-Last revised: 09-Oct-1994 by Charles Bailey bailey@genetics.upenn.edu
-
-The VMS port of perl5 is still under development. At this time, the perl
-binaries built under VMS handle internal operations properly, for the most
-part, as well as most of the system calls which have close equivalents under
-VMS. There are still some incompatibilities in process handling (e.g the
-fork/exec model for creating subprocesses doesn't do what you might expect
-under Unix), and there remain some file handling differences from Unix. There
-is a VMS implementation of the DynaLoader, but it hasn't been tested much, so
-it may still have some bugs in it. Over the longer term, we'll try to get many
-of the useful VMS system services integrated as well, depending on time and
-people available. Of course, if you'd like to add something yourself, or join
-the porting team, we'd love to have you!
-
-The current sources and build procedures have been tested on a VAX using VAXC
-and on an AXP using DECC. IF you run into problems with other compilers,
-please let us know.
-
-
-* Other software required
-
-At the moment, in addition to basic VMS, you'll need two things:
- - a C compiler: VAXC, DECC, or gcc for the VAX; DECC for the AXP
- - a make tool: DEC's MMS or the free analog MMK (available from ftp.spc.edu)
- or a standard make utility (e.g. GNU make, also available from
- ftp.spc.edu).
-In addition, you may include socket support if you have a IP stack running
-on your system. See the topic "Socket support" for more information.
-
-* Socket support
-
-Perl5 includes a number of IP socket routines among its builtin functions,
-which are available if you choose to compile perl with socket support. Since
-IP networking is an optional addition to VMS, there are several different IP
-stacks available, it's difficult to automate the process of building perl5 with
-socket support in a way which will work on all systems.
-
-By default, perl5 is built without IP socket support. If you define the macro
-SOCKET when invoking MMS, however, socket support will be included. As
-distributed, perl5 for VMS includes support for the SOCKETSHR socket library,
-which is layered on MadGoat software's vendor-independent NETLIB interface.
-This provides support for all socket calls used by perl5 except the
-[g|s]et*ent() routines, which are replaced for the moment by stubs which
-generate a fatal error if a perl script attempts to call one of these routines.
-If you'd like to link perl directly to your IP stack to take advantage of these
-routines or to eliminate the intermediate NETLIB, then make the following
-changes:
- - In Descrip.MMS, locate the section beginning with .ifdef SOCKET, and
- change the SOCKLIB macro so that it translates to the filespec of your
- IP stack's socket library. This will be added to the RTL options file.
- - Edit the file SockAdapt.H in the [.VMS] subdirectory so that it
- includes the In.H, NetDb.H, and, if necessary, Errno.H header files
- for your IP stack, or so that it declares the standard TCP/IP data
- structures appropriately (see the distributed copy of SockAdapt.H
- for a collection of the structures needed by perl.) You should also
- define any logical names necessary to find these files before invoking
- MMS to build perl.
- - Edit the file SockAdapt.C in the [.VMS] subdirectory so that it
- contains routines which substitute for any IP library routines
- required by perl which your IP stack does not provide. This may
- require a little trial and error; we'll try to compile a complete
- list soon of socket routines required by perl5.
-
-* Building perl under VMS
-
-Since you're reading this, presumable you've unpacked the perl distribution
-into its directory tree, in which you will find a [.vms] subdirectory below
-the directory in which this file is found. If this isn't the case, then you'll
-need to unpack the distribution properly, or manually edit Descrip.MMS or
-the VMS Makefile. to alter directory paths as necessary. (I'd advise using the
-`normal' directory tree, at least for the first time through.) This
-subdirectory contains several files, among which are the following:
- Config.VMS - A template C header file set up for VMS.
- Descrip.MMS - The MMS/MMK dependency file for building perl
- GenConfig.Pl - A perl script to generate Config.SH retrospectively
- from Config.VMS, since the Configure shell script which
- normally generates Config.SH doesn't run under VMS.
- GenOpt.Com - A little DCL procedure used to write some linker options
- files, since not all make utilities can do this easily.
- Gen_ShrFls.Pl - A perl script which generates linker options files and
- MACRO declarations for PerlShr.Exe.
