Also note that, as of Perl version 5.005 and later, 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. We are sorry about that.
+VAX C will not compile Perl 5.005 or later. We are sorry about that.
If you are 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.
-=head2 Introduction
+=head2 Introduction to Perl on VMS
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
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.
+other compilers, please let us know. (Note: DEC C was renamed to Compaq C
+around version 6.2).
There are issues with various 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.
-=head2 Other required software
+=head2 Other required software for Compiling Perl on VMS
In addition to VMS and DCL you will need two things:
=item 1 A C compiler.
-DEC C or gcc for VMS (AXP or VAX).
+DEC (now Compaq) C or gcc for VMS (AXP or VAX).
=item 2 A make tool.
=back
-=head2 Additional software that is optional
+=head2 Additional software that is optional for Perl on VMS
You may also want to have on hand:
from Compaq.
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.compaq.com/freeware/GZIP/
- ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/VMS/
+ http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/
+ http://www.crinoid.com/utils/
=item 2 VMS TAR
Freeware CD-ROM from Compaq.
ftp://ftp.lp.se/vms/
- http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/VMSTAR/
- ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/VMS/
+ http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/
=item 3 UNZIP.EXE for VMS
A combination decompressor and archive reader/writer for *.zip files.
Unzip is available from a number of web/ftp sites.
- http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/UnZip.html
- http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/INFO-ZIP/
- ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/VMS/
+ http://www.info-zip.org/UnZip.html
+ http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/
ftp://ftp.openvms.compaq.com/
ftp://ftp.madgoat.com/madgoat/
- ftp://ftp.wku.edu/vms/
+ ftp://ftp.process.com/vms-freeware/
=item 4 MOST
library on VMS. Most and slang are available from:
ftp://space.mit.edu/pub/davis/
- ftp://ftp.wku.edu/vms/narnia/most.zip
+ ftp://ftp.process.com/vms-freeware/narnia/
+
+=item 5 GNU PATCH and DIFFUTILS for VMS
+
+Patches to Perl are usually distributed as GNU unified or contextual diffs.
+Such patches are created by the GNU diff program (part of the diffutils
+distribution) and applied with GNU patch. VMS ports of these utilities are
+available here:
+
+ http://www.crinoid.com/utils/
+ http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/
=back
T "LOGICAL"
FOO "LOGICAL"
EXT "LOGICAL"
+ SOME_LOGICAL_NAME_NOT_LIKELY "LOGICAL"
+ DOWN_LOGICAL_NAME_NOT_LIKELY "LOGICAL"
TEST "SYMBOL"
As a handy shortcut, the command:
(note the quotation marks and case) will choose reasonable defaults
automatically (it takes DEC C over Gnu C, DEC C sockets over SOCKETSHR
-sockets, and either over no sockets). More help with configure.com is
-available from:
+sockets, and either over no sockets). Some options can be given
+explicitly on the command line; the following example specifies a
+non-default location for where Perl will be installed:
+
+ @ Configure "-d" "-Dprefix=dka100:[utils.perl5.]"
+
+Note that the installation location would be by default where you unpacked
+the source with a "_ROOT." appended. For example if you unpacked the perl
+source into:
+
+ DKA200:[PERL-5_10_2...]
+
+Then the PERL_SETUP.COM that gets written out by CONFIGURE.COM will
+try to DEFINE your installation PERL_ROOT to be:
+
+ DKA200:[PERL-5_10_2_ROOT.]
+
+More help with configure.com is available from:
@ Configure "-h"
fresh (optional)" and the checklist of items in the "CAVEATS" sections
below.
-=head2 Changing compile-time options (optional)
+=head2 Changing compile-time options (optional) for Perl on VMS
Most of the user definable features of Perl are enabled or disabled in
-[.VMS]CONFIG.VMS. There is 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 are doing since inappropriate changes to CONFIG.VMS can render perl
-unbuildable.
-
-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.
