+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
Install - Build and Installation guide for perl5.
+=head1 Reporting Problems
+
+Wherever possible please use the perlbug tool supplied with this Perl
+to report problems, as it automatically includes summary configuration
+information about your perl, which may help us track down problems far
+more quickly. But first you should read the advice in this file,
+carefully re-read the error message and check the relevant manual pages
+on your system, as these may help you find an immediate solution. If
+you are not sure whether what you are seeing is a bug, you can send a
+message describing the problem to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup to
+get advice.
+
+The perlbug tool is installed along with perl, so after you have
+completed C<make install> it should be possible to run it with plain
+C<perlbug>. If the install fails, or you want to report problems with
+C<make test> without installing perl, then you can use C<make nok> to
+run perlbug to report the problem, or run it by hand from this source
+directory with C<./perl -Ilib utils/perlbug>
+
+If the build fails too early to run perlbug uninstalled, then please
+B<run> the C<./myconfig> shell script, and mail its output along with
+an accurate description of your problem to perlbug@perl.org
+
+If C<Configure> itself fails, and does not generate a C<config.sh> file
+(needed to run C<./myconfig>), then please mail perlbug@perl.org the
+description of how C<Configure> fails along with details of your system
+- for example the output from running C<uname -a>
+
+Please try to make your message brief but clear. Brief, clear bug
+reports tend to get answered more quickly. Please don't worry if your
+written English is not great - what matters is how well you describe
+the important technical details of the problem you have encountered,
+not whether your grammar and spelling is flawless.
+
+You should trim out unnecessary information. Do not include large
+files (such as config.sh or a complete Configure or make log) unless
+absolutely necessary. Do not include a complete transcript of your
+build session. Just include the failing commands, the relevant error
+messages, and whatever preceding commands are necessary to give the
+appropriate context. Plain text should usually be sufficient--fancy
+attachments or encodings may actually reduce the number of people who
+read your message. Your message will get relayed to over 400
+subscribers around the world so please try to keep it brief but clear.
+
+If you are unsure what makes a good bug report please read "How to
+report Bugs Effectively" by Simon Tatham:
+http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html
+
=head1 SYNOPSIS
First, make sure you are installing an up-to-date version of Perl. If
you didn't get your Perl source from CPAN, check the latest version at
-<URL:http://www.cpan.org/src/>.
+http://www.cpan.org/src/
The basic steps to build and install perl5 on a Unix system
with all the defaults are:
B<NOTE>: starting from the release 5.6.0, Perl uses a version
scheme where even-numbered subreleases (like 5.6 and 5.8) are stable
-maintenance releases and odd-numbered subreleases (like 5.7) are
+maintenance releases and odd-numbered subreleases (like 5.7 and 5.9) are
unstable development releases. Development releases should not be
used in production environments. Fixes and new features are first
carefully tested in development releases and only if they prove
by the Perl distribution having a file called INSTALL.)
If you have problems, corrections, or questions, please see
-L<"Reporting Problems"> below.
+L<"Reporting Problems"> above.
For information on what's new in this release, see the
pod/perldelta.pod file. For more detailed information about specific
If there is a hint file for your system (in the hints/ directory) you
should also read that hint file for specific information for your
-system. (Unixware users should use the svr4.sh hint file.)
+system. (Unixware users should use the svr4.sh or the svr5.sh hint file.)
Additional information is in the Porting/ directory.
=head1 WARNING: This version requires an extra step to build old extensions.
pod/perl56delta.pod contains more details about this.
=head1 WARNING: This version is not binary compatible with releases of
-Perl prior to 5.8.0.
+Perl prior to 5.9.0.
If you have built extensions (i.e. modules that include C code)
using an earlier version of Perl, you will need to rebuild and reinstall
=item *
You may try obtaining GCC, available from GNU mirrors worldwide,
-listed at <URL:http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html>. If, rather than
+listed at http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html . If, rather than
building gcc from source code, you locate a binary version configured
for your platform, be sure that it is compiled for the version of the
operating system that you are using.
=head1 Space Requirements
-The complete perl5 source tree takes up about 50 MB of disk space.