- Makefile. - The make dependency file for building perl
- MMS2Make.Pl - A perl script used to generate Makefile. from Descrip.MMS
- VMSish.H - C header file containing VMS-specific definitions
- VMS.C - C source code for VMS-specific routines
- WriteMain.Pl - A perl script used to generate perlmain.c during the build.
-There may also be other files pertaining to features under development; for the
-most part, you can ignore them.
-
-Config.VMS and Decrip.MMS/Makefile. are set up to build a version of perl which
-includes all features known to work when this release was assembled. If you
-have code at your site which would support additional features (e.g. emulation
-of Unix system calls), feel free to make the appropriate changes to these
-files. (Note: Do not use or edit config.h in the main perl source directory;
-it is superseded by the current Config.VMS during the build.) You may also
-wish to make site-specific changes to Descrip.MMS or Makefile. to reflect local
-conventions for naming of files, etc.
-
-At the moment, system-specific information which becomes part of the perl5
-Config extension is hard-coded into the file genconfig.pl in the vms
-subdirectory. Before you build perl, you should make any changes to the list
-at the end of this file necessary to reflect your system (e.g your hostname and
-VMS version).
-
-Examine the information at the beginning of Descrip.MMS for information about
-specifying alternate C compilers or building a version of perl with debugging
-support. For instance, if you want to use DECC, you'll need to include the
-/macro="decc=1" qualifier to MMS (If you're using make, these options are not
-supported.) If you're on an AXP system, define the macro __AXP__ (MMK does
-this for you), and DECC will automatically be selected.
-
-To start the build, set default to the main source directory.
-Then, if you are using MMS or MMK, issue the command
-$ MMS/Descrip=[.VMS] ! or MMK
-If you are using make, issue the command
-$ Make -f [.VMS]Makefile.
-Note that the Makefile. doesn't support conditional compilation, and is
-set up to use VAXC on a VAX, and does not include socket support. You can
-either edit the Makefile. by hand, using Descrip.MMS as a guide, or use the
-Makefile. to build Miniperl.Exe, and then run the Perl script MMS@Make.pl,
-found in the [.VMS] subdirectory, to generate a new Makefile with the options
-appropriate to your site.
-
-Note for sites using early versions of DECC: A bug in some versions of the
-DECC RTL causes newlines to be lost when writing to a pipe. This causes
-Gen_ShrFls.pl to fail, since it can't read the preprocessor output to identify
-global variables and routines. You can work around this problem by defining
-the macro DECC_PIPES_BROKEN when you invoke MMS or MMK.
-
-This will build the following files:
- Miniperl.Exe - a stand-alone version of without any extensions.
- Miniperl has all the intrinsic capabilities of perl,
- but cannot make use of the DynaLoader or any
- extensions which use XS code.
- PerlShr.Exe - a shareable image containing most of perl's internal
- routines and global variables. Perl.Exe is linked to
- this image, as are all dynamic extensions, so everyone's
- using the same set of global variables and routines.
- Perl.Exe - the main perl executable image. It's contains the
- main() routine, plus code for any statically linked
- extensions.
- PerlShr_Attr.Opt - A linker options file which specifies psect attributes
- matching those in PerlShr.Exe. It should be used when
- linking images against PerlShr.Exe
- [.Lib]Config.pm - the perl extension which saves configuration information
- about perl and your system.
- [.lib]DynaLoader.pm - The perl extension which performs dynamic linking of
- shareable images for extensions.
-There are, of course, a number of other files created for use during the build.
-Once you've got the binaries built, you may wish to `build' the `tidy' or
-`clean' targets to remove extra files.
-
-
-* Installing perl once it's built
-
-Once the build is complete, you'll need to do the following:
- - Put PerlShr.Exe in a common directory, and make it world-readable.
- If you place it in a location other than Sys$Share, you'll need to
- define the logical name PerlShr to point to the image.
- - Put Perl.Exe in a common directory, and make it world executable
- - Define a foreign command to invoke perl, using a statement like
- $ Perl == "$dev:[dir]Perl.Exe"
- - Create a world-readable directory tree for perl library modules,
- scripts, and what-have-you, and define PERL_ROOT as a rooted logical
- name pointing to the top of this tree (i.e. if your perl files were
- going to live in DKA1:[Perl5...], then you should
- $ Define/Translation=Concealed Perl_Root DKA1:[Perl5.]
