3 If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the funny characters you
4 see. It is written in the POD format (see pod/perlpod.pod) which is
5 specially designed to be readable as is.
9 perlwin32 - Perl under Windows
13 These are instructions for building Perl under Windows 7 and later.
17 Before you start, you should glance through the README file
18 found in the top-level directory to which the Perl distribution
19 was extracted. Make sure you read and understand the terms under
20 which this software is being distributed.
22 Also make sure you read L</BUGS AND CAVEATS> below for the
23 known limitations of this port.
25 The INSTALL file in the perl top-level has much information that is
26 only relevant to people building Perl on Unix-like systems. In
27 particular, you can safely ignore any information that talks about
30 You may also want to look at one other option for building a perl that
31 will work on Windows: the README.cygwin file, which give a different
32 set of rules to build a perl for Windows. This method will probably
33 enable you to build a more Unix-compatible perl, but you will also
34 need to download and use various other build-time and run-time support
35 software described in that file.
37 This set of instructions is meant to describe a so-called "native"
38 port of Perl to the Windows platform. 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 and x86_64 architectures:
44 Microsoft Visual C++ Visual C++ 2015 (version 14.0) or later
45 Intel C++ Compiler (experimental)
46 Gcc by mingw.org gcc version 3.4.5-5.3.0
47 Gcc by mingw-w64.org gcc version 4.4.3 or later
49 Note that the last two of these are actually competing projects both
50 delivering complete gcc toolchain for MS Windows:
54 =item L<https://osdn.net/projects/mingw/>
56 Delivers gcc toolchain building 32-bit executables (which can be used both 32 and 64 bit Windows platforms)
58 =item L<https://mingw-w64.org>
60 Delivers gcc toolchain targeting both 64-bit Windows and 32-bit Windows
61 platforms (despite the project name "mingw-w64" they are not only 64-bit
62 oriented). They deliver the native gcc compilers and cross-compilers
63 that are also supported by perl's makefile.
67 The Microsoft Visual C++ compilers are also now being given away free. They
68 are available as "Visual C++ 2015-2022 Community Edition" and are the same
69 compilers that ship with "Visual C++ 2015-2022 Professional".
71 The MinGW64 compiler is available at L<https://mingw-w64.org>.
72 The latter is actually a cross-compiler targeting Win64. There's also a trimmed
73 down compiler (no java, or gfortran) suitable for building perl available at:
74 L<https://strawberryperl.com/package/kmx/64_gcctoolchain/>
76 NOTE: If you're using a 32-bit compiler to build perl on a 64-bit Windows
77 operating system, then you should set the WIN64 environment variable to "undef".
78 Also, the trimmed down compiler only passes tests when USE_ITHREADS *= define
79 (as opposed to undef) and when the CFG *= Debug line is commented out.
81 This port fully supports MakeMaker (the set of modules that
82 is used to build extensions to perl). Therefore, you should be
83 able to build and install most extensions found in the CPAN sites.
84 See L</Usage Hints for Perl on Windows> below for general hints about this.
86 =head2 Setting Up Perl on Windows
92 You need a "make" program to build the sources. If you are using
93 Visual C++, you can use nmake supplied with Visual C++.
94 You may also use gmake instead of nmake. Builds using gcc need
95 gmake. nmake is not supported for gcc builds. Parallel building is only
96 supported with gmake, not nmake.
100 Use the default "cmd" shell that comes with Windows. 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 Make sure the path to the build directory does not contain spaces. The
106 build usually works in this circumstance, but some tests will fail.
108 =item Microsoft Visual C++
110 The nmake that comes with Visual C++ will suffice for building. Visual C++
111 requires that certain things be set up in the console before Visual C++ will
112 successfully run. To make a console box be able to run the C compiler, you will
113 need to beforehand, run C<vcvarsall.bat x86> to compile for x86-32 and for
114 x86-64 C<vcvarsall.bat amd64>. On a typical install of a Microsoft C++
115 compiler product, these batch files will already be in your C<PATH>
116 environment variable so you may just type them without an absolute path into
117 your console. If you need to find the absolute path to the batch file, it is
118 usually found somewhere like
119 C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC.
120 With some newer Microsoft C products (released after ~2004), the installer will
121 put a shortcut in the start menu to launch a new console window with the
122 console already set up for your target architecture (x86-32 or x86-64 or IA64).
