other build-time and
35 run-time support software described in those files.
37 This set of instructions is meant to describe a so-called "native"
38 port of Perl to Win32 platforms. This includes both 32-bit and
39 64-bit Windows operating systems. The resulting Perl requires no
40 additional software to run (other than what came with your operating
41 system). Currently, this port is capable of using one of the
42 following compilers on the Intel x86 architecture:
44 Borland C++ version 5.02 or later
45 Microsoft Visual C++ version 4.2 or later
46 Mingw32 with GCC version 2.95.2 or better
48 The last of these is a high quality freeware compiler. Support
49 for it is still experimental. (Older versions of GCC are known
52 This port can also be built on the Intel IA64 using:
54 Microsoft Platform SDK Nov 2001 (64-bit compiler and tools)
56 The MS Platform SDK can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/.
58 This port fully supports MakeMaker (the set of modules that
59 is used to build extensions to perl). Therefore, you should be
60 able to build and install most extensions found in the CPAN sites.
61 See L<Usage Hints for Perl on Win32> below for general hints about this.
63 =head2 Setting Up Perl on Win32
69 You need a "make" program to build the sources. If you are using
70 Visual C++ or the Platform SDK tools under Windows NT/2000/XP, nmake
71 will work. All other builds need dmake.
73 dmake is a freely available make that has very nice macro features
76 A port of dmake for Windows is available from:
78 http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/GSAR/dmake-4.1pl1-win32.zip
80 (This is a fixed version of the original dmake sources obtained from
81 http://www.wticorp.com/ As of version 4.1PL1, the original
82 sources did not build as shipped and had various other problems.
83 A patch is included in the above fixed version.)
85 Fetch and install dmake somewhere on your path (follow the instructions
86 in the README.NOW file).
88 There exists a minor coexistence problem with dmake and Borland C++
89 compilers. Namely, if a distribution has C files named with mixed
90 case letters, they will be compiled into appropriate .obj-files named
91 with all lowercase letters, and every time dmake is invoked
92 to bring files up to date, it will try to recompile such files again.
93 For example, Tk distribution has a lot of such files, resulting in
94 needless recompiles every time dmake is invoked. To avoid this, you
95 may use the script "sync_ext.pl" after a successful build. It is
96 available in the win32 subdirectory of the Perl source distribution.
100 Use the default "cmd" shell that comes with NT. Some versions of the
101 popular 4DOS/NT shell have incompatibilities that may cause you trouble.
102 If the build fails under that shell, try building again with the cmd
105 The nmake Makefile also has known incompatibilities with the
106 "command.com" shell that comes with Windows 9x. You will need to
107 use dmake and makefile.mk to build under Windows 9x.
109 The surest way to build it is on Windows NT/2000/XP, using the cmd shell.
111 Make sure the path to the build directory does not contain spaces. The
112 build usually works in this circumstance, but some tests will fail.
116 If you are using the Borland compiler, you will need dmake.
117 (The make that Borland supplies is seriously crippled and will not
118 work for MakeMaker builds.)
120 See L</"Make"> above.
122 =item Microsoft Visual C++
124 The nmake that comes with Visual C++ will suffice for building.
125 You will need to run the VCVARS32.BAT file, usually found somewhere
126 like C:\MSDEV4.2\BIN. This will set your build environment.
128 You can also use dmake to build using Visual C++; provided, however,
129 you set OSRELEASE to "microsft" (or whatever the directory name
130 under which the Visual C dmake configuration lives) in your environment
131 and edit win32/config.vc to change "make=nmake" into "make=dmake". The
132 latter step is only essential if you want to use dmake as your default
133 make for building extensions using MakeMaker.
135 =item Microsoft Platform SDK 64-bit Compiler
137 The nmake that comes with the Platform SDK will suffice for building
138 Perl. Make sure you are building within one of the "Build Environment"
139 shells available after you install the Platform SDK from the Start Menu.