+The complete perl5 source tree takes up about 60 MB of disk space.
After completing make, it takes up roughly 100 MB, though the actual
total is likely to be quite system-dependent. The installation
directories need something on the order of 45 MB, though again that
-value is system-dependent.
+value is system-dependent. A perl build with debug symbols and
+-DDEBUGGING will require something on the order of 10 MB extra.
=head1 Start with a Fresh Distribution
After it runs, Configure will perform variable substitution on all the
*.SH files and offer to run make depend.
+=head2 Disabling older versions of Perl
+
+Configure will search for binary compatible versions of previously
+installed perl binaries in the tree that is specified as target tree
+and these will be used by the perl being built.
+
+To disable use of older perl modules, even completely valid pure perl
+modules, you can specify to not include the pathes found:
+
+ sh Configure -Dinc_version_list=none ...
+
+When using the newer perl, you can add these pathes again in the
+$PERL5LIB environment variable or with perl's -I runtime option.
+
=head2 Altering config.sh variables for C compiler switches etc.
For most users, all of the Configure defaults are fine. Configure
find it. It's often a good idea to have both /usr/bin/perl and
/usr/local/bin/perl be symlinks to the actual binary. Be especially
careful, however, not to overwrite a version of perl supplied by your
-vendor unless you are sure you know what you are doing.
+vendor unless you are sure you know what you are doing. If you insist
+on replacing your vendor's perl, useful information on how it was
+configured may be found with
-By default, Configure will arrange for /usr/bin/perl to be linked to
-the current version of perl. You can turn off that behavior by running
+ perl -V:config_args
- Configure -Uinstallusrbinperl
+(Check the output carefully, however, since this doesn't preserve
+spaces in arguments to Configure. For that, you have to look
+carefully at config_arg1, config_arg2, etc.)
-or by answering 'no' to the appropriate Configure prompt.
+By default, Configure will not try to link /usr/bin/perl to
+the current version of perl. You can turn on that behavior by running
+
+ Configure -Dinstallusrbinperl
+
+or by answering 'yes' to the appropriate Configure prompt.
+(Note that before perl 5.8.1, the default behavior was to create
+or overwrite /usr/bin/perl even if it already existed.)
In any case, system administrators are strongly encouraged to
put (symlinks to) perl and its accompanying utilities, such as perldoc,
=item Directories for the perl distribution
-By default, Configure will use the following directories for 5.8.0.
+By default, Configure will use the following directories for 5.9.0.
$version is the full perl version number, including subversion, e.g.
-5.8.0 or 5.8.1, and $archname is a string like sun4-sunos,
+5.9.0 or 5.9.1, and $archname is a string like sun4-sunos,
determined by Configure. The full definitions of all Configure
variables are in the file Porting/Glossary.
Configure variable Default value
- $prefix /usr/local
- $bin $prefix/bin
- $scriptdir $prefix/bin
- $privlib $prefix/lib/perl5/$version
- $archlib $prefix/lib/perl5/$version/$archname
- $man1dir $prefix/man/man1
- $man3dir $prefix/man/man3
- $html1dir (none)
- $html3dir (none)
+ $prefixexp /usr/local
+ $binexp $prefixexp/bin
+ $scriptdirexp $prefixexp/bin
+ $privlibexp $prefixexp/lib/perl5/$version
+ $archlibexp $prefixexp/lib/perl5/$version/$archname
+ $man1direxp $prefixexp/man/man1
+ $man3direxp $prefixexp/man/man3
+ $html1direxp (none)
+ $html3direxp (none)
+
+$prefixexp is generated from $prefix, with ~ expansion done to convert home
+directories into absolute paths. Similarly for the other variables listed. As
+file system calls do not do this, you should always reference the ...exp
+variables, to support users who build perl in their home directory.
Actually, Configure recognizes the SVR3-style
/usr/local/man/l_man/man1 directories, if present, and uses those
be used for installing those add-on modules and scripts.
