-Last revised: 19-Jan-1996 by Charles Bailey bailey@genetics.upenn.edu
-
-The VMS port of Perl is still under development. At this time, the Perl
-binaries built under VMS handle internal operations properly, for the most
-part, as well as most of the system calls which have close equivalents under
-VMS. There are still some incompatibilities in process handling (e.g the
-fork/exec model for creating subprocesses doesn't do what you might expect
-under Unix), and there remain some file handling differences from Unix. Over
-the longer term, we'll try to get many of the useful VMS system services
-integrated as well, depending on time and people available. Of course, if
-you'd like to add something yourself, or join the porting team, we'd love to
-have you!
-
-The current sources and build procedures have been tested on a VAX using VAXC
-and DECC, and on an AXP using DECC. If you run into problems with other
-compilers, please let us know.
-
-Note to DECC users: Some early versions of the DECCRTL contained a few bugs
-which affect Perl performance:
+Last Revised 01-March-1999 by Dan Sugalski <sugalskd@ous.edu>
+Originally by Charles Bailey <bailey@newman.upenn.edu>
+
+* Important safety tip
+
+The build and install procedures have changed significantly from the 5.004
+releases! Make sure you read the "Building Perl" and "Installing Perl"
+sections before you build or install.
+
+Also note that, as of 5.005, an ANSI C compliant compiler is required to
+build Perl. Vax C is *not* ANSI compliant, as it died a natural death some
+time before the standard was set. Therefore Vax C will not compile perl
+5.005. Sorry about that.
+
+If you're stuck without Dec C (the Vax C license should be good for Dec C,
+but the media charges might prohibit an upgrade), consider getting Gnu C
+instead.
+
+* Intro
+
+The VMS port of Perl is as functionally complete as any other Perl port
+(and as complete as the ports on some Unix systems). The Perl binaries
+provide all the Perl system calls that are either available under VMS or
+reasonably emulated. There are some incompatibilites in process handling
+(e.g the fork/exec model for creating subprocesses doesn't do what you
+might expect under Unix), mainly because VMS and Unix handle processes and
+sub-processes very differently.
+
+There are still some unimplemented system functions, and of coursse we
+could use modules implementing useful VMS system services, so if you'd like
+to lend a hand we'd love to have you. Join the Perl Porting Team Now!
+
+The current sources and build procedures have been tested on a VAX using
+Dec C, and on an AXP using Dec C. If you run into problems with
+other compilers, please let us know.
+
+There are issues with varions versions of Dec C, so if you're not running a
+relatively modern version, check the Dec C issues section later on in this
+document.
+
+* Other required software
+
+In addition to VMS, you'll need:
+ 1) A C compiler. Dec C or gcc for AXP or the VAX.
+ 2) A make tool. Dec's MMS (v2.6 or later), or MadGoat's free MMS
+ analog MMK (available from ftp.madgoat.com/madgoat) both work
+ just fine. Gnu Make might work, but it's been so long since
+ anyone's tested it that we're not sure. MMK's free, though, so
+ go ahead and use that.
+
+You may also want to have on hand:
+ 1) UNZIP.EXE for VMS available from a number of web/ftp sites.
+ http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/UnZip.html
+ http://www.openvms.digital.com/cd/INFO-ZIP/
+ ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/VMS/
+ ftp://ftp.openvms.digital.com/
+ ftp://ftp.madgoat.com/madgoat/
+ ftp://ftp.wku.edu/vms/
+ 2) GUNZIP/GZIP.EXE for VMS available from a number of web/ftp sites.
+ http://www.fsf.org/order/ftp.html
+ ftp://ftp.uu.net/archive/systems/gnu/diffutils*.tar.gz
+ ftp://gatekeeper.dec.com/pub/GNU/diffutils*.tar.gz
+ ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/diffutils*.tar.gz
+ http://www.openvms.digital.com/cd/GZIP/
+ ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/VMS/
+ 3) VMS TAR also available from a number of web/ftp sites.
+ ftp://ftp.lp.se/vms/
+ http://www.openvms.digital.com/cd/VMSTAR/
+ ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/VMS/
+Please note that UNZIP and GUNZIP are not the same thing (they work with
+different formats). Most of the useful files from CPAN (the Comprehensive
+Perl Archive Network) are in .tar.gz format (this includes copies of the
+source code for perl as well as modules and scripts that you may wish to
+add later) hence you probably want to have GUNZIP.EXE and VMSTAR.EXE on
+your VMS machine.