+configure.com, which processes the hints file config_h.SH. There is
+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 are doing since
+inappropriate changes to configure.com or config_h.SH can render perl
+unbuildable; odds are that there's nothing in there you'll need to
+change.
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.
-=head2 Socket Support (optional)
+=head2 Socket Support (optional) for Perl on VMS
Perl includes a number of functions for IP sockets, which are available if
you choose to compile Perl with socket support. Since IP networking is an
MMK you are running try "MMS/ident" or "MMK /ident". The GNU make version
can be identified with "make --version".
-=head2 Cleaning up and starting fresh (optional)
+=head2 Cleaning up and starting fresh (optional) installing Perl on VMS
If you need to recompile from scratch, you have to make sure you clean up
first. There is a procedure to do it--enter the *exact* MMS line you used
=item 2
-Create a directory somewhere and either run @perl_setup or
-define the concealed logical PERL_ROOT to point to it by hand.
-For example,
-
- CREATE/DIRECTORY dka200:[perl]
- @PERL_SETUP
- SHOW LOGICAL PERL_ROOT
-
-or,
-
- CREATE/DIRECTORY dka200:[perl]
- DEFINE/TRANS=(CONC,TERM) PERL_ROOT dka200:[perl.]
+Decide where you want Perl to be installed (unless you have already done so
+by using the "prefix" configuration parameter -- see the example in the
+"Configuring the Perl build" section).
+The DCL script PERL_SETUP.COM that is written by CONFIGURE.COM will help you
+with the definition of the PERL_ROOT and PERLSHR logical names and the PERL
+foreign command symbol. Take a look at PERL_SETUP.COM and modify it if you
+want to. The installation process will execute PERL_SETUP.COM and copy
+files to the directory tree pointed to by the PERL_ROOT logical name defined
+there, so make sure that you have write access to the parent directory of
+what will become the root of your Perl installation.
=item 3
=back
-The DCL script PERL_SETUP.COM that is written by CONFIGURE.COM
-will help you with the definition of PERL_ROOT, PERLSHR and the PERL
-Foreign symbol. Take a look at PERL_SETUP.COM and modify it if you want
-to. Then copy PERL_SETUP.COM to a place accessible to your perl users.
+Copy PERL_SETUP.COM to a place accessible to your perl users.
+
For example:
COPY PERL_SETUP.COM SYS$LIBRARY:
See also the "INSTALLing images (optional)" section.
-=head2 Installing Perl into DCLTABLES (optional)
+=head2 Installing Perl into DCLTABLES (optional) on VMS
Execute the following command file to define PERL as a DCL command.
You'll need CMKRNL privilege to install the new dcltables.exe.
$ install replace sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe
$ exit
-=head2 INSTALLing images (optional)
+=head2 INSTALLing Perl images (optional) on VMS
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 2000 blocks
+a known image. PERLSHR.EXE is typically larger than 3000 blocks
and that is a reasonably large amount of IO to load each time perl is
invoked.
While there is code in perl to remove privileges as it runs you are advised
to NOT INSTALL PERL.EXE with PRIVs!
+=head2 Running h2ph to create perl header files (optional) on VMS
+
+If using DEC C or Compaq C ensure that you have extracted loose versions
+of your compiler's header or *.H files. Be sure to check the contents of:
+
+ SYS$LIBRARY:DECC$RTLDEF.TLB
+ SYS$LIBRARY:SYS$LIB_C.TLB
+ SYS$LIBRARY:SYS$STARLET_C.TLB
+
+etcetera.
+
+If using GNU cc then also check your GNU_CC:[000000...] tree for the locations
+of the GNU cc headers.
+
=head1 Reporting Bugs
If you come across what you think might be a bug in Perl, please report
The next big gotcha is directory depth. Perl can create directories four,
five, or even six levels deep during the build, so you don't have to be
-too deep to start to hit the RMS 8 level limit (for versions of VMS prior
-to V7.2 and even with V7.2 on the VAX). It is best to do
+too deep to start to hit the RMS 8 level limit (for ODS 2 volumes which were
+common on versions of VMS prior to V7.2 and even with V7.2 on the VAX).