141 =item MinGW32 with gcc
143 The latest release of MinGW (at the time of writing) is 2.0.0, which comes
144 with gcc-3.2, and can be downloaded here:
146 http://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw
148 Perl compiles with earlier releases of gcc (2.95 and up) that can be
149 downloaded from the same place. If you use gcc-3.2, comment out the
152 USE_GCC_V3_2 *= define
156 You also need dmake. See L</"Make"> above on how to get it.
158 =item MinGW release 1
160 The MinGW-1.1 bundle comes with gcc-2.95.3.
162 Make sure you install the binaries that work with MSVCRT.DLL as indicated
163 in the README for the GCC bundle. You may need to set up a few environment
164 variables (usually ran from a batch file).
166 There are a couple of problems with the version of gcc-2.95.2-msvcrt.exe
167 released 7 November 1999:
173 It left out a fix for certain command line quotes. To fix this, be sure
174 to download and install the file fixes/quote-fix-msvcrt.exe from the above
179 The definition of the fpos_t type in stdio.h may be wrong. If your
180 stdio.h has this problem, you will see an exception when running the
181 test t/lib/io_xs.t. To fix this, change the typedef for fpos_t from
182 "long" to "long long" in the file i386-mingw32msvc/include/stdio.h,
187 A potentially simpler to install (but probably soon-to-be-outdated) bundle
188 of the above package with the mentioned fixes already applied is available
191 http://downloads.ActiveState.com/pub/staff/gsar/gcc-2.95.2-msvcrt.zip
192 ftp://ftp.ActiveState.com/pub/staff/gsar/gcc-2.95.2-msvcrt.zip
202 Make sure you are in the "win32" subdirectory under the perl toplevel.
203 This directory contains a "Makefile" that will work with
204 versions of nmake that come with Visual C++ or the Platform SDK, and
205 a dmake "makefile.mk" that will work for all supported compilers. The
206 defaults in the dmake makefile are setup to build using Microsoft Visual
211 Edit the makefile.mk (or Makefile, if you're using nmake) and change
212 the values of INST_DRV and INST_TOP. You can also enable various
213 build flags. These are explained in the makefiles.
215 Note that it is generally not a good idea to try to build a perl with
216 INST_DRV and INST_TOP set to a path that already exists from a previous
217 build. In particular, this may cause problems with the
218 lib/ExtUtils/t/Embed.t test, which attempts to build a test program and
219 may end up building against the installed perl's lib/CORE directory rather
220 than the one being tested.
222 You will have to make sure that CCTYPE is set correctly and that
223 CCHOME points to wherever you installed your compiler.
225 The default value for CCHOME in the makefiles for Visual C++
226 may not be correct for some versions. Make sure the default exists
229 If you have either the source or a library that contains des_fcrypt(),
230 enable the appropriate option in the makefile. A ready-to-use version
231 of fcrypt.c, based on the version originally written by Eric Young at
232 ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/crypt/mirrors/dsi/libdes/, is bundled with the
233 distribution. Set CRYPT_SRC to fcrypt.c to use this version.
234 Alternatively, if you have built a library that contains des_fcrypt(),
235 you can set CRYPT_LIB to point to the library name.
236 Perl will also build without des_fcrypt(), but the crypt() builtin will
239 Be sure to read the instructions near the top of the makefiles carefully.
243 Type "dmake" (or "nmake" if you are using that make).
245 This should build everything. Specifically, it will create perl.exe,
246 perl58.dll at the perl toplevel, and various other extension dll's
247 under the lib\auto directory. If the build fails for any reason, make
248 sure you have done the previous steps correctly.
252 =head2 Testing Perl on Win32
254 Type "dmake test" (or "nmake test"). This will run most of the tests from
255 the testsuite (many tests will be skipped).
257 There should be no test failures when running under Windows NT/2000/XP.
258 Many tests I<will> fail under Windows 9x due to the inferior command shell.
260 Some test failures may occur if you use a command shell other than the
261 native "cmd.exe", or if you are building from a path that contains
262 spaces. So don't do that.
264 If you are running the tests from a emacs shell window, you may see
265 failures in op/stat.t. Run "dmake test-notty" in that case.
