=head2 Important safety tip
-The build and install procedures have changed significantly from the 5.004
-releases! Make sure you read the "Configuring the Perl Build", "Building
-Perl", and "Installing Perl" sections of this document before you build or
-install.
+For best results, make sure you read the "Configuring the Perl Build",
+"Building Perl", and "Installing Perl" sections of this document before
+you build or install. Also please note other changes in the current
+release by having a look at L<perldelta/VMS>.
Also note that, as of Perl version 5.005 and later, an ANSI C compliant
compiler is required to build Perl. VAX C is *not* ANSI compliant, as it
died a natural death some time before the standard was set. Therefore
VAX C will not compile Perl 5.005 or later. We are sorry about that.
-If you are stuck without DEC C (the VAX C license should be good for DEC C,
-but the media charges might prohibit an upgrade), consider getting Gnu C
-instead.
+There have been no recent reports of builds using Gnu C, but latent
+(and most likely outdated) support for it is still present in various
+parts of the sources. Currently the HP (formerly Compaq, and even
+more formerly DEC) C compiler is the only viable alternative for
+building Perl.
+
+There is minimal support for HP C++ but this support is not complete;
+if you get it working please write to the vmsperl list (for info see
+L</"Mailing Lists">).
=head2 Introduction to Perl on VMS
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. (Note: DEC C was renamed to Compaq C
-around version 6.2).
-
There are issues with various versions of DEC C, so if you're not running a
relatively modern version, check the "DEC C issues" section later on in this
document.
=item 1 A C compiler.
-DEC (now Compaq) C or gcc for VMS (AXP or VAX).
+HP (formerly Compaq, more formerly DEC) C for VMS (VAX, Alpha, or Itanium).
=item 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 is free though, so
-go ahead and use that.
+HP's MMS may work, but MadGoat's free MMS analog MMK (available from
+http://www.kednos.com/kednos/Resources/MMK) has consistently worked
+better. Gnu Make might work, but it's been so long since anyone's tested
+it that we're not sure. MMK is free though, so go ahead and use that.
=back
A de-compressor for *.gz and *.tgz files available from a number
of web/ftp sites and is distributed on the OpenVMS Freeware CD-ROM
-from Compaq.
+from HP.
- http://www.fsf.org/order/ftp.html
- http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/
- http://www.crinoid.com/utils/
+ http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/
=item 2 VMS TAR
For reading and writing unix tape archives (*.tar files). Vmstar is also
available from a number of web/ftp sites and is distributed on the OpenVMS
-Freeware CD-ROM from Compaq.
+Freeware CD-ROM from HP.
+
+ http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/
+
+Recent versions of VMS tar on ODS-5 volumes may extract tape archive
+files with ^. escaped periods in them. See below for further workarounds.
- ftp://ftp.lp.se/vms/
- http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/
+A port of GNU tar is also available as part of the GNV package:
+
+ http://h71000.www7.hp.com/opensource/gnv.html
=item 3 UNZIP.EXE for VMS
Unzip is available from a number of web/ftp sites.
http://www.info-zip.org/UnZip.html
- http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/
- ftp://ftp.openvms.compaq.com/
- ftp://ftp.madgoat.com/madgoat/
- ftp://ftp.process.com/vms-freeware/
+ http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/
+ ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/openvms/
+ ftp://ftp.process.com/vms-freeware/fileserv/
=item 4 MOST
distribution) and applied with GNU patch. VMS ports of these utilities are
available here:
- http://www.crinoid.com/utils/
- http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/
+ http://www.antinode.info/dec/sw/diffutils.html
+ http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/
=back
DEC C, or socket libraries. See the "Socket Support (optional)" topic
for more details.
+=head1 Unpacking the Perl source code
+
+You may need to set up a foreign symbol for the unpacking utility of choice.
