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 2000 and later.
15 Before you start, you should glance through the README file
16 found in the top-level directory to which the Perl distribution
17 was extracted. Make sure you read and understand the terms under
18 which this software is being distributed.
20 Also make sure you read L<BUGS AND CAVEATS> below for the
21 known limitations of this port.
23 The INSTALL file in the perl top-level has much information that is
24 only relevant to people building Perl on Unix-like systems. In
25 particular, you can safely ignore any information that talks about
28 You may also want to look at one other option for building a perl that
29 will work on Windows: the README.cygwin file, which give a different
30 set of rules to build a perl for Windows. This method will probably
31 enable you to build a more Unix-compatible perl, but you will also
32 need to download and use various other build-time and run-time support
33 software described in that file.
35 This set of instructions is meant to describe a so-called "native"
36 port of Perl to the Windows platform. This includes both 32-bit and
37 64-bit Windows operating systems. The resulting Perl requires no
38 additional software to run (other than what came with your operating
39 system). Currently, this port is capable of using one of the
40 following compilers on the Intel x86 architecture:
42 Borland C++ version 5.02 or later
43 Microsoft Visual C++ version 6.0 or later
44 Gcc by mingw.org gcc version 3.2 or later
45 Gcc by mingw-w64.sf.net gcc version 4.4.3 or later
47 Note that the last two of these are actually competing projects both
48 delivering complete gcc toolchain for MS Windows:
52 =item L<http://mingw.org>
54 Delivers gcc toolchain targeting 32-bit Windows platform.
56 =item L<http://mingw-w64.sf.net>
58 Delivers gcc toolchain targeting both 64-bit Windows and 32-bit Windows
59 platforms (despite the project name "mingw-w64" they are not only 64-bit
60 oriented). They deliver the native gcc compilers and cross-compilers
61 that are also supported by perl's makefile.
65 The Borland C++ and Microsoft Visual C++ compilers are also now being given
66 away free. The Borland compiler is available as "Borland C++ Compiler Free
67 Command Line Tools" and is the same compiler that ships with the full
68 "Borland C++ Builder" product. The Microsoft compiler is available as
69 "Visual C++ Toolkit 2003" or "Visual C++ 2005/2008/2010 Express Edition" (and
70 also as part of the ".NET Framework SDK") and is the same compiler that ships
71 with "Visual C++ .NET 2003 Professional" or "Visual C++ 2005/2008/2010
72 Professional" respectively.
74 This port can also be built on IA64/AMD64 using:
76 Microsoft Platform SDK Nov 2001 (64-bit compiler and tools)
77 MinGW64 compiler (gcc version 4.4.3 or later)
79 The Windows SDK can be downloaded from L<http://www.microsoft.com/>.
80 The MinGW64 compiler is available at L<http://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw-w64>.
81 The latter is actually a cross-compiler targeting Win64. There's also a trimmed
82 down compiler (no java, or gfortran) suitable for building perl available at:
83 L<http://strawberryperl.com/package/kmx/64_gcctoolchain/>
85 NOTE: If you're using a 32-bit compiler to build perl on a 64-bit Windows
86 operating system, then you should set the WIN64 environment variable to "undef".
87 Also, the trimmed down compiler only passes tests when USE_ITHREADS *= define
88 (as opposed to undef) and when the CFG *= Debug line is commented out.
90 This port fully supports MakeMaker (the set of modules that
91 is used to build extensions to perl). Therefore, you should be
92 able to build and install most extensions found in the CPAN sites.
93 See L<Usage Hints for Perl on Windows> below for general hints about this.
95 =head2 Setting Up Perl on Windows
101 You need a "make" program to build the sources. If you are using
102 Visual C++ or the Windows SDK tools, nmake will work. Builds using
103 the Borland compiler or gcc need dmake.
105 dmake is a freely available make that has very nice macro features
108 A port of dmake for Windows is available from:
110 L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/dmake/>
112 Fetch and install dmake somewhere on your path.
114 There exists a minor coexistence problem with dmake and Borland C++
115 compilers. Namely, if a distribution has C files named with mixed
116 case letters, they will be compiled into appropriate .obj-files named
117 with all lowercase letters, and every time dmake is invoked
118 to bring files up to date, it will try to recompile such files again.
