################################################################################ ## ## Version 3.x, Copyright (C) 2004-2013, Marcus Holland-Moritz. ## Version 2.x, Copyright (C) 2001, Paul Marquess. ## Version 1.x, Copyright (C) 1999, Kenneth Albanowski. ## ## This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or ## modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. ## ################################################################################ =provides =dontwarn NEED_function NEED_function_GLOBAL NEED_variable NEED_variable_GLOBAL DPPP_NAMESPACE =implementation =pod =head1 NAME ppport.h - Perl/Pollution/Portability version __VERSION__ =head1 SYNOPSIS perl ppport.h [options] [source files] Searches current directory for files if no [source files] are given --help show short help --version show version --patch=file write one patch file with changes --copy=suffix write changed copies with suffix --diff=program use diff program and options --compat-version=version provide compatibility with Perl version --cplusplus accept C++ comments --quiet don't output anything except fatal errors --nodiag don't show diagnostics --nohints don't show hints --nochanges don't suggest changes --nofilter don't filter input files --strip strip all script and doc functionality from ppport.h --list-provided list provided API --list-unsupported list unsupported API --api-info=name show Perl API portability information =head1 COMPATIBILITY This version of F is designed to support operation with Perl installations back to __MIN_PERL__, and has been tested up to __MAX_PERL__. =head1 OPTIONS =head2 --help Display a brief usage summary. =head2 --version Display the version of F. =head2 --patch=I If this option is given, a single patch file will be created if any changes are suggested. This requires a working diff program to be installed on your system. =head2 --copy=I If this option is given, a copy of each file will be saved with the given suffix that contains the suggested changes. This does not require any external programs. Note that this does not automagically add a dot between the original filename and the suffix. If you want the dot, you have to include it in the option argument. If neither C<--patch> or C<--copy> are given, the default is to simply print the diffs for each file. This requires either C or a C program to be installed. =head2 --diff=I Manually set the diff program and options to use. The default is to use C, when installed, and output unified context diffs. =head2 --compat-version=I Tell F to check for compatibility with the given Perl version. The default is to check for compatibility with Perl version __MIN_PERL__. You can use this option to reduce the output of F if you intend to be backward compatible only down to a certain Perl version. =head2 --cplusplus Usually, F will detect C++ style comments and replace them with C style comments for portability reasons. Using this option instructs F to leave C++ comments untouched. =head2 --quiet Be quiet. Don't print anything except fatal errors. =head2 --nodiag Don't output any diagnostic messages. Only portability alerts will be printed. =head2 --nohints Don't output any hints. Hints often contain useful portability notes. Warnings will still be displayed. =head2 --nochanges Don't suggest any changes. Only give diagnostic output and hints unless these are also deactivated. =head2 --nofilter Don't filter the list of input files. By default, files not looking like source code (i.e. not *.xs, *.c, *.cc, *.cpp or *.h) are skipped. =head2 --strip Strip all script and documentation functionality from F. This reduces the size of F dramatically and may be useful if you want to include F in smaller modules without increasing their distribution size too much. The stripped F will have a C<--unstrip> option that allows you to undo the stripping, but only if an appropriate C module is installed. =head2 --list-provided Lists the API elements for which compatibility is provided by F. Also lists if it must be explicitly requested, if it has dependencies, and if there are hints or warnings for it. =head2 --list-unsupported Lists the API elements that are known not to be supported by F and below which version of Perl they probably won't be available or work. =head2 --api-info=I Show portability information for API elements matching I. If I is surrounded by slashes, it is interpreted as a regular expression. =head1 DESCRIPTION In order for a Perl extension (XS) module to be as portable as possible across differing versions of Perl itself, certain steps need to be taken. =over 4 =item * Including this header is the first major one. This alone will give you access to a large part of the Perl API that hasn't been available in earlier Perl releases. Use perl ppport.h --list-provided to see which API elements are provided by ppport.h. =item * You should avoid using deprecated parts of the API. For example, using global Perl variables without the C prefix is deprecated. Also, some API functions used to have a C prefix. Using this form is also deprecated. You can safely use the supported API, as F will provide wrappers for older Perl versions. =item * If you use one of a few functions or variables that were not present in earlier versions of Perl, and that can't be provided using a macro, you have to explicitly request support for these functions by adding one or more C<#define>s in your source code before the inclusion of F. These functions or variables will be marked C in the list shown by C<--list-provided>. Depending on whether you module has a single or multiple files that use such functions or variables, you want either C or global variants. For a C function or variable (used only in a single source file), use: #define NEED_function #define NEED_variable For a global function or variable (used in multiple source files), use: #define NEED_function_GLOBAL #define NEED_variable_GLOBAL Note that you mustn't have more than one global request for the same function or variable in your project. __EXPLICIT_API__ To avoid namespace conflicts, you can change the namespace of the explicitly exported functions / variables using the C macro. Just C<#define> the macro before including C: #define DPPP_NAMESPACE MyOwnNamespace_ #include "ppport.h" The default namespace is C. =back The good thing is that most of the above can be checked by running F on your source code. See the next section for details. =head1 EXAMPLES To verify whether F is needed for your module, whether you should make any changes to your code, and whether any special defines should be used, F can be run as a Perl script to check your source code. Simply say: perl ppport.h The result will usually be a list of patches suggesting changes that should at least be acceptable, if not necessarily the most efficient solution, or a fix for all possible problems. If you know that your XS module uses features only available in newer Perl releases, if you're aware that it uses C++ comments, and if you want all suggestions as a single patch file, you could use something like this: perl ppport.h --compat-version=5.6.0 --cplusplus --patch=test.diff If you only want your code to be scanned without any suggestions for changes, use: perl ppport.h --nochanges You can specify a different C program or options, using the C<--diff> option: perl ppport.h --diff='diff -C 10' This would output context diffs with 10 lines of context. If you want to create patched copies of your files instead, use: perl ppport.h --copy=.new To display portability information for the C function, use: perl ppport.h --api-info=newSVpvn Since the argument to C<--api-info> can be a regular expression, you can use perl ppport.h --api-info=/_nomg$/ to display portability information for all C<_nomg> functions or perl ppport.h --api-info=/./ to display information for all known API elements. =head1 BUGS If this version of F is causing failure during the compilation of this module, please check if newer versions of either this module or C are available on CPAN before sending a bug report. If F was generated using the latest version of C and is causing failure of this module, please send a bug report to L. Please include the following information: =over 4 =item 1. The complete output from running "perl -V" =item 2. This file. =item 3. The name and version of the module you were trying to build. =item 4. A full log of the build that failed. =item 5. Any other information that you think could be relevant. =back For the latest version of this code, please get the C module from CPAN. =head1 COPYRIGHT Version 3.x, Copyright (c) 2004-2013, Marcus Holland-Moritz. Version 2.x, Copyright (C) 2001, Paul Marquess. Version 1.x, Copyright (C) 1999, Kenneth Albanowski. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. =head1 SEE ALSO See L. =cut