+
+As of version 5.10.0, Perl will still build and run on ODS-2 volumes,
+including on VAX, but there are a number of modules whose temporary
+files and tests are much happier residing on ODS-5 volumes. For
+example, CPANPLUS will fail most of its tests on an ODS-2 volume because
+it includes files with multiple dots that will have been converted to
+underscores and the tests will have difficulty finding them. So your
+best bet is to unpack the Perl source kit on an ODS-5 volume using
+recent versions of vmstar (e.g. V3.4 or later). Contrary to advice
+provided with previous versions of Perl, do I<not> use the ODS-2
+compatability qualifier. Instead, use a command like the following:
+
+ vmstar /extract/verbose perl-V^.VIII^.III.tar
+
+or:
+
+ vmstar -xvf perl-5^.11^.0.tar
+
+Then rename the top-level source directory like so:
+
+ set security/protection=(o:rwed) perl-5^.11^.0.dir
+ rename perl-5^.11^.0.dir perl-5_11_0.dir
+
+The reason for this last step is that while filenames with multiple dots
+are generally supported by Perl on VMS, I<directory> names with multiple
+dots are a special case with special problems because the dot is the
+traditional directory delimiter on VMS. Rudimentary support for
+multi-dot directory names is available, but some of the oldest and most
+essential parts of Perl (such as searching for and loading library
+modules) do not yet fully support the ODS-5 caret-escape syntax.
+
=head1 Configuring the Perl build
To configure perl (a necessary first step), issue the command
otherwise simply deassign the dangerous logical names. The potentially
troublesome logicals and symbols are:
- TMP "LOGICAL"
- LIB "LOGICAL"
- T "LOGICAL"
- FOO "LOGICAL"
- EXT "LOGICAL"
- SOME_LOGICAL_NAME_NOT_LIKELY "LOGICAL"
- DOWN_LOGICAL_NAME_NOT_LIKELY "LOGICAL"
- TEST "SYMBOL"
+ COMP "LOGICAL"
+ EXT "LOGICAL"
+ FOO "LOGICAL"
+ LIB "LOGICAL"
+ LIST "LOGICAL"
+ MIME "LOGICAL"
+ POSIX "LOGICAL"
+ SYS "LOGICAL"
+ T "LOGICAL"
+ THREAD "LOGICAL"
+ THREADS "LOGICAL"
+ TIME "LOGICAL"
+ TMP "LOGICAL"
+ UNICODE "LOGICAL"
+ UTIL "LOGICAL"
+ TEST "SYMBOL"
As a handy shortcut, the command:
unbuildable; odds are that there's nothing in there you'll need to
change.
-The one exception is the various *DIR install locations. Changing those
-requires changes in genconfig.pl as well. Be really careful if you need to
-change these, as they can cause some fairly subtle problems.
-
=head2 Socket Support (optional) for Perl on VMS
Perl includes a number of functions for IP sockets, which are available if
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
+The default 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.
+The other solution uses the SOCKETSHR library. Before VAX/VMS 5.5-2 it was
+the most portable solution. The SOCKETSHR library has not been maintained
+since VAX/VMS 5.5-2, and it is not known if will even compile with the ANSI
+C that Perl currently requires. It remains an option for historical reasons,
+just in case someone might find it useful.
+
+In combination with either UCX or NetLib, this supported all the major TCP
+stacks (Multinet, Pathways, TCPWare, UCX, and CMU) on all versions of VMS
+Perl ran on up to VAX/VMS 6.2 and Alpha VMS 1.5 with all the compilers on
+both VAX and Alpha. The portion of the socket interface was 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.
+
+As of VAX/VMS 5.5-2 and later, CMU is the only TCP/IP program that requires
+socketshr, and the sources have been lost to the most recent CMU bug fixes,
+so CMU is limited to OpenVMS/VAX 6.2 or earlier, which is the last release
+that binaries for the last released patches are known to exist.
+
+There is currently no official web site for downloading either CMU or
+SOCKETSHR; however, copies may be found in the DECUS archives.
+
=head1 Building Perl
The configuration script will print out, at the very end, the MMS or MMK
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 is wrong with Perl. If the test suite
+The test driver invoked via MMS TEST has a DCL wrapper ([.VMS]TEST.COM) that
+downgrades privileges to NETMBX, TMPMBX for the duration of the test run,
+and then restores them to their prior state upon completion of testing.
+This is done to ensure that the tests run in a private sandbox and can do no
+harm to your system even in the unlikely event something goes badly wrong in
+one of the test scripts while running the tests from a privileged account.
+A side effect of this safety precaution is that the account used to run the
+test suite must be the owner of the directory tree in which Perl has been
+built; otherwise the manipulations of temporary files and directories
+attempted by some of the tests will fail.