267 If you're using the Borland compiler, you may see a failure in op/taint.t
268 arising from the inability to find the Borland Runtime DLLs on the system
269 default path. You will need to copy the DLLs reported by the messages
270 from where Borland chose to install it, into the Windows system directory
271 (usually somewhere like C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32) and rerun the test.
273 If you're using Borland compiler versions 5.2 and below, you may run into
274 problems finding the correct header files when building extensions. For
275 example, building the "Tk" extension may fail because both perl and Tk
276 contain a header file called "patchlevel.h". The latest Borland compiler
277 (v5.5) is free of this misbehaviour, and it even supports an
278 option -VI- for backward (bugward) compatibility for using the old Borland
279 search algorithm to locate header files.
281 If you run the tests on a FAT partition, you may see some failures for
282 C<link()> related tests:
284 Failed Test Stat Wstat Total Fail Failed List
286 ../ext/IO/lib/IO/t/io_dup.t 6 4 66.67% 2-5
287 ../lib/File/Temp/t/mktemp.t 9 1 11.11% 2
288 ../lib/File/Temp/t/posix.t 7 1 14.29% 3
289 ../lib/File/Temp/t/security.t 13 1 7.69% 2
290 ../lib/File/Temp/t/tempfile.t 20 2 10.00% 2 4
291 comp/multiline.t 6 2 33.33% 5-6
292 io/dup.t 8 6 75.00% 2-7
293 op/write.t 47 7 14.89% 1-3 6 9-11
295 Testing on NTFS avoids these errors.
297 Furthermore, you should make sure that during C<make test> you do not
298 have any GNU tool packages in your path: some toolkits like Unixutils
299 include some tools (C<type> for instance) which override the Windows
300 ones and makes tests fail. Remove them from your path while testing to
303 Please report any other failures as described under L<BUGS AND CAVEATS>.
305 =head2 Installation of Perl on Win32
307 Type "dmake install" (or "nmake install"). This will put the newly
308 built perl and the libraries under whatever C<INST_TOP> points to in the
309 Makefile. It will also install the pod documentation under
310 C<$INST_TOP\$VERSION\lib\pod> and HTML versions of the same under
311 C<$INST_TOP\$VERSION\lib\pod\html>. To use the Perl you just installed,
312 you will need to add two components to your PATH environment variable,
313 C<$INST_TOP\$VERSION\bin> and C<$INST_TOP\$VERSION\bin\$ARCHNAME>.
316 set PATH c:\perl\5.6.0\bin;c:\perl\5.6.0\bin\MSWin32-x86;%PATH%
318 If you opt to comment out INST_VER and INST_ARCH in the makefiles, the
319 installation structure is much simpler. In that case, it will be
320 sufficient to add a single entry to the path, for instance:
322 set PATH c:\perl\bin;%PATH%
324 =head2 Usage Hints for Perl on Win32
328 =item Environment Variables
330 The installation paths that you set during the build get compiled
331 into perl, so you don't have to do anything additional to start
332 using that perl (except add its location to your PATH variable).
334 If you put extensions in unusual places, you can set PERL5LIB
335 to a list of paths separated by semicolons where you want perl
336 to look for libraries. Look for descriptions of other environment
337 variables you can set in L<perlrun>.
339 You can also control the shell that perl uses to run system() and
340 backtick commands via PERL5SHELL. See L<perlrun>.
342 Perl does not depend on the registry, but it can look up certain default
343 values if you choose to put them there. Perl attempts to read entries from
344 C<HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Perl> and C<HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Perl>.
345 Entries in the former override entries in the latter. One or more of the
346 following entries (of type REG_SZ or REG_EXPAND_SZ) may be set:
348 lib-$] version-specific standard library path to add to @INC
349 lib standard library path to add to @INC
350 sitelib-$] version-specific site library path to add to @INC
351 sitelib site library path to add to @INC
352 vendorlib-$] version-specific vendor library path to add to @INC
353 vendorlib vendor library path to add to @INC
354 PERL* fallback for all %ENV lookups that begin with "PERL"
356 Note the C<$]> in the above is not literal. Substitute whatever version
357 of perl you want to honor that entry, e.g. C<5.6.0>. Paths must be
358 separated with semicolons, as usual on win32.