Configure variable Default value
- $siteprefix $prefix
- $sitebin $siteprefix/bin
- $sitescript $siteprefix/bin
- $sitelib $siteprefix/lib/perl5/site_perl/$version
- $sitearch $siteprefix/lib/perl5/site_perl/$version/$archname
- $siteman1 $siteprefix/man/man1
- $siteman3 $siteprefix/man/man3
- $sitehtml1 (none)
- $sitehtml3 (none)
+ $siteprefixexp $prefixexp
+ $sitebinexp $siteprefixexp/bin
+ $sitescriptexp $siteprefixexp/bin
+ $sitelibexp $siteprefixexp/lib/perl5/site_perl/$version
+ $sitearchexp $siteprefixexp/lib/perl5/site_perl/$version/$archname
+ $siteman1direxp $siteprefixexp/man/man1
+ $siteman3direxp $siteprefixexp/man/man3
+ $sitehtml1direxp (none)
+ $sitehtml3direxp (none)
By default, ExtUtils::MakeMaker will install architecture-independent
modules into $sitelib and architecture-dependent modules into $sitearch.
for you to use to distribute add-on modules.
Configure variable Default value
- $vendorprefix (none)
+ $vendorprefixexp (none)
(The next ones are set only if vendorprefix is set.)
- $vendorbin $vendorprefix/bin
- $vendorscript $vendorprefix/bin
- $vendorlib $vendorprefix/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/$version
- $vendorarch $vendorprefix/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/$version/$archname
- $vendorman1 $vendorprefix/man/man1
- $vendorman3 $vendorprefix/man/man3
- $vendorhtml1 (none)
- $vendorhtml3 (none)
+ $vendorbinexp $vendorprefixexp/bin
+ $vendorscriptexp $vendorprefixexp/bin
+ $vendorlibexp
+ $vendorprefixexp/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/$version
+ $vendorarchexp
+ $vendorprefixexp/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/$version/$archname
+ $vendorman1direxp $vendorprefixexp/man/man1
+ $vendorman3direxp $vendorprefixexp/man/man3
+ $vendorhtml1direxp (none)
+ $vendorhtml3direxp (none)
These are normally empty, but may be set as needed. For example,
a vendor might choose the following settings:
- $prefix /usr
- $siteprefix /usr/local
- $vendorprefix /usr
+ $prefix /usr
+ $siteprefix /usr/local
+ $vendorprefix /usr
This would have the effect of setting the following:
- $bin /usr/bin
- $scriptdir /usr/bin
- $privlib /usr/lib/perl5/$version
- $archlib /usr/lib/perl5/$version/$archname
- $man1dir /usr/man/man1
- $man3dir /usr/man/man3
-
- $sitebin /usr/local/bin
- $sitescript /usr/local/bin
- $sitelib /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/$version
- $sitearch /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/$version/$archname
- $siteman1 /usr/local/man/man1
- $siteman3 /usr/local/man/man3
-
- $vendorbin /usr/bin
- $vendorscript /usr/bin
- $vendorlib /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/$version
- $vendorarch /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/$version/$archname
- $vendorman1 /usr/man/man1
- $vendorman3 /usr/man/man3
+ $binexp /usr/bin
+ $scriptdirexp /usr/bin
+ $privlibexp /usr/lib/perl5/$version
+ $archlibexp /usr/lib/perl5/$version/$archname
+ $man1direxp /usr/man/man1
+ $man3direxp /usr/man/man3
+
+ $sitebinexp /usr/local/bin
+ $sitescriptexp /usr/local/bin
+ $sitelibexp /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/$version
+ $sitearchexp /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/$version/$archname
+ $siteman1direxp /usr/local/man/man1
+ $siteman3direxp /usr/local/man/man3
+
+ $vendorbinexp /usr/bin
+ $vendorscriptexp /usr/bin
+ $vendorlibexp /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/$version
+ $vendorarchexp /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/$version/$archname
+ $vendorman1direxp /usr/man/man1
+ $vendorman3direxp /usr/man/man3
Note how in this example, the vendor-supplied directories are in the
/usr hierarchy, while the directories reserved for the end-user are in
Perl will search these directories (including architecture and
version-specific subdirectories) for add-on modules and extensions.