+
+If any tests fail, it means something is wrong with Perl, or at least
+with the particular module or feature that reported failure. 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
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:
+that t/op/time failed, then you'd do this:
@ [.VMS]TEST .EXE "" "-v" [.OP]TIME.T
+Note that test names are reported in UNIX syntax and relative to the
+top-level build directory. When supplying them individually to the test
+driver, you can use either UNIX or VMS syntax, but you must give the path
+relative to the [.T] directory and you must also add the .T extension to the
+filename. So, for example if the test lib/Math/Trig fails, you would run:
+
+ @ [.VMS]TEST .EXE "" -"v" [-.lib.math]trig.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:
If your code 'use's modules, check to see if there is a shareable image 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.
+DCLsym, and Stdio, and other extensions all have shared images that can be
+installed /SHARE.
How much of a win depends on your memory situation, but if you are firing
off perl with any regularity (like more than once every 20 seconds or so)
=head2 Running h2ph to create perl header files (optional) on VMS
-If using DEC C or Compaq C ensure that you have extracted loose versions
-of your compiler's header or *.H files. Be sure to check the contents of:
+If using HP C, ensure that you have extracted loose versions of your
+compiler's header or *.H files. Be sure to check the contents of:
SYS$LIBRARY:DECC$RTLDEF.TLB
SYS$LIBRARY:SYS$LIB_C.TLB
The next big gotcha is directory depth. Perl can create directories four,
five, or even six levels deep during the build, so you don't have to be
too deep to start to hit the RMS 8 level limit (for ODS 2 volumes which were
-common on versions of VMS prior to V7.2 and even with V7.2 on the VAX).
+common on versions of VMS prior to V7.2 and even with V7.3 on the VAX).
It is best to do:
DEFINE/TRANS=(CONC,TERM) PERLSRC "disk:[dir.dir.dir.perldir.]"
a VAX or on Alpha versions of VMS prior to 7.2). But MakeMaker will not
warn you if you start out building a module too deep in a directory.
+As noted above ODS-5 escape sequences such as ^. can break the perl
+build. Solutions include renaming files and directories as needed or
+being careful to use the -o switch or /ODS2 qualifier with latter
+versions of the vmstar utility when unpacking perl or CPAN modules
+on ODS-5 volumes.
+
Be sure that the process that you use to build perl has a PGFLQ greater
than 100000. Be sure to have a correct local time zone to UTC offset
defined (in seconds) in the logical name SYS$TIMEZONE_DIFFERENTIAL before
Perl exited. This is fixed by DEC CSC patch ALPACRT04_061 or later.
See also:
- http://ftp.service.compaq.com/patches/.new/openvms.shtml
+ http://www.itrc.hp.com/
=back
were used to build perl on VMS. Hence they may require a great deal
of source code modification to work again.
- http://slacvx.slac.stanford.edu/HELP/GCC
http://www.progis.de/
- http://www.lp.se/products/gnu.html
+
+=head2 Floating Point Considerations
+
+Prior to 5.8.0, Perl simply accepted the default floating point options of the
+C compiler, namely representing doubles with D_FLOAT on VAX and G_FLOAT on
+Alpha. Single precision floating point values are represented in F_FLOAT
+format when either D_FLOAT or G_FLOAT is in use for doubles. Beginning with
+5.8.0, Alpha builds now use IEEE floating point formats by default, which in
+VMS parlance are S_FLOAT for singles and T_FLOAT for doubles. IEEE is not
+available on VAX, so F_FLOAT and D_FLOAT remain the defaults for singles and
+doubles respectively. The available non-default options are G_FLOAT on VAX
+and D_FLOAT or G_FLOAT on Alpha.
+
+The use of IEEE on Alpha introduces NaN, infinity, and denormalization
+capabilities not available with D_FLOAT and G_FLOAT. When using one of those
+non-IEEE formats, silent underflow and overflow are emulated in the conversion
+of strings to numbers, but it is preferable to get the real thing by using
+IEEE where possible.
+
+Regardless of what floating point format you consider preferable, be aware
+that the choice may have an impact on compatibility with external libraries,
+such as database interfaces, and with existing data, such as data created with
+the C<pack> function and written to disk, or data stored via the Storable
+extension. For example, a C<pack("d", $foo)")> will create a D_FLOAT,
+G_FLOAT, or T_FLOAT depending on what your Perl was configured with. When
+written to disk, the value can only be retrieved later by a Perl configured
+with the same floating point option that was in effect when it was created.