+
+If you want to include socket support, you'll need a TCP stack and either
+Dec C, or socket libraries. See the Socket Support topic for more details.
+
+* Building Perl
+
+Building perl has two steps, configuration and compilation.
+
+To configure perl (a necessary first step), issue the command
+
+@CONFIGURE
+
+from the top of an unpacked perl directory. You'll be asked a series of
+questions, and the answers to them (along with the capabilities of your C
+compiler and network stack) will determine how perl's built.
+
+If you've got multiple C compilers installed, you'll have your choice of
+which one to use. Various older versions of Dec C had some gotchas, so if
+you're using a version older than 5.2, check the Dec C Issues section.
+
+The configuration script will print out, at the very end, the MMS or MMK
+command you need to compile perl. Issue it (exactly as printed) to start
+the build.
+
+Once you issue your MMS command, sit back and wait. Perl should build and
+link without a problem. If it doesn't, check the Gotchas to watch out for
+section. If that doesn't help, send some mail to the VMSPERL mailing list.
+Instructions are in the Mailing Lists section.
+
+As a handy shortcut, the command:
+
+@CONFIGURE "-des"
+
+(note the quotation marks and case) will choose reasonable defaults. (It
+takes Dec C over Gnu C, Dec C sockets over SOCKETSHR sockets, and either
+over no sockets)
+
+* Testing Perl
+
+Once Perl has built cleanly, you need to test it to make sure things work.
+This step is very important--there are always things that can go wrong
+somehow and get you a dysfunctional Perl.
+
+Testing is very easy, though, as there's a full test suite in the perl
+distribution. To run the tests, enter the *exact* MMS line you used to
+compile Perl and add the word "test" to the end, like this:
+
+Compile Command:
+
+$MMS
+
+Test Command:
+
+$MMS test
+
+MMS will run all the tests. This may take some time, as there are a lot of
+tests. If any tests fail, there will be a note made on-screen. At the end
+of all the tests, a summary of the tests, the number passed and failed, and
+the time taken will be displayed.
+
+If any tests fail, it means something's wrong with Perl. If the test suite
+hangs (some tests can take upwards of two or three minutes, or more if
+you're on an especially slow machine, depending on your machine speed, so
+don't be hasty), then the test *after* the last one displayed failed. Don't
+install Perl unless you're confident that you're OK. Regardless of how
+confident you are, make a bug report to the VMSPerl mailing list.
+
+If one or more tests fail, you can get more info on the failure by issuing
+this command sequence:
+
+$ @[.VMS]TEST .typ "-v" [.subdir]test.T
+
+where ".typ" is the file type of the Perl images you just built (if you
+didn't do anything special, use .EXE), and "[.subdir]test.T" is the test
+that failed. For example, with a normal Perl build, if the test indicated
+that [.op]time failed, then you'd do this:
+
+$ @[.VMS]TEST .EXE "-v" [.OP]TIME.T
+
+When you send in a bug report for failed tests, please include the output
+from this command, which is run from the main source directory:
+
+MCR []MINIPERL "-V"
+
+Note that "-V" really is a capital V in double quotes. This will dump out a
+couple of screens worth of config info, and can help us diagnose the problem.
+If (and only if) that did not work then try enclosing the output of:
+
+@[.vms]myconfig
+
+* Cleaning up and starting fresh
+
+If you need to recompile from scratch, you have to make sure you clean up
+first. There's a procedure to do it--enter the *exact* MMS line you used to
+compile and add "realclean" at the end, like this:
+
+Compile Command:
+
+$MMS
+
+Cleanup Command:
+
+$MMS realclean
+
+If you don't do this, things may behave erratically. They might not, too,
+so it's best to be sure and do it.
+
+* Installing Perl
+
+There are several steps you need to take to get Perl installed and
+running.
+
+1) Create a directory somewhere and define the concealed logical PERL_ROOT
+to point to it. For example, DEFINE/TRANS=(CONC,TERM) PERL_ROOT dka200:[perl.]
+
+2) Run the install script via:
+
+MMS install
+
+or
+
+MMK install
+
+If for some reason it complains about target INSTALL being up to date,
+throw a /FORCE switch on the MMS or MMK command.