123 With the newer compilers, you may also use the older batch files if you choose
126 =item Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Community Edition
128 These free versions of Visual C++ 2015-2022 Professional contain the same
129 compilers and linkers that ship with the full versions, and also contain
130 everything necessary to build Perl.
132 These packages can be downloaded from L<https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/>.
134 Install Visual C++ 2015-2022 Community, then setup your environment
137 F<C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\Tools\vsvars32.bat>
139 (assuming the default installation location was chosen).
141 Perl should now build using the F<win32/Makefile>. You will need to edit that
142 file to set C<CCTYPE> to one of C<MSVC140>-C<MSVC143> first.
144 =item Microsoft C++ Build Tools
146 There's also a standalone (IDE-less) version of the build tools mentioned
147 above containing the MSVC compiler available for download from
148 L<https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/visual-cpp-build-tools/>.
150 This is also referred to as I<Build Tools for Visual Studio>.
154 Perl can be compiled with gcc from MinGW (version 3.4.5 or later) or from
155 MinGW64 (version 4.4.3 or later). It can be downloaded here:
157 L<https://osdn.net/projects/mingw/>
158 L<https://www.mingw-w64.org/>
160 You also need gmake. Usually it comes with MinGW but its executable may have
161 a different name, such as mingw32-make.exe.
163 Note that the MinGW build currently fails with version 6.3.0 or later.
165 Note also that the C++ mode build currently fails with MinGW 3.4.5 and 4.7.2
166 or later, and with MinGW64 64-bit 6.3.0 or later.
168 =item Intel C++ Compiler
170 Experimental support for using Intel C++ Compiler has been added. Edit
171 F<win32/Makefile> and pick the correct C<CCTYPE> for the Visual C that Intel C
172 was installed into. Also uncomment C<__ICC> to enable Intel C on Visual C support.
173 To set up the build environment, from the Start Menu run
174 IA-32 Visual Studio 20__ mode or Intel 64 Visual Studio 20__ mode as
175 appropriate. Then run C<nmake> as usual in that prompt box.
177 Only Intel C++ Compiler v12.1 has been tested. Other versions probably will
178 work. Using Intel C++ Compiler instead of Visual C has the benefit of C99
179 compatibility which is needed by some CPAN XS modules, while maintaining
180 compatibility with Visual C object code and Visual C debugging infrastructure
191 Make sure you are in the F<win32> subdirectory under the perl toplevel.
192 This directory contains a F<Makefile> that will work with
193 versions of C<nmake> that come with Visual C++, and
194 a GNU make F<GNUmakefile> that will work for all supported compilers.
195 The defaults in the C<gmake> makefile are set up to build with MinGW/gcc.
199 Edit the F<GNUmakefile> (or F<Makefile>, if you're using F<nmake>) and change
200 the values of I<INST_DRV> and C<INST_TOP>. You can also enable various build
201 flags. These are explained in the makefiles.
203 Note that it is generally not a good idea to try to build a C<perl> with
204 C<INST_DRV> and C<INST_TOP> set to a path that already exists from a previous
205 build. In particular, this may cause problems with the
206 F<lib/ExtUtils/t/Embed.t> test, which attempts to build a test program and
207 may end up building against the installed C<perl>'s F<lib/CORE> directory
208 rather than the one being tested.
210 You will have to make sure that C<CCTYPE> is set correctly and that
211 C<CCHOME> points to wherever you installed your compiler. For GCC this
212 should be the directory that contains the F<bin>, F<include> and
215 If building with the cross-compiler provided by
216 mingw-w64.org you'll need to uncomment the line that sets
217 C<GCCCROSS> in the F<GNUmakefile>. Do this only if it's the cross-compiler,
218 ie. only if the F<bin> folder doesn't contain a F<gcc.exe>. (The cross-compiler
219 does not provide a F<gcc.exe>, F<g++.exe>, F<ar.exe>, etc. Instead, all of these
220 executables are prefixed with C<x86_64-w64-mingw32->.)
