=head1 SYNOPSIS
- ****************************
- *** NEEDS WORK FOR 5.004 ***
- ****************************
-
The basic steps to build and install perl5 on a Unix system are:
rm -f config.sh
make
make test
make install
- # possibly add these:
- (cd /usr/include && h2ph *.h sys/*.h)
- cd pod; make html && mv *.html <www home dir> && cd ..
- cd pod; make tex && <process the latex files> && cd ..
+ # You may also wish to add these:
+ (cd /usr/include && h2ph *.h sys/*.h)
+ (cd pod && make html && mv *.html <www home dir>)
+ (cd pod && make tex && <process the latex files>)
Each of these is explained in further detail below.
For information on non-Unix systems, see the section on
-L<"Porting Information">, below.
+L<"Porting information"> below.
-=head1 DESCRIPTION
+For information on what's new in this release, see the
+pod/perldelta.pod file. For more detailed information about specific
+changes, see the Changes file.
-You should probably at least skim through this entire document before
-proceeding. Special notes specific to this release are identified
-by B<NOTE>.
+=head1 DESCRIPTION
This document is written in pod format as an easy way to indicate its
structure. The pod format is described in pod/perlpod.pod, but you can
-read it as is with any pager or editor.
+read it as is with any pager or editor. Headings and items are marked
+by lines beginning with '='. The other mark-up used is
+
+ B<text> embolden text, used for switches, programs or commands
+ C<code> literal code
+ L<name> A link (cross reference) to name
+
+You should probably at least skim through this entire document before
+proceeding.
If you're building Perl on a non-Unix system, you should also read
the README file specific to your operating system, since this may
provide additional or different instructions for building Perl.
-=head1 Space Requirements.
+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.)
+
+=head1 Space Requirements
-The complete perl5 source tree takes up about 7 MB of disk space.
-The complete tree after completing C<make> takes roughly
-15 MB, though the actual total is likely to be quite
-system-dependent. The installation directories need something
-on the order of 7 MB, though again that value is system-dependent.
+The complete perl5 source tree takes up about 7 MB of disk space. The
+complete tree after completing make takes roughly 15 MB, though the
+actual total is likely to be quite system-dependent. The installation
+directories need something on the order of 7 MB, though again that
+value is system-dependent.
-=head1 Start with a Fresh Distribution.
+=head1 Start with a Fresh Distribution
If you have built perl before, you should clean out the build directory
with the command
The results of a Configure run are stored in the config.sh file. If
you are upgrading from a previous version of perl, or if you change
systems or compilers or make other significant changes, or if you are
-experiencing difficulties building perl, you should probably I<not>
+experiencing difficulties building perl, you should probably not
re-use your old config.sh. Simply remove it or rename it, e.g.
mv config.sh config.sh.old
numbers, you will probably want to adjust them as well.
Also, be careful to check your architecture name. Some Linux systems
-call themselves i486, while others use i586. If you pick up a
-precompiled binary, it might not use the same name.
+(such as Debian) use i386, while others may use i486 or i586. If you
+pick up a precompiled binary, it might not use the same name.
In short, if you wish to use your old config.sh, I recommend running
Configure interactively rather than blindly accepting the defaults.
-=head1 Run Configure.
+=head1 Run Configure
Configure will figure out various things about your system. Some
things Configure will figure out for itself, other things it will ask
-you about. To accept the default, just press C<RETURN>. The default
-is almost always ok.
+you about. To accept the default, just press RETURN. The default
+is almost always ok. At any Configure prompt, you can type &-d
+and Configure will use the defaults from then on.
After it runs, Configure will perform variable substitution on all the
-F<*.SH> files and offer to run B<make depend>.
+*.SH files and offer to run make depend.
Configure supports a number of useful options. Run B<Configure -h>
to get a listing. To compile with gcc, for example, you can run
If you want to use your old config.sh but override some of the items
with command line options, you need to use B<Configure -O>.
-If you are willing to accept all the defaults, and you want terse
-output, you can run
-
- sh Configure -des
-
By default, for most systems, perl will be installed in
/usr/local/{bin, lib, man}. You can specify a different 'prefix' for
the default installation directory, when Configure prompts you or by
then Configure will suggest /opt/perl/lib instead of
/opt/perl/lib/perl5/.
-By default, Configure will compile perl to use dynamic loading, if
+By default, Configure will compile perl to use dynamic loading if
your system supports it. If you want to force perl to be compiled
statically, you can either choose this when Configure prompts you or
you can use the Configure command line option -Uusedl.
+If you are willing to accept all the defaults, and you want terse
+output, you can run
+
+ sh Configure -des
+
+For my Solaris system, I usually use
+
+ sh Configure -Dprefix=/opt/perl -Doptimize='-xpentium -xO4' -des
+
=head2 GNU-style configure
-If you prefer the GNU-style B<configure> command line interface, you can
-use the supplied B<configure> command, e.g.
+If you prefer the GNU-style configure command line interface, you can
+use the supplied configure command, e.g.
CC=gcc ./configure
-The B<configure> script emulates several of the more common configure
+The configure script emulates a few of the more common configure
options. Try
./configure --help
for a listing.
-Cross compiling is currently not supported.
+Cross compiling is not supported.
For systems that do not distinguish the files "Configure" and
-"configure", Perl includes a copy of B<configure> named
-B<configure.gnu>.
-
-=head2 Binary Compatibility With Earlier Versions of Perl 5
-
-Starting with Perl 5.003, all functions in the Perl C source code have
-been protected by default by the prefix Perl_ (or perl_) so that you
-may link with third-party libraries without fear of namespace
-collisons. This change broke compatability with version 5.002, so
-installing 5.003 or 5.004 over 5.002 or earlier will force you to
-re-build and install all of your dynamically loadable extensions.
-(The standard extensions supplied with Perl are handled
-automatically). You can turn off this namespace protection by adding
--DNO_EMBED to your ccflags variable in config.sh.
-
-Perl 5.003's namespace protection was incomplete, which has been
-rectified in Perl 5.004. However, some sites may need to maintain
-complete binary compatibility with Perl 5.003. If you are building
-Perl for such a site, then when B<Configure> asks if you want binary
-compatibility, answer "y".
+"configure", Perl includes a copy of configure named
+configure.gnu.
=head2 Extensions
by default, but you can skip it by setting the Configure variable
useopcode=false either in a hint file for from the command line.