+
+The script [.VMS]PERL_SETUP.COM that is written by CONFIGURE.COM
+will take care of most of the following:
+
+3) Either define the symbol PERL somewhere, such as
+SYS$MANAGER:SYLOGIN.COM, to be "PERL :== $PERL_ROOT:[000000]PERL.EXE", or
+install Perl into DCLTABLES.EXE (Check out the section "Installing Perl
+into DCLTABLES" for more info), or put the image in a directory that's in
+your DCL$PATH (if you're using VMS 6.2 or higher).
+
+4) Either define the logical name PERLSHR somewhere
+(such as in PERL_SETUP.COM) like so:
+DEFINE/NOLOG PERLSHR PERL_ROOT:[000000]PERLSHR.EXE
+or copy perl_root:[000000]perlshr.exe sys$share:.
+
+5) Optionally define the command PERLDOC as
+PERLDOC == "$PERL_ROOT:[000000]PERL PERL_ROOT:[LIB.POD]PERLDOC.COM -t"
+Note that if you wish to use most as a pager please see
+ftp://space.mit.edu/pub/davis/ for both most and slang (or perhaps
+ftp://ftp.wku.edu/vms/narnia/most.zip ).
+
+6) Optionally define the command PERLBUG (the Perl bug report generator) as
+PERLBUG == "$PERL_ROOT:[000000]PERL PERL_ROOT:[LIB]PERLBUG.COM"
+
+7) Optionally define the command POD2MAN (Converts POD files to nroff
+source suitable for converting to man pages. Also quiets complaints during
+module builds) as
+
+DEFINE/NOLOG POD2MAN PERL_ROOT:[LIB.POD]POD2MAN.COM
+POD2MAN == "$PERL_ROOT:[000000]PERL POD2MAN"
+
+8) Optionally define the command POD2TEXT (Converts POD files to text,
+which is required for perldoc -f to work properly) as
+
+DEFINE/NOLOG POD2TEXT PERL_ROOT:[LIB.POD]POD2TEXT.COM
+POD2TEXT == "$PERL_ROOT:[000000]PERL POD2TEXT"
+
+In all these cases, if you've got PERL defined as a foreign command, you
+can replace $PERL_ROOT:[000000]PERL with ''perl'. If you've installed perl
+into DCLTABLES, replace it with just perl.
+
+* Installing Perl into DCLTABLES
+
+Execute the following command file to define PERL as a DCL command.
+You'll need CMKRNL priv to install the new dcltables.exe.
+
+$ create perl.cld
+!
+! modify to reflect location of your perl.exe
+!
+define verb perl
+ image perl_root:[000000]perl.exe
+ cliflags (foreign)
+$!
+$ set command perl /table=sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe -
+ /output=sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe
+$ install replace sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe
+$ exit
+
+* Changing compile-time things
+
+Most of the user-definable features of Perl are enabled or disabled in
+[.VMS]CONFIG.VMS. There's code in there to Do The Right Thing, but that may
+end up being the wrong thing for you. Make sure you understand what you're
+doing, since changes here can get you a busted perl.
+
+Odds are that there's nothing here to change, unless you're on a version of
+VMS later than 6.2 and Dec C later than 5.6. Even if you are, the correct
+values will still be chosen, most likely. Poking around here should be
+unnecessary.
+
+The one exception is the various *DIR install locations. Changing those
+requires changes in genconfig.pl as well. Be really careful if you need to
+change these, as they can cause some fairly subtle problems.
+
+* INSTALLing images
+
+On systems that are using perl quite a bit, and particularly those with
+minimal RAM, you can boost the performance of perl by INSTALLing it as
+a known image. PERLSHR.EXE is typically larger than 1500 blocks
+and that is a reasonably large amount of IO to load each time perl is
+invoked.
+
+ INSTALL ADD PERLSHR/SHARE
+
+should be enough for PERLSHR.EXE (/share implies /header and /open),
+while /HEADER should do for PERL.EXE (perl.exe is not a shared image).
+
+If your code 'use's modules, check to see if there's an executable for
+them, too. In the base perl build, POSIX, IO, Fcntl, Opcode, SDBM_File,
+DCLsym, and Stdio all have shared images that can be installed /SHARE.
+
+How much of a win depends on your memory situation, but if you're firing
+off perl with any regularity (like more than once every 20 seconds or so)
+it's probably a win.
+
+While there is code in perl to remove privileges as it runs you are advised
+to NOT INSTALL PERL.EXE with PRIVs!