222 The default value for C<CCHOME> in the makefiles for Visual C++
223 may not be correct for some versions. Make sure the default exists
226 If you want build some core extensions statically into C<perl>'s DLL,
227 specify them in the C<STATIC_EXT> macro.
229 Be sure to read the instructions near the top of the makefiles carefully.
233 Type C<gmake> (or C<nmake> if you are using that version of C<make>).
235 This should build everything. Specifically, it will create F<perl.exe>,
236 F<perl539.dll> at the perl toplevel, and various other extension DLL's
237 under the F<lib\auto> directory. If the build fails for any reason, make
238 sure you have done the previous steps correctly.
240 To try C<gmake>'s parallel mode, type C<gmake -j2> where C<2> is the maximum number
241 of parallel jobs you want to run. A number of things in the build process will
242 run in parallel, but there are serialization points where you will see just 1
243 CPU maxed out. This is normal.
245 If you are advanced enough with building C code, here is a suggestion to speed
246 up building C<perl>, and the later C<make test>. Try to keep your C<PATH> environment
247 variable with the least number of folders possible (remember to keep your C
248 compiler's folders there). F<C:\WINDOWS\system32> or F<C:\WINNT\system32>
249 depending on your OS version should be first folder in C<PATH>, since C<cmd.exe>
250 is the most commonly launched program during the build and later testing.
254 =head2 Testing Perl on Windows
256 Type "gmake test" (or "nmake test"). This will run most
257 of the tests from the testsuite (many tests will be skipped).
259 There should be no test failures.
261 If you build with Visual C++ 2015 or later then F<ext/XS-APItest/t/locale.t>
262 may crash (after all its tests have passed). This is due to a regression in the
263 Universal CRT introduced in the Windows 10 April 2018 Update, and will be fixed
264 in the May 2019 Update, as explained here: L<https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/519486/setlocalelc-numeric-iso-latin-16-fails-then-succee.html>.
266 If you build with certain versions (e.g. 4.8.1) of gcc from mingw then
267 F<ext/POSIX/t/time.t> may fail test 17 due to a known bug in those gcc builds:
268 see L<https://sourceforge.net/p/mingw/bugs/2152/>.
270 Some test failures may occur if you use a command shell other than the
271 native "cmd.exe", or if you are building from a path that contains
272 spaces. So don't do that.
274 If you are running the tests from a emacs shell window, you may see
275 failures in op/stat.t. Run "gmake test-notty" in that case.
277 Furthermore, you should make sure that during C<make test> you do not
278 have any GNU tool packages in your path: some toolkits like Unixutils
279 include some tools (C<type> for instance) which override the Windows
280 ones and makes tests fail. Remove them from your path while testing to
283 To see the output of specific failing tests run the harness from the t
286 # assuming you're starting from the win32 directory
288 .\perl harness <list of tests>
290 Please report any other failures as described under L</BUGS AND CAVEATS>.
292 =head2 Installation of Perl on Windows
294 Type "gmake install" ("nmake install"). This will
295 put the newly built perl and the libraries under whatever C<INST_TOP>
296 points to in the Makefile. It will also install the pod documentation
297 under C<$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\lib\pod> and HTML versions of the same
298 under C<$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\lib\pod\html>.
300 To use the Perl you just installed you will need to add a new entry to
301 your PATH environment variable: C<$INST_TOP\bin>, e.g.
303 set PATH=c:\perl\bin;%PATH%
305 If you opted to uncomment C<INST_VER> and C<INST_ARCH> in the makefile
306 then the installation structure is a little more complicated and you will
307 need to add two new PATH components instead: C<$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\bin> and
308 C<$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\bin\$ARCHNAME>, e.g.
310 set PATH=c:\perl\5.6.0\bin;c:\perl\5.6.0\bin\MSWin32-x86;%PATH%
312 =head2 Usage Hints for Perl on Windows
316 =item Environment Variables
318 The installation paths that you set during the build get compiled
319 into perl, so you don't have to do anything additional to start
320 using that perl (except add its location to your PATH variable).
