If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the funny characters you see.
-It is written in the POD format (see pod/perlpod.pod) which is specially
+It is written in the POD format (see F<pod/perlpod.pod>) which is specially
designed to be readable as is.
=head1 NAME
First, make sure you have an up-to-date version of Perl. If you
didn't get your Perl source from CPAN, check the latest version at
-http://www.cpan.org/src/. Perl uses a version scheme where even-numbered
+L<https://www.cpan.org/src/>. Perl uses a version scheme where even-numbered
subreleases (like 5.8.x and 5.10.x) are stable maintenance releases and
odd-numbered subreleases (like 5.7.x and 5.9.x) are unstable
development releases. Development releases should not be used in
Each of these is explained in further detail below.
-The above commands will install Perl to /usr/local (or some other
-platform-specific directory -- see the appropriate file in hints/.)
+The above commands will install Perl to F</usr/local> (or some other
+platform-specific directory -- see the appropriate file in F<hints/>.)
If that's not okay with you, you can run Configure interactively, by
just typing "sh Configure" (without the -de args). You can also specify
-any prefix location by adding "-Dprefix='/some/dir'" to Configure's args.
+any prefix location by adding C<"-Dprefix='/some/dir'"> to Configure's args.
To explicitly name the perl binary, use the command
"make install PERLNAME=myperl".
These options, and many more, are explained in further detail below.
If you're building perl from a git repository, you should also consult
-the documentation in pod/perlgit.pod for information on that special
+the documentation in F<pod/perlgit.pod> for information on that special
circumstance.
If you have problems, corrections, or questions, please see
L<"Reporting Problems"> below.
For information on what's new in this release, see the
-pod/perldelta.pod file. For more information about how to find more
+F<pod/perldelta.pod> file. For more information about how to find more
specific detail about changes, see the Changes file.
=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
+structure. The pod format is described in F<pod/perlpod.pod>, but you can
read it as is with any pager or editor. Headings and items are marked
by lines beginning with '='. The other mark-up used is
In addition to this file, check if there is a README file specific to
your operating system, since it may provide additional or different
instructions for building Perl. If there is a hint file for your
-system (in the hints/ directory) you might also want to read it
+system (in the F<hints/> directory) you might also want to read it
for even more information.
For additional information about porting Perl, see the section on
-L<"Porting information"> below, and look at the files in the Porting/
+L<"Porting information"> below, and look at the files in the F<Porting/>
directory.
=head1 PRELIMINARIES
=head2 Changes and Incompatibilities
-Please see pod/perldelta.pod for a description of the changes and
+Please see F<pod/perldelta.pod> for a description of the changes and
potential incompatibilities introduced with this release. A few of
the most important issues are listed below, but you should refer
-to pod/perldelta.pod for more detailed information.
+to F<pod/perldelta.pod> for more detailed information.
B<WARNING:> This version is not binary compatible with earlier versions
of Perl. If you have built extensions (i.e. modules that include C code)
On a related issue, old modules may possibly be affected by the changes
in the Perl language in the current release. Please see
-pod/perldelta.pod for a description of what's changed. See your
+F<pod/perldelta.pod> for a description of what's changed. See your
installed copy of the perllocal.pod file for a (possibly incomplete)
list of locally installed modules. Also see the L<CPAN> module's
C<autobundle> function for one way to make a "bundle" of your currently
Configure -h
-to get a listing. See the Porting/Glossary file for a complete list of
+to get a listing. See the F<Porting/Glossary> file for a complete list of
Configure variables you can set and their definitions.
=over 4
=item Installation prefix
By default, for most systems, perl will be installed in
-/usr/local/{bin, lib, man}. (See L<"Installation Directories">
+F</usr/local/>{F<bin>, F<lib>, F<man>}. (See L<"Installation Directories">
and L<"Coexistence with earlier versions of perl 5"> below for
further details.)
You can specify a different 'prefix' for the default installation
directory when Configure prompts you, or by using the Configure command
-line option -Dprefix='/some/directory', e.g.