+
+* Extra things in the Perl distribution
+
+In addition to the standard stuff that gets installed, there are two
+optional extensions, DCLSYM and STDIO, that are handy. Instructions for
+these two modules are in [.VMS.EXT.DCLSYM] and [.VMS.EXT.STDIO],
+respectively. They are built automatically for versions of perl >= 5.005.
+
+* Socket Support
+
+Perl includes a number of functions for IP sockets, which are available if
+you choose to compile Perl with socket support (see the section Compiling
+Perl for more info on selecting a socket stack). Since IP networking is an
+optional addition to VMS, there are several different IP stacks
+available. How well integrated they are into the system depends on the
+stack, your version of VMS, and the version of your C compiler.
+
+The most portable solution uses the SOCKETSHR library. In combination with
+either UCX or NetLib, this supports all the major TCP stacks (Multinet,
+Pathways, TCPWare, UCX, and CMU) on all versions of VMS Perl runs on, with
+all the compilers on both VAX and Alpha. The socket interface is also
+consistent across versions of VMS and C compilers. It has a problem with
+UDP sockets when used with Multinet, though, so you should be aware of
+that.
+
+The other solution available is to use the socket routines built into Dec
+C. Which routines are available depend on the version of VMS you're
+running, and require proper UCX emulation by your TCP/IP vendor.
+Relatively current versions of Multinet, TCPWare, Pathway, and UCX all
+provide the required libraries--check your manuals or release notes to see
+if your version is new enough.
+
+* Reporting Bugs
+
+If you come across what you think might be a bug in Perl, please report
+it. There's a script in PERL_ROOT:[UTILS], perlbug, that walks you through
+the process of creating a bug report. This script includes details of your
+installation, and is very handy. Completed bug reports should go to
+perlbug@perl.com.
+
+* Gotchas to watch out for
+
+Probably the single biggest gotcha in compiling Perl is giving the wrong
+switches to MMS/MMK when you build. Use *exactly* what the configure script
+prints!
+
+The next big gotcha is directory depth. Perl can create directories four
+and five levels deep during the build, so you don't have to be too deep to
+start to hit the RMS 8 level point. It's best to do a
+$DEFINE/TRANS=(CONC,TERM) PERLSRC disk:[dir.dir.dir.perldir.]" (note the
+trailing period) and $SET DEFAULT PERLSRC:[000000] before building. Perl
+modules can be just as bad (or worse), so watch out for them, too. The
+configuration script will warn if it thinks you're too deep (at least on
+versions of VMS prior to 7.2).
+
+Finally, the third thing that bites people is leftover pieces from a failed
+build. If things go wrong, make sure you do a "(MMK|MMS|make) realclean"
+before you rebuild.
+
+* Dec C issues
+
+Note to DECC users: Some early versions (pre-5.2, some pre-4. If you're Dec
+C 5.x or higher, with current patches if anym you're fine) of the DECCRTL
+contained a few bugs which affect Perl performance:
- Newlines are lost on I/O through pipes, causing lines to run together.
This shows up as RMS RTB errors when reading from a pipe. You can
work around this by having one process write data to a file, and
- The modf() routine returns a non-integral value for some values above
INT_MAX; the Perl "int" operator will return a non-integral value in
these cases. This is fixed in version 4 of DECC.
- - On the AXP, if SYSNAM privilege is enabled, the CRTL chdir() routine
+ - On the AXP, if SYSNAM privilege is enabled, the CRTL chdir() routine
changes the process default device and directory permanently, even
though the call specified that the change should not persist after
Perl exited. This is fixed by DEC CSC patch AXPACRT04_061.
-* Other software required
-
-At the moment, in addition to basic VMS, you'll need two things:
- - a C compiler: VAXC, DECC, or gcc for the VAX; DECC for the AXP
- - a make tool: DEC's MMS (version 2.6 or later) or the free analog MMK
- (available from ftp.spc.edu), or a standard make utility (e.g. GNU make,
- also available from ftp.spc.edu).
-In addition, you may include socket support if you have an IP stack running
-on your system. See the topic "Socket support" for more information.
-
-* Socket support
-
-Perl includes a number of IP socket routines among its builtin functions,
-which are available if you choose to compile Perl with socket support. Since
-IP networking is an optional addition to VMS, there are several different IP
-stacks available, so it's difficult to automate the process of building Perl
-with socket support in a way which will work on all systems.