- - Define the logical name PERLSHR as the full file specification of
- PERLSHR.EXE, so executable images linked to it can find it. Alternatively,
- you can justput PERLSHR.EXE int SYS$SHARE.
- - Place the files from the [.lib] subdirectory in the distribution package
- into a [.lib] subdirectory off the root directory described above.
- - Most of the perl5 documentation lives in the [.pod] subdirectory, and
- is written in a simple markup format which can be easily read. In this
- directory as well are pod2man and pod2html translators to reformat the
- docs for common display engines; a pod2hlp translator is under development.
- Information on perl5 can also be gleaned from the files in the [.doc]
- subdirectory (internals documents and summaries of changes), and from
- the test scripts in the [.t...] subdirectories.
-For now, that's it.
-
-
-* For more information
-
-If you're interested in more information on perl in general, consult the Usenet
-newsgroup comp.lang.perl. The FAQ for that group provides pointers to other
-online sources of information, as well as books describing perl in depth.
-
-If you're interested in up-to-date information on perl5 development and
-internals, you might want to subscribe to the perl5-porters mailing list. You
-can do this by sending a message to perl5-porters-request@isi.edu, containing
-the single line
-subscribe perl5-porters Your Name Here
-This is a moderately high-volume list at the moment (25-50 messages/day).
-
-Finally, if you're interested in ongoing information about the VMS port, you
-can subscribe to the VMSperl mailing list by sending a request to
-bailey@genetics.upenn.edu (it's to a human, not a list server - this is a small
-operation at the moment). And, as always, we welcome any help or code you'd
-like to offer - you can send mail to bailey@genetics.upenn.edu or directly to
-the VMSperl list at vmsperl@genetics.upenn.edu.
-
-Good luck using perl. Please let us know how it works for you - we can't
-guarantee that we'll be able to fix bugs quickly, but we'll try, and we'd
-certainly like to know they're out there.
+Last Revised 01-March-1999 by Dan Sugalski <sugalskd@ous.edu>
+Originally by Charles Bailey <bailey@newman.upenn.edu>
+
+* Important safety tip
+
+The build and install procedures have changed significantly from the 5.004
+releases! Make sure you read the "Building Perl" and "Installing Perl"
+sections before you build or install.
+
+Also note that, as of 5.005, an ANSI C compliant compiler is required to
+build Perl. Vax C is *not* ANSI compliant, as it died a natural death some
+time before the standard was set. Therefore Vax C will not compile perl
+5.005. Sorry about that.
+
+If you're stuck without Dec C (the Vax C license should be good for Dec C,
+but the media charges might prohibit an upgrade), consider getting Gnu C
+instead.
+
+* Intro
+
+The VMS port of Perl is as functionally complete as any other Perl port
+(and as complete as the ports on some Unix systems). The Perl binaries
+provide all the Perl system calls that are either available under VMS or
+reasonably emulated. There are some incompatibilites in process handling
+(e.g the fork/exec model for creating subprocesses doesn't do what you
+might expect under Unix), mainly because VMS and Unix handle processes and
+sub-processes very differently.
+
+There are still some unimplemented system functions, and of coursse we
+could use modules implementing useful VMS system services, so if you'd like
+to lend a hand we'd love to have you. Join the Perl Porting Team Now!
+
+The current sources and build procedures have been tested on a VAX using
+Dec C, and on an AXP using Dec C. If you run into problems with
+other compilers, please let us know.
+
+There are issues with varions versions of Dec C, so if you're not running a
+relatively modern version, check the Dec C issues section later on in this
+document.
+
+* Other required software
+
+In addition to VMS, you'll need:
+ 1) A C compiler. Dec C or gcc for AXP or the VAX.
+ 2) A make tool. Dec's MMS (v2.6 or later), or MadGoat's free MMS
+ analog MMK (available from ftp.madgoat.com/madgoat) both work
+ just fine. Gnu Make might work, but it's been so long since
+ anyone's tested it that we're not sure. MMK's free, though, so
+ go ahead and use that.
+
+You may also want to have on hand:
+ 1) UNZIP.EXE for VMS available from a number of web/ftp sites.