+You can learn more about each of these extensions by consulting the
+documentation in the individual .pm modules, located under the
+ext/ subdirectory.
+
Even if you do not have dynamic loading, you must still build the
DynaLoader extension; you should just build the stub dl_none.xs
version. (Configure will suggest this as the default.)
library.
Of course, you may always run Configure interactively and select only
-the Extensions you want.
+the extensions you want.
+
+Note: The DB_File module will only work with version 1.x of
+Berkeley DB. Once Berkeley DB version 2 is released, DB_File will be
+upgraded to work with it. Configure will automatically detect this
+for you and refuse to try to build DB_File with version 2.
Finally, if you have dynamic loading (most modern Unix systems do)
remember that these extensions do not increase the size of your perl
dbm, ndbm, gdbm, and Berkeley db. For each extension, if
Configure can find the appropriate header files and libraries, it will
automatically include that extension. The gdbm and db libraries
-are B<not> included with perl. See the library documentation for
+are not included with perl. See the library documentation for
how to obtain the libraries.
-I<Note:> If your database header (.h) files are not in a
+Note: If your database header (.h) files are not in a
directory normally searched by your C compiler, then you will need to
-include the appropriate B<-I/your/directory> option when prompted by
+include the appropriate -I/your/directory option when prompted by
Configure. If your database library (.a) files are not in a directory
normally searched by your C compiler and linker, then you will need to
-include the appropriate B<-L/your/directory> option when prompted by
+include the appropriate -L/your/directory option when prompted by
Configure. See the examples below.
=head2 Examples
=over 4
-=item gdbm in /usr/local.
+=item gdbm in /usr/local
Suppose you have gdbm and want Configure to find it and build the
-GDBM_File extension. This examples assumes you have F<gdbm.h>
-installed in F</usr/local/include/gdbm.h> and F<libgdbm.a> installed in
-F</usr/local/lib/libgdbm.a>. Configure should figure all the
+GDBM_File extension. This examples assumes you have gdbm.h
+installed in /usr/local/include/gdbm.h and libgdbm.a installed in
+/usr/local/lib/libgdbm.a. Configure should figure all the
necessary steps out automatically.
Specifically, when Configure prompts you for flags for
-your C compiler, you should include C<-I/usr/local/include>.
+your C compiler, you should include -I/usr/local/include.
When Configure prompts you for linker flags, you should include
-C<-L/usr/local/lib>.
+-L/usr/local/lib.
If you are using dynamic loading, then when Configure prompts you for
linker flags for dynamic loading, you should again include
-C<-L/usr/local/lib>.
+-L/usr/local/lib.
Again, this should all happen automatically. If you want to accept the
defaults for all the questions and have Configure print out only terse
Suppose you have gdbm installed in some place other than /usr/local/,
but you still want Configure to find it. To be specific, assume you
-have F</usr/you/include/gdbm.h> and F</usr/you/lib/libgdbm.a>. You
-still have to add B<-I/usr/you/include> to cc flags, but you have to take
-an extra step to help Configure find F<libgdbm.a>. Specifically, when
+have /usr/you/include/gdbm.h and /usr/you/lib/libgdbm.a. You
+still have to add -I/usr/you/include to cc flags, but you have to take
+an extra step to help Configure find libgdbm.a. Specifically, when
Configure prompts you for library directories, you have to add
-F</usr/you/lib> to the list.
+/usr/you/lib to the list.
It is possible to specify this from the command line too (all on one
line):
-Dlocincpth="/usr/you/include" \
-Dloclibpth="/usr/you/lib"
-C<locincpth> is a space-separated list of include directories to search.
-Configure will automatically add the appropriate B<-I> directives.
+locincpth is a space-separated list of include directories to search.
+Configure will automatically add the appropriate -I directives.
-C<loclibpth> is a space-separated list of library directories to search.
-Configure will automatically add the appropriate B<-L> directives. If
-you have some libraries under F</usr/local/> and others under
-F</usr/you>, then you have to include both, namely
+loclibpth is a space-separated list of library directories to search.
+Configure will automatically add the appropriate -L directives. If
+you have some libraries under /usr/local/ and others under
+/usr/you, then you have to include both, namely
sh Configure -des \
-Dlocincpth="/usr/you/include /usr/local/include" \
=back
-=head2 Installation Directories.
+=head2 Installation Directories
The installation directories can all be changed by answering the
appropriate questions in Configure. For convenience, all the
installation questions are near the beginning of Configure.
+I highly recommend running Configure interactively to be sure it puts
+everything where you want it. At any point during the Configure
+process, you can answer a question with &-d and Configure
+will use the defaults from then on.
+
By default, Configure uses the following directories for
library files (archname is a string like sun4-sunos, determined
by Configure)
they don't collide with other man pages stored in /usr/local/man/man3,
and so that Perl's man pages don't hide system man pages. On some
systems, B<man less> would end up calling up Perl's less.pm module man
-page, rather than the B<less> program.
+page, rather than the less program. (This location may change in a
+future release of perl.)
+
+Note: Many users prefer to store the module man pages in
+/usr/local/man/man3. You can do this from the command line with
+
+ sh Configure -Dman3dir=/usr/local/man/man3
+
+Some users also prefer to use a .3pm suffix. You can do that with
+
+ sh Configure -Dman3ext=3pm
If you specify a prefix that contains the string "perl", then the
-directory structure is simplified. For example, if you Configure
-with -Dprefix=/opt/perl, then the defaults are
+directory structure is simplified. For example, if you Configure with
+-Dprefix=/opt/perl, then the defaults are
/opt/perl/lib/archname/5.004
/opt/perl/lib
Again, these are just the defaults, and can be changed as you run
Configure.
+=head2 Changing the installation directory
+
+Configure distinguishes between the directory in which perl (and its
+associated files) should be installed and the directory in which it
+will eventually reside. For most sites, these two are the same; for
+sites that use AFS, this distinction is handled automatically.
+However, sites that use software such as depot to manage software
+packages may also wish to install perl into a different directory and
+use that management software to move perl to its final destination.
+This section describes how to do this. Someday, Configure may support
+an option -Dinstallprefix=/foo to simplify this.
+
+Suppose you want to install perl under the /tmp/perl5 directory.