-
-By default, Perl is built without IP socket support. If you define the macro
-SOCKET when invoking MMK, however, socket support will be included. As
-distributed, Perl for VMS includes support for the SOCKETSHR socket library,
-which is layered on MadGoat software's vendor-independent NETLIB interface.
-This provides support for all socket calls used by Perl except the
-[g|s]etnet*() routines, which are replaced for the moment by stubs which
-generate a fatal error if a Perl script attempts to call one of these routines.
-Both SOCKETSHR and NETLIB are available from MadGoat ftp sites, such as
-ftp.spc.edu or ftp.wku.edu.
-
-You can link Perl directly to your TCP/IP stack's library, *as long as* it
-supplies shims for stdio routines which will properly handle both sockets and
-normal file descriptors. This is necessary because Perl does not distinguish
-between the two, and will try to make normal stdio calls such as read() and
-getc() on socket file descriptors. If you'd like to link Perl directly to
-your IP stack, then make the following changes:
- - In Descrip.MMS, locate the section beginning with .ifdef SOCKET, and
- change the SOCKLIB macro so that it translates to the filespec of your
- IP stack's socket library. This will be added to the RTL options file.
- - Edit the file SockAdapt.H in the [.VMS] subdirectory so that it
- includes the Socket.H, In.H, Inet.H, NetDb.H, and, if necessary,
- Errno.H header files for your IP stack, or so that it declares the
- standard TCP/IP constants and data structures appropriately. (See
- the distributed copy of SockAdapt.H for a collection of the structures
- needed by Perl itself, and [.ext.Socket]Socket.xs for a list of the
- constants used by the Socket extension, if you elect to built it.)
- You should also define any logical names necessary for your C compiler
- to find these files before invoking MM[KS] to build Perl.
- - Edit the file SockAdapt.C in the [.VMS] subdirectory so that it
- contains routines which substitute for any IP library routines
- required by Perl which your IP stack does not provide. This may
- require a little trial and error; we'll try to compile a complete
- list soon of socket routines required by Perl.
-
-
-* Building Perl under VMS
-
-Since you're reading this, presumably you've unpacked the Perl distribution
-into its directory tree, in which you will find a [.vms] subdirectory below
-the directory in which this file is found. If this isn't the case, then you'll
-need to unpack the distribution properly, or manually edit Descrip.MMS or
-the VMS Makefile to alter directory paths as necessary. (I'd advise using the
-`normal' directory tree, at least for the first time through.) This
-subdirectory contains several files, among which are the following:
- Config.VMS - A template Config.H set up for VMS.
- Descrip.MMS - The MMS/MMK dependency file for building Perl
- GenConfig.Pl - A Perl script to generate Config.SH retrospectively
- from Config.VMS, since the Configure shell script which
- normally generates Config.SH doesn't run under VMS.
- GenOpt.Com - A little DCL procedure used to write some linker options
- files, since not all make utilities can do this easily.
- Gen_ShrFls.Pl - A Perl script which generates linker options files and
- MACRO declarations for PerlShr.Exe.
- Makefile - The make dependency file for building Perl
- MMS2Make.Pl - A Perl script used to generate Makefile from Descrip.MMS
- PerlVMS.pod - Documentation for VMS-specific behavior of Perl
- Perly_[CH].VMS - Versions of the byacc output from Perl's grammar,
- modified to include VMS-specific C compiler options
- SockAdapt.[CH] - C source code used to integrate VMS TCP/IP support
- Test.Com - DCL driver for Perl regression tests
- VMSish.H - C header file containing VMS-specific definitions
- VMS.C - C source code for VMS-specific routines
- VMS_Yfix.Pl - Perl script to convert Perly.[CH] to Perly_[CH].VMS
- WriteMain.Pl - Perl script to generate Perlmain.C
-The [.Ext...] directories contain VMS-specific extensions distributed with
-Perl. There may also be other files in [.VMS...] pertaining to features under
-development; for the most part, you can ignore them. Note that packages in
-[.ext.*] are not built with Perl by default; you build the ones you want
-once the basic Perl build is complete (see the perlvms docs for instructions
-on building extensions.)