322 If you put extensions in unusual places, you can set PERL5LIB
323 to a list of paths separated by semicolons where you want perl
324 to look for libraries. Look for descriptions of other environment
325 variables you can set in L<perlrun>.
327 You can also control the shell that perl uses to run system() and
328 backtick commands via PERL5SHELL. See L<perlrun>.
330 Perl does not depend on the registry, but it can look up certain default
331 values if you choose to put them there unless disabled at build time with
332 USE_NO_REGISTRY. On Perl process start Perl checks if
333 C<HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Perl> and C<HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Perl>
334 exist. If the keys exists, they will be checked for remainder of the Perl
335 process's run life for certain entries. Entries in
336 C<HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Perl> override entries in
337 C<HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Perl>. One or more of the following entries
338 (of type REG_SZ or REG_EXPAND_SZ) may be set in the keys:
340 lib-$] version-specific standard library path to add to @INC
341 lib standard library path to add to @INC
342 sitelib-$] version-specific site library path to add to @INC
343 sitelib site library path to add to @INC
344 vendorlib-$] version-specific vendor library path to add to @INC
345 vendorlib vendor library path to add to @INC
346 PERL* fallback for all %ENV lookups that begin with "PERL"
348 Note the C<$]> in the above is not literal. Substitute whatever version
349 of perl you want to honor that entry, e.g. C<5.6.0>. Paths must be
350 separated with semicolons, as usual on Windows.
354 By default, perl handles file globbing using the File::Glob extension,
355 which provides portable globbing.
357 If you want perl to use globbing that emulates the quirks of DOS
358 filename conventions, you might want to consider using File::DosGlob
359 to override the internal glob() implementation. See L<File::DosGlob> for
362 =item Using perl from the command line
364 If you are accustomed to using perl from various command-line
365 shells found in UNIX environments, you will be less than pleased
366 with what Windows offers by way of a command shell.
368 The crucial thing to understand about the Windows environment is that
369 the command line you type in is processed twice before Perl sees it.
370 First, your command shell (usually CMD.EXE) preprocesses the command
371 line, to handle redirection, environment variable expansion, and
372 location of the executable to run. Then, the perl executable splits
373 the remaining command line into individual arguments, using the
374 C runtime library upon which Perl was built.
376 It is particularly important to note that neither the shell nor the C
377 runtime do any wildcard expansions of command-line arguments (so
378 wildcards need not be quoted). Also, the quoting behaviours of the
379 shell and the C runtime are rudimentary at best (and may, if you are
380 using a non-standard shell, be inconsistent). The only (useful) quote
381 character is the double quote ("). It can be used to protect spaces
382 and other special characters in arguments.
384 The Windows documentation describes the shell parsing rules here:
385 L<https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/cmd>
386 and the C runtime parsing rules here:
387 L<https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/17w5ykft%28v=VS.100%29.aspx>.
389 Here are some further observations based on experiments: The C runtime
390 breaks arguments at spaces and passes them to programs in argc/argv.
391 Double quotes can be used to prevent arguments with spaces in them from
392 being split up. You can put a double quote in an argument by escaping
393 it with a backslash and enclosing the whole argument within double quotes.
394 The backslash and the pair of double quotes surrounding the argument will
395 be stripped by the C runtime.
397 The file redirection characters "E<lt>", "E<gt>", and "|" can be quoted by
398 double quotes (although there are suggestions that this may not always
399 be true). Single quotes are not treated as quotes by the shell or
400 the C runtime, they don't get stripped by the shell (just to make
401 this type of quoting completely useless). The caret "^" has also
402 been observed to behave as a quoting character, but this appears
403 to be a shell feature, and the caret is not stripped from the command
404 line, so Perl still sees it (and the C runtime phase does not treat
405 the caret as a quote character).