+You can edit config.sh and change all the install* variables to
+point to /tmp/perl5 instead of /usr/local/wherever. You could
+also set them all from the Configure command line. Or, you can
+automate this process by placing the following lines in a file
+config.over before you run Configure (replace /tmp/perl5 by a
+directory of your choice):
+
+ installprefix=/tmp/perl5
+ test -d $installprefix || mkdir $installprefix
+ test -d $installprefix/bin || mkdir $installprefix/bin
+ installarchlib=`echo $installarchlib | sed "s!$prefix!$installprefix!"`
+ installbin=`echo $installbin | sed "s!$prefix!$installprefix!"`
+ installman1dir=`echo $installman1dir | sed "s!$prefix!$installprefix!"`
+ installman3dir=`echo $installman3dir | sed "s!$prefix!$installprefix!"`
+ installprivlib=`echo $installprivlib | sed "s!$prefix!$installprefix!"`
+ installscript=`echo $installscript | sed "s!$prefix!$installprefix!"`
+ installsitelib=`echo $installsitelib | sed "s!$prefix!$installprefix!"`
+ installsitearch=`echo $installsitearch | sed "s!$prefix!$installprefix!"`
+
+Then, you can Configure and install in the usual way:
+
+ sh Configure -des
+ make
+ make test
+ make install
+
+=head2 Creating an installable tar archive
+
+If you need to install perl on many identical systems, it is
+convenient to compile it once and create an archive that can be
+installed on multiple systems. Here's one way to do that:
+
+ # Set up config.over to install perl into a different directory,
+ # e.g. /tmp/perl5 (see previous part).
+ sh Configure -des
+ make
+ make test
+ make install
+ cd /tmp/perl5
+ tar cvf ../perl5-archive.tar .
+ # Then, on each machine where you want to install perl,
+ cd /usr/local # Or wherever you specified as $prefix
+ tar xvf perl5-archive.tar
+
+=head2 Configure-time Options
+
+There are several different ways to Configure and build perl for your
+system. For most users, the defaults are sensible and will work.
+Some users, however, may wish to further customize perl. Here are
+some of the main things you can change.
+
+=head2 Binary Compatibility With Earlier Versions of Perl 5
+
+If you have dynamically loaded extensions that you built under
+perl 5.003 and that you wish to continue to use with perl 5.004, then you
+need to ensure that 5.004 remains binary compatible with 5.003.
+
+Starting with Perl 5.003, all functions in the Perl C source code have
+been protected by default by the prefix Perl_ (or perl_) so that you
+may link with third-party libraries without fear of namespace
+collisions. This change broke compatibility with version 5.002, so
+installing 5.003 or 5.004 over 5.002 or earlier will force you to
+re-build and install all of your dynamically loadable extensions.
+(The standard extensions supplied with Perl are handled
+automatically). You can turn off this namespace protection by adding
+-DNO_EMBED to your ccflags variable in config.sh.
+
+Perl 5.003's namespace protection was incomplete, but this has
+been fixed in 5.004. However, some sites may need to maintain
+complete binary compatibility with Perl 5.003. If you are building
+Perl for such a site, then when Configure asks if you want binary
+compatibility, answer "y".
+
+On the other hand, if you are embedding perl into another application
+and want the maximum namespace protection, then you probably ought to
+answer "n" when Configure asks if you want binary compatibility.
+
+The default answer of "y" to maintain binary compatibility is probably
+appropriate for almost everyone.
+
+In a related issue, old extensions may possibly be affected by the changes
+in the Perl language in the current release. Please see pod/perldelta for
+a description of what's changed.
+
=head2 Selecting File IO mechanisms
Previous versions of perl used the standard IO mechanisms as defined in
-<stdio.h>. Versions 5.003_02 and later of perl allow alternate IO
+stdio.h. Versions 5.003_02 and later of perl allow alternate IO
mechanisms via a "PerlIO" abstraction, but the stdio mechanism is still
the default and is the only supported mechanism.
=item 1.
-AT&T's "sfio". This has superior performance to <stdio.h> in many
-cases, and is extensible by the use of "disipline" modules. Sfio
+AT&T's "sfio". This has superior performance to stdio.h in many
+cases, and is extensible by the use of "discipline" modules. Sfio
currently only builds on a subset of the UNIX platforms perl supports.
Because the data structures are completely different from stdio, perl
extension modules or external libraries may not work. This
that you have sfio, then sfio will be the default suggested by
Configure.
+Note: On some systems, sfio's iffe configuration script fails
+to detect that you have an atexit function (or equivalent).
+Apparently, this is a problem at least for some versions of Linux
+and SunOS 4.
+
+You can test if you have this problem by trying the following shell
+script. (You may have to add some extra cflags and libraries. A
+portable version of this may eventually make its way into Configure.)
+
+ #!/bin/sh
+ cat > try.c <<'EOCP'
+ #include <stdio.h>
+ main() { printf("42\n"); }
+ EOCP
+ cc -o try try.c -lsfio
+ val=`./try`
+ if test X$val = X42; then
+ echo "Your sfio looks ok"
+ else
+ echo "Your sfio has the exit problem."
+ fi
+
+If you have this problem, the fix is to go back to your sfio sources
+and correct iffe's guess about atexit (or whatever is appropriate for
+your platform.)
+
+There also might be a more recent release of Sfio that fixes your
+problem.
+
=item 2.
Normal stdio IO, but with all IO going through calls to the PerlIO
This configuration should work on all platforms (but might not).
-You select this option via :
+You select this option via:
sh Configure -Duseperlio -Uusesfio
=back
-=head2 Changing the installation directory
-
-Configure distinguishes between the directory in which perl (and its
-associated files) should be installed and the directory in which it
-will eventually reside. For most sites, these two are the same; for
-sites that use AFS, this distinction is handled automatically.
-However, sites that use software such as B<depot> to manage software
-packages may also wish to install perl into a different directory and
-use that management software to move perl to its final destination.
-This section describes how to do this. Someday, Configure may support
-an option C<-Dinstallprefix=/foo> to simplify this.
-
-Suppose you want to install perl under the F</tmp/perl5> directory.
