[14544] | 1 | If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the equal signs on the left. |
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| 2 | This file is written in the POD format (see [.POD]PERLPOD.POD;1) which is |
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| 3 | specially designed to be readable as is. |
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[10723] | 4 | |
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[14544] | 5 | =head1 NAME |
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[10723] | 6 | |
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[14544] | 7 | README.vms - Configuring, building, testing, and installing perl on VMS |
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| 8 | |
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| 9 | =head1 SYNOPSIS |
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| 10 | |
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| 11 | To configure, build, test, and install perl on VMS: |
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| 12 | |
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| 13 | @ Configure |
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| 14 | mms |
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| 15 | mms test |
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| 16 | mms install |
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| 17 | |
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| 18 | mmk may be used in place of mms in the last three steps. |
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| 19 | |
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| 20 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
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| 21 | |
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| 22 | =head2 Important safety tip |
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| 23 | |
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| 24 | The build and install procedures have changed significantly from the 5.004 |
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| 25 | releases! Make sure you read the "Configuring the Perl Build", "Building |
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| 26 | Perl", and "Installing Perl" sections of this document before you build or |
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| 27 | install. |
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| 28 | |
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| 29 | Also note that, as of Perl version 5.005 and later, an ANSI C compliant |
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| 30 | compiler is required to build Perl. VAX C is *not* ANSI compliant, as it |
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| 31 | died a natural death some time before the standard was set. Therefore |
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| 32 | VAX C will not compile perl 5.005. We are sorry about that. |
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| 33 | |
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| 34 | If you are stuck without DEC C (the VAX C license should be good for DEC C, |
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| 35 | but the media charges might prohibit an upgrade), consider getting Gnu C |
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| 36 | instead. |
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| 37 | |
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| 38 | |
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| 39 | =head2 Introduction |
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| 40 | |
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[10723] | 41 | The VMS port of Perl is as functionally complete as any other Perl port |
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| 42 | (and as complete as the ports on some Unix systems). The Perl binaries |
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| 43 | provide all the Perl system calls that are either available under VMS or |
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[14544] | 44 | reasonably emulated. There are some incompatibilities in process handling |
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| 45 | (e.g. the fork/exec model for creating subprocesses doesn't do what you |
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[10723] | 46 | might expect under Unix), mainly because VMS and Unix handle processes and |
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| 47 | sub-processes very differently. |
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| 48 | |
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[14544] | 49 | There are still some unimplemented system functions, and of course we |
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[10723] | 50 | could use modules implementing useful VMS system services, so if you'd like |
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[14544] | 51 | to lend a hand we'd love to have you. Join the Perl Porting Team Now! |
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[10723] | 52 | |
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| 53 | The current sources and build procedures have been tested on a VAX using |
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[14544] | 54 | DEC C, and on an AXP using DEC C. If you run into problems with |
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[10723] | 55 | other compilers, please let us know. |
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| 56 | |
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[14544] | 57 | There are issues with various versions of DEC C, so if you're not running a |
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| 58 | relatively modern version, check the "DEC C issues" section later on in this |
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[10723] | 59 | document. |
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| 60 | |
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[14544] | 61 | =head2 Other required software |
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[10723] | 62 | |
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[14544] | 63 | In addition to VMS and DCL you will need two things: |
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[10723] | 64 | |
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[14544] | 65 | =over 4 |
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[10723] | 66 | |
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[14544] | 67 | =item 1 A C compiler. |
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[10723] | 68 | |
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[14544] | 69 | DEC C or gcc for VMS (AXP or VAX). |
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[10723] | 70 | |
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[14544] | 71 | =item 2 A make tool. |
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[10723] | 72 | |
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[14544] | 73 | DEC's MMS (v2.6 or later), or MadGoat's free MMS |
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| 74 | analog MMK (available from ftp.madgoat.com/madgoat) both work |
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| 75 | just fine. Gnu Make might work, but it's been so long since |
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| 76 | anyone's tested it that we're not sure. MMK is free though, so |
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| 77 | go ahead and use that. |