407 Here are some examples of usage of the "cmd" shell:
409 This prints two doublequotes:
411 perl -e "print '\"\"' "
415 perl -e "print \"\\\"\\\"\" "
417 This prints "bar" and writes "foo" to the file "blurch":
419 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" > blurch
421 This prints "foo" ("bar" disappears into nowhereland):
423 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2> nul
425 This prints "bar" and writes "foo" into the file "blurch":
427 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 1> blurch
429 This pipes "foo" to the "less" pager and prints "bar" on the console:
431 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" | less
433 This pipes "foo\nbar\n" to the less pager:
435 perl -le "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2>&1 | less
437 This pipes "foo" to the pager and writes "bar" in the file "blurch":
439 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2> blurch | less
442 Discovering the usefulness of the "command.com" shell on Windows 9x
443 is left as an exercise to the reader :)
445 One particularly pernicious problem with the 4NT command shell for
446 Windows is that it (nearly) always treats a % character as indicating
447 that environment variable expansion is needed. Under this shell, it is
448 therefore important to always double any % characters which you want
449 Perl to see (for example, for hash variables), even when they are
452 =item Building Extensions
454 The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) offers a wealth
455 of extensions, some of which require a C compiler to build.
456 Look in L<https://www.cpan.org/> for more information on CPAN.
458 Note that not all of the extensions available from CPAN may work
459 in the Windows environment; you should check the information at
460 L<https://www.cpantesters.org/> before investing too much effort into
461 porting modules that don't readily build.
463 Most extensions (whether they require a C compiler or not) can
464 be built, tested and installed with the standard mantra:
471 where $MAKE is whatever 'make' program you have configured perl to
472 use. Use "perl -V:make" to find out what this is. Some extensions
473 may not provide a testsuite (so "$MAKE test" may not do anything or
474 fail), but most serious ones do.
476 It is important that you use a supported 'make' program, and
477 ensure Config.pm knows about it.
479 Note that MakeMaker actually emits makefiles with different syntax
480 depending on what 'make' it thinks you are using. Therefore, it is
481 important that one of the following values appears in Config.pm:
483 make='nmake' # MakeMaker emits nmake syntax
484 any other value # MakeMaker emits generic make syntax
485 (e.g GNU make, or Perl make)
487 If the value doesn't match the 'make' program you want to use,
488 edit Config.pm to fix it.
490 If a module implements XSUBs, you will need one of the supported
491 C compilers. You must make sure you have set up the environment for
492 the compiler for command-line compilation before running C<perl Makefile.PL>
493 or any invocation of make.
495 If a module does not build for some reason, look carefully for
496 why it failed, and report problems to the module author. If
497 it looks like the extension building support is at fault, report
498 that with full details of how the build failed using the GitHub
499 issue tracker at L<https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues>.
501 =item Command-line Wildcard Expansion
503 The default command shells on DOS descendant operating systems (such
504 as they are) usually do not expand wildcard arguments supplied to
505 programs. They consider it the application's job to handle that.
506 This is commonly achieved by linking the application (in our case,
507 perl) with startup code that the C runtime libraries usually provide.
508 However, doing that results in incompatible perl versions (since the
509 behavior of the argv expansion code differs depending on the
510 compiler, and it is even buggy on some compilers). Besides, it may
511 be a source of frustration if you use such a perl binary with an
512 alternate shell that *does* expand wildcards.
514 Instead, the following solution works rather well. The nice things
515 about it are 1) you can start using it right away; 2) it is more
516 powerful, because it will do the right thing with a pattern like
517 */*/*.c; 3) you can decide whether you do/don't want to use it; and
518 4) you can extend the method to add any customizations (or even
519 entirely different kinds of wildcard expansion).
521 C:\> copy con c:\perl\lib\Wild.pm
522 # Wild.pm - emulate shell @ARGV expansion on shells that don't
525 my @g = File::DosGlob::glob($_) if /[*?]/;
530 C:\> set PERL5OPT=-MWild
531 C:\> perl -le "for (@ARGV) { print }" */*/perl*.c
535 perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c
536 perl5.005/win32/perllib.c
537 perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c
538 perl5.005/win32/perllib.c
539 perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c
540 perl5.005/win32/perllib.c
542 Note there are two distinct steps there: 1) You'll have to create
543 Wild.pm and put it in your perl lib directory. 2) You'll need to
544 set the PERL5OPT environment variable. If you want argv expansion
545 to be the default, just set PERL5OPT in your default startup
548 If you are using the Visual C compiler, you can get the C runtime's
549 command line wildcard expansion built into perl binary. The resulting
550 binary will always expand unquoted command lines, which may not be
551 what you want if you use a shell that does that for you. The expansion
552 done is also somewhat less powerful than the approach suggested above.