362 By default, perl handles file globbing using the File::Glob extension,
363 which provides portable globbing.
365 If you want perl to use globbing that emulates the quirks of DOS
366 filename conventions, you might want to consider using File::DosGlob
367 to override the internal glob() implementation. See L<File::DosGlob> for
370 =item Using perl from the command line
372 If you are accustomed to using perl from various command-line
373 shells found in UNIX environments, you will be less than pleased
374 with what Windows offers by way of a command shell.
376 The crucial thing to understand about the Windows environment is that
377 the command line you type in is processed twice before Perl sees it.
378 First, your command shell (usually CMD.EXE on Windows NT, and
379 COMMAND.COM on Windows 9x) preprocesses the command line, to handle
380 redirection, environment variable expansion, and location of the
381 executable to run. Then, the perl executable splits the remaining
382 command line into individual arguments, using the C runtime library
383 upon which Perl was built.
385 It is particularly important to note that neither the shell nor the C
386 runtime do any wildcard expansions of command-line arguments (so
387 wildcards need not be quoted). Also, the quoting behaviours of the
388 shell and the C runtime are rudimentary at best (and may, if you are
389 using a non-standard shell, be inconsistent). The only (useful) quote
390 character is the double quote ("). It can be used to protect spaces
391 and other special characters in arguments.
393 The Windows NT documentation has almost no description of how the
394 quoting rules are implemented, but here are some general observations
395 based on experiments: The C runtime breaks arguments at spaces and
396 passes them to programs in argc/argv. Double quotes can be used to
397 prevent arguments with spaces in them from being split up. You can
398 put a double quote in an argument by escaping it with a backslash and
399 enclosing the whole argument within double quotes. The backslash and
400 the pair of double quotes surrounding the argument will be stripped by
403 The file redirection characters "<", ">", and "|" can be quoted by
404 double quotes (although there are suggestions that this may not always
405 be true). Single quotes are not treated as quotes by the shell or
406 the C runtime, they don't get stripped by the shell (just to make
407 this type of quoting completely useless). The caret "^" has also
408 been observed to behave as a quoting character, but this appears
409 to be a shell feature, and the caret is not stripped from the command
410 line, so Perl still sees it (and the C runtime phase does not treat
411 the caret as a quote character).
413 Here are some examples of usage of the "cmd" shell:
415 This prints two doublequotes:
417 perl -e "print '\"\"' "
421 perl -e "print \"\\\"\\\"\" "
423 This prints "bar" and writes "foo" to the file "blurch":
425 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" > blurch
427 This prints "foo" ("bar" disappears into nowhereland):
429 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2> nul
431 This prints "bar" and writes "foo" into the file "blurch":
433 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 1> blurch
435 This pipes "foo" to the "less" pager and prints "bar" on the console:
437 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" | less
439 This pipes "foo\nbar\n" to the less pager:
441 perl -le "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2>&1 | less
443 This pipes "foo" to the pager and writes "bar" in the file "blurch":
445 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2> blurch | less
448 Discovering the usefulness of the "command.com" shell on Windows 9x
449 is left as an exercise to the reader :)
451 One particularly pernicious problem with the 4NT command shell for
452 Windows NT is that it (nearly) always treats a % character as indicating
453 that environment variable expansion is needed. Under this shell, it is
454 therefore important to always double any % characters which you want
455 Perl to see (for example, for hash variables), even when they are
458 =item Building Extensions
460 The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) offers a wealth
461 of extensions, some of which require a C compiler to build.
462 Look in http://www.cpan.org/ for more information on CPAN.
464 Note that not all of the extensions available from CPAN may work
465 in the Win32 environment; you should check the information at
466 http://testers.cpan.org/ before investing too much effort into
467 porting modules that don't readily build.