119 For example, Tk distribution has a lot of such files, resulting in
120 needless recompiles every time dmake is invoked. To avoid this, you
121 may use the script "sync_ext.pl" after a successful build. It is
122 available in the win32 subdirectory of the Perl source distribution.
126 Use the default "cmd" shell that comes with Windows. Some versions of the
127 popular 4DOS/NT shell have incompatibilities that may cause you trouble.
128 If the build fails under that shell, try building again with the cmd
131 Make sure the path to the build directory does not contain spaces. The
132 build usually works in this circumstance, but some tests will fail.
136 If you are using the Borland compiler, you will need dmake.
137 (The make that Borland supplies is seriously crippled and will not
138 work for MakeMaker builds.)
140 See L</"Make"> above.
142 =item Microsoft Visual C++
144 The nmake that comes with Visual C++ will suffice for building.
145 You will need to run the VCVARS32.BAT file, usually found somewhere
146 like C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\Bin.
147 This will set your build environment.
149 You can also use dmake to build using Visual C++; provided, however,
150 you set OSRELEASE to "microsft" (or whatever the directory name
151 under which the Visual C dmake configuration lives) in your environment
152 and edit win32/config.vc to change "make=nmake" into "make=dmake". The
153 latter step is only essential if you want to use dmake as your default
154 make for building extensions using MakeMaker.
156 =item Microsoft Visual C++ 2008/2010 Express Edition
158 These free versions of Visual C++ 2008/2010 Professional contain the same
159 compilers and linkers that ship with the full versions, and also contain
160 everything necessary to build Perl, rather than requiring a separate download
161 of the Windows SDK like previous versions did.
163 These packages can be downloaded by searching in the Download Center at
164 L<http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en>. (Providing exact
165 links to these packages has proven a pointless task because the links keep on
168 Install Visual C++ 2008/2010 Express, then setup your environment using, e.g.
170 C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\Tools\vsvars32.bat
172 (assuming the default installation location was chosen).
174 Perl should now build using the win32/Makefile. You will need to edit that
175 file to set CCTYPE to MSVC90FREE or MSVC100FREE first.
177 =item Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition
179 This free version of Visual C++ 2005 Professional contains the same compiler
180 and linker that ship with the full version, but doesn't contain everything
181 necessary to build Perl.
183 You will also need to download the "Windows SDK" (the "Core SDK" and "MDAC
184 SDK" components are required) for more header files and libraries.
186 These packages can both be downloaded by searching in the Download Center at
187 L<http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en>. (Providing exact
188 links to these packages has proven a pointless task because the links keep on
191 Try to obtain the latest version of the Windows SDK. Sometimes these packages
192 contain a particular Windows OS version in their name, but actually work on
193 other OS versions too. For example, the "Windows Server 2003 R2 Platform SDK"
194 also runs on Windows XP SP2 and Windows 2000.
196 Install Visual C++ 2005 first, then the Platform SDK. Setup your environment
197 as follows (assuming default installation locations were chosen):
199 SET PlatformSDKDir=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK
201 SET PATH=%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\BIN;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\Tools;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\bin;C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\VCPackages;%PlatformSDKDir%\Bin
203 SET INCLUDE=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\INCLUDE;%PlatformSDKDir%\include
205 SET LIB=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\LIB;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\lib;%PlatformSDKDir%\lib
207 SET LIBPATH=C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727
209 (The PlatformSDKDir might need to be set differently depending on which version
210 you are using. Earlier versions installed into "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDK",
211 while the latest versions install into version-specific locations such as
212 "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK for Windows Server 2003 R2".)
214 Perl should now build using the win32/Makefile. You will need to edit that
219 and to set CCHOME, CCINCDIR and CCLIBDIR as per the environment setup above.
221 =item Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003
223 This free toolkit contains the same compiler and linker that ship with
224 Visual C++ .NET 2003 Professional, but doesn't contain everything
225 necessary to build Perl.