+ http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/UnZip.html
+ http://www.openvms.digital.com/cd/INFO-ZIP/
+ ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/VMS/
+ ftp://ftp.openvms.digital.com/
+ ftp://ftp.madgoat.com/madgoat/
+ ftp://ftp.wku.edu/vms/
+ 2) GUNZIP/GZIP.EXE for VMS available from a number of web/ftp sites.
+ http://www.fsf.org/order/ftp.html
+ ftp://ftp.uu.net/archive/systems/gnu/diffutils*.tar.gz
+ ftp://gatekeeper.dec.com/pub/GNU/diffutils*.tar.gz
+ ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/diffutils*.tar.gz
+ http://www.openvms.digital.com/cd/GZIP/
+ ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/VMS/
+ 3) VMS TAR also available from a number of web/ftp sites.
+ ftp://ftp.lp.se/vms/
+ http://www.openvms.digital.com/cd/VMSTAR/
+ ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/VMS/
+Please note that UNZIP and GUNZIP are not the same thing (they work with
+different formats). Most of the useful files from CPAN (the Comprehensive
+Perl Archive Network) are in .tar.gz format (this includes copies of the
+source code for perl as well as modules and scripts that you may wish to
+add later) hence you probably want to have GUNZIP.EXE and VMSTAR.EXE on
+your VMS machine.
+
+If you want to include socket support, you'll need a TCP stack and either
+Dec C, or socket libraries. See the Socket Support topic for more details.
+
+* Building Perl
+
+Building perl has two steps, configuration and compilation.
+
+To configure perl (a necessary first step), issue the command
+
+@CONFIGURE
+
+from the top of an unpacked perl directory. You'll be asked a series of
+questions, and the answers to them (along with the capabilities of your C
+compiler and network stack) will determine how perl's built.
+
+If you've got multiple C compilers installed, you'll have your choice of
+which one to use. Various older versions of Dec C had some gotchas, so if
+you're using a version older than 5.2, check the Dec C Issues section.
+
+The configuration script will print out, at the very end, the MMS or MMK
+command you need to compile perl. Issue it (exactly as printed) to start
+the build.
+
+Once you issue your MMS command, sit back and wait. Perl should build and
+link without a problem. If it doesn't, check the Gotchas to watch out for
+section. If that doesn't help, send some mail to the VMSPERL mailing list.
+Instructions are in the Mailing Lists section.
+
+As a handy shortcut, the command:
+
+@CONFIGURE "-des"
+
+(note the quotation marks and case) will choose reasonable defaults. (It
+takes Dec C over Gnu C, Dec C sockets over SOCKETSHR sockets, and either
+over no sockets)
+
+* Testing Perl
+
+Once Perl has built cleanly, you need to test it to make sure things work.
+This step is very important--there are always things that can go wrong
+somehow and get you a dysfunctional Perl.
+
+Testing is very easy, though, as there's a full test suite in the perl
+distribution. To run the tests, enter the *exact* MMS line you used to
+compile Perl and add the word "test" to the end, like this:
+
+Compile Command:
+
+$MMS
+
+Test Command:
+
+$MMS test
+
+MMS will run all the tests. This may take some time, as there are a lot of
+tests. If any tests fail, there will be a note made on-screen. At the end
+of all the tests, a summary of the tests, the number passed and failed, and
+the time taken will be displayed.
+
+If any tests fail, it means something's wrong with Perl. If the test suite
+hangs (some tests can take upwards of two or three minutes, or more if
+you're on an especially slow machine, depending on your machine speed, so
+don't be hasty), then the test *after* the last one displayed failed. Don't
+install Perl unless you're confident that you're OK. Regardless of how
+confident you are, make a bug report to the VMSPerl mailing list.
+
+If one or more tests fail, you can get more info on the failure by issuing
+this command sequence:
+
+$ @[.VMS]TEST .typ "-v" [.subdir]test.T
+
+where ".typ" is the file type of the Perl images you just built (if you
+didn't do anything special, use .EXE), and "[.subdir]test.T" is the test
+that failed. For example, with a normal Perl build, if the test indicated
+that [.op]time failed, then you'd do this:
+
+$ @[.VMS]TEST .EXE "-v" [.OP]TIME.T
+
+When you send in a bug report for failed tests, please include the output
+from this command, which is run from the main source directory:
+
+MCR []MINIPERL "-V"
+
+Note that "-V" really is a capital V in double quotes. This will dump out a
+couple of screens worth of config info, and can help us diagnose the problem.