+
+To obtain a non-IEEE build on Alpha, simply answer no to the "Use IEEE math?"
+question during the configuration. To obtain an option different from the C
+compiler default on either VAX or Alpha, put in the option that you want in
+answer to the "Any additional cc flags?" question. For example, to obtain a
+G_FLOAT build on VAX, put in C</FLOAT=G_FLOAT>.
+
+=head2 Multinet issues with Perl on VMS
+
+Prior to the release of Perl 5.8.0 it was noted that the regression
+test for lib/Net/hostent (in file [.lib.Net]hostent.t) will fail owing
+to problems with the hostent structure returned by C calls to either
+gethostbyname() or gethostbyaddr() using DEC or Compaq C with a
+Multinet TCP/IP stack. The problem was noted in Multinet 4.3A
+using either Compaq C 6.5 or DEC C 6.0, and with Multinet 4.2A
+using DEC C 5.2, but could easily affect other versions of Multinet.
+Process Software Inc. has acknowledged a bug in the Multinet version
+of UCX$IPC_SHR and has provided an ECO for it. The ECO is called
+UCX_LIBRARY_EMULATION-010_A044 and is available from:
+
+ http://www.multinet.process.com/eco.html
+
+As of this writing, the ECO is only available for Multinet versions
+4.3A and later. You may determine the version of Multinet that you
+are running using the command:
+
+ multinet show /version
+
+from the DCL command prompt.
+
+If the ECO is unavailable for your version of Multinet and you are
+unable to upgrade, you might try using Perl programming constructs
+such as:
+
+ $address = substr($gethostbyname_addr,0,4);
+
+to temporarily work around the problem, or if you are brave
+and do not mind the possibility of breaking IPv6 addresses,
+you might modify the pp_sys.c file to add an ad-hoc correction
+like so:
+
+
+ --- pp_sys.c;1 Thu May 30 14:42:17 2002
+ +++ pp_sys.c Thu May 30 12:54:02 2002
+ @@ -4684,6 +4684,10 @@
+ }
+ #endif
+
+ + if (hent) {
+ + hent->h_length = 4;
+ + }
+ +
+ if (GIMME != G_ARRAY) {
+ PUSHs(sv = sv_newmortal());
+ if (hent) {
+
+then re-compile and re-test your perl. After the installation
+of the Multinet ECO you ought to back out any such changes though.
=head1 Mailing Lists
Vmsperl pages on the web include:
http://www.sidhe.org/vmsperl/index.html
- http://www.crinoid.com/
- http://duphy4.physics.drexel.edu/pub/cgi_info.htmlx
- http://www.perl.com/CPAN/modules/by-module/VMS/
+ http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-module/VMS/
http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/vmsperl/
- http://www.best.com/~pvhp/vms/
http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~binder/perl.html
http://lists.perl.org/showlist.cgi?name=vmsperl
http://archive.develooper.com/vmsperl@perl.org/
- http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvms/products/ips/apache/csws_modperl.html
+ http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/products/ips/apache/csws_modperl.html
=head1 SEE ALSO
Perl information for users and programmers about the port of perl to VMS is
-available from the [.
VMS]PERLVMS.POD file that gets installed as L<perlvms>.
+available from the [.
POD]PERLVMS.POD file that gets installed as L<perlvms>.
For administrators the perlvms document also includes a detailed discussion
of extending vmsperl with CPAN modules after Perl has been installed.
=head1 AUTHORS
-Revised 10-October-2001 by Craig Berry craigberry@mac.com.
-Revised 25-February-2000 by Peter Prymmer pvhp@best.com.
-Revised 27-October-1999 by Craig Berry craigberry@mac.com.
-Revised 01-March-1999 by Dan Sugalski dan@sidhe.org.
-Originally by Charles Bailey bailey@newman.upenn.edu.
+Originally by Charles Bailey bailey@newman.upenn.edu. See the git repository
+for history.
=head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
the opportunity to test and develop for the AXP,
John Hasstedt John.Hasstedt@sunysb.edu
for VAX VMS V7.2 support
+ John Malmberg wb8tyw@qsl.net
+ for ODS-5 filename handling and other modernizations
and to the entire VMSperl group for useful advice and suggestions. In
addition the perl5-porters deserve credit for their creativity and
https://perl5.git.perl.org / perl5.git / blobdiff