-
-Config.VMS and Decrip.MMS/Makefile are set up to build a version of Perl which
-includes all features known to work when this release was assembled. If you
-have code at your site which would support additional features (e.g. emulation
-of Unix system calls), feel free to make the appropriate changes to these
-files. (Note: Do not use or edit config.h in the main Perl source directory;
-it is superseded by the current Config.VMS during the build.) You may also
-wish to make site-specific changes to Descrip.MMS or Makefile to reflect local
-conventions for naming of files, etc.
-
-There are several pieces of system-specific information which become part of
-the Perl Config extension. Under VMS, the data for Config are generated by the
-script GenConfig.Pl in the [.VMS] subdirectory. It tries to ascertain the
-necessary information from various files, or from the system itself, and
-generally does the right thing. There is a list of hard-coded values at the
-end of this script which specifies items that are correct for most VMS systems,
-but may be incorrect for you, if your site is set up in an unusual fashion. If
-you're familiar with Perl's Config extension, feel free to edit these values as
-necessary. If this doesn't mean much to you, don't worry -- the information is
-probably correct, and even if it's not, none of these parameters affect your
-ability to build or run Perl. You'll only get the wrong answer if you ask for
-it specifically from Config.
-
-Examine the information at the beginning of Descrip.MMS for information about
-specifying alternate C compilers or building a version of Perl with debugging
-support. For instance, if you want to use DECC, you'll need to include the
-/macro="decc=1" qualifier to MMK (If you're using make, these options are not
-supported.) If you're on an AXP system, define the macro __AXP__ (MMK does
-this for you), and DECC will automatically be selected.
-
-To start the build, set default to the main source directory. Since
-Descrip.MMS assumes that VMS commands have their usual meaning, and makes use
-of command-line macros, you may want to be certain that you haven't defined DCL
-symbols which would interfere with the build. Then, if you are using MMS or
-MMK, say
-$ MMS/Descrip=[.VMS] ! or MMK
-(N.B. If you are using MMS, you must use version 2.6 or later; a bug in
-earlier versions produces malformed cc command lines.) If you are using a
-version of make, say
-$ Make -f [.VMS]Makefile
-Note that the Makefile doesn't support conditional compilation, is
-set up to use VAXC on a VAX, and does not include socket support. You can
-either edit the Makefile by hand, using Descrip.MMS as a guide, or use the
-Makefile to build Miniperl.Exe, and then run the Perl script MMS2Make.pl,
-found in the [.VMS] subdirectory, to generate a new Makefile with the options
-appropriate to your site.
-
-If you are using MM[SK], and you decide to rebuild Perl with a different set
-of parameters (e.g. changing the C compiler, or adding socket support), be
-sure to say
-$ MMK/Descrip=[.VMS] realclean
-first, in order to remove files generated during the previous build. If
-you omit this step, you risk ending up with a copy of Perl which
-composed partially of old files and partially of new ones, which may lead
-to strange effects when you try to run Perl.
-
-A bug in some early versions of the DECC RTL on the AXP causes newlines
-to be lost when writing to a pipe. A different bug in some patched versions
-of DECC 4.0 for VAX can also scramble preprocessor output. Finally, gcc 2.7.2
-has yet another preprocessor bug, which causes line breaks to be inserted
-into the output at inopportune times. Each of these bugs causes Gen_ShrFls.pl
-to fail, since it can't parse the preprocessor output to identify global
-variables and routines. This problem is generally manifested as missing
-global symbols when linking PerlShr.Exe or Perl.Exe. You can work around
-it by defining the macro PIPES_BROKEN when you invoke MMS or MMK.
-
-
-This will build the following files:
- Miniperl.Exe - a stand-alone version of without any extensions.
- Miniperl has all the intrinsic capabilities of Perl,
- but cannot make use of the DynaLoader or any
- extensions which use XS code.
- PerlShr.Exe - a shareable image containing most of Perl's internal
- routines and global variables. Perl.Exe is linked to
- this image, as are all dynamic extensions, so everyone's
- using the same set of global variables and routines.
- Perl.Exe - the main Perl executable image. It's contains the
- main() routine, plus code for any statically linked
- extensions.
- PerlShr_Attr.Opt - A linker options file which specifies psect attributes
- matching those in PerlShr.Exe. It should be used when
- linking images against PerlShr.Exe
- PerlShr_Bld.Opt - A linker options file which specifies various things
- used to build PerlShr.Exe. It should be used when
- rebuilding PerlShr.Exe via MakeMaker-produced
- Descrip.MMS files for static extensions.
- c2ph - Perl program which generates template code to access
- C struct members from Perl.