+If (and only if) that did not work then try enclosing the output of:
+
+@[.vms]myconfig
+
+* Cleaning up and starting fresh
+
+If you need to recompile from scratch, you have to make sure you clean up
+first. There's a procedure to do it--enter the *exact* MMS line you used to
+compile and add "realclean" at the end, like this:
+
+Compile Command:
+
+$MMS
+
+Cleanup Command:
+
+$MMS realclean
+
+If you don't do this, things may behave erratically. They might not, too,
+so it's best to be sure and do it.
+
+* Installing Perl
+
+There are several steps you need to take to get Perl installed and
+running.
+
+1) Create a directory somewhere and define the concealed logical PERL_ROOT
+to point to it. For example, DEFINE/TRANS=(CONC,TERM) PERL_ROOT dka200:[perl.]
+
+2) Run the install script via:
+
+MMS install
+
+or
+
+MMK install
+
+If for some reason it complains about target INSTALL being up to date,
+throw a /FORCE switch on the MMS or MMK command.
+
+The script [.VMS]PERL_SETUP.COM that is written by CONFIGURE.COM
+will take care of most of the following:
+
+3) Either define the symbol PERL somewhere, such as
+SYS$MANAGER:SYLOGIN.COM, to be "PERL :== $PERL_ROOT:[000000]PERL.EXE", or
+install Perl into DCLTABLES.EXE (Check out the section "Installing Perl
+into DCLTABLES" for more info), or put the image in a directory that's in
+your DCL$PATH (if you're using VMS 6.2 or higher).
+
+4) Either define the logical name PERLSHR somewhere
+(such as in PERL_SETUP.COM) like so:
+DEFINE/NOLOG PERLSHR PERL_ROOT:[000000]PERLSHR.EXE
+or copy perl_root:[000000]perlshr.exe sys$share:.
+
+5) Optionally define the command PERLDOC as
+PERLDOC == "$PERL_ROOT:[000000]PERL PERL_ROOT:[LIB.POD]PERLDOC.COM -t"
+Note that if you wish to use most as a pager please see
+ftp://space.mit.edu/pub/davis/ for both most and slang (or perhaps
+ftp://ftp.wku.edu/vms/narnia/most.zip ).
+
+6) Optionally define the command PERLBUG (the Perl bug report generator) as
+PERLBUG == "$PERL_ROOT:[000000]PERL PERL_ROOT:[LIB]PERLBUG.COM"
+
+7) Optionally define the command POD2MAN (Converts POD files to nroff
+source suitable for converting to man pages. Also quiets complaints during
+module builds) as
+
+DEFINE/NOLOG POD2MAN PERL_ROOT:[LIB.POD]POD2MAN.COM
+POD2MAN == "$PERL_ROOT:[000000]PERL POD2MAN"
+
+8) Optionally define the command POD2TEXT (Converts POD files to text,
+which is required for perldoc -f to work properly) as
+
+DEFINE/NOLOG POD2TEXT PERL_ROOT:[LIB.POD]POD2TEXT.COM
+POD2TEXT == "$PERL_ROOT:[000000]PERL POD2TEXT"
+
+In all these cases, if you've got PERL defined as a foreign command, you
+can replace $PERL_ROOT:[000000]PERL with ''perl'. If you've installed perl
+into DCLTABLES, replace it with just perl.
+
+* Installing Perl into DCLTABLES
+
+Execute the following command file to define PERL as a DCL command.
+You'll need CMKRNL priv to install the new dcltables.exe.
+
+$ create perl.cld
+!
+! modify to reflect location of your perl.exe
+!
+define verb perl
+ image perl_root:[000000]perl.exe
+ cliflags (foreign)
+$!
+$ set command perl /table=sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe -
+ /output=sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe
+$ install replace sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe
+$ exit
+
+* Changing compile-time things
+
+Most of the user-definable features of Perl are enabled or disabled in
+[.VMS]CONFIG.VMS. There's code in there to Do The Right Thing, but that may
+end up being the wrong thing for you. Make sure you understand what you're
+doing, since changes here can get you a busted perl.