-For example, if you have a bundle of perl libraries from a previous
+For example, if you have a bundle of perl libraries from a previous
installation, perhaps in a strange place:
- Configure -Dotherlibdirs=/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.6.1
+ Configure -Dotherlibdirs=/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.1
=item APPLLIB_EXP
You can continue to use the old default from the command line with
- sh Configure -Dman3dir=/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.8.0/man/man3
+ sh Configure -Dman3dir=/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.9.0/man/man3
Some users also prefer to use a .3pm suffix. You can do that with
suggesting $prefix/lib/perl5/, Configure will suggest $prefix/lib.
Thus, for example, if you Configure with
--Dprefix=/opt/perl, then the default library directories for 5.8.0 are
+-Dprefix=/opt/perl, then the default library directories for 5.9.0 are
Configure variable Default value
- $privlib /opt/perl/lib/5.8.0
- $archlib /opt/perl/lib/5.8.0/$archname
- $sitelib /opt/perl/lib/site_perl/5.8.0
- $sitearch /opt/perl/lib/site_perl/5.8.0/$archname
+ $privlib /opt/perl/lib/5.9.0
+ $archlib /opt/perl/lib/5.9.0/$archname
+ $sitelib /opt/perl/lib/site_perl/5.9.0
+ $sitearch /opt/perl/lib/site_perl/5.9.0/$archname
=head2 Changing the installation directory
cd /opt/perl # Or wherever you specified as $prefix
tar xvf perl5-archive.tar
+Alternatively, the DESTDIR variable is honored during C<make install>.
+The DESTDIR is automatically prepended to all the installation paths
+(and there is no need to edit anything). With DESTDIR, the above
+example can we written as:
+
+ sh Configure -Dprefix=/opt/perl -des
+ make
+ make test
+ make install DESTDIR=/tmp/perl5
+ cd /tmp/perl5/opt/perl
+ tar cvf /tmp/perl5-archive.tar .
+
=head2 Site-wide Policy settings
After Configure runs, it stores a number of common site-wide "policy"
=head2 Selecting File IO mechanisms
-Executive summary: in Perl 5.8, you should use the default "PerlIO"
+Executive summary: as of Perl 5.8, you should use the default "PerlIO"
as the IO mechanism unless you have a good reason not to.
In more detail: previous versions of perl used the standard IO
a problem for example for mod_perl sites, sites with Perl CGI scripts
and web services, that process data originating from external sources.
-In Perl 5.8.1 a security feature was introduced to make it harder
-to create such degenerate hashes.
-
-Because of this feature the keys(), values(), and each() functions
-may return the hash elements in different order between different
-runs of Perl even with the same data. The additional randomisation
-is enabled if the environment variable PERL_HASH_SEED is set, see
-perlrun for details.
-
-One make the randomisation default by adding -DUSE_HASH_SEED to the
-compilation flags, or completely disable it by adding -DNO_HASH_SEED.
+In Perl 5.8.1 a security feature was introduced to make it harder to
+create such degenerate hashes. A visible side effect of this was that
+the keys(), values(), and each() functions may return the hash elements
+in different order between different runs of Perl even with the same
+data. It also had unintended binary incompatibility issues with
+certain modules compiled against Perl 5.8.0.
+
+In Perl 5.8.2 an improved scheme was introduced. Hashes will return
+elements in the same order as Perl 5.8.0 by default. On a hash by hash
+basis, if pathological data is detected during a hash key insertion,
+then that hash will switch to an alternative random hash seed. As
+adding keys can always dramatically change returned hash element order,
+existing programs will not be affected by this, unless they
+specifically test for pre-recorded hash return order for contrived
+data. (eg the list of keys generated by C<map {"\0"x$_} 0..15> trigger
+randomisation) In effect the new implementation means that 5.8.1 scheme
+is only being used on hashes which are under attack.
+
+One can still revert to the old guaranteed repeatable order (and be
+vulnerable to attack by wily crackers) by setting the environment
+variable PERL_HASH_SEED, see L<perlrun/PERL_HASH_SEED>. Another option
+is to add -DUSE_HASH_SEED_EXPLICIT to the compilation flags (for
+example by using C<Configure -Accflags=-DUSE_HAS_SEED_EXPLICIT>), in
+which case one has to explicitly set the PERL_HASH_SEED environment
+variable to enable the security feature, or by adding -DNO_HASH_SEED to
+the compilation flags to completely disable the randomisation feature.