227 You will also need to download the "Platform SDK" (the "Core SDK" and "MDAC
228 SDK" components are required) for header files, libraries and rc.exe, and
229 ".NET Framework SDK" for more libraries and nmake.exe. Note that the latter
230 (which also includes the free compiler and linker) requires the ".NET
231 Framework Redistributable" to be installed first. This can be downloaded and
232 installed separately, but is included in the "Visual C++ Toolkit 2003" anyway.
234 These packages can all be downloaded by searching in the Download Center at
235 L<http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en>. (Providing exact
236 links to these packages has proven a pointless task because the links keep on
239 Try to obtain the latest version of the Windows SDK. Sometimes these packages
240 contain a particular Windows OS version in their name, but actually work on
241 other OS versions too. For example, the "Windows Server 2003 R2 Platform SDK"
242 also runs on Windows XP SP2 and Windows 2000.
244 Install the Toolkit first, then the Platform SDK, then the .NET Framework SDK.
245 Setup your environment as follows (assuming default installation locations
248 SET PlatformSDKDir=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK
250 SET PATH=%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003\bin;%PlatformSDKDir%\Bin;C:\Program Files\Microsoft.NET\SDK\v1.1\Bin
252 SET INCLUDE=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003\include;%PlatformSDKDir%\include;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Vc7\include
254 SET LIB=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003\lib;%PlatformSDKDir%\lib;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Vc7\lib
256 (The PlatformSDKDir might need to be set differently depending on which version
257 you are using. Earlier versions installed into "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDK",
258 while the latest versions install into version-specific locations such as
259 "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK for Windows Server 2003 R2".)
261 Several required files will still be missing:
267 cvtres.exe is required by link.exe when using a .res file. It is actually
268 installed by the .NET Framework SDK, but into a location such as the
271 C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322
273 Copy it from there to %PlatformSDKDir%\Bin
277 lib.exe is normally used to build libraries, but link.exe with the /lib
278 option also works, so change win32/config.vc to use it instead:
280 Change the line reading:
288 It may also be useful to create a batch file called lib.bat in
289 C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003\bin containing:
294 for the benefit of any naughty C extension modules that you might want to build
295 later which explicitly reference "lib" rather than taking their value from
300 setargv.obj is required to build perlglob.exe (and perl.exe if the USE_SETARGV
301 option is enabled). The Platform SDK supplies this object file in source form
302 in %PlatformSDKDir%\src\crt. Copy setargv.c, cruntime.h and
303 internal.h from there to some temporary location and build setargv.obj using
305 cl.exe /c /I. /D_CRTBLD setargv.c
307 Then copy setargv.obj to %PlatformSDKDir%\lib
309 Alternatively, if you don't need perlglob.exe and don't need to enable the
310 USE_SETARGV option then you can safely just remove all mention of $(GLOBEXE)
311 from win32/Makefile and setargv.obj won't be required anyway.
315 Perl should now build using the win32/Makefile. You will need to edit that
320 and to set CCHOME, CCINCDIR and CCLIBDIR as per the environment setup above.
322 =item Microsoft Platform SDK 64-bit Compiler
324 The nmake that comes with the Platform SDK will suffice for building
325 Perl. Make sure you are building within one of the "Build Environment"
326 shells available after you install the Platform SDK from the Start Menu.
328 =item MinGW release 3 with gcc
330 Perl can be compiled with gcc from MinGW release 3 and later (using gcc 3.2.x
331 and later). It can be downloaded here:
333 L<http://www.mingw.org/>
335 You also need dmake. See L</"Make"> above on how to get it.
345 Make sure you are in the "win32" subdirectory under the perl toplevel.
346 This directory contains a "Makefile" that will work with
347 versions of nmake that come with Visual C++ or the Windows SDK, and
348 a dmake "makefile.mk" that will work for all supported compilers. The
349 defaults in the dmake makefile are setup to build using MinGW/gcc.
353 Edit the makefile.mk (or Makefile, if you're using nmake) and change
354 the values of INST_DRV and INST_TOP. You can also enable various
355 build flags. These are explained in the makefiles.