+
+Odds are that there's nothing here to change, unless you're on a version of
+VMS later than 6.2 and Dec C later than 5.6. Even if you are, the correct
+values will still be chosen, most likely. Poking around here should be
+unnecessary.
+
+The one exception is the various *DIR install locations. Changing those
+requires changes in genconfig.pl as well. Be really careful if you need to
+change these, as they can cause some fairly subtle problems.
+
+* INSTALLing images
+
+On systems that are using perl quite a bit, and particularly those with
+minimal RAM, you can boost the performance of perl by INSTALLing it as
+a known image. PERLSHR.EXE is typically larger than 1500 blocks
+and that is a reasonably large amount of IO to load each time perl is
+invoked.
+
+ INSTALL ADD PERLSHR/SHARE
+
+should be enough for PERLSHR.EXE (/share implies /header and /open),
+while /HEADER should do for PERL.EXE (perl.exe is not a shared image).
+
+If your code 'use's modules, check to see if there's an executable for
+them, too. In the base perl build, POSIX, IO, Fcntl, Opcode, SDBM_File,
+DCLsym, and Stdio all have shared images that can be installed /SHARE.
+
+How much of a win depends on your memory situation, but if you're firing
+off perl with any regularity (like more than once every 20 seconds or so)
+it's probably a win.
+
+While there is code in perl to remove privileges as it runs you are advised
+to NOT INSTALL PERL.EXE with PRIVs!
+
+* Extra things in the Perl distribution
+
+In addition to the standard stuff that gets installed, there are two
+optional extensions, DCLSYM and STDIO, that are handy. Instructions for
+these two modules are in [.VMS.EXT.DCLSYM] and [.VMS.EXT.STDIO],
+respectively. They are built automatically for versions of perl >= 5.005.
+
+* Socket Support
+
+Perl includes a number of functions for IP sockets, which are available if
+you choose to compile Perl with socket support (see the section Compiling
+Perl for more info on selecting a socket stack). Since IP networking is an
+optional addition to VMS, there are several different IP stacks
+available. How well integrated they are into the system depends on the
+stack, your version of VMS, and the version of your C compiler.
+
+The most portable solution uses the SOCKETSHR library. In combination with
+either UCX or NetLib, this supports all the major TCP stacks (Multinet,
+Pathways, TCPWare, UCX, and CMU) on all versions of VMS Perl runs on, with
+all the compilers on both VAX and Alpha. The socket interface is also
+consistent across versions of VMS and C compilers. It has a problem with
+UDP sockets when used with Multinet, though, so you should be aware of
+that.
+
+The other solution available is to use the socket routines built into Dec
+C. Which routines are available depend on the version of VMS you're
+running, and require proper UCX emulation by your TCP/IP vendor.
+Relatively current versions of Multinet, TCPWare, Pathway, and UCX all
+provide the required libraries--check your manuals or release notes to see
+if your version is new enough.
+
+* Reporting Bugs
+
+If you come across what you think might be a bug in Perl, please report
+it. There's a script in PERL_ROOT:[UTILS], perlbug, that walks you through
+the process of creating a bug report. This script includes details of your
+installation, and is very handy. Completed bug reports should go to
+perlbug@perl.com.
+
+* Gotchas to watch out for
+
+Probably the single biggest gotcha in compiling Perl is giving the wrong
+switches to MMS/MMK when you build. Use *exactly* what the configure script
+prints!
+
+The next big gotcha is directory depth. Perl can create directories four
+and five levels deep during the build, so you don't have to be too deep to
+start to hit the RMS 8 level point. It's best to do a
+$DEFINE/TRANS=(CONC,TERM) PERLSRC disk:[dir.dir.dir.perldir.]" (note the
+trailing period) and $SET DEFAULT PERLSRC:[000000] before building. Perl
+modules can be just as bad (or worse), so watch out for them, too. The
+configuration script will warn if it thinks you're too deep (at least on
+versions of VMS prior to 7.2).
+
+Finally, the third thing that bites people is leftover pieces from a failed
+build. If things go wrong, make sure you do a "(MMK|MMS|make) realclean"
+before you rebuild.