-You can edit F<config.sh> and change all the install* variables to
-point to F</tmp/perl5> instead of F</usr/local/wherever>. You could
-also set them all from the Configure command line. Or, you can
-automate this process by placing the following lines in a file
-F<config.over> B<before> you run Configure (replace /tmp/perl5 by a
-directory of your choice):
-
- installprefix=/tmp/perl5
- test -d $installprefix || mkdir $installprefix
- test -d $installprefix/bin || mkdir $installprefix/bin
- installarchlib=`echo $installarchlib | sed "s!$prefix!$installprefix!"`
- installbin=`echo $installbin | sed "s!$prefix!$installprefix!"`
- installman1dir=`echo $installman1dir | sed "s!$prefix!$installprefix!"`
- installman3dir=`echo $installman3dir | sed "s!$prefix!$installprefix!"`
- installprivlib=`echo $installprivlib | sed "s!$prefix!$installprefix!"`
- installscript=`echo $installscript | sed "s!$prefix!$installprefix!"`
- installsitelib=`echo $installsitelib | sed "s!$prefix!$installprefix!"`
- installsitearch=`echo $installsitearch | sed "s!$prefix!$installprefix!"`
-
-Then, you can Configure and install in the usual way:
-
- sh Configure -des
- make
- make test
- make install
-
-=head2 Building a shared libperl.so Perl library.
+=head2 Building a shared libperl.so Perl library
Currently, for most systems, the main perl executable is built by
linking the "perl library" libperl.a with perlmain.o, your static
The disadvantages are that there may be a significant performance
penalty associated with the shared libperl.so, and that the overall
-meachanism is still rather fragile with respect to different versions
+mechanism is still rather fragile with respect to different versions
and upgrades.
In terms of performance, on my test system (Solaris 2.5_x86) the perl
sh Configure -Duseshrplib
To actually build perl, you must add the current working directory to your
-LD_LIBRARY_PATH environtment variable before running make. You can do
+LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable before running make. You can do
this with
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=`pwd`:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH; export LD_LIBRARY_PATH
that you might not be able to. The installation directory is encoded
in the perl binary with the LD_RUN_PATH environment variable (or
equivalent ld command-line option). On Solaris, you can override that
-with LD_LIBRARY_PATH; on Linux you can't.
+with LD_LIBRARY_PATH; on Linux you can't. On Digital Unix, you can
+ovveride LD_LIBRARY_PATH by setting the _RLD_ROOT environment variable
+to point to the perl build directory.
The only reliable answer is that you should specify a different
directory for the architecture-dependent library for your -DDEBUGGING
variables in config.sh, namely archlib, archlib_exp, and
installarchlib, to point to your new architecture-dependent library.
-=head2 Creating an installable tar archive
+=head2 Malloc Issues
-If you need to install perl on many identical systems, it is
-convenient to compile it once and create an archive that can be
-installed on multiple systems. Here's one way to do that:
+Perl relies heavily on malloc(3) to grow data structures as needed, so
+perl's performance can be noticeably affected by the performance of
+the malloc function on your system.
- # Set up config.over to install perl into a different directory,
- # e.g. /tmp/perl5 (see previous part).
- sh Configure -des
- make
- make test
- make install
- cd /tmp/perl5
- tar cvf ../perl5-archive.tar .
- # Then, on each machine where you want to install perl,
- cd /usr/local # Or wherever you specified as $prefix
- tar xvf perl5-archive.tar
+The perl source is shipped with a version of malloc that is very fast
+but somewhat wasteful of space. On the other hand, your system's
+malloc() function is probably a bit slower but also a bit more frugal.
+
+For many uses, speed is probably the most important consideration, so
+the default behavior (for most systems) is to use the malloc supplied
+with perl. However, if you will be running very large applications
+(e.g. Tk or PDL) or if your system already has an excellent malloc, or
+if you are experiencing difficulties with extensions that use
+third-party libraries that call malloc, then you might wish to use
+your system's malloc. (Or, you might wish to explore the experimental
+malloc flags discussed below.)
+
+To build without perl's malloc, you can use the Configure command
+
+ sh Configure -Uusemymalloc
+
+or you can answer 'n' at the appropriate interactive Configure prompt.
+
+=head2 Malloc Performance Flags
+
+If you are using Perl's malloc, you may add one or
+more of the following items to your cflags config.sh variable
+to change its behavior in potentially useful ways. You can find out
+more about these flags by reading the malloc.c source.
+In a future version of perl, these might be enabled by default.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item -DDEBUGGING_MSTATS
+
+If DEBUGGING_MSTATS is defined, you can extract malloc
+statistics from the Perl interpreter. The overhead this imposes is not
+large (perl just twiddles integers at malloc/free/sbrk time). When you
+run perl with the environment variable PERL_DEBUG_MSTATS set to
+either 1 or 2, the interpreter will dump statistics to stderr at exit
+time and (with a value of 2) after compilation. If you install the
+Devel::Peek module you can get the statistics whenever you like by
+invoking its mstat() function.
+
+=item -DEMERGENCY_SBRK
+
+If EMERGENCY_SBRK is defined, running out of memory need not be a
+fatal error: a memory pool can allocated by assigning to the special
+variable $^M. See perlvar(1) for more details.
+
+=item -DPACK_MALLOC
+
+If PACK_MALLOC is defined, malloc.c uses a slightly different
+algorithm for small allocations (up to 64 bytes long). Such small
+allocations are quite common in typical Perl scripts.
+
+The expected memory savings (with 8-byte alignment in $alignbytes) is
+about 20% for typical Perl usage. The expected slowdown due to the
+additional malloc overhead is in fractions of a percent. (It is hard
+to measure because of the effect of the saved memory on speed).
+
+=item -DTWO_POT_OPTIMIZE
+
+If TWO_POT_OPTIMIZE is defined, malloc.c uses a slightly different
+algorithm for large allocations that are close to a power of two
+(starting with 16K). Such allocations are typical for big hashes and
+special-purpose scripts, especially image processing. If you will be
+manipulating very large blocks with sizes close to powers of two, it
+might be wise to define this macro.
+
+The expected saving of memory is 0-100% (100% in applications which
+require most memory in such 2**n chunks). The expected slowdown is
+negligible.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 Building a debugging perl
+
+You can run perl scripts under the perl debugger at any time with
+B<perl -d your_script>. If, however, you want to debug perl itself,
+you probably want to do
+
+ sh Configure -Doptimize='-g'
+
+This will do two independent things: First, it will force compilation
+to use cc -g so that you can use your system's debugger on the
+executable. (Note: Your system may actually require something like
+cc -g2. Check you man pages for cc(1) and also any hint file for your
+system.) Second, it will add -DDEBUGGING to your ccflags variable in
+config.sh so that you can use B<perl -D> to access perl's internal
+state. (Note: Configure will only add -DDEBUGGING by
+default if you are not reusing your old config.sh. If you want to
+reuse your old config.sh, then you can just edit it and change the
+optimize and ccflags variables by hand and then propagate your changes
+as shown in L<"Propagating your changes to config.sh"> below.)