B<Perl has never guaranteed any ordering of the hash keys>, and the
-ordering has already changed several times during the lifetime of
-Perl 5. Also, the ordering of hash keys has always been, and
-continues to be, affected by the insertion order.
-
-Note that because of this randomisation for example the Data::Dumper
-results will be different between different runs of Perl since
-Data::Dumper by default dumps hashes "unordered". The use of the
-Data::Dumper C<Sortkeys> option is recommended.
+ordering has already changed several times during the lifetime of Perl
+5. Also, the ordering of hash keys has always been, and continues to
+be, affected by the insertion order. It is likely that Perl 5.10 and
+Perl 6 will randomise all hashes. Note that because of this
+randomisation for example the Data::Dumper results will be different
+between different runs of Perl since Data::Dumper by default dumps
+hashes "unordered". The use of the Data::Dumper C<Sortkeys> option is
+recommended.
=head2 SOCKS
it's convenient to have both.
If you are using a shared libperl, see the warnings about multiple
-versions of perl under L<Building a shared libperl.so Perl library>.
+versions of perl under L<Building a shared Perl library>.
=head2 Extensions
you can build and install extensions just fine even if you don't have
dynamic loading. See lib/ExtUtils/MakeMaker.pm for more details.)
+If you have dynamic loading, another way of specifying extra modules
+is described in L<"Adding extra modules to the build"> below.
+
You can learn more about each of the supplied extensions by consulting the
documentation in the individual .pm modules, located under the
ext/ subdirectory.
ln -s libdb-3.so /usr/lib/libdbm.so
ln -s libdb-3.so /usr/lib/libndbm.so
- echo '#define DB_DBM_HSEARCH 1' >dbm.h
+ echo '#define DB_DBM_HSEARCH 1' >dbm.h
echo '#include <db.h>' >>dbm.h
- install -m 0644 dbm.h /usr/include/dbm.h
+ install -m 0644 dbm.h /usr/include/dbm.h
install -m 0644 dbm.h /usr/include/ndbm.h
Optionally, if you have compiled with --enable-compat185 (not needed
=head2 What if it doesn't work?
If you run into problems, try some of the following ideas.
-If none of them help, then see L<"Reporting Problems"> below.
+If none of them help, then see L<"Reporting Problems"> above.
=over 4
or answer first 'y' to the question 'Install any extra modules?' and
then answer "Compress::Zlib Bundle::LWP DBI" to the 'Extras?' question.
The module or the bundle names are as for the CPAN module 'install' command.
+This will only work if those modules are to be built as dynamic
+extensions. If you wish to include those extra modules as static
+extensions, see L<"Extensions"> above.
Notice that because the CPAN module will be used to fetch the extra
modules, you will need access to the CPAN, either via the Internet,
This will attempt to make perl in the current directory.
+=head2 Expected errors
+
+These errors are normal, and can be ignored:
+
+ ...
+ make: [extra.pods] Error 1 (ignored)
+ ...
+ make: [extras.make] Error 1 (ignored)
+
=head2 What if it doesn't work?
If you can't compile successfully, try some of the following ideas.
If none of them help, and careful reading of the error message and
the relevant manual pages on your system doesn't help,
-then see L<"Reporting Problems"> below.
+then see L<"Reporting Problems"> above.
=over 4
other BIND 8 versions) is (or has been) installed. They install
header files such as netdb.h into places such as /usr/local/include (or into
another directory as specified at build/install time), at least optionally.
-Remove them or put them in someplace that isn't in the C preprocessor's
+Remove them or put them in someplace that isn't in the C preprocessor's
header file include search path (determined by -I options plus defaults,
normally /usr/include).
=item invalid token: ##
You are using a non-ANSI-compliant C compiler. See L<WARNING: This
-version requires a compiler that supports ANSI C>.
+version requires a compiler that supports ANSI C.>
=item Miscellaneous
=head1 Coexistence with earlier versions of perl5
-Perl 5.8 is not binary compatible with earlier versions of Perl.