- h2ph - Perl program which generates template code to access
- #defined constants in a C header file from Perl,
- using the "old-style" interface. (Largely supplanted
- by h2xs.)
- h2xs - Perl program which generates template files for creating
- XSUB extensions, optionally beginning with the #defined
- constants in a C header file.
- [.lib.pod]perldoc - A Perl program which locates and displays documentation
- for Perl and its extensions.
- [.Lib]Config.pm - the Perl extension which saves configuration information
- about Perl and your system.
- [.Lib]DynaLoader.pm - The Perl extension which performs dynamic linking of
- shareable images for extensions.
- Several subdirectories under [.Lib] containing preprocessed files or
- site-specific files.
-There are, of course, a number of other files created for use during the build.
-Once you've got the binaries built, you may wish to `build' the `tidy' or
-`clean' targets to remove extra files.
-
-If you run into problems during the build, you can get help from the VMSPerl
-or perl5-porters mailing lists (see below). When you report the problem,
-please include the following information:
- - The version of Perl you're trying to build. Please include any
- "letter" patchlevel, in addition to the version number. If the
- build successfully created Miniperl.Exe, you can check this by
- saying '$ MCR Sys$Disk:[]Miniperl -v'. Also, please mention
- where you obtained the distribution kit; in particular, note
- whether you were using a basic Perl kit or the VMS test kit
- (see below).
- - The exact command you issued to build Perl.
- - A copy of all error messages which were generated during the build.
- Please include enough of the build log to establish the context of
- the error messages.
- - A summary of your configuration. If the build progressed far enough
- to generate Miniperl.Exe and [.Lib]Config.pm, you can obtain this
- by saying '$ MCR Sys$Disk:[]Miniperl "-V"' (note the "" around -V).
- If not, then you can say '$ MMK/Descrip=[.VMS] printconfig' to
- produce the summary.
-This may sound like a lot of information to send, but it'll often make
-it easier for someone to spot the problem, instead of having to give
-a spectrum of possibilities.
-
-
-
-* Installing Perl once it's built
-
-Once the build is complete, you'll need to do the following:
- - Put PerlShr.Exe in a common directory, and make it world-readable.
- If you place it in a location other than Sys$Share, you'll need to
- define the logical name PerlShr to point to the image. (If you're
- installing on a VMScluster, be sure that each node is using the
- copy of PerlShr you expect [e.g. if you put PerlShr.Exe in Sys$Share,
- do they all share Sys$Share?]).
- - Put Perl.Exe in a common directory, and make it world-executable.
- - Define a foreign command to invoke Perl, using a statement like
- $ Perl == "$dev:[dir]Perl.Exe"
- - Create a world-readable directory tree for Perl library modules,
- scripts, and what-have-you, and define PERL_ROOT as a rooted logical
- name pointing to the top of this tree (i.e. if your Perl files were
- going to live in DKA1:[Util.Perl5...], then you should
- $ Define/Translation=Concealed Perl_Root DKA1:[Util.Perl5.]
- (Be careful to follow the rules for rooted logical names; in particular,
- remember that a rooted logical name cannot have as its device portion
- another rooted logical name - you've got to supply the actual device name
- and directory path to the root directory.)
- - Place the files from the [.lib...] directory tree in the distribution
- package into a [.lib...] directory tree off the root directory described
- above.
- - Most of the Perl documentation lives in the [.pod] subdirectory, and
- is written in a simple markup format which can be easily read. In this
- directory as well are pod2man and pod2html translators to reformat the
- docs for common display engines; a pod2hlp translator is under development.
- These files are copied to [.lib.pod] during the installation.
- - Define a foreign command to execute perldoc, such as
- $ Perldoc == "''Perl' Perl_Root:[lib.pod]Perldoc -t"
- This will allow users to retrieve documentation using Perldoc. For
- more details, say "perldoc perldoc".
-That's it.
-
-If you run into a bug in Perl, please submit a bug report. The PerlBug
-program, found in the [.lib] directory, will walk you through the process
-of assembling the necessary information into a bug report, and sending
-of to the Perl bug reporting address, perlbug@perl.com.
-
-* For more information
-
-If you're interested in more information on Perl in general, consult the Usenet
-newsgroups comp.lang.perl.announce and comp.lang.perl.misc. The FAQ for these
-groups provides pointers to other online sources of information, as well as
-books describing Perl in depth.