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[10723] | 78 | |
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[14544] | 79 | =back |
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[10723] | 80 | |
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[14544] | 81 | =head2 Additional software that is optional |
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[10723] | 82 | |
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[14544] | 83 | You may also want to have on hand: |
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[10723] | 84 | |
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[14544] | 85 | =over 4 |
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[10723] | 86 | |
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[14544] | 87 | =item 1 GUNZIP/GZIP.EXE for VMS |
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[10723] | 88 | |
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[14544] | 89 | A de-compressor for *.gz and *.tgz files available from a number |
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| 90 | of web/ftp sites. |
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[10723] | 91 | |
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[14544] | 92 | http://www.fsf.org/order/ftp.html |
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| 93 | ftp://ftp.uu.net/archive/systems/gnu/diffutils*.tar.gz |
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| 94 | ftp://gatekeeper.dec.com/pub/GNU/diffutils*.tar.gz |
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| 95 | ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/diffutils*.tar.gz |
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| 96 | http://www.openvms.digital.com/cd/GZIP/ |
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| 97 | ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/VMS/ |
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[10723] | 98 | |
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[14544] | 99 | =item 2 VMS TAR |
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[10723] | 100 | |
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[14544] | 101 | For reading and writing unix tape archives (*.tar files). Vmstar is also |
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| 102 | available from a number of web/ftp sites. |
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[10723] | 103 | |
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[14544] | 104 | ftp://ftp.lp.se/vms/ |
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| 105 | http://www.openvms.digital.com/cd/VMSTAR/ |
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| 106 | ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/VMS/ |
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[10723] | 107 | |
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[14544] | 108 | =item 3 UNZIP.EXE for VMS |
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[10723] | 109 | |
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[14544] | 110 | A combination decompressor and archive reader/writer for *.zip files. |
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| 111 | Unzip is available from a number of web/ftp sites. |
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[10723] | 112 | |
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[14544] | 113 | http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/UnZip.html |
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| 114 | http://www.openvms.digital.com/cd/INFO-ZIP/ |
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| 115 | ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/VMS/ |
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| 116 | ftp://ftp.openvms.digital.com/ |
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| 117 | ftp://ftp.madgoat.com/madgoat/ |
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| 118 | ftp://ftp.wku.edu/vms/ |
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[10723] | 119 | |
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[14544] | 120 | =item 4 MOST |
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[10723] | 121 | |
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[14544] | 122 | Most is an optional pager that is convenient to use with perldoc (unlike |
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| 123 | TYPE/PAGE, MOST can go forward and backwards in a document and supports |
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| 124 | regular expression searching). Most builds with the slang |
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| 125 | library on VMS. Most and slang are available from: |
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[10723] | 126 | |
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[14544] | 127 | ftp://space.mit.edu/pub/davis/ |
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| 128 | ftp://ftp.wku.edu/vms/narnia/most.zip |
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[10723] | 129 | |
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[14544] | 130 | =back |
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[10723] | 131 | |
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[14544] | 132 | Please note that UNZIP and GUNZIP are not the same thing (they work with |
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| 133 | different formats). Many of the useful files from CPAN (the Comprehensive |
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| 134 | Perl Archive Network) are in *.tar.gz format (this includes copies of the |
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| 135 | source code for perl as well as modules and scripts that you may wish to |
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| 136 | add later) hence you probably want to have GUNZIP.EXE and VMSTAR.EXE on |
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| 137 | your VMS machine. |
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[10723] | 138 | |
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[14544] | 139 | If you want to include socket support, you'll need a TCP/IP stack and either |
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| 140 | DEC C, or socket libraries. See the "Socket Support (optional)" topic |
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| 141 | for more details. |
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[10723] | 142 | |
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[14544] | 143 | =head1 Configuring the Perl build |
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[10723] | 144 | |
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[14544] | 145 | To configure perl (a necessary first step), issue the command |
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[10723] | 146 | |
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[14544] | 147 | @ Configure |
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[10723] | 148 | |
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[14544] | 149 | from the top of an unpacked perl source directory. You will be asked a |
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| 150 | series of questions, and the answers to them (along with the capabilities |
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| 151 | of your C compiler and network stack) will determine how perl is custom |
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| 152 | built for your machine. |
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[10723] | 153 | |
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[14544] | 154 | If you have multiple C compilers installed, you'll have your choice of |