357 Note that it is generally not a good idea to try to build a perl with
358 INST_DRV and INST_TOP set to a path that already exists from a previous
359 build. In particular, this may cause problems with the
360 lib/ExtUtils/t/Embed.t test, which attempts to build a test program and
361 may end up building against the installed perl's lib/CORE directory rather
362 than the one being tested.
364 You will have to make sure that CCTYPE is set correctly and that
365 CCHOME points to wherever you installed your compiler.
367 If building with the cross-compiler provided by
368 mingw-w64.sourceforge.net you'll need to uncomment the line that sets
369 GCCCROSS in the makefile.mk. Do this only if it's the cross-compiler - ie
370 only if the bin folder doesn't contain a gcc.exe. (The cross-compiler
371 does not provide a gcc.exe, g++.exe, ar.exe, etc. Instead, all of these
372 executables are prefixed with 'x86_64-w64-mingw32-'.)
374 The default value for CCHOME in the makefiles for Visual C++
375 may not be correct for some versions. Make sure the default exists
378 You may also need to comment out the C<DELAYLOAD = ...> line in the
379 Makefile if you're using VC++ 6.0 without the latest service pack and
380 the linker reports an internal error.
382 If you want build some core extensions statically into perl's dll, specify
383 them in the STATIC_EXT macro.
385 Be sure to read the instructions near the top of the makefiles carefully.
389 Type "dmake" (or "nmake" if you are using that make).
391 This should build everything. Specifically, it will create perl.exe,
392 perl515.dll at the perl toplevel, and various other extension dll's
393 under the lib\auto directory. If the build fails for any reason, make
394 sure you have done the previous steps correctly.
398 =head2 Testing Perl on Windows
400 Type "dmake test" (or "nmake test"). This will run most of the tests from
401 the testsuite (many tests will be skipped).
403 There should be no test failures.
405 Some test failures may occur if you use a command shell other than the
406 native "cmd.exe", or if you are building from a path that contains
407 spaces. So don't do that.
409 If you are running the tests from a emacs shell window, you may see
410 failures in op/stat.t. Run "dmake test-notty" in that case.
412 If you're using the Borland compiler, you may see a failure in op/taint.t
413 arising from the inability to find the Borland Runtime DLLs on the system
414 default path. You will need to copy the DLLs reported by the messages
415 from where Borland chose to install it, into the Windows system directory
416 (usually somewhere like C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32) and rerun the test.
418 If you're using Borland compiler versions 5.2 and below, you may run into
419 problems finding the correct header files when building extensions. For
420 example, building the "Tk" extension may fail because both perl and Tk
421 contain a header file called "patchlevel.h". The latest Borland compiler
422 (v5.5) is free of this misbehaviour, and it even supports an
423 option -VI- for backward (bugward) compatibility for using the old Borland
424 search algorithm to locate header files.
426 If you run the tests on a FAT partition, you may see some failures for
427 C<link()> related tests (I<op/write.t>, I<op/stat.t> ...). Testing on
428 NTFS avoids these errors.
430 Furthermore, you should make sure that during C<make test> you do not
431 have any GNU tool packages in your path: some toolkits like Unixutils
432 include some tools (C<type> for instance) which override the Windows
433 ones and makes tests fail. Remove them from your path while testing to
436 Please report any other failures as described under L<BUGS AND CAVEATS>.
438 =head2 Installation of Perl on Windows
440 Type "dmake install" (or "nmake install"). This will put the newly
441 built perl and the libraries under whatever C<INST_TOP> points to in the
442 Makefile. It will also install the pod documentation under
443 C<$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\lib\pod> and HTML versions of the same under
444 C<$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\lib\pod\html>.
446 To use the Perl you just installed you will need to add a new entry to
447 your PATH environment variable: C<$INST_TOP\bin>, e.g.
449 set PATH=c:\perl\bin;%PATH%
451 If you opted to uncomment C<INST_VER> and C<INST_ARCH> in the makefile
452 then the installation structure is a little more complicated and you will
453 need to add two new PATH components instead: C<$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\bin> and
454 C<$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\bin\$ARCHNAME>, e.g.
456 set PATH=c:\perl\5.6.0\bin;c:\perl\5.6.0\bin\MSWin32-x86;%PATH%
458 =head2 Usage Hints for Perl on Windows
462 =item Environment Variables
464 The installation paths that you set during the build get compiled
465 into perl, so you don't have to do anything additional to start
466 using that perl (except add its location to your PATH variable).