554 =item Notes on 64-bit Windows
556 Windows .NET Server supports the LLP64 data model on the Intel Itanium
559 The LLP64 data model is different from the LP64 data model that is the
560 norm on 64-bit Unix platforms. In the former, C<int> and C<long> are
561 both 32-bit data types, while pointers are 64 bits wide. In addition,
562 there is a separate 64-bit wide integral type, C<__int64>. In contrast,
563 the LP64 data model that is pervasive on Unix platforms provides C<int>
564 as the 32-bit type, while both the C<long> type and pointers are of
565 64-bit precision. Note that both models provide for 64-bits of
568 64-bit Windows running on Itanium is capable of running 32-bit x86
569 binaries transparently. This means that you could use a 32-bit build
570 of Perl on a 64-bit system. Given this, why would one want to build
571 a 64-bit build of Perl? Here are some reasons why you would bother:
577 A 64-bit native application will run much more efficiently on
582 There is no 2GB limit on process size.
586 Perl automatically provides large file support when built under
591 Embedding Perl inside a 64-bit application.
597 =head2 Running Perl Scripts
599 Perl scripts on UNIX use the "#!" (a.k.a "shebang") line to
600 indicate to the OS that it should execute the file using perl.
601 Windows has no comparable means to indicate arbitrary files are
604 Instead, all available methods to execute plain text files on
605 Windows rely on the file "extension". There are three methods
606 to use this to execute perl scripts:
612 There is a facility called "file extension associations". This can be
613 manipulated via the two commands "assoc" and "ftype" that come
614 standard with Windows. Type "ftype /?" for a complete example of how
615 to set this up for perl scripts (Say what? You thought Windows
616 wasn't perl-ready? :).
620 Since file associations don't work everywhere, and there are
621 reportedly bugs with file associations where it does work, the
622 old method of wrapping the perl script to make it look like a
623 regular batch file to the OS, may be used. The install process
624 makes available the "pl2bat.bat" script which can be used to wrap
625 perl scripts into batch files. For example:
629 will create the file "FOO.BAT". Note "pl2bat" strips any
630 .pl suffix and adds a .bat suffix to the generated file.
632 If you use the 4DOS/NT or similar command shell, note that
633 "pl2bat" uses the "%*" variable in the generated batch file to
634 refer to all the command line arguments, so you may need to make
635 sure that construct works in batch files. As of this writing,
636 4DOS/NT users will need a "ParameterChar = *" statement in their
637 4NT.INI file or will need to execute "setdos /p*" in the 4DOS/NT
638 startup file to enable this to work.
642 Using "pl2bat" has a few problems: the file name gets changed,
643 so scripts that rely on C<$0> to find what they must do may not
644 run properly; running "pl2bat" replicates the contents of the
645 original script, and so this process can be maintenance intensive
646 if the originals get updated often. A different approach that
647 avoids both problems is possible.
649 A script called "runperl.bat" is available that can be copied
650 to any filename (along with the .bat suffix). For example,
651 if you call it "foo.bat", it will run the file "foo" when it is
652 executed. Since you can run batch files on Windows platforms simply
653 by typing the name (without the extension), this effectively
654 runs the file "foo", when you type either "foo" or "foo.bat".
655 With this method, "foo.bat" can even be in a different location
656 than the file "foo", as long as "foo" is available somewhere on
657 the PATH. If your scripts are on a filesystem that allows symbolic
658 links, you can even avoid copying "runperl.bat".
660 Here's a diversion: copy "runperl.bat" to "runperl", and type
661 "runperl". Explain the observed behavior, or lack thereof. :)
662 Hint: .gnidnats llits er'uoy fi ,"lrepnur" eteled :tniH
666 =head2 Miscellaneous Things
668 A full set of HTML documentation is installed, so you should be
669 able to use it if you have a web browser installed on your
672 C<perldoc> is also a useful tool for browsing information contained
673 in the documentation, especially in conjunction with a pager
674 like C<less> (recent versions of which have Windows support). You may
675 have to set the PAGER environment variable to use a specific pager.