+Perl 5.9 is not binary compatible with earlier versions of Perl.
In other words, you will have to recompile your XS modules.
In general, you can usually safely upgrade from one version of Perl (e.g.
-5.004_04) to another similar version (e.g. 5.004_05) without re-compiling
+5.8.0) to another similar version (e.g. 5.8.2) without re-compiling
all of your add-on extensions. You can also safely leave the old version
around in case the new version causes you problems for some reason.
For example, if you want to be sure that your script continues to run
-with 5.004_04, simply replace the '#!/usr/local/bin/perl' line at the
+with 5.8.2, simply replace the '#!/usr/local/bin/perl' line at the
top of the script with the particular version you want to run, e.g.
-#!/usr/local/bin/perl5.00404.
+#!/usr/local/bin/perl5.8.2.
Usually, most extensions will probably not need to be recompiled to
use with a newer version of Perl (the Perl 5.6 to Perl 5.8 transition
libraries after 5.6.0, but not for executables. TODO?) One convenient
way to do this is by using a separate prefix for each version, such as
- sh Configure -Dprefix=/opt/perl5.004
+ sh Configure -Dprefix=/opt/perl5.8.2
-and adding /opt/perl5.004/bin to the shell PATH variable. Such users
+and adding /opt/perl5.8.2/bin to the shell PATH variable. Such users
may also wish to add a symbolic link /usr/local/bin/perl so that
scripts can still start with #!/usr/local/bin/perl.
=head2 Upgrading from 5.005 or 5.6 to 5.8.0
-B<Perl 5.8.0 is binary incompatible with Perl 5.6.1, 5.6.0, 5.005,
+B<Perl 5.9.0 is binary incompatible with Perl 5.8.x, Perl 5.6.x, 5.005,
and any earlier Perl release.> Perl modules having binary parts
(meaning that a C compiler is used) will have to be recompiled to be
-used with 5.8.0. If you find you do need to rebuild an extension with
-5.8.0, you may safely do so without disturbing the 5.005 or 5.6.0
+used with 5.9.0. If you find you do need to rebuild an extension with
+5.9.0, you may safely do so without disturbing the older
installations. (See L<"Coexistence with earlier versions of perl5">
above.)
process. Most perl4 scripts should run just fine under perl5.
However, if you have any scripts that require perl4, you can replace
the #! line at the top of them by #!/usr/local/bin/perl4.036 (or
-whatever the appropriate pathname is). See pod/perltrap.pod for
+whatever the appropriate pathname is). See L<perltrap> for
possible problems running perl4 scripts under perl5.
=head1 cd /usr/include; h2ph *.h sys/*.h
/usr/lib/perl/5.6.1/auto/Socket/Socket.so
/usr/lib/perl/5.6.1/auto/Socket/Socket.bs
-=head1 Reporting Problems
-
-If you have difficulty building perl, and none of the advice in this file
-helps, and careful reading of the error message and the relevant manual
-pages on your system doesn't help either, then you should send a message
-to either the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup or to perlbug@perl.org with
-an accurate description of your problem.
-
-Please include the output of the ./myconfig shell script that comes with
-the distribution. Alternatively, you can use the perlbug program that
-comes with the perl distribution, but you need to have perl compiled
-before you can use it. (If you have not installed it yet, you need to
-run C<./perl -Ilib utils/perlbug> instead of a plain C<perlbug>.)
-
-Please try to make your message brief but clear. Trim out unnecessary
-information. Do not include large files (such as config.sh or a complete
-Configure or make log) unless absolutely necessary. Do not include a
-complete transcript of your build session. Just include the failing
-commands, the relevant error messages, and whatever preceding commands
-are necessary to give the appropriate context. Plain text should
-usually be sufficient--fancy attachments or encodings may actually
-reduce the number of people who read your message. Your message
-will get relayed to over 400 subscribers around the world so please
-try to keep it brief but clear.
-
=head1 DOCUMENTATION
Read the manual entries before running perl. The main documentation
https://perl5.git.perl.org / perl5.git / blobdiff