+
+You can actually specify -g and -DDEBUGGING independently, but usually
+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>.
+
+=head2 Other Compiler Flags
+
+For most users, all of the Configure defaults are fine. However,
+you can change a number of factors in the way perl is built
+by adding appropriate -D directives to your ccflags variable in
+config.sh.
+
+For example, you can replace the rand() and srand() functions in the
+perl source by any other random number generator by a trick such as the
+following:
+
+ sh Configure -Dccflags='-Drand=random -Dsrand=srandom'
+
+or by adding -Drand=random and -Dsrand=srandom to your ccflags
+at the appropriate Configure prompt. (Note: Although this worked for
+me, it might not work for you if your system's header files give
+different prototypes for rand() and random() or srand() and srandom().)
+
+You should also run Configure interactively to verify that a hint file
+doesn't inadvertently override your ccflags setting. (Hints files
+shouldn't do that, but some might.)
=head2 What if it doesn't work?
guesses.
All the installation questions have been moved to the top, so you don't
-have to wait for them. Once you've handled them (and your C compiler &
-flags) you can type C<&-d> at the next Configure prompt and Configure
+have to wait for them. Once you've handled them (and your C compiler and
+flags) you can type &-d at the next Configure prompt and Configure
will use the defaults from then on.
If you find yourself trying obscure command line incantations and
config.over tricks, I recommend you run Configure interactively
instead. You'll probably save yourself time in the long run.
-=item Hint files.
+=item Hint files
The perl distribution includes a number of system-specific hints files
in the hints/ directory. If one of them matches your system, Configure
Several of the hint files contain additional important information.
If you have any problems, it is a good idea to read the relevant hint
-file for further information. See F<hints/solaris_2.sh> for an
+file for further information. See hints/solaris_2.sh for an
extensive example.
=item *** WHOA THERE!!! ***
The previous value for $i_gdbm on this machine was "undef"!
Keep the previous value? [y]
-In this case, you do I<not> want to keep the previous value, so you
+In this case, you do not want to keep the previous value, so you
should answer 'n'. (You'll also have to manually add GDBM_File to
the list of dynamic extensions to build.)
=item Changing Compilers
If you change compilers or make other significant changes, you should
-probably I<not> re-use your old config.sh. Simply remove it or
+probably not re-use your old config.sh. Simply remove it or
rename it, e.g. mv config.sh config.sh.old. Then rerun Configure
with the options you want to use.
-This is a common source of problems. If you change from B<cc> to
-B<gcc>, you should almost always remove your old config.sh.
+This is a common source of problems. If you change from cc to
+gcc, you should almost always remove your old config.sh.
=item Propagating your changes to config.sh
-If you make any changes to F<config.sh>, you should propagate
-them to all the .SH files by running B<sh Configure -S>. You will
-then have to rebuild by running
+If you make any changes to config.sh, you should propagate
+them to all the .SH files by running
+
+ sh Configure -S
+
+You will then have to rebuild by running
make depend
make
=item config.h
-Many of the system dependencies are contained in F<config.h>.
-F<Configure> builds F<config.h> by running the F<config_h.SH> script.
-The values for the variables are taken from F<config.sh>.
+Many of the system dependencies are contained in config.h.
+Configure builds config.h by running the config_h.SH script.
+The values for the variables are taken from config.sh.
-If there are any problems, you can edit F<config.h> directly. Beware,
-though, that the next time you run B<Configure>, your changes will be
+If there are any problems, you can edit config.h directly. Beware,
+though, that the next time you run Configure, your changes will be
lost.
=item cflags
If you have any additional changes to make to the C compiler command
-line, they can be made in F<cflags.SH>. For instance, to turn off the
-optimizer on F<toke.c>, find the line in the switch structure for
-F<toke.c> and put the command C<optimize='-g'> before the C<;;>. You
-can also edit F<cflags> directly, but beware that your changes will be
-lost the next time you run B<Configure>.
+line, they can be made in cflags.SH. For instance, to turn off the
+optimizer on toke.c, find the line in the switch structure for
+toke.c and put the command optimize='-g' before the ;; . You
+can also edit cflags directly, but beware that your changes will be
+lost the next time you run Configure.
+
+To change the C flags for all the files, edit config.sh
+and change either $ccflags or $optimize,
+and then re-run
-To change the C flags for all the files, edit F<config.sh>
-and change either C<$ccflags> or C<$optimize>,
-and then re-run B<sh Configure -S ; make depend>.
+ sh Configure -S
+ make depend
-=item No sh.
+=item No sh
If you don't have sh, you'll have to copy the sample file config_H to
config.h and edit the config.h to reflect your system's peculiarities.
=item Porting information
-Specific information for the OS/2, Plan9, and VMS ports are in the
-corresponing subdirectories. Additional information, including
-a glossary of all those config.sh variables, is in the Porting
+Specific information for the OS/2, Plan9, VMS and Win32 ports is in the
+corresponding README files and subdirectories. Additional information,
+including a glossary of all those config.sh variables, is in the Porting
subdirectory.
Ports for other systems may also be available. You should check out
-L<"http://www.perl.com/CPAN/ports"> for current information on ports to
+http://www.perl.com/CPAN/ports for current information on ports to
various other operating systems.
=back
=head1 make depend
This will look for all the includes.
-The output is stored in F<makefile>. The only difference between
-F<Makefile> and F<makefile> is the dependencies at the bottom of
-F<makefile>. If you have to make any changes, you should edit
-F<makefile>, not F<Makefile> since the Unix B<make> command reads
-F<makefile> first. (On non-Unix systems, the output may be stored in
+The output is stored in makefile. The only difference between
+Makefile and makefile is the dependencies at the bottom of
+makefile. If you have to make any changes, you should edit
+makefile, not Makefile since the Unix make command reads
+makefile first. (On non-Unix systems, the output may be stored in
a different file. Check the value of $firstmakefile in your config.sh
if in doubt.)
the relevant manual pages on your system doesn't help, you can
send a message to either the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup or to
perlbug@perl.com with an accurate description of your problem.
-Please include the I<output> of the B<./myconfig> shell script
-that comes with the distribution.