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| 155 | which one to use. Various older versions of DEC C had some caveats, so if |
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| 156 | you're using a version older than 5.2, check the "DEC C Issues" section. |
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| 157 | |
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| 158 | If you have any symbols or logical names in your environment that may |
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| 159 | interfere with the build or regression testing of perl then configure.com |
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| 160 | will try to warn you about them. If a logical name is causing |
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| 161 | you trouble but is in an LNM table that you do not have write access to |
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| 162 | then try defining your own to a harmless equivalence string in a table |
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| 163 | such that it is resolved before the other (e.g. if TMP is defined in the |
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| 164 | SYSTEM table then try DEFINE TMP "NL:" or somesuch in your process table) |
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| 165 | otherwise simply deassign the dangerous logical names. The potentially |
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| 166 | troublesome logicals and symbols are: |
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| 167 | |
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| 168 | TMP "LOGICAL" |
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| 169 | LIB "LOGICAL" |
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| 170 | T "LOGICAL" |
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| 171 | FOO "LOGICAL" |
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| 172 | EXT "LOGICAL" |
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| 173 | TEST "SYMBOL" |
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| 174 | |
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| 175 | As a handy shortcut, the command: |
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| 176 | |
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| 177 | @ Configure "-des" |
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| 178 | |
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| 179 | (note the quotation marks and case) will choose reasonable defaults |
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| 180 | automatically (it takes DEC C over Gnu C, DEC C sockets over SOCKETSHR |
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| 181 | sockets, and either over no sockets). More help with configure.com is |
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| 182 | available from: |
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| 183 | |
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| 184 | @ Configure "-h" |
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| 185 | |
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| 186 | See the "Changing compile-time options (optional)" section below to learn |
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| 187 | even more details about how to influence the outcome of the important |
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| 188 | configuration step. If you find yourself reconfiguring and rebuilding |
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| 189 | then be sure to also follow the advice in the "Cleaning up and starting |
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| 190 | fresh (optional)" and the checklist of items in the "CAVEATS" sections |
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| 191 | below. |
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| 192 | |
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| 193 | =head2 Changing compile-time options (optional) |
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| 194 | |
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| 195 | Most of the user definable features of Perl are enabled or disabled in |
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| 196 | [.VMS]CONFIG.VMS. There is code in there to Do The Right Thing, but that |
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| 197 | may end up being the wrong thing for you. Make sure you understand what |
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| 198 | you are doing since inappropriate changes to CONFIG.VMS can render perl |
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| 199 | unbuildable. |
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| 200 | |
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| 201 | Odds are that there's nothing here to change, unless you're on a version of |
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| 202 | VMS later than 6.2 and DEC C later than 5.6. Even if you are, the correct |
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| 203 | values will still be chosen, most likely. Poking around here should be |
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| 204 | unnecessary. |
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| 205 | |
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| 206 | The one exception is the various *DIR install locations. Changing those |
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| 207 | requires changes in genconfig.pl as well. Be really careful if you need to |
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| 208 | change these, as they can cause some fairly subtle problems. |
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| 209 | |
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| 210 | =head2 Socket Support (optional) |
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| 211 | |
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| 212 | Perl includes a number of functions for IP sockets, which are available if |
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| 213 | you choose to compile Perl with socket support. Since IP networking is an |
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| 214 | optional addition to VMS, there are several different IP stacks available. |
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| 215 | How well integrated they are into the system depends on the stack, your |
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| 216 | version of VMS, and the version of your C compiler. |
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| 217 | |
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| 218 | The most portable solution uses the SOCKETSHR library. In combination with |
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| 219 | either UCX or NetLib, this supports all the major TCP stacks (Multinet, |
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| 220 | Pathways, TCPWare, UCX, and CMU) on all versions of VMS Perl runs on, with |
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| 221 | all the compilers on both VAX and Alpha. The socket interface is also |
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| 222 | consistent across versions of VMS and C compilers. It has a problem with |
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| 223 | UDP sockets when used with Multinet, though, so you should be aware of |
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| 224 | that. |
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| 225 | |