+It is best to do:
DEFINE/TRANS=(CONC,TERM) PERLSRC "disk:[dir.dir.dir.perldir.]"
SET DEFAULT PERLSRC:[000000]
build. If things go wrong make sure you do a "(MMK|MMS|make) realclean"
before you rebuild.
-=head2 DEC C issues
+=head2 DEC C issues with Perl on VMS
Note to DEC C users: Some early versions (pre-5.2, some pre-4. If you're DEC
C 5.x or higher, with current patches if any, you're fine) of the DECCRTL
Perl exited. This is fixed by DEC CSC patch ALPACRT04_061 or later.
See also:
- http://ftp.service.compaq.com/patches/.new/openvms.html
+ http://ftp.service.compaq.com/patches/.new/openvms.shtml
=back
Please note that in later versions "DEC C" may also be known as
"Compaq C".
-=head2 GNU issues
+=head2 GNU issues with Perl on VMS
It has been a while since the GNU utilities such as GCC or GNU make
were used to build perl on VMS. Hence they may require a great deal
http://slacvx.slac.stanford.edu/HELP/GCC
http://www.progis.de/
- http://vms.gnu.org/
http://www.lp.se/products/gnu.html
=head1 Mailing Lists
there is the VMSPERL mailing list. It is usually a low-volume (10-12
messages a week) mailing list.
-The subscription address is MAJORDOMO@PERL.ORG. Send a mail message with
-just the words SUBSCRIBE VMSPERL in the body of the message.
-
-The VMSPERL mailing list address is VMSPERL@PERL.ORG. Any mail sent there
-gets echoed to all subscribers of the list. There is a searchable archive of
-the list on the web at:
+To subscribe, send a mail message to VMSPERL-SUBSCRIBE@PERL.ORG. The VMSPERL
+mailing list address is VMSPERL@PERL.ORG. Any mail sent there gets echoed
+to all subscribers of the list. There is a searchable archive of the list
+on the web at:
http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/vmsperl/
-
-To unsubscribe from VMSPERL send the message UNSUBSCRIBE VMSPERL to
-MAJORDOMO@PERL.ORG. Be sure to do so from the subscribed account that
-you are canceling.
-=head2 Web sites
+To unsubscribe from VMSPERL send a message to VMSPERL-UNSUBSCRIBE@PERL.ORG.
+Be sure to do so from the subscribed account that you are canceling.
+
+=head2 Web sites for Perl on VMS
Vmsperl pages on the web include:
http://www.sidhe.org/vmsperl/index.html
+ http://www.crinoid.com/
http://duphy4.physics.drexel.edu/pub/cgi_info.htmlx
- http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/vmsperl/
http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-module/VMS/
- http://nucwww.chem.sunysb.edu/htbin/software_list.cgi
+ http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/vmsperl/
http://www.best.com/~pvhp/vms/
- http://bkfug.kfunigraz.ac.at/~binder/perl.html
+ http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~binder/perl.html
+ http://lists.perl.org/showlist.cgi?name=vmsperl
+ http://archive.develooper.com/vmsperl@perl.org/
+ http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvms/products/ips/apache/csws_modperl.html
=head1 SEE ALSO
=head1 AUTHORS
-Last revised 25-February-2000 by Peter Prymmer pvhp@best.com.
-Revised 27-October-1999 by Craig Berry craig.berry@metamorgs.com.
+Revised 10-October-2001 by Craig Berry craigberry@mac.com.
+Revised 25-February-2000 by Peter Prymmer pvhp@best.com.
+Revised 27-October-1999 by Craig Berry craigberry@mac.com.
Revised 01-March-1999 by Dan Sugalski dan@sidhe.org.
Originally by Charles Bailey bailey@newman.upenn.edu.
https://perl5.git.perl.org / perl5.git / blobdiff