-
-[The B<perlbug> program that comes with the perl distribution is
-useful for sending in such reports, but you need to have
-perl compiled and installed before you can use it.]
+See L<"Reporting Problems"> below.
=over 4
-=item *
+=item hints
If you used a hint file, try reading the comments in the hint file
for further tips and information.
-=item *
+=item extensions
-If you can successfully build F<miniperl>, but the process crashes
+If you can successfully build miniperl, but the process crashes
during the building of extensions, you should run
make minitest
while running B<./miniperl configpm> with locales other than the C
locale. See the discussion under L<make test> below about locales.
-=item *
+=item malloc duplicates
-If you get duplicates upon linking for malloc et al, say -DHIDEMYMALLOC.
+If you get duplicates upon linking for malloc et al, add -DHIDEMYMALLOC
+or -DEMBEDMYMALLOC to your ccflags variable in config.sh.
=item varargs
L<"Propagating your changes to config.sh"> below).
See also the L<"vsprintf"> item below.
-=item *
+=item croak
If you get error messages such as the following (the exact line
numbers will vary in different versions of perl):
If you have problems with dynamic loading using gcc on SunOS or
Solaris, and you are using GNU as and GNU ld, you may need to add
-B<-B/bin/> (for SunOS) or B<-B/usr/ccs/bin/> (for Solaris) to your
+-B/bin/ (for SunOS) or -B/usr/ccs/bin/ (for Solaris) to your
$ccflags, $ldflags, and $lddlflags so that the system's versions of as
-and ld are used. Alternatively, you can use the GCC_EXEC_PREFIX
+and ld are used. Note that the trailing '/' is required.
+Alternatively, you can use the GCC_EXEC_PREFIX
environment variable to ensure that Sun's as and ld are used. Consult
-your gcc documentation for further information on the B<-B> option and
+your gcc documentation for further information on the -B option and
the GCC_EXEC_PREFIX variable.
+One convenient way to ensure you are not using GNU as and ld is to
+invoke Configure with
+
+ sh Configure -Dcc='gcc -B/usr/ccs/bin/'
+
+for Solaris systems. For a SunOS system, you must use -B/bin/
+instead.
+
=item ld.so.1: ./perl: fatal: relocation error:
If you get this message on SunOS or Solaris, and you're using gcc,
it's probably the GNU as or GNU ld problem in the previous item
L<"Solaris and SunOS dynamic loading">.
-=item *
+=item LD_LIBRARY_PATH
If you run into dynamic loading problems, check your setting of
-the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable. Perl should build
+the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable. If you're creating a static
+Perl library (libperl.a rather than libperl.so) it should build
fine with LD_LIBRARY_PATH unset, though that may depend on details
of your local set-up.
that the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable includes a directory
which is a symlink to /usr/lib (such as /lib).
-The reason this causes a problem is quite subtle. The file libdl.so.1.0
+The reason this causes a problem is quite subtle. The file libdl.so.1.0
actually *only* contains functions which generate 'stub interception
failed' errors! The runtime linker intercepts links to
"/usr/lib/libdl.so.1.0" and links in internal implementation of those
functions instead. [Thanks to Tim Bunce for this explanation.]
-=item *
+=item nm extraction
If Configure seems to be having trouble finding library functions,
try not using nm extraction. You can do this from the command line
sh Configure -Uusenm
or by answering the nm extraction question interactively.
-If you have previously run Configure, you should I<not> reuse your old
+If you have previously run Configure, you should not reuse your old
config.sh.
=item vsprintf
on a number of other common functions too. You are probably better off
re-running Configure without using nm extraction (see previous item).
-=item *
+=item do_aspawn
+
+If you run into problems relating to do_aspawn or do_spawn, the
+problem is probably that Configure failed to detect your system's
+fork() function. Follow the procedure in the previous items
+on L<"vsprintf"> and L<"nm extraction">.
+
+=item Optimizer
If you can't compile successfully, try turning off your compiler's
-optimizier. Edit config.sh and change the line
+optimizer. Edit config.sh and change the line
optimize='-O'
then propagate your changes with B<sh Configure -S> and rebuild
with B<make depend; make>.
-=item *
+=item CRIPPLED_CC
-If you still can't compile successfully, try adding a C<-DCRIPPLED_CC>
+If you still can't compile successfully, try adding a -DCRIPPLED_CC
flag. (Just because you get no errors doesn't mean it compiled right!)
This simplifies some complicated expressions for compilers that get
indigestion easily.
there but is defective or incomplete. Look through config.h for
likely suspects.
-=item *
+=item toke.c
-Some compilers will not compile or optimize the larger files without
-some extra switches to use larger jump offsets or allocate larger
-internal tables. You can customize the switches for each file in
-F<cflags>. It's okay to insert rules for specific files into
-F<makefile> since a default rule only takes effect in the absence of a
+Some compilers will not compile or optimize the larger files (such as
+toke.c) without some extra switches to use larger jump offsets or
+allocate larger internal tables. You can customize the switches for
+each file in cflags. It's okay to insert rules for specific files into
+makefile since a default rule only takes effect in the absence of a
specific rule.
=item Missing dbmclose
SCO prior to 3.2.4 may be missing dbmclose(). An upgrade to 3.2.4
that includes libdbm.nfs (which includes dbmclose()) may be available.
-=item Warning (will try anyway): No library found for -lposix
+=item Note (probably harmless): No library found for -lsomething
If you see such a message during the building of an extension, but
the extension passes its tests anyway (see L<"make test"> below),
then don't worry about the warning message. The extension
Makefile.PL goes looking for various libraries needed on various
-systems; few systems will need all the possible libries listed.
+systems; few systems will need all the possible libraries listed.
For example, a system may have -lcposix or -lposix, but it's
unlikely to have both, so most users will see warnings for the one
-they don't have. The message 'will try anyway' is intended to
-reassure you that the process is continuing.
+they don't have. The phrase 'probably harmless' is intended to
+reassure you that nothing unusual is happening, and the build
+process is continuing.
On the other hand, if you are building GDBM_File and you get the
message
- Warning (will try anyway): No library found for -lgdbm
+ Note (probably harmless): No library found for -lgdbm
then it's likely you're going to run into trouble somewhere along
the line, since it's hard to see how you can use the GDBM_File
this out, but Configure and the extension building process are not
quite that tightly coordinated.