468 If you put extensions in unusual places, you can set PERL5LIB
469 to a list of paths separated by semicolons where you want perl
470 to look for libraries. Look for descriptions of other environment
471 variables you can set in L<perlrun>.
473 You can also control the shell that perl uses to run system() and
474 backtick commands via PERL5SHELL. See L<perlrun>.
476 Perl does not depend on the registry, but it can look up certain default
477 values if you choose to put them there. Perl attempts to read entries from
478 C<HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Perl> and C<HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Perl>.
479 Entries in the former override entries in the latter. One or more of the
480 following entries (of type REG_SZ or REG_EXPAND_SZ) may be set:
482 lib-$] version-specific standard library path to add to @INC
483 lib standard library path to add to @INC
484 sitelib-$] version-specific site library path to add to @INC
485 sitelib site library path to add to @INC
486 vendorlib-$] version-specific vendor library path to add to @INC
487 vendorlib vendor library path to add to @INC
488 PERL* fallback for all %ENV lookups that begin with "PERL"
490 Note the C<$]> in the above is not literal. Substitute whatever version
491 of perl you want to honor that entry, e.g. C<5.6.0>. Paths must be
492 separated with semicolons, as usual on Windows.
496 By default, perl handles file globbing using the File::Glob extension,
497 which provides portable globbing.
499 If you want perl to use globbing that emulates the quirks of DOS
500 filename conventions, you might want to consider using File::DosGlob
501 to override the internal glob() implementation. See L<File::DosGlob> for
504 =item Using perl from the command line
506 If you are accustomed to using perl from various command-line
507 shells found in UNIX environments, you will be less than pleased
508 with what Windows offers by way of a command shell.
510 The crucial thing to understand about the Windows environment is that
511 the command line you type in is processed twice before Perl sees it.
512 First, your command shell (usually CMD.EXE) preprocesses the command
513 line, to handle redirection, environment variable expansion, and
514 location of the executable to run. Then, the perl executable splits
515 the remaining command line into individual arguments, using the
516 C runtime library upon which Perl was built.
518 It is particularly important to note that neither the shell nor the C
519 runtime do any wildcard expansions of command-line arguments (so
520 wildcards need not be quoted). Also, the quoting behaviours of the
521 shell and the C runtime are rudimentary at best (and may, if you are
522 using a non-standard shell, be inconsistent). The only (useful) quote
523 character is the double quote ("). It can be used to protect spaces
524 and other special characters in arguments.
526 The Windows documentation has almost no description of how the
527 quoting rules are implemented, but here are some general observations
528 based on experiments: The C runtime breaks arguments at spaces and
529 passes them to programs in argc/argv. Double quotes can be used to
530 prevent arguments with spaces in them from being split up. You can
531 put a double quote in an argument by escaping it with a backslash and
532 enclosing the whole argument within double quotes. The backslash and
533 the pair of double quotes surrounding the argument will be stripped by
536 The file redirection characters "E<lt>", "E<gt>", and "|" can be quoted by
537 double quotes (although there are suggestions that this may not always
538 be true). Single quotes are not treated as quotes by the shell or
539 the C runtime, they don't get stripped by the shell (just to make
540 this type of quoting completely useless). The caret "^" has also
541 been observed to behave as a quoting character, but this appears
542 to be a shell feature, and the caret is not stripped from the command
543 line, so Perl still sees it (and the C runtime phase does not treat
544 the caret as a quote character).