469 Most extensions (whether they require a C compiler or not) can
470 be built, tested and installed with the standard mantra:
477 where $MAKE is whatever 'make' program you have configured perl to
478 use. Use "perl -V:make" to find out what this is. Some extensions
479 may not provide a testsuite (so "$MAKE test" may not do anything or
480 fail), but most serious ones do.
482 It is important that you use a supported 'make' program, and
483 ensure Config.pm knows about it. If you don't have nmake, you can
484 either get dmake from the location mentioned earlier or get an
485 old version of nmake reportedly available from:
487 http://download.microsoft.com/download/vc15/Patch/1.52/W95/EN-US/nmake15.exe
489 Another option is to use the make written in Perl, available from
492 http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-module/Make/
494 You may also use dmake. See L</"Make"> above on how to get it.
496 Note that MakeMaker actually emits makefiles with different syntax
497 depending on what 'make' it thinks you are using. Therefore, it is
498 important that one of the following values appears in Config.pm:
500 make='nmake' # MakeMaker emits nmake syntax
501 make='dmake' # MakeMaker emits dmake syntax
502 any other value # MakeMaker emits generic make syntax
503 (e.g GNU make, or Perl make)
505 If the value doesn't match the 'make' program you want to use,
506 edit Config.pm to fix it.
508 If a module implements XSUBs, you will need one of the supported
509 C compilers. You must make sure you have set up the environment for
510 the compiler for command-line compilation.
512 If a module does not build for some reason, look carefully for
513 why it failed, and report problems to the module author. If
514 it looks like the extension building support is at fault, report
515 that with full details of how the build failed using the perlbug
518 =item Command-line Wildcard Expansion
520 The default command shells on DOS descendant operating systems (such
521 as they are) usually do not expand wildcard arguments supplied to
522 programs. They consider it the application's job to handle that.
523 This is commonly achieved by linking the application (in our case,
524 perl) with startup code that the C runtime libraries usually provide.
525 However, doing that results in incompatible perl versions (since the
526 behavior of the argv expansion code differs depending on the
527 compiler, and it is even buggy on some compilers). Besides, it may
528 be a source of frustration if you use such a perl binary with an
529 alternate shell that *does* expand wildcards.
531 Instead, the following solution works rather well. The nice things
532 about it are 1) you can start using it right away; 2) it is more
533 powerful, because it will do the right thing with a pattern like
534 */*/*.c; 3) you can decide whether you do/don't want to use it; and
535 4) you can extend the method to add any customizations (or even
536 entirely different kinds of wildcard expansion).
538 C:\> copy con c:\perl\lib\Wild.pm
539 # Wild.pm - emulate shell @ARGV expansion on shells that don't
542 my @g = File::DosGlob::glob($_) if /[*?]/;
547 C:\> set PERL5OPT=-MWild
548 C:\> perl -le "for (@ARGV) { print }" */*/perl*.c
552 perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c
553 perl5.005/win32/perllib.c
554 perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c
555 perl5.005/win32/perllib.c
556 perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c
557 perl5.005/win32/perllib.c
559 Note there are two distinct steps there: 1) You'll have to create
560 Wild.pm and put it in your perl lib directory. 2) You'll need to
561 set the PERL5OPT environment variable. If you want argv expansion
562 to be the default, just set PERL5OPT in your default startup
565 If you are using the Visual C compiler, you can get the C runtime's
566 command line wildcard expansion built into perl binary. The resulting
567 binary will always expand unquoted command lines, which may not be
568 what you want if you use a shell that does that for you. The expansion
569 done is also somewhat less powerful than the approach suggested above.
571 =item Win32 Specific Extensions
573 A number of extensions specific to the Win32 platform are available
574 from CPAN. You may find that many of these extensions are meant to
575 be used under the Activeware port of Perl, which used to be the only
576 native port for the Win32 platform. Since the Activeware port does not
577 have adequate support for Perl's extension building tools, these
578 extensions typically do not support those tools either and, therefore,
579 cannot be built using the generic steps shown in the previous section.