-=item *
+=item sh: ar: not found
+
+This is a message from your shell telling you that the command 'ar'
+was not found. You need to check your PATH environment variable to
+make sure that it includes the directory with the 'ar' command. This
+is a common problem on Solaris, where 'ar' is in the /usr/ccs/bin
+directory.
+
+=item db-recno failure on tests 51, 53 and 55
+
+Old versions of the DB library (including the DB library which comes
+with FreeBSD 2.1) had broken handling of recno databases with modified
+bval settings. Upgrade your DB library or OS.
+
+=item Miscellaneous
Some additional things that have been reported for either perl4 or perl5:
NCR Tower 32 (OS 2.01.01) may need -W2,-Sl,2000 and #undef MKDIR.
-UTS may need one or more of B<-DCRIPPLED_CC>, B<-K> or B<-g>, and undef LSTAT.
+UTS may need one or more of -DCRIPPLED_CC, -K or -g, and undef LSTAT.
If you get syntax errors on '(', try -DCRIPPLED_CC.
Machines with half-implemented dbm routines will need to #undef I_ODBM
-db-recno failure on tests 51, 53 and 55: Old versions of the DB library
-(including the DB library which comes with FreeBSD 2.1) had broken
-handling of recno databases with modified bval settings. Upgrade your
-DB library or OS.
-
=back
=head1 make test
This will run the regression tests on the perl you just made. If it
doesn't say "All tests successful" then something went wrong. See the
-file F<t/README> in the F<t> subdirectory. Note that you can't run it
-in background if this disables opening of /dev/tty.
+file t/README in the t subdirectory. Note that you can't run the
+tests in background if this disables opening of /dev/tty.
-If B<make test> bombs out, just B<cd> to the F<t> directory and run
-B<TEST> by hand to see if it makes any difference. If individual tests
+If make test bombs out, just cd to the t directory and run ./TEST
+by hand to see if it makes any difference. If individual tests
bomb, you can run them by hand, e.g.,
./perl op/groups.t
Another way to get more detailed information about failed tests and
-individual subtests is to B<cd> to the F<t> directory and run
+individual subtests is to cd to the t directory and run
./perl harness
-(this assumes that I<most> tests succeed, since F<harness> uses
+(this assumes that most tests succeed, since harness uses
complicated constructs).
You can also read the individual tests to see if there are any helpful
comments that apply to your system.
-B<Note>: one possible reason for errors is that some external programs
+Note: One possible reason for errors is that some external programs
may be broken due to the combination of your environment and the way
-C<make test> exercises them. For example, this may happen if you have
-one or more of these environment variables set: C<LC_ALL LC_CTYPE
-LC_COLLATE LANG>. In some versions of UNIX, the non-English locales
+B<make test> exercises them. For example, this may happen if you have
+one or more of these environment variables set: LC_ALL LC_CTYPE
+LC_COLLATE LANG. In some versions of UNIX, the non-English locales
are known to cause programs to exhibit mysterious errors.
If you have any of the above environment variables set, please try
-C<setenv LC_ALL C> (for C shell) or <LC_ALL=C;export LC_ALL> (for
-Bourne or Korn shell) from the command line and then retry C<make
-test>. If the tests then succeed, you may have a broken program that
-is confusing the testing. Please run the troublesome test by hand as
+
+ setenv LC_ALL C
+
+(for C shell) or
+
+ LC_ALL=C;export LC_ALL
+
+for Bourne or Korn shell) from the command line and then retry
+make test. If the tests then succeed, you may have a broken program that
+is confusing the testing. Please run the troublesome test by hand as
shown above and see whether you can locate the program. Look for
-things like: C<exec, `backquoted command`, system, open("|...")> or
-C<open("...|")>. All these mean that Perl is trying to run some
+things like: exec, `backquoted command`, system, open("|...") or
+open("...|"). All these mean that Perl is trying to run some
external program.
=head1 make install
This will put perl into the public directory you specified to
-B<Configure>; by default this is F</usr/local/bin>. It will also try
+Configure; by default this is /usr/local/bin. It will also try
to put the man pages in a reasonable place. It will not nroff the man
-page, however. You may need to be root to run B<make install>. If you
+pages, however. You may need to be root to run B<make install>. If you
are not root, you must own the directories in question and you should
ignore any messages about chown not working.
-You may see some harmless error messages and warnings from pod2man.
-You may safely ignore them. (Yes, they should be fixed, but they
-didn't seem important enough to warrant holding up the entire release.)
-
If you want to see exactly what will happen without installing
anything, you can run
./perl installperl -n
./perl installman -n
-B<make install> will install the following:
+make install will install the following:
perl,
perl5.nnn where nnn is the current release number. This
c2ph, pstruct Scripts for handling C structures in header files.
s2p sed-to-perl translator
find2perl find-to-perl translator
+ h2ph Extract constants and simple macros from C headers
h2xs Converts C .h header files to Perl extensions.
perlbug Tool to report bugs in Perl.
perldoc Tool to read perl's pod documentation.
+ pl2pm Convert Perl 4 .pl files to Perl 5 .pm modules
pod2html, Converters from perl's pod documentation format
- pod2latex, and to other useful formats.
- pod2man
+ pod2latex, to other useful formats.
+ pod2man, and
+ pod2text
+ splain Describe Perl warnings and errors
library files in $privlib and $archlib specified to
Configure, usually under /usr/local/lib/perl5/.
optional Perl compiler, or embed the perl interpreter into another
program even if the Perl source is no longer available.
-Most of the documentation in the pod/ directory is also available
-in HTML and LaTeX format. Type
-
- cd pod; make html; cd ..
-
-to generate the html versions, and
-
- cd pod; make tex; cd ..
-
-to generate the LaTeX versions.
-
-=head1 cd /usr/include; h2ph *.h sys/*.h
-
-Some of the perl library files need to be able to obtain information from
-the system header files. This command will convert the most commonly used
-header files in F</usr/include> into files that can be easily interpreted
-by perl. These files will be placed in architectural library directory
-you specified to B<Configure>; by default this is
-F</usr/local/lib/perl5/ARCH/VERSION>, where B<ARCH> is your architecture
-(such as C<sun4-solaris>) and B<VERSION> is the version of perl you are
-building (for example, C<5.003>).
-
-B<NOTE:> Due to differences in the C and perl languages, the conversion of
-the header files in not perfect. You may have to hand edit some of the
-converted files to get them to parse correctly. For example, it breaks
-spectacularly on type casting and certain structures.