+line option C<-Dprefix='/some/directory'>, e.g.
sh Configure -Dprefix=/opt/perl
If your prefix contains the string "perl", then the suggested
directory structure is simplified. For example, if you use
-prefix=/opt/perl, then Configure will suggest /opt/perl/lib instead of
-/opt/perl/lib/perl5/. Again, see L<"Installation Directories"> below
-for more details. Do not include a trailing slash, (i.e. /opt/perl/)
+C<prefix=/opt/perl>, then Configure will suggest F</opt/perl/lib> instead of
+F</opt/perl/lib/perl5/>. Again, see L<"Installation Directories"> below
+for more details. Do not include a trailing slash, (i.e. F</opt/perl/>)
or you may experience odd test failures.
NOTE: You must not specify an installation directory that is the same
as or below your perl source directory. If you do, installperl will
attempt infinite recursion.
-=item /usr/bin/perl
+=item F</usr/bin/perl>
It may seem obvious, but Perl is useful only when users can easily
-find it. It's often a good idea to have both /usr/bin/perl and
-/usr/local/bin/perl be symlinks to the actual binary. Be especially
+find it. It's often a good idea to have both F</usr/bin/perl> and
+F</usr/local/bin/perl> be symlinks to the actual binary. Be especially
careful, however, not to overwrite a version of perl supplied by your
vendor unless you are sure you know what you are doing. If you insist
on replacing your vendor's perl, useful information on how it was
spaces in arguments to Configure. For that, you have to look carefully
at config_arg1, config_arg2, etc.)
-By default, Configure will not try to link /usr/bin/perl to the current
+By default, Configure will not try to link F</usr/bin/perl> to the current
version of perl. You can turn on that behavior by running
Configure -Dinstallusrbinperl
access to transport layer network proxies. Perl supports only SOCKS
Version 5. The corresponding Configure option is -Dusesocks.
You can find more about SOCKS from wikipedia at
-L<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOCKS>.
+L<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOCKS>.
=head3 Dynamic Loading
To build a shared libperl, the environment variable controlling shared
library search (LD_LIBRARY_PATH in most systems, DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH for
Darwin, LD_LIBRARY_PATH/SHLIB_PATH
-for HP-UX, LIBPATH for AIX, PATH for Cygwin) must be set up to include
+for HP-UX, LIBPATH for AIX and z/OS, PATH for Cygwin) must be set up to include
the Perl build directory because that's where the shared libperl will
be created. Configure arranges makefile to have the correct shared
library search settings. You can find the name of the environment
to use direct manipulation by setting C<PL_use_safe_putenv = 0;> after
the C<perl_construct()> call.
+=head3 External glob
+
+Before File::Glob entered core in 5.6.0 globbing was implemented by shelling
+out. If the environmental variable PERL_EXTERNAL_GLOB is defined and if the
+F<csh> shell is available, perl will still do this the old way.
+
=head2 Installation Directories
The installation directories can all be changed by answering the
=item Directories for the perl distribution
-By default, Configure will use the following directories for 5.31.0.
+By default, Configure will use the following directories for 5.33.5.
$version is the full perl version number, including subversion, e.g.
5.12.3, and $archname is a string like sun4-sunos,
determined by Configure. The full definitions of all Configure
=item default_inc_excludes_dot
Since version 5.26.0, default perl builds no longer includes C<'.'> as the
-last element of @INC. The old behaviour can restored using
+last element of @INC. The old behaviour can restored using
sh Configure -Udefault_inc_excludes_dot
=back
If you are using a shared libperl, see the warnings about multiple
-versions of perl under L<Building a shared Perl library>.
+versions of perl under L</Building a shared Perl library>.
Note that a perl built with -DDEBUGGING will be much bigger and will run
much, much more slowly than a standard perl.
=head2 Extensions
Perl ships with a number of standard extensions. These are contained
-in the ext/ subdirectory.
+in the F<ext/> subdirectory.
By default, Configure will offer to build every extension which appears
to be supported. For example, Configure will offer to build GDBM_File
subdirectory. Porting/Glossary should especially come in handy.
Ports for other systems may also be available. You should check out
-http://www.cpan.org/ports for current information on ports to
+L<https://www.cpan.org/ports> for current information on ports to
various other operating systems.
If you plan to port Perl to a new architecture, study carefully the
=item LD_LIBRARY_PATH
If you run into dynamic loading problems, check your setting of
-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 setup.