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| 226 | The other solution available is to use the socket routines built into DEC |
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| 227 | C. Which routines are available depend on the version of VMS you're |
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| 228 | running, and require proper UCX emulation by your TCP/IP vendor. |
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| 229 | Relatively current versions of Multinet, TCPWare, Pathway, and UCX all |
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| 230 | provide the required libraries--check your manuals or release notes to see |
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| 231 | if your version is new enough. |
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| 232 | |
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| 233 | =head1 Building Perl |
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| 234 | |
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| 235 | The configuration script will print out, at the very end, the MMS or MMK |
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| 236 | command you need to compile perl. Issue it (exactly as printed) to start |
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| 237 | the build. |
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| 238 | |
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| 239 | Once you issue your MMS or MMK command, sit back and wait. Perl should |
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| 240 | compile and link without a problem. If a problem does occur check the |
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| 241 | "CAVEATS" section of this document. If that does not help send some |
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| 242 | mail to the VMSPERL mailing list. Instructions are in the "Mailing Lists" |
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| 243 | section of this document. |
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| 244 | |
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| 245 | =head1 Testing Perl |
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| 246 | |
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| 247 | Once Perl has built cleanly you need to test it to make sure things work. |
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| 248 | This step is very important since there are always things that can go wrong |
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| 249 | somehow and yield a dysfunctional Perl for you. |
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| 250 | |
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[10723] | 251 | Testing is very easy, though, as there's a full test suite in the perl |
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[14544] | 252 | distribution. To run the tests, enter the *exact* MMS line you used to |
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[10723] | 253 | compile Perl and add the word "test" to the end, like this: |
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| 254 | |
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[14544] | 255 | If the compile command was: |
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[10723] | 256 | |
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[14544] | 257 | MMS |
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[10723] | 258 | |
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[14544] | 259 | then the test command ought to be: |
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[10723] | 260 | |
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[14544] | 261 | MMS test |
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[10723] | 262 | |
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[14544] | 263 | MMS (or MMK) will run all the tests. This may take some time, as there are |
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| 264 | a lot of tests. If any tests fail, there will be a note made on-screen. |
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| 265 | At the end of all the tests, a summary of the tests, the number passed and |
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| 266 | failed, and the time taken will be displayed. |
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[10723] | 267 | |
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[14544] | 268 | If any tests fail, it means something is wrong with Perl. If the test suite |
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[10723] | 269 | hangs (some tests can take upwards of two or three minutes, or more if |
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[14544] | 270 | you're on an especially slow machine, depending on your machine speed, so |
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[10723] | 271 | don't be hasty), then the test *after* the last one displayed failed. Don't |
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| 272 | install Perl unless you're confident that you're OK. Regardless of how |
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| 273 | confident you are, make a bug report to the VMSPerl mailing list. |
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| 274 | |
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[14544] | 275 | If one or more tests fail, you can get more information on the failure by |
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| 276 | issuing this command sequence: |
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[10723] | 277 | |
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[14544] | 278 | @ [.VMS]TEST .typ "" "-v" [.subdir]test.T |
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[10723] | 279 | |
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| 280 | where ".typ" is the file type of the Perl images you just built (if you |
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| 281 | didn't do anything special, use .EXE), and "[.subdir]test.T" is the test |
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| 282 | that failed. For example, with a normal Perl build, if the test indicated |
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| 283 | that [.op]time failed, then you'd do this: |
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| 284 | |
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[14544] | 285 | @ [.VMS]TEST .EXE "" "-v" [.OP]TIME.T |
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[10723] | 286 | |
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| 287 | When you send in a bug report for failed tests, please include the output |
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| 288 | from this command, which is run from the main source directory: |
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| 289 | |
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[14544] | 290 | MCR []MINIPERL "-V" |
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[10723] | 291 | |
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[14544] | 292 | Note that -"V" really is a capital V in double quotes. This will dump out a |
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| 293 | couple of screens worth of configuration information, and can help us |
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| 294 | diagnose the problem. If (and only if) that did not work then try enclosing |
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| 295 | the output of: |
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[10723] | 296 | |