546 Here are some examples of usage of the "cmd" shell:
548 This prints two doublequotes:
550 perl -e "print '\"\"' "
554 perl -e "print \"\\\"\\\"\" "
556 This prints "bar" and writes "foo" to the file "blurch":
558 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" > blurch
560 This prints "foo" ("bar" disappears into nowhereland):
562 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2> nul
564 This prints "bar" and writes "foo" into the file "blurch":
566 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 1> blurch
568 This pipes "foo" to the "less" pager and prints "bar" on the console:
570 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" | less
572 This pipes "foo\nbar\n" to the less pager:
574 perl -le "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2>&1 | less
576 This pipes "foo" to the pager and writes "bar" in the file "blurch":
578 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2> blurch | less
581 Discovering the usefulness of the "command.com" shell on Windows 9x
582 is left as an exercise to the reader :)
584 One particularly pernicious problem with the 4NT command shell for
585 Windows is that it (nearly) always treats a % character as indicating
586 that environment variable expansion is needed. Under this shell, it is
587 therefore important to always double any % characters which you want
588 Perl to see (for example, for hash variables), even when they are
591 =item Building Extensions
593 The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) offers a wealth
594 of extensions, some of which require a C compiler to build.
595 Look in L<http://www.cpan.org/> for more information on CPAN.
597 Note that not all of the extensions available from CPAN may work
598 in the Windows environment; you should check the information at
599 L<http://testers.cpan.org/> before investing too much effort into
600 porting modules that don't readily build.
602 Most extensions (whether they require a C compiler or not) can
603 be built, tested and installed with the standard mantra:
610 where $MAKE is whatever 'make' program you have configured perl to
611 use. Use "perl -V:make" to find out what this is. Some extensions
612 may not provide a testsuite (so "$MAKE test" may not do anything or
613 fail), but most serious ones do.
615 It is important that you use a supported 'make' program, and
616 ensure Config.pm knows about it. If you don't have nmake, you can
617 either get dmake from the location mentioned earlier or get an
618 old version of nmake reportedly available from:
620 L<http://download.microsoft.com/download/vc15/Patch/1.52/W95/EN-US/nmake15.exe>
622 Another option is to use the make written in Perl, available from
625 L<http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-module/Make/>
627 You may also use dmake. See L</"Make"> above on how to get it.
629 Note that MakeMaker actually emits makefiles with different syntax
630 depending on what 'make' it thinks you are using. Therefore, it is
631 important that one of the following values appears in Config.pm:
633 make='nmake' # MakeMaker emits nmake syntax
634 make='dmake' # MakeMaker emits dmake syntax
635 any other value # MakeMaker emits generic make syntax
636 (e.g GNU make, or Perl make)
638 If the value doesn't match the 'make' program you want to use,
639 edit Config.pm to fix it.
641 If a module implements XSUBs, you will need one of the supported
642 C compilers. You must make sure you have set up the environment for
643 the compiler for command-line compilation.
645 If a module does not build for some reason, look carefully for
646 why it failed, and report problems to the module author. If
647 it looks like the extension building support is at fault, report
648 that with full details of how the build failed using the perlbug
651 =item Command-line Wildcard Expansion
653 The default command shells on DOS descendant operating systems (such
654 as they are) usually do not expand wildcard arguments supplied to
655 programs. They consider it the application's job to handle that.
656 This is commonly achieved by linking the application (in our case,
657 perl) with startup code that the C runtime libraries usually provide.
658 However, doing that results in incompatible perl versions (since the
659 behavior of the argv expansion code differs depending on the
660 compiler, and it is even buggy on some compilers). Besides, it may
661 be a source of frustration if you use such a perl binary with an
662 alternate shell that *does* expand wildcards.
664 Instead, the following solution works rather well. The nice things
665 about it are 1) you can start using it right away; 2) it is more
666 powerful, because it will do the right thing with a pattern like
667 */*/*.c; 3) you can decide whether you do/don't want to use it; and
668 4) you can extend the method to add any customizations (or even
669 entirely different kinds of wildcard expansion).
671 C:\> copy con c:\perl\lib\Wild.pm
672 # Wild.pm - emulate shell @ARGV expansion on shells that don't
675 my @g = File::DosGlob::glob($_) if /[*?]/;
680 C:\> set PERL5OPT=-MWild
681 C:\> perl -le "for (@ARGV) { print }" */*/perl*.c
685 perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c
686 perl5.005/win32/perllib.c
687 perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c
688 perl5.005/win32/perllib.c
689 perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c
690 perl5.005/win32/perllib.c
692 Note there are two distinct steps there: 1) You'll have to create
693 Wild.pm and put it in your perl lib directory. 2) You'll need to
694 set the PERL5OPT environment variable. If you want argv expansion
695 to be the default, just set PERL5OPT in your default startup
698 If you are using the Visual C compiler, you can get the C runtime's
699 command line wildcard expansion built into perl binary. The resulting
700 binary will always expand unquoted command lines, which may not be
701 what you want if you use a shell that does that for you. The expansion
702 done is also somewhat less powerful than the approach suggested above.