581 To ensure smooth transitioning of existing code that uses the
582 ActiveState port, there is a bundle of Win32 extensions that contains
583 all of the ActiveState extensions and most other Win32 extensions from
584 CPAN in source form, along with many added bugfixes, and with MakeMaker
585 support. This bundle is available at:
587 http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/GSAR/libwin32-0.18.zip
589 See the README in that distribution for building and installation
590 instructions. Look for later versions that may be available at the
593 =item Notes on 64-bit Windows
595 Windows .NET Server supports the LLP64 data model on the Intel Itanium
598 The LLP64 data model is different from the LP64 data model that is the
599 norm on 64-bit Unix platforms. In the former, C<int> and C<long> are
600 both 32-bit data types, while pointers are 64 bits wide. In addition,
601 there is a separate 64-bit wide integral type, C<__int64>. In contrast,
602 the LP64 data model that is pervasive on Unix platforms provides C<int>
603 as the 32-bit type, while both the C<long> type and pointers are of
604 64-bit precision. Note that both models provide for 64-bits of
607 64-bit Windows running on Itanium is capable of running 32-bit x86
608 binaries transparently. This means that you could use a 32-bit build
609 of Perl on a 64-bit system. Given this, why would one want to build
610 a 64-bit build of Perl? Here are some reasons why you would bother:
614 A 64-bit native application will run much more efficiently on
619 There is no 2GB limit on process size.
623 Perl automatically provides large file support when built under
628 Embedding Perl inside a 64-bit application.
632 =head2 Running Perl Scripts
634 Perl scripts on UNIX use the "#!" (a.k.a "shebang") line to
635 indicate to the OS that it should execute the file using perl.
636 Win32 has no comparable means to indicate arbitrary files are
639 Instead, all available methods to execute plain text files on
640 Win32 rely on the file "extension". There are three methods
641 to use this to execute perl scripts:
647 There is a facility called "file extension associations" that will
648 work in Windows NT 4.0. This can be manipulated via the two
649 commands "assoc" and "ftype" that come standard with Windows NT
650 4.0. Type "ftype /?" for a complete example of how to set this
651 up for perl scripts (Say what? You thought Windows NT wasn't
656 Since file associations don't work everywhere, and there are
657 reportedly bugs with file associations where it does work, the
658 old method of wrapping the perl script to make it look like a
659 regular batch file to the OS, may be used. The install process
660 makes available the "pl2bat.bat" script which can be used to wrap
661 perl scripts into batch files. For example:
665 will create the file "FOO.BAT". Note "pl2bat" strips any
666 .pl suffix and adds a .bat suffix to the generated file.
668 If you use the 4DOS/NT or similar command shell, note that
669 "pl2bat" uses the "%*" variable in the generated batch file to
670 refer to all the command line arguments, so you may need to make
671 sure that construct works in batch files. As of this writing,
672 4DOS/NT users will need a "ParameterChar = *" statement in their
673 4NT.INI file or will need to execute "setdos /p*" in the 4DOS/NT
674 startup file to enable this to work.
678 Using "pl2bat" has a few problems: the file name gets changed,
679 so scripts that rely on C<$0> to find what they must do may not
680 run properly; running "pl2bat" replicates the contents of the
681 original script, and so this process can be maintenance intensive
682 if the originals get updated often. A different approach that
683 avoids both problems is possible.
685 A script called "runperl.bat" is available that can be copied
686 to any filename (along with the .bat suffix). For example,
687 if you call it "foo.bat", it will run the file "foo" when it is
688 executed. Since you can run batch files on Win32 platforms simply
689 by typing the name (without the extension), this effectively
690 runs the file "foo", when you type either "foo" or "foo.bat".
691 With this method, "foo.bat" can even be in a different location
692 than the file "foo", as long as "foo" is available somewhere on
693 the PATH. If your scripts are on a filesystem that allows symbolic
694 links, you can even avoid copying "runperl.bat".