-
-If you're interested in up-to-date information on Perl development and
-internals, you might want to subscribe to the perl5-porters mailing list. You
-can do this by sending a message to perl5-porters-request@nicoh.com, containing
-the single line
-subscribe perl5-porters
-This is a high-volume list at the moment (>50 messages/day).
-
-If you're interested in ongoing information about the VMS port, you can
-subscribe to the VMSperl mailing list by sending a request to
-bailey@genetics.upenn.edu (it's to a human, not a list server - this is a small
-operation at the moment). And, as always, we welcome any help or code you'd
-like to offer - you can send mail to bailey@genetics.upenn.edu or directly to
-the VMSperl list at vmsperl@genetics.upenn.edu.
-
-Finally, if you'd like to try out the latest changes to VMS Perl, you can
-retrieve a test distribution kit by anonymous ftp from genetics.upenn.edu, in
-the file [.perl5]perl5_ppp_yymmddx.zip, where "ppp" is the current Perl
-patchlevel, and "yymmddx" is a sequence number indicating the date that
-particular kit was assembled. In order to make retrieval convenient, this
-kit is also available by the name Perl5_VMSTest.Zip. These test kits contain
-"unofficial" patches from the perl5-porters group, test patches for important
-bugs, and VMS-specific fixes and improvements which have occurred since the
-last Perl release. Most of these changes will be incorporated in the next
-release of Perl, but until Larry Wall's looked at them and said they're OK,
-none of them should be considered official.
-
-Good luck using Perl. Please let us know how it works for you - we can't
-guarantee that we'll be able to fix bugs quickly, but we'll try, and we'd
-certainly like to know they're out there.
+* Mailing Lists
+
+There are several mailing lists available to the Perl porter. For VMS
+specific issues (including both Perl questions and installation problems)
+there is the VMSPERL mailing list. It's usually a low-volume (10-12
+messages a week) mailing list.
+
+The subscription address is VMSPERL-REQUEST@NEWMAN.UPENN.EDU. Send a mail
+message with just the words SUBSCRIBE VMSPERL in the body of the message.
+
+The VMSPERL mailing list address is VMSPERL@NEWMAN.UPENN.EDU. Any mail
+sent there gets echoed to all subscribers of the list.
+
+To unsubscribe from VMSPERL send the message UNSUBSCRIBE VMSPERL to
+VMSPERL-REQUEST@NEWMAN.UPENN.EDU. Be sure to do so from the subscribed
+account that you are cancelling.
* Acknowledgements
+A real big thanks needs to go to Charles Bailey
+<bailey@newman.upenn.edu>, who is ultimately responsible for Perl 5.004
+running on VMS. Without him, nothing the rest of us have done would be at
+all important.
+
There are, of course, far too many people involved in the porting and testing
of Perl to mention everyone who deserves it, so please forgive us if we've
missed someone. That said, special thanks are due to the following:
for the getredirection() code
Rich Salz <rsalz@bbn.com>
for readdir() and related routines
- Richard Dyson <dyson@blaze.physics.uiowa.edu> and
- Kent Covert <kacovert@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu>
- for additional testing on the AXP.
-and to the entire VMSperl group for useful advice and suggestions. In addition
-the perl5-porters, especially Andy Dougherty <doughera@lafcol.lafayette.edu>
-and Tim Bunce <Tim.Bunce@ig.co.uk>, deserve credit for their creativity and
+ Peter Prymmer <pvhp@forte.com> or <pvhp@lns62.lns.cornell.edu>
+ for extensive testing, as well as development work on
+ configuration and documentation for VMS Perl,
+ Dan Sugalski <sugalskd@ous.edu>
+ for extensive contributions to recent version support,
+ development of VMS-specific extensions, and dissemination
+ of information about VMS Perl,
+ the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory and the
+ Laboratory of Nuclear Studies at Cornell University for
+ the opportunity to test and develop for the AXP,
+and to the entire VMSperl group for useful advice and suggestions. In
+addition the perl5-porters deserve credit for their creativity and
willingness to work with the VMS newcomers. Finally, the greatest debt of
-gratitude is due to Larry Wall <lwall@sems.com>, for having the ideas which
+gratitude is due to Larry Wall <larry@wall.org>, for having the ideas which
have made our sleepless nights possible.
Thanks,
https://perl5.git.perl.org / perl5.git / blobdiff