704 =item Notes on 64-bit Windows
706 Windows .NET Server supports the LLP64 data model on the Intel Itanium
709 The LLP64 data model is different from the LP64 data model that is the
710 norm on 64-bit Unix platforms. In the former, C<int> and C<long> are
711 both 32-bit data types, while pointers are 64 bits wide. In addition,
712 there is a separate 64-bit wide integral type, C<__int64>. In contrast,
713 the LP64 data model that is pervasive on Unix platforms provides C<int>
714 as the 32-bit type, while both the C<long> type and pointers are of
715 64-bit precision. Note that both models provide for 64-bits of
718 64-bit Windows running on Itanium is capable of running 32-bit x86
719 binaries transparently. This means that you could use a 32-bit build
720 of Perl on a 64-bit system. Given this, why would one want to build
721 a 64-bit build of Perl? Here are some reasons why you would bother:
727 A 64-bit native application will run much more efficiently on
732 There is no 2GB limit on process size.
736 Perl automatically provides large file support when built under
741 Embedding Perl inside a 64-bit application.
747 =head2 Running Perl Scripts
749 Perl scripts on UNIX use the "#!" (a.k.a "shebang") line to
750 indicate to the OS that it should execute the file using perl.
751 Windows has no comparable means to indicate arbitrary files are
754 Instead, all available methods to execute plain text files on
755 Windows rely on the file "extension". There are three methods
756 to use this to execute perl scripts:
762 There is a facility called "file extension associations". This can be
763 manipulated via the two commands "assoc" and "ftype" that come
764 standard with Windows. Type "ftype /?" for a complete example of how
765 to set this up for perl scripts (Say what? You thought Windows
766 wasn't perl-ready? :).
770 Since file associations don't work everywhere, and there are
771 reportedly bugs with file associations where it does work, the
772 old method of wrapping the perl script to make it look like a
773 regular batch file to the OS, may be used. The install process
774 makes available the "pl2bat.bat" script which can be used to wrap
775 perl scripts into batch files. For example:
779 will create the file "FOO.BAT". Note "pl2bat" strips any
780 .pl suffix and adds a .bat suffix to the generated file.
782 If you use the 4DOS/NT or similar command shell, note that
783 "pl2bat" uses the "%*" variable in the generated batch file to
784 refer to all the command line arguments, so you may need to make
785 sure that construct works in batch files. As of this writing,
786 4DOS/NT users will need a "ParameterChar = *" statement in their
787 4NT.INI file or will need to execute "setdos /p*" in the 4DOS/NT
788 startup file to enable this to work.
792 Using "pl2bat" has a few problems: the file name gets changed,
793 so scripts that rely on C<$0> to find what they must do may not
794 run properly; running "pl2bat" replicates the contents of the
795 original script, and so this process can be maintenance intensive
796 if the originals get updated often. A different approach that
797 avoids both problems is possible.
799 A script called "runperl.bat" is available that can be copied
800 to any filename (along with the .bat suffix). For example,
801 if you call it "foo.bat", it will run the file "foo" when it is
802 executed. Since you can run batch files on Windows platforms simply
803 by typing the name (without the extension), this effectively
804 runs the file "foo", when you type either "foo" or "foo.bat".
805 With this method, "foo.bat" can even be in a different location
806 than the file "foo", as long as "foo" is available somewhere on
807 the PATH. If your scripts are on a filesystem that allows symbolic
808 links, you can even avoid copying "runperl.bat".