-
-=head1 Coexistence with earlier versions of perl5.
+=head1 Coexistence with earlier versions of perl5
You can safely install the current version of perl5 and still run scripts
under the old binaries for versions 5.003 and later ONLY. Instead of
since some of the architecture-independent library files have changed
in incompatible ways.
-The architecture-dependent files are stored in a version-specific
-directory (such as F</usr/local/lib/perl5/sun4-sunos/5.004>) so that
-they are still accessible. I<Note:> Perl 5.000 and 5.001 did not
-put their architecture-dependent libraries in a version-specific
-directory. They are simply in F</usr/local/lib/perl5/$archname>. If
-you will not be using 5.000 or 5.001, you may safely remove those
-files.
-
-The standard library files in F</usr/local/lib/perl5>
-should be usable by all versions of perl5.
+The old architecture-dependent files are stored in a version-specific
+directory (such as /usr/local/lib/perl5/sun4-sunos/5.003) so that they
+will still be accessible even after a later version is installed.
+(Note: Perl 5.000 and 5.001 did not put their architecture-dependent
+libraries in a version-specific directory. They are simply in
+/usr/local/lib/perl5/$archname. If you will not be using 5.000 or
+5.001, you may safely remove those files.)
+
+In general, the standard library files in /usr/local/lib/perl5 should
+be usable by all versions of perl5. However, the diagnostics.pm module
+uses the /usr/local/lib/perl5/pod/perldiag.pod documentation file, so
+the C<use diagnostics;> pragma and the splain script will only identify
+and explain any warnings or errors that the most recently-installed
+version of perl can generate.
Most extensions will probably not need to be recompiled to use with a newer
version of perl. If you do run into problems, and you want to continue
to use the old version of perl along with your extension, simply move
those extension files to the appropriate version directory, such as
-F</usr/local/lib/perl/archname/5.004>. Then Perl 5.004 will find your
-files in the 5.004 directory, and newer versions of perl will find your
+/usr/local/lib/perl/archname/5.003. Then Perl 5.003 will find your
+files in the 5.003 directory, and newer versions of perl will find your
newer extension in the site_perl directory.
-Some users may prefer to keep all versions of perl in completely
+Many users prefer to keep all versions of perl in completely
separate directories. One convenient way to do this is by
using a separate prefix for each version, such as
may also wish to add a symbolic link /usr/local/bin/perl so that
scripts can still start with #!/usr/local/bin/perl.
+If you are installing a development subversion, you probably ought to
+seriously consider using a separate directory, since development
+subversions may not have all the compatibility wrinkles ironed out
+yet.
+
=head1 Coexistence with perl4
You can safely install perl5 even if you want to keep perl4 around.
-By default, the perl5 libraries go into F</usr/local/lib/perl5/>, so
-they don't override the perl4 libraries in F</usr/local/lib/perl/>.
+By default, the perl5 libraries go into /usr/local/lib/perl5/, so
+they don't override the perl4 libraries in /usr/local/lib/perl/.
In your /usr/local/bin directory, you should have a binary named
-F<perl4.036>. That will not be touched by the perl5 installation
+perl4.036. That will not be touched by the perl5 installation
process. Most perl4 scripts should run just fine under perl5.
However, if you have any scripts that require perl4, you can replace
-the C<#!> line at the top of them by C<#!/usr/local/bin/perl4.036>
+the #! line at the top of them by #!/usr/local/bin/perl4.036
(or whatever the appropriate pathname is). See pod/perltrap.pod
for possible problems running perl4 scripts under perl5.
+=head1 cd /usr/include; h2ph *.h sys/*.h
+
+Some perl scripts need to be able to obtain information from
+the system header files. This command will convert the most commonly used
+header files in /usr/include into files that can be easily interpreted
+by perl. These files will be placed in the architectural library directory
+you specified to Configure; by default this is
+/usr/local/lib/perl5/ARCH/VERSION, where ARCH is your architecture
+(such as sun4-solaris) and VERSION is the version of perl you are
+building (for example, 5.004).
+
+Note: Due to differences in the C and perl languages, the
+conversion of the header files is not perfect. You will probably have
+to hand-edit some of the converted files to get them to parse
+correctly. For example, h2ph breaks spectacularly on type casting and
+certain structures.
+
+=head1 cd pod && make html && mv *.html (www home dir)
+
+Some sites may wish to make the documentation in the pod/ directory
+available in HTML format. Type
+
+ cd pod && make html && mv *.html <www home dir>
+
+where F<www home dir> is wherever your site keeps HTML files.
+
+=head1 cd pod && make tex && (process the latex files)
+
+Some sites may also wish to make the documentation in the pod/ directory
+available in TeX format. Type
+
+ (cd pod && make tex && <process the latex files>)
+
+=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.com 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 and installed before you can use it.
+
+You might also find helpful information in the Porting
+directory of the perl distribution.
+
=head1 DOCUMENTATION
Read the manual entries before running perl. The main documentation is
in the pod/ subdirectory and should have been installed during the
build process. Type B<man perl> to get started. Alternatively, you
-can type B<perldoc perl> to use the supplied B<perldoc> script. This
+can type B<perldoc perl> to use the supplied perldoc script. This
is sometimes useful for finding things in the library modules.
-Under UNIX, you can produce a documentation book in postscript form
-along with its I<Table of Contents> by going to the pod/ subdirectory
+Under UNIX, you can produce a documentation book in postscript form,
+along with its table of contents, by going to the pod/ subdirectory
and running (either):
./roffitall -groff # If you have GNU groff installed
- ./roffitall -psroff # Otherwise
+ ./roffitall -psroff # If you have psroff
This will leave you with two postscript files ready to be printed.
+(You may need to fix the roffitall command to use your local troff
+set-up.)
Note that you must have performed the installation already before
running the above, since the script collects the installed files to
=head1 AUTHOR
-Andy Dougherty <doughera@lafcol.lafayette.edu>, borrowing I<very> heavily
-from the original README by Larry Wall.
+Andy Dougherty doughera@lafcol.lafayette.edu , borrowing very heavily
+from the original README by Larry Wall, and also with lots of helpful
+feedback from the perl5-porters@perl.org folks.
=head1 LAST MODIFIED
-8 February 1997
+$Id: INSTALL,v 1.17 1997/05/08 21:08:15 doughera Released $
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