+the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable (or on some systems the equivalent
+with a different name, see L</Building a shared Perl library>). 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 setup.
=item nm extraction
need to add some library or other, make a symbolic link like described
above, or you need to undefine some feature that Configure thought was
there but is defective or incomplete. If you used a hint file, see if
-it has any relevant advice. You can also look through through config.h
+it has any relevant advice. You can also look through config.h
for likely suspects.
=item toke.c
Perl can be cross-compiled. It is just not trivial, cross-compilation
rarely is. Perl is routinely cross-compiled for several platforms: as of
-January 2014, these include Android, Blackberry 10, PocketPC aka
-WinCE, ARM Linux, and Solaris. Previous versions of
+June 2019, these include Android, Blackberry 10,
+ARM Linux, and Solaris. Previous versions of
Perl also provided support for Open Zaurus, Symbian, and
the IBM OS/400, but it's unknown if those ports are still functional.
These platforms are known as the B<target> platforms, while the systems
=over 4
-=item WinCE/PocketPC
-
-L<README.ce or perlce|perlce>
-
=item Android
L<"Cross-compilation" in README.android or
modules to the target platform is also left up to the each
cross-compilation environment. Often the cross-compilation target
platforms are somewhat limited in diskspace: see the section
-L<Minimizing the Perl installation> to learn more of the minimal set
+L</Minimizing the Perl installation> to learn more of the minimal set
of files required for a functional Perl installation.
For some cross-compilation environments the Configure option
-C<-Dinstallprefix=...> might be handy, see L<Changing the installation
+C<-Dinstallprefix=...> might be handy, see L</Changing the installation
directory>.
About the cross-compilation support of Configure: There's two forms.
executables in the target system, such as an ssh connection; this is the
C<./Configure -Dusecrosscompile -Dtargethost=...> route. The second
method doesn't need access to the target system, but requires you to
-provide a config.sh, and and a canned Makefile; the rest of this section
+provide a config.sh, and a canned Makefile; the rest of this section
describes the former.
This cross-compilation setup of Configure has successfully been used in
=head1 Reporting Problems
-Wherever possible please use the perlbug tool supplied with this Perl
-to report problems, as it automatically includes summary configuration
-information about your perl, which may help us track down problems far
-more quickly. But first you should read the advice in this file,
-carefully re-read the error message and check the relevant manual pages
-on your system, as these may help you find an immediate solution.
-Once you've exhausted the documentation, please report bugs to us using
-the 'perlbug' tool.
-
-The perlbug tool is installed along with perl, so after you have
-completed C<make install> it should be possible to run it with plain
-C<perlbug>. If the install fails, or you want to report problems with
-C<make test> without installing perl, then you can use C<make nok> to
-run perlbug to report the problem, or run it by hand from this source
-directory with C<./perl -Ilib utils/perlbug>
-
-If the build fails too early to run perlbug uninstalled, then please
-B<run> the C<./myconfig> shell script, and mail its output along with
-an accurate description of your problem to perlbug@perl.org
+Please report problems to the GitHub issue tracker at
+https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues, which will ask for the
+appropriate summary configuration information about your perl, which
+may help us track down problems far more quickly. But first you should
+read the advice in this file, carefully re-read the error message and
+check the relevant manual pages on your system, as these may help you
+find an immediate solution. Once you've exhausted the documentation,
+please report bugs to us using the GitHub tracker.
+
+The summary configuration information can be printed with C<perl -V>.
+If the install fails, or you want to report problems with C<make test>
+without installing perl, then you can run it by hand from this source
+directory with C<./perl -V>.
+
+If the build fails too early to run perl, then please
+B<run> the C<./myconfig> shell script, and include its output along
+with an accurate description of your problem.
If Configure itself fails, and does not generate a config.sh file
-(needed to run C<./myconfig>), then please mail perlbug@perl.org the
+(needed to run C<./myconfig>), then please open an issue with the
description of how Configure fails along with details of your system
--- for example the output from running C<uname -a>
+-- for example the output from running C<uname -a>.