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[14544] | 297 | MMS printconfig |
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[10723] | 298 | |
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[14544] | 299 | If (and only if) that did not work then try enclosing the output of: |
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[10723] | 300 | |
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[14544] | 301 | @ [.vms]myconfig |
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[10723] | 302 | |
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[14544] | 303 | You may also be asked to provide your C compiler version ("CC/VERSION NL:" |
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| 304 | with DEC C, "gcc --version" with GNU CC). To obtain the version of MMS or |
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| 305 | MMK you are running try "MMS/ident" or "MMK /ident". The GNU make version |
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| 306 | can be identified with "make --version". |
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[10723] | 307 | |
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[14544] | 308 | =head2 Cleaning up and starting fresh (optional) |
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[10723] | 309 | |
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[14544] | 310 | If you need to recompile from scratch, you have to make sure you clean up |
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| 311 | first. There is a procedure to do it--enter the *exact* MMS line you used |
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| 312 | to compile and add "realclean" at the end, like this: |
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[10723] | 313 | |
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[14544] | 314 | if the compile command was: |
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[10723] | 315 | |
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[14544] | 316 | MMS |
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[10723] | 317 | |
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[14544] | 318 | then the cleanup command ought to be: |
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[10723] | 319 | |
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[14544] | 320 | MMS realclean |
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[10723] | 321 | |
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[14544] | 322 | If you do not do this things may behave erratically during the subsequent |
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| 323 | rebuild attempt. They might not, too, so it is best to be sure and do it. |
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[10723] | 324 | |
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[14544] | 325 | =head1 Installing Perl |
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[10723] | 326 | |
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[14544] | 327 | There are several steps you need to take to get Perl installed and |
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| 328 | running. |
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[10723] | 329 | |
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[14544] | 330 | =over 4 |
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[10723] | 331 | |
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[14544] | 332 | =item 1 |
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[10723] | 333 | |
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[14544] | 334 | Check your default file protections with |
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[10723] | 335 | |
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[14544] | 336 | SHOW PROTECTION /DEFAULT |
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[10723] | 337 | |
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[14544] | 338 | and adjust if necessary with SET PROTECTION=(code)/DEFAULT. |
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[10723] | 339 | |
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[14544] | 340 | =item 2 |
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[10723] | 341 | |
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[14544] | 342 | Create a directory somewhere and either run @perl_setup or |
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| 343 | define the concealed logical PERL_ROOT to point to it by hand. |
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| 344 | For example, |
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[10723] | 345 | |
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[14544] | 346 | CREATE/DIRECTORY dka200:[perl] |
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| 347 | @PERL_SETUP |
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| 348 | SHOW LOGICAL PERL_ROOT |
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[10723] | 349 | |
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[14544] | 350 | or, |
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[10723] | 351 | |
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[14544] | 352 | CREATE/DIRECTORY dka200:[perl] |
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| 353 | DEFINE/TRANS=(CONC,TERM) PERL_ROOT dka200:[perl.] |
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[10723] | 354 | |
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| 355 | |
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[14544] | 356 | =item 3 |
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[10723] | 357 | |
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[14544] | 358 | Run the install script via: |
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[10723] | 359 | |
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[14544] | 360 | MMS install |
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[10723] | 361 | |
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[14544] | 362 | or |
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[10723] | 363 | |
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[14544] | 364 | MMK install |
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[10723] | 365 | |
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[14544] | 366 | If for some reason it complains about target INSTALL being up to date, |
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| 367 | throw a /FORCE switch on the MMS or MMK command. |
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[10723] | 368 | |
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[14544] | 369 | =back |
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[10723] | 370 | |
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[14544] | 371 | The DCL script PERL_SETUP.COM that is written by CONFIGURE.COM |
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| 372 | will help you with the definition of PERL_ROOT, PERLSHR and the PERL |
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| 373 | Foreign symbol. Take a look at PERL_SETUP.COM and modify it if you want |
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| 374 | to. Then copy PERL_SETUP.COM to a place accessible to your perl users. |
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| 375 | For example: |
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[10723] | 376 | |
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[14544] | 377 | COPY PERL_SETUP.COM SYS$LIBRARY: |
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[10723] | 378 | |
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[14544] | 379 | If you want to have everyone on the system have access to perl |
