-Last revised: 14-Dec-1995 by Charles Bailey bailey@genetics.upenn.edu
+Last revised: 19-Jan-1996 by Charles Bailey bailey@genetics.upenn.edu
The VMS port of Perl is still under development. At this time, the Perl
binaries built under VMS handle internal operations properly, for the most
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.
+and DECC, and on an AXP using DECC. If you run into problems with other
+compilers, please let us know.
Note to DECC users: Some early versions of the DECCRTL contained a few bugs
which affect Perl performance:
with socket support in a way which will work on all systems.
By default, Perl is built without IP socket support. If you define the macro
-SOCKET when invoking MMS, however, socket support will be included. As
+SOCKET when invoking MMK, however, socket support will be included. As
distributed, Perl 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 Perl except the
WriteMain.Pl - Perl script to generate Perlmain.C
The [.Ext...] directories contain VMS-specific extensions distributed with
Perl. There may also be other files in [.VMS...] pertaining to features under
-development; for the most part, you can ignore them.
+development; for the most part, you can ignore them. Note that packages in
+[.ext.*] are not built with Perl by default; you build the ones you want
+once the basic Perl build is complete (see the perlvms docs for instructions
+on building extensions.)
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
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
+/macro="decc=1" qualifier to MMK (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.
found in the [.VMS] subdirectory, to generate a new Makefile with the options
appropriate to your site.
-Note for sites using DECC: A bug in some early versions of the DECC RTL on the
-AXP 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. A different bug in the DECC preprocessor itself
-for some patched versions of DECC 4.0 on the VAX also makes it impossible for
-Gen_ShrFls.pl to parse the preprocessor output. In either case, the problem is
-generally manifested as missing global symbols when linking PerlShr.Exe or
-Perl.Exe. You can work around this problem by defining the macro
-DECC_PIPES_BROKEN when you invoke MMS or MMK.
+If you are using MM[SK], and you decide to rebuild Perl with a different set
+of parameters (e.g. changing the C compiler, or adding socket support), be
+sure to say
+$ MMK/Descrip=[.VMS] realclean
+first, in order to remove files generated during the previous build. If
+you omit this step, you risk ending up with a copy of Perl which
+composed partially of old files and partially of new ones, which may lead
+to strange effects when you try to run Perl.
+
+A bug in some early versions of the DECC RTL on the AXP causes newlines
+to be lost when writing to a pipe. A different bug in some patched versions
+of DECC 4.0 for VAX can also scramble preprocessor output. Finally, gcc 2.7.2
+has yet another preprocessor bug, which causes line breaks to be inserted
+into the output at inopportune times. Each of these bugs causes Gen_ShrFls.pl
+to fail, since it can't parse the preprocessor output to identify global
+variables and routines. This problem is generally manifested as missing
+global symbols when linking PerlShr.Exe or Perl.Exe. You can work around
+it by defining the macro PIPES_BROKEN when you invoke MMS or MMK.
+
This will build the following files:
Miniperl.Exe - a stand-alone version of without any extensions.
used to build PerlShr.Exe. It should be used when
rebuilding PerlShr.Exe via MakeMaker-produced
Descrip.MMS files for static extensions.
+ c2ph - Perl program which generates template code to access
+ C struct members from Perl.
+ h2ph - Perl program which generates template code to access
+ #defined constants in a C header file from Perl,
+ using the "old-style" interface. (Largely supplanted
+ by h2xs.)
+ h2xs - Perl program which generates template files for creating
+ XSUB extensions, optionally beginning with the #defined
+ constants in a C header file.
+ [.lib.pod]perldoc - A Perl program which locates and displays documentation
+ for Perl and its extensions.
[.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
Once you've got the binaries built, you may wish to `build' the `tidy' or
`clean' targets to remove extra files.
+If you run into problems during the build, you can get help from the VMSPerl
+or perl5-porters mailing lists (see below). When you report the problem,
+please include the following information:
+ - The version of Perl you're trying to build. Please include any
+ "letter" patchlevel, in addition to the version number. If the
+ build successfully created Miniperl.Exe, you can check this by
+ saying '$ MCR Sys$Disk:[]Miniperl -v'. Also, please mention
+ where you obtained the distribution kit; in particular, note
+ whether you were using a basic Perl kit or the VMS test kit
+ (see below).
+ - The exact command you issued to build Perl.
+ - A copy of all error messages which were generated during the build.
+ Please include enough of the build log to establish the context of
+ the error messages.
+ - A summary of your configuration. If the build progressed far enough
+ to generate Miniperl.Exe and [.Lib]Config.pm, you can obtain this
+ by saying '$ MCR Sys$Disk:[]Miniperl "-V"' (note the "" around -V).
+ If not, then you can say '$ MMK/Descrip=[.VMS] printconfig' to
+ produce the summary.
+This may sound like a lot of information to send, but it'll often make
+it easier for someone to spot the problem, instead of having to give
+a spectrum of possibilities.
+
+
* 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$Share, you'll need to
- define the logical name PerlShr to point to the image.
+ define the logical name PerlShr to point to the image. (If you're
+ installing on a VMScluster, be sure that each node is using the
+ copy of PerlShr you expect [e.g. if you put PerlShr.Exe in Sys$Share,
+ do they all share Sys$Share?]).
- 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"
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 Perl 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 this reason,
- you may wish to copy these subtrees into directories under Perl_Root.
+ These files are copied to [.lib.pod] during the installation.
+ - Define a foreign command to execute perldoc, such as
+ $ Perldoc == "''Perl' Perl_Root:[lib.pod]Perldoc -t"
+ This will allow users to retrieve documentation using Perldoc. For
+ more details, say "perldoc perldoc".
That's it.
+If you run into a bug in Perl, please submit a bug report. The PerlBug
+program, found in the [.lib] directory, will walk you through the process
+of assembling the necessary information into a bug report, and sending
+of to the Perl bug reporting address, perlbug@perl.com.
* For more information
-If you're interested in more information on Perl in general, consult the Usenet
-newsgroups comp.lang.perl.announce and comp.lang.perl.misc. The FAQ for these
-groups provides pointers to other online sources of information, as well as
-books describing Perl in depth.
+If you're interested in more information on Perl in general, you may wish to
+consult the Usenet newsgroups comp.lang.perl.announce and comp.lang.perl.misc.
+The FAQ for these groups 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 Perl 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@nicoh.com, containing
the single line
subscribe perl5-porters
-This is a moderately high-volume list at the moment (25-50 messages/day).
+This is a high-volume list at the moment (>50 messages/day).
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
+subscribe to the VMSPerl mailing list by sending a request to
+vmsperl-request@genetics.upenn.edu, containing the single line
+subscribe VMSPerl
+as the body of the message. 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.
+the VMSPerl list at vmsperl@genetics.upenn.edu.
Finally, if you'd like to try out the latest changes to VMS Perl, you can
retrieve a test distribution kit by anonymous ftp from genetics.upenn.edu, in
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 Perl documentation
- Richard Dyson <dyson@blaze.physics.uiowa.edu> and
- Kent Covert <kacovert@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu>
- for additional testing on the AXP.
+ Peter Prymmer <pvhp@lns62.lns.cornell.edu)
+ for extensive testing, as well as development work on
+ configuration and documentation for VMS Perl,
+ the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory and the
+ Laboratory of Nuclear Studies at Cornell University for
+ the 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, especially Andy Dougherty <doughera@lafcol.lafayette.edu>
and Tim Bunce <Tim.Bunce@ig.co.uk>, 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