Please try to make your message brief but clear. Brief, clear bug
reports tend to get answered more quickly. Please don't worry if your
necessary. Do not include a complete transcript of your build
session. Just include the failing commands, the relevant error
messages, and whatever preceding commands are necessary to give the
-appropriate context. Plain text should usually be sufficient -- fancy
-attachments or encodings may actually reduce the number of people who
-read your message. Your message will get relayed to over 400
-subscribers around the world so please try to keep it brief but clear.
+appropriate context.
If the bug you are reporting has security implications which make it
-inappropriate to send to a publicly archived mailing list, then see
+inappropriate to send to a public issue tracker, then see
L<perlsec/SECURITY VULNERABILITY CONTACT INFORMATION>
for details of how to report the issue.
If you are unsure what makes a good bug report please read "How to
report Bugs Effectively" by Simon Tatham:
-http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html
+L<https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html>
=head1 Coexistence with earlier versions of perl 5
-Perl 5.31.0 is not binary compatible with earlier versions of Perl.
+Perl 5.33.5 is not binary compatible with earlier versions of Perl.
In other words, you will have to recompile your XS modules.
-In general, you can usually safely upgrade from one version of Perl
-(e.g. 5.X.Y) to another similar minor version (e.g. 5.X.(Y+1))) without
+In general, you can usually safely upgrade from one stable version of Perl
+(e.g. 5.30.0) to another similar minor version (e.g. 5.30.1) without
re-compiling all of your extensions. You can also safely leave the old
version around in case the new version causes you problems for some
reason.
libraries after 5.6.0, but not for executables. TODO?) One convenient
way to do this is by using a separate prefix for each version, such as
- sh Configure -Dprefix=/opt/perl5.31.0
+ sh Configure -Dprefix=/opt/perl5.33.5
-and adding /opt/perl5.31.0/bin to the shell PATH variable. Such users
+and adding /opt/perl5.33.5/bin to the shell PATH variable. Such users
may also wish to add a symbolic link /usr/local/bin/perl so that
scripts can still start with #!/usr/local/bin/perl.
subversions may not have all the compatibility wrinkles ironed out
yet.
-=head2 Upgrading from 5.28.0 or earlier
+=head2 Upgrading from 5.33.4 or earlier
-B<Perl 5.31.0 may not be binary compatible with Perl 5.28.0 or
+B<Perl 5.33.5 may not be binary compatible with Perl 5.33.4 or
earlier Perl releases.> Perl modules having binary parts
(meaning that a C compiler is used) will have to be recompiled to be
-used with 5.31.0. If you find you do need to rebuild an extension with
-5.31.0, you may safely do so without disturbing the older
+used with 5.33.5. If you find you do need to rebuild an extension with
+5.33.5, you may safely do so without disturbing the older
installations. (See L<"Coexistence with earlier versions of perl 5">
above.)
print("$f\n");
}
-in Linux with perl-5.31.0 is as follows (under $Config{prefix}):
+in Linux with perl-5.33.5 is as follows (under $Config{prefix}):
./bin/perl
- ./lib/perl5/5.31.0/strict.pm
- ./lib/perl5/5.31.0/warnings.pm
- ./lib/perl5/5.31.0/i686-linux/File/Glob.pm
- ./lib/perl5/5.31.0/feature.pm
- ./lib/perl5/5.31.0/XSLoader.pm
- ./lib/perl5/5.31.0/i686-linux/auto/File/Glob/Glob.so
+ ./lib/perl5/5.33.5/strict.pm
+ ./lib/perl5/5.33.5/warnings.pm
+ ./lib/perl5/5.33.5/i686-linux/File/Glob.pm
+ ./lib/perl5/5.33.5/feature.pm
+ ./lib/perl5/5.33.5/XSLoader.pm
+ ./lib/perl5/5.33.5/i686-linux/auto/File/Glob/Glob.so
Secondly, for perl-5.10.1, the Debian perl-base package contains 591
files, (of which 510 are for lib/unicore) totaling about 3.5MB in its
=head1 DOCUMENTATION
Read the manual entries before running perl. The main documentation
-is in the pod/ subdirectory and should have been installed during the
+is in the F<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 perldoc script. This is
sometimes useful for finding things in the library modules.
https://perl5.git.perl.org / perl5.git / blobdiff