676 "perldoc -f foo" will print information about the perl operator
679 One common mistake when using this port with a GUI library like C<Tk>
680 is assuming that Perl's normal behavior of opening a command-line
681 window will go away. This isn't the case. If you want to start a copy
682 of C<perl> without opening a command-line window, use the C<wperl>
683 executable built during the installation process. Usage is exactly
684 the same as normal C<perl> on Windows, except that options like C<-h>
685 don't work (since they need a command-line window to print to).
687 If you find bugs in perl, you can report them to
688 L<https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues>.
690 =head1 BUGS AND CAVEATS
692 Norton AntiVirus interferes with the build process, particularly if
693 set to "AutoProtect, All Files, when Opened". Unlike large applications
694 the perl build process opens and modifies a lot of files. Having the
695 AntiVirus scan each and every one slows build the process significantly.
696 Worse, with PERLIO=stdio the build process fails with peculiar messages
697 as the virus checker interacts badly with miniperl.exe writing configure
698 files (it seems to either catch file part written and treat it as suspicious,
699 or virus checker may have it "locked" in a way which inhibits miniperl
700 updating it). The build does complete with
704 but that may be just luck. Other AntiVirus software may have similar issues.
706 A git GUI shell extension for Windows such as TortoiseGit will cause the build
707 and later C<make test> to run much slower since every file is checked for its
708 git status as soon as it is created and/or modified. TortoiseGit doesn't cause
709 any test failures or build problems unlike the antivirus software described
710 above, but it does cause similar slowness. It is suggested to use Task Manager
711 to look for background processes which use high CPU amounts during the building
714 Some of the built-in functions do not act exactly as documented in
715 L<perlfunc>, and a few are not implemented at all. To avoid
716 surprises, particularly if you have had prior exposure to Perl
717 in other operating environments or if you intend to write code
718 that will be portable to other environments, see L<perlport>
719 for a reasonably definitive list of these differences.
721 Not all extensions available from CPAN may build or work properly
722 in the Windows environment. See L</"Building Extensions">.
724 Most C<socket()> related calls are supported, but they may not
725 behave as on Unix platforms. See L<perlport> for the full list.
727 Signal handling may not behave as on Unix platforms (where it
728 doesn't exactly "behave", either :). For instance, calling C<die()>
729 or C<exit()> from signal handlers will cause an exception, since most
730 implementations of C<signal()> on Windows are severely crippled.
731 Thus, signals may work only for simple things like setting a flag
732 variable in the handler. Using signals under this port should
733 currently be considered unsupported.
735 Please report detailed descriptions of any problems and solutions that
736 you may find at E<lt>L<https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues>E<gt>,
737 along with the output produced by C<perl -V>.
739 =head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
741 The use of a camel with the topic of Perl is a trademark
742 of O'Reilly and Associates, Inc. Used with permission.
748 =item Gary Ng E<lt>71564.1743@CompuServe.COME<gt>
750 =item Gurusamy Sarathy E<lt>gsar@activestate.comE<gt>
752 =item Nick Ing-Simmons E<lt>nick@ing-simmons.netE<gt>
754 =item Jan Dubois E<lt>jand@activestate.comE<gt>
756 =item Steve Hay E<lt>steve.m.hay@googlemail.comE<gt>
760 This document is maintained by Jan Dubois.
768 This port was originally contributed by Gary Ng around 5.003_24,
769 and borrowed from the Hip Communications port that was available
770 at the time. Various people have made numerous and sundry hacks
773 GCC/mingw32 support was added in 5.005 (Nick Ing-Simmons).
775 Support for PERL_OBJECT was added in 5.005 (ActiveState Tool Corp).
777 Support for fork() emulation was added in 5.6 (ActiveState Tool Corp).
779 Win9x support was added in 5.6 (Benjamin Stuhl).
781 Support for 64-bit Windows added in 5.8 (ActiveState Corp).
783 Last updated: 06 October 2021