810 Here's a diversion: copy "runperl.bat" to "runperl", and type
811 "runperl". Explain the observed behavior, or lack thereof. :)
812 Hint: .gnidnats llits er'uoy fi ,"lrepnur" eteled :tniH
816 =head2 Miscellaneous Things
818 A full set of HTML documentation is installed, so you should be
819 able to use it if you have a web browser installed on your
822 C<perldoc> is also a useful tool for browsing information contained
823 in the documentation, especially in conjunction with a pager
824 like C<less> (recent versions of which have Windows support). You may
825 have to set the PAGER environment variable to use a specific pager.
826 "perldoc -f foo" will print information about the perl operator
829 One common mistake when using this port with a GUI library like C<Tk>
830 is assuming that Perl's normal behavior of opening a command-line
831 window will go away. This isn't the case. If you want to start a copy
832 of C<perl> without opening a command-line window, use the C<wperl>
833 executable built during the installation process. Usage is exactly
834 the same as normal C<perl> on Windows, except that options like C<-h>
835 don't work (since they need a command-line window to print to).
837 If you find bugs in perl, you can run C<perlbug> to create a
838 bug report (you may have to send it manually if C<perlbug> cannot
839 find a mailer on your system).
841 =head1 BUGS AND CAVEATS
843 Norton AntiVirus interferes with the build process, particularly if
844 set to "AutoProtect, All Files, when Opened". Unlike large applications
845 the perl build process opens and modifies a lot of files. Having the
846 the AntiVirus scan each and every one slows build the process significantly.
847 Worse, with PERLIO=stdio the build process fails with peculiar messages
848 as the virus checker interacts badly with miniperl.exe writing configure
849 files (it seems to either catch file part written and treat it as suspicious,
850 or virus checker may have it "locked" in a way which inhibits miniperl
851 updating it). The build does complete with
855 but that may be just luck. Other AntiVirus software may have similar issues.
857 Some of the built-in functions do not act exactly as documented in
858 L<perlfunc>, and a few are not implemented at all. To avoid
859 surprises, particularly if you have had prior exposure to Perl
860 in other operating environments or if you intend to write code
861 that will be portable to other environments, see L<perlport>
862 for a reasonably definitive list of these differences.
864 Not all extensions available from CPAN may build or work properly
865 in the Windows environment. See L</"Building Extensions">.
867 Most C<socket()> related calls are supported, but they may not
868 behave as on Unix platforms. See L<perlport> for the full list.
870 Signal handling may not behave as on Unix platforms (where it
871 doesn't exactly "behave", either :). For instance, calling C<die()>
872 or C<exit()> from signal handlers will cause an exception, since most
873 implementations of C<signal()> on Windows are severely crippled.
874 Thus, signals may work only for simple things like setting a flag
875 variable in the handler. Using signals under this port should
876 currently be considered unsupported.
878 Please send detailed descriptions of any problems and solutions that
879 you may find to E<lt>F<perlbug@perl.org>E<gt>, along with the output
880 produced by C<perl -V>.
882 =head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
884 The use of a camel with the topic of Perl is a trademark
885 of O'Reilly and Associates, Inc. Used with permission.
891 =item Gary Ng E<lt>71564.1743@CompuServe.COME<gt>
893 =item Gurusamy Sarathy E<lt>gsar@activestate.comE<gt>
895 =item Nick Ing-Simmons E<lt>nick@ing-simmons.netE<gt>
897 =item Jan Dubois E<lt>jand@activestate.comE<gt>
899 =item Steve Hay E<lt>steve.m.hay@googlemail.comE<gt>
903 This document is maintained by Jan Dubois.
911 This port was originally contributed by Gary Ng around 5.003_24,
912 and borrowed from the Hip Communications port that was available
913 at the time. Various people have made numerous and sundry hacks
916 Borland support was added in 5.004_01 (Gurusamy Sarathy).
918 GCC/mingw32 support was added in 5.005 (Nick Ing-Simmons).
920 Support for PERL_OBJECT was added in 5.005 (ActiveState Tool Corp).
922 Support for fork() emulation was added in 5.6 (ActiveState Tool Corp).
924 Win9x support was added in 5.6 (Benjamin Stuhl).
926 Support for 64-bit Windows added in 5.8 (ActiveState Corp).
928 Last updated: 18 November 2010