=head1 NAME
-README.macosx - Perl under Mac OS X
+perlmacosx - Perl under Mac OS X
=head1 SYNOPSIS
-This document briefly describes perl under Mac OS X.
+This document briefly describes Perl under Mac OS X.
+ curl http://www.cpan.org/src/perl-5.12.3.tar.gz > perl-5.12.3.tar.gz
+ tar -xzf perl-5.12.3.tar.gz
+ cd perl-5.12.3
+ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=/usr/local/
+ make
+ make test
+ sudo make install
=head1 DESCRIPTION
-The latest Perl (5.8.1-RC3 as of this writing) builds without changes
-under Mac OS X. Under the 10.3 "Panther" release, all self-tests pass,
-and all standard features are supported.
+The latest Perl release (5.12.3 as of this writing) builds without changes
+under all versions of Mac OS X from 10.3 "Panther" onwards.
-Earlier Mac OS X releases did not include a completely thread-safe libc,
-so threading is not fully supported. Also, earlier releases included a
-somewhat buggy libdb, so some of the DB_File tests are known to fail on
-those releases.
+In order to build your own version of Perl you will need 'make'
+this is part of the Apples developer tools (you only need the 'unix tools'),
+usually supplied with Mac OS install DVDs. You do not need the latest
+version of Xcode (which is now charged for) in order to install make.
+
+Earlier Mac OS X releases (10.2 "Jaguar" and older) did not include a
+completely thread-safe libc, so threading is not fully supported. Also,
+earlier releases included a buggy libdb, so some of the DB_File tests
+are known to fail on those releases.
=head2 Installation Prefix
on a file server and used by many Macs.
+=head2 SDK support
+
+First, export the path to the SDK into the build environment:
+
+ export SDK=/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.3.9.sdk
+
+Use an SDK by exporting some additions to Perl's 'ccflags' and '..flags'
+config variables:
+
+ ./Configure -Accflags="-nostdinc -B$SDK/usr/include/gcc \
+ -B$SDK/usr/lib/gcc -isystem$SDK/usr/include \
+ -F$SDK/System/Library/Frameworks" \
+ -Aldflags="-Wl,-syslibroot,$SDK" \
+ -de
+
+=head2 Universal Binary support
+
+To compile perl as a universal binary (built for both ppc and intel), export
+the SDK variable as above, selecting the 10.4u SDK:
+
+ export SDK=/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk
+
+In addition to the compiler flags used to select the SDK, also add the flags
+for creating a universal binary:
+
+ ./Configure -Accflags="-arch i686 -arch ppc -nostdinc -B$SDK/usr/include/gcc \
+ -B$SDK/usr/lib/gcc -isystem$SDK/usr/include \
+ -F$SDK/System/Library/Frameworks" \
+ -Aldflags="-arch i686 -arch ppc -Wl,-syslibroot,$SDK" \
+ -de
+
+In Leopard (MacOSX 10.5.6 at the time of this writing) you must use the 10.5 SDK:
+
+ export SDK=/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.5.sdk
+
+You can use the same compiler flags you would use with the 10.4u SDK.
+
+Keep in mind that these compiler and linker settings will also be used when
+building CPAN modules. For XS modules to be compiled as a universal binary, any
+libraries it links to must also be universal binaries. The system libraries that
+Apple includes with the 10.4u SDK are all universal, but user-installed libraries
+may need to be re-installed as universal binaries.
+
+=head2 64-bit PPC support
+
+Follow the instructions in F<INSTALL> to build perl with support for 64-bit
+integers (C<use64bitint>) or both 64-bit integers and 64-bit addressing
+(C<use64bitall>). In the latter case, the resulting binary will run only
+on G5-based hosts.
+
+Support for 64-bit addressing is experimental: some aspects of Perl may be
+omitted or buggy. Note the messages output by F<Configure> for further
+information. Please use C<perlbug> to submit a problem report in the
+event that you encounter difficulties.
+
+When building 64-bit modules, it is your responsibility to ensure that linked
+external libraries and frameworks provide 64-bit support: if they do not,
+module building may appear to succeed, but attempts to use the module will
+result in run-time dynamic linking errors, and subsequent test failures.
+You can use C<file> to discover the architectures supported by a library:
+
+ $ file libgdbm.3.0.0.dylib
+ libgdbm.3.0.0.dylib: Mach-O fat file with 2 architectures
+ libgdbm.3.0.0.dylib (for architecture ppc): Mach-O dynamically linked shared library ppc
+ libgdbm.3.0.0.dylib (for architecture ppc64): Mach-O 64-bit dynamically linked shared library ppc64
+
+Note that this issue precludes the building of many Macintosh-specific CPAN
+modules (C<Mac::*>), as the required Apple frameworks do not provide PPC64
+support. Similarly, downloads from Fink or Darwinports are unlikely to provide
+64-bit support; the libraries must be rebuilt from source with the appropriate
+compiler and linker flags. For further information, see Apple's
+I<64-Bit Transition Guide> at
+L<http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Darwin/Conceptual/64bitPorting/index.html>.
+
=head2 libperl and Prebinding
Mac OS X ships with a dynamically-loaded libperl, but the default for
for pre-binding.
You can override the default and build a shared libperl if you wish
-(S<Configure ... -Duseshrlib>), but the load time will be
-significantly greater than either the static library, or Apple's
+(S<Configure ... -Duseshrplib>), but the load time on pre-10.4 OS
+releases will be greater than either the static library, or Apple's
pre-bound dynamic library.
