If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the funny characters you see. It is written in the POD format (see pod/perlpod.pod) which is specially designed to be readable as is. =head1 NAME README.tru64 - Perl version 5 on Tru64 (formerly known as Digital UNIX formerly known as DEC OSF/1) systems =head1 DESCRIPTION This document describes various features of Compaq's (formerly Digital's) Unix operating system (Tru64) that will affect how Perl version 5 is compiled and/or runs. =head2 Compiling Perl 5 on Tru64 The recommended compiler to use in Tru64 is the native C compiler. The native compiler produces much faster code (the speed difference is noticeable: several dozen percentages) and also more correct code: if you are considering using the GNU C compiler you should use the gcc 2.95.3 since all older gcc releases are known to produce broken code when compiling Perl. One manifestation of this brokenness is the lib/sdbm test dumping core; another is the op/regexp dumping core (depending on the GCC release). =head2 Using Large Files with Perl on Tru64 In Tru64 Perl is automatically able to use large files, that is, files larger than 2 gigabytes, there is no need to use the Configure -Duselargefiles option as described in INSTALL. =head2 Threaded Perl on Tru64 To compile Perl to use the old Perl 5.005 threads model, run Configure with the -Dusethreads -Duse5005threads options as described in INSTALL. This will probably only work in Tru64 4.0 and newer releases, older operating releases like 3.2 aren't probably going to work properly with threads. Beware: the Perl 5.005 threads model is known to have bugs, for example the regular expressions are not thread-safe. The bugs are very hard to fix are and therefore the 5.005 threads model is still classified as an experimental feature. =head2 Long Doubles on Tru64 You cannot Configure Perl to use long doubles unless you have at least Tru64 V5.0, the long double support simply wasn't functional before that. =head2 64-bit Perl on Tru64 In Tru64 Perl's integers are automatically 64-bit wide, there is no need to use the Configure -Duse64bitint option as described in INSTALL. Similarly, there is no need for -Duse64bitall. =head2 Warnings about floating-point overflow when compiling Perl on Tru64 When compiling Perl in Tru64 you may (depending on the compiler release) see two warnings like this cc: Warning: numeric.c, line 104: In this statement, floating-point overflow occurs in evaluating the expression "1.8e308". (floatoverfl) return HUGE_VAL; -----------^ cc: Warning: POSIX.xs, line 1304: In this statement, floating-point overflow occurs in evaluating the expression "1.8e308". (floatoverfl) return HUGE_VAL; -------------------^ The exact line numbers may vary between Perl releases. The warnings are benign and can be ignored. When the file F is being compiled you may (depending on the operating system release) see an additional compiler flag being used: C<-DNO_EFF_ONLY_OK>. This is normal and refers to a feature that is relevant only if you use the C pragma. In older releases of the operating system the feature was broken and the NO_EFF_ONLY_OK instructs Perl not to use the feature. =head1 Testing Perl on Tru64 During "make test" the C will be skipped because on Tru64 it cannot be tested before Perl has been installed. The test refers to the use of the C<-P> option of Perl. =head1 AUTHOR Jarkko Hietaniemi =cut