+
+* Dec C issues
+
+Note to DECC users: Some early versions (pre-5.2, some pre-4. If you're Dec
+C 5.x or higher, with current patches if anym you're fine) of the DECCRTL
+contained a few bugs which affect Perl performance:
+ - Newlines are lost on I/O through pipes, causing lines to run together.
+ This shows up as RMS RTB errors when reading from a pipe. You can
+ work around this by having one process write data to a file, and
+ then having the other read the file, instead of the pipe. This is
+ fixed in version 4 of DECC.
+ - The modf() routine returns a non-integral value for some values above
+ INT_MAX; the Perl "int" operator will return a non-integral value in
+ these cases. This is fixed in version 4 of DECC.
+ - On the AXP, if SYSNAM privilege is enabled, the CRTL chdir() routine
+ changes the process default device and directory permanently, even
+ though the call specified that the change should not persist after
+ Perl exited. This is fixed by DEC CSC patch AXPACRT04_061.
+
+* Mailing Lists
+
+There are several mailing lists available to the Perl porter. For VMS
+specific issues (including both Perl questions and installation problems)
+there is the VMSPERL mailing list. It's usually a low-volume (10-12
+messages a week) mailing list.
+
+The subscription address is VMSPERL-REQUEST@NEWMAN.UPENN.EDU. Send a mail
+message with just the words SUBSCRIBE VMSPERL in the body of the message.
+
+The VMSPERL mailing list address is VMSPERL@NEWMAN.UPENN.EDU. Any mail
+sent there gets echoed to all subscribers of the list.
+
+To unsubscribe from VMSPERL send the message UNSUBSCRIBE VMSPERL to
+VMSPERL-REQUEST@NEWMAN.UPENN.EDU. Be sure to do so from the subscribed
+account that you are cancelling.
* Acknowledgements
+A real big thanks needs to go to Charles Bailey
+<bailey@newman.upenn.edu>, who is ultimately responsible for Perl 5.004
+running on VMS. Without him, nothing the rest of us have done would be at
+all important.
+
There are, of course, far too many people involved in the porting and testing
-of perl5 to mention everyone who deserves it, so please forgive us if we've
+of Perl to mention everyone who deserves it, so please forgive us if we've
missed someone. That said, special thanks are due to the following:
+ Tim Adye <T.J.Adye@rl.ac.uk>
+ for the VMS emulations of getpw*()
David Denholm <denholm@conmat.phys.soton.ac.uk>
for extensive testing and provision of pipe and SocketShr code,
Mark Pizzolato <mark@infocomm.com>
for the getredirection() code
Rich Salz <rsalz@bbn.com>
for readdir() and related routines
- Denis Haskin <DWH@epub.ziff.com>
- for work on a pod-to-hlp translator for the perl5 documentation
- Richard Dyson <dyson@blaze.physics.uiowa.edu> and
- Kent Covert <kacovert@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu>
- for additional testing on the AXP.
-and to the entire VMSperl group for useful advice and suggestions. In addition
-the perl5-porters, especially Andy Dougherty <doughera@lafcol.lafayette.edu>
-and Tim Bunce <Tim.Bunce@ig.co.uk>, deserve credit for their creativity and
+ Peter Prymmer <pvhp@forte.com> or <pvhp@lns62.lns.cornell.edu>
+ for extensive testing, as well as development work on
+ configuration and documentation for VMS Perl,
+ Dan Sugalski <sugalskd@ous.edu>
+ for extensive contributions to recent version support,
+ development of VMS-specific extensions, and dissemination
+ of information about VMS Perl,
+ the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory and the
+ Laboratory of Nuclear Studies at Cornell University for
+ the opportunity to test and develop for the AXP,
+and to the entire VMSperl group for useful advice and suggestions. In
+addition the perl5-porters deserve credit for their creativity and
willingness to work with the VMS newcomers. Finally, the greatest debt of
-gratitude is due to Larry Wall <lwall@netlabs.com>, for having the ideas which
+gratitude is due to Larry Wall <larry@wall.org>, for having the ideas which
have made our sleepless nights possible.
Thanks,
https://perl5.git.perl.org / perl5.git / blobdiff