696 Here's a diversion: copy "runperl.bat" to "runperl", and type
697 "runperl". Explain the observed behavior, or lack thereof. :)
698 Hint: .gnidnats llits er'uoy fi ,"lrepnur" eteled :tniH
700 =item Miscellaneous Things
702 A full set of HTML documentation is installed, so you should be
703 able to use it if you have a web browser installed on your
706 C<perldoc> is also a useful tool for browsing information contained
707 in the documentation, especially in conjunction with a pager
708 like C<less> (recent versions of which have Win32 support). You may
709 have to set the PAGER environment variable to use a specific pager.
710 "perldoc -f foo" will print information about the perl operator
713 One common mistake when using this port with a GUI library like C<Tk>
714 is assuming that Perl's normal behavior of opening a command-line
715 window will go away. This isn't the case. If you want to start a copy
716 of C<perl> without opening a command-line window, use the C<wperl>
717 executable built during the installation process. Usage is exactly
718 the same as normal C<perl> on Win32, except that options like C<-h>
719 don't work (since they need a command-line window to print to).
721 If you find bugs in perl, you can run C<perlbug> to create a
722 bug report (you may have to send it manually if C<perlbug> cannot
723 find a mailer on your system).
727 =head1 BUGS AND CAVEATS
729 Norton AntiVirus interferes with the build process, particularly if
730 set to "AutoProtect, All Files, when Opened". Unlike large applications
731 the perl build process opens and modifies a lot of files. Having the
732 the AntiVirus scan each and every one slows build the process significantly.
733 Worse, with PERLIO=stdio the build process fails with peculiar messages
734 as the virus checker interacts badly with miniperl.exe writing configure
735 files (it seems to either catch file part written and treat it as suspicious,
736 or virus checker may have it "locked" in a way which inhibits miniperl
737 updating it). The build does complete with
741 but that may be just luck. Other AntiVirus software may have similar issues.
743 Some of the built-in functions do not act exactly as documented in
744 L<perlfunc>, and a few are not implemented at all. To avoid
745 surprises, particularly if you have had prior exposure to Perl
746 in other operating environments or if you intend to write code
747 that will be portable to other environments. See L<perlport>
748 for a reasonably definitive list of these differences.
750 Not all extensions available from CPAN may build or work properly
751 in the Win32 environment. See L</"Building Extensions">.
753 Most C<socket()> related calls are supported, but they may not
754 behave as on Unix platforms. See L<perlport> for the full list.
756 Signal handling may not behave as on Unix platforms (where it
757 doesn't exactly "behave", either :). For instance, calling C<die()>
758 or C<exit()> from signal handlers will cause an exception, since most
759 implementations of C<signal()> on Win32 are severely crippled.
760 Thus, signals may work only for simple things like setting a flag
761 variable in the handler. Using signals under this port should
762 currently be considered unsupported.
764 Please send detailed descriptions of any problems and solutions that
765 you may find to <F<perlbug@perl.com>>, along with the output produced
768 =head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
770 The use of a camel with the topic of Perl is a trademark
771 of O'Reilly and Associates, Inc. Used with permission.
777 =item Gary Ng E<lt>71564.1743@CompuServe.COME<gt>
779 =item Gurusamy Sarathy E<lt>gsar@activestate.comE<gt>
781 =item Nick Ing-Simmons E<lt>nick@ing-simmons.netE<gt>
785 This document is maintained by Gurusamy Sarathy.
793 This port was originally contributed by Gary Ng around 5.003_24,
794 and borrowed from the Hip Communications port that was available
795 at the time. Various people have made numerous and sundry hacks
798 Borland support was added in 5.004_01 (Gurusamy Sarathy).
800 GCC/mingw32 support was added in 5.005 (Nick Ing-Simmons).
802 Support for PERL_OBJECT was added in 5.005 (ActiveState Tool Corp).
804 Support for fork() emulation was added in 5.6 (ActiveState Tool Corp).
806 Win9x support was added in 5.6 (Benjamin Stuhl).
808 Support for 64-bit Windows added in 5.8 (ActiveState Corp).
810 Last updated: 20 April 2002