+With 10.4 "Tiger" and newer, Apple has all but eliminated the performance
+penalty for non-prebound libraries.
-=head2 Updating Panther
-
-As of this writing, the latest Perl release that has been tested and
-approved for inclusion in the 10.3 "Panther" release of Mac OS X is
-5.8.1 RC3. It is currently unknown whether the final 5.8.1 release will
-be made in time to be tested and included with Panther.
-If the final release of Perl 5.8.1 is not made in time to be included
-with Panther, it is recommended that you wait for an official Apple
-update to the OS, rather than attempting to update it yourself. In most
-cases, if you need a newer Perl, it is preferable to install it in some
-other location, such as /usr/local or /opt, rather than overwriting the
-system Perl. The default location (no -Dprefix=... specified when running
-Configure) is /usr/local.
+=head2 Updating Apple's Perl
-If you find that you do need to update the system Perl, there is one
-potential issue. If you upgrade using the default static libperl, you
-will find that the dynamic libperl supplied by Apple will not be
-deleted. If both libraries are present when an application that links
-against libperl is built, ld will link against the dynamic library by
-default. So, if you need to replace Apple's dynamic libperl with a
-static libperl, you need to be sure to delete the older dynamic library
-after you've installed the update.
+In a word - don't, at least without a *very* good reason. Your scripts
+can just as easily begin with "#!/usr/local/bin/perl" as with
+"#!/usr/bin/perl". Scripts supplied by Apple and other third parties as
+part of installation packages and such have generally only been tested
+with the /usr/bin/perl that's installed by Apple.
-Note that this is only an issue when updating from an older build of the
-same Perl version. If you're updating from (for example) 5.8.1 to 5.8.2,
-this issue won't affect you.
+If you find that you do need to update the system Perl, one issue worth
+keeping in mind is the question of static vs. dynamic libraries. If you
+upgrade using the default static libperl, you will find that the dynamic
+libperl supplied by Apple will not be deleted. If both libraries are
+present when an application that links against libperl is built, ld will
+link against the dynamic library by default. So, if you need to replace
+Apple's dynamic libperl with a static libperl, you need to be sure to
+delete the older dynamic library after you've installed the update.
=head2 Known problems
"libperl and Prebinding").
Starting with Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4), Apple shipped broken locale files for
-the eu_ES locale (Basque-Spain). When testing Perl, this will show up as
-test failues in the tests C<..lib/locale>. Unless you require the
-eu_ES locale, you should be OK to install Perl. If you do need this
-locale, you should contact Apple support.
-
-=head2 MacPerl
-
-Quite a bit has been written about MacPerl, the Perl distribution for
-"Classic MacOS" - that is, versions 9 and earlier of MacOS. Because it
-runs in environment that's very different from that of UNIX, many things
-are done differently in MacPerl. Modules are installed using a different
-procedure, Perl itself is built differently, path names are different,
-etc.
-
-From the perspective of a Perl programmer, Mac OS X is more like a
-traditional UNIX than Classic MacOS. If you find documentation that
-refers to a special procedure that's needed for MacOS that's drastically
-different from the instructions provided for UNIX, the MacOS
-instructions are quite often intended for MacPerl on Classic MacOS. In
-that case, the correct procedure on Mac OS X is usually to follow the
-UNIX instructions, rather than the MacPerl instructions.
-
-
-=head2 Carbon
-
-MacPerl ships with a number of modules that are used to access the
-classic MacOS toolbox. Many of these modules have been updated to use
-Mac OS X's newer "Carbon" toolbox, and are available from CPAN in the
-"Mac::Carbon" module.
+the eu_ES locale (Basque-Spain). In previous releases of Perl, this resulted in
+failures in the F<lib/locale> test. These failures have been suppressed
+in the current release of Perl by making the test ignore the broken locale.
+If you need to use the eu_ES locale, you should contact Apple support.
=head2 Cocoa
# find /System/Library/Perl /Library/Perl -name '*.bundle' -print
-After this you can either copy Perl from your operating system CDs
+After this you can either copy Perl from your operating system media
(you will need at least the /System/Library/Perl and /usr/bin/perl),
or rebuild Perl from the source code with C<Configure -Dprefix=/usr
--Dusershrplib> NOTE: the C<-Dprefix=/usr> to replace the system Perl
+-Duseshrplib> NOTE: the C<-Dprefix=/usr> to replace the system Perl
works much better with Perl 5.8.1 and later, in Perl 5.8.0 the
settings were not quite right.
+"Pacifist" from CharlesSoft (L<http://www.charlessoft.com/>) is a nice
+way to extract the Perl binaries from the OS media, without having to
+reinstall the entire OS.
+
=head1 AUTHOR
-This README was written by Sherm Pendley E<lt>sherm@dot-app.orgE<gt>.
+This README was written by Sherm Pendley E<lt>sherm@dot-app.orgE<gt>,
+and subsequently updated by Dominic Dunlop E<lt>domo@computer.orgE<gt>.
The "Starting From Scratch" recipe was contributed by John Montbriand
E<lt>montbriand@apple.comE<gt>.
=head1 DATE
-Last modified 2003-09-08.
+Last modified 2006-02-24.
https://perl5.git.perl.org / perl5.git / blobdiff