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| 380 | then add a line that reads |
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[10723] | 381 | |
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[14544] | 382 | $ @sys$library:perl_setup |
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[10723] | 383 | |
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[14544] | 384 | to SYS$MANAGER:SYLOGIN.COM. |
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[10723] | 385 | |
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[14544] | 386 | Two alternatives to the foreign symbol would be to install PERL into |
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| 387 | DCLTABLES.EXE (Check out the section "Installing Perl into DCLTABLES |
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| 388 | (optional)" for more information), or put the image in a |
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| 389 | directory that's in your DCL$PATH (if you're using VMS V6.2 or higher). |
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[10723] | 390 | |
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[14544] | 391 | An alternative to having PERL_SETUP.COM define the PERLSHR logical name |
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| 392 | is to simply copy it into the system shareable library directory with: |
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[10723] | 393 | |
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[14544] | 394 | copy perl_root:[000000]perlshr.exe sys$share: |
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[10723] | 395 | |
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[14544] | 396 | See also the "INSTALLing images (optional)" section. |
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[10723] | 397 | |
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[14544] | 398 | =head2 Installing Perl into DCLTABLES (optional) |
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[10723] | 399 | |
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[14544] | 400 | Execute the following command file to define PERL as a DCL command. |
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| 401 | You'll need CMKRNL privilege to install the new dcltables.exe. |
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[10723] | 402 | |
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[14544] | 403 | $ create perl.cld |
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| 404 | ! |
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| 405 | ! modify to reflect location of your perl.exe |
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| 406 | ! |
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| 407 | define verb perl |
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| 408 | image perl_root:[000000]perl.exe |
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| 409 | cliflags (foreign) |
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| 410 | $! |
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| 411 | $ set command perl /table=sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe - |
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| 412 | /output=sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe |
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| 413 | $ install replace sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe |
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| 414 | $ exit |
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[10723] | 415 | |
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[14544] | 416 | =head2 INSTALLing images (optional) |
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[10723] | 417 | |
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[14544] | 418 | On systems that are using perl quite a bit, and particularly those with |
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| 419 | minimal RAM, you can boost the performance of perl by INSTALLing it as |
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| 420 | a known image. PERLSHR.EXE is typically larger than 2000 blocks |
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| 421 | and that is a reasonably large amount of IO to load each time perl is |
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| 422 | invoked. |
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[10723] | 423 | |
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[14544] | 424 | INSTALL ADD PERLSHR/SHARE |
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| 425 | INSTALL ADD PERL/HEADER |
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[10723] | 426 | |
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[14544] | 427 | should be enough for PERLSHR.EXE (/share implies /header and /open), |
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| 428 | while /HEADER should do for PERL.EXE (perl.exe is not a shared image). |
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[10723] | 429 | |
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[14544] | 430 | If your code 'use's modules, check to see if there is a shareable image for |
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| 431 | them, too. In the base perl build, POSIX, IO, Fcntl, Opcode, SDBM_File, |
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| 432 | DCLsym, and Stdio all have shared images that can be installed /SHARE. |
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[10723] | 433 | |
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[14544] | 434 | How much of a win depends on your memory situation, but if you are firing |
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| 435 | off perl with any regularity (like more than once every 20 seconds or so) |
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| 436 | it is probably beneficial to INSTALL at least portions of perl. |
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[10723] | 437 | |
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[14544] | 438 | While there is code in perl to remove privileges as it runs you are advised |
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| 439 | to NOT INSTALL PERL.EXE with PRIVs! |
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[10723] | 440 | |
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[14544] | 441 | =head1 Reporting Bugs |
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[10723] | 442 | |
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[14544] | 443 | If you come across what you think might be a bug in Perl, please report |
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| 444 | it. There's a script in PERL_ROOT:[UTILS], perlbug, that walks you through |
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| 445 | the process of creating a bug report. This script includes details of your |
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| 446 | installation, and is very handy. Completed bug reports should go to |
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| 447 | perlbug@perl.com. |
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[10723] | 448 | |
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[14544] | 449 | =head1 CAVEATS |
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[10723] | 450 | |
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[14544] | 451 | Probably the single biggest gotcha in compiling Perl is giving the wrong |
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| 452 | switches to MMS/MMK when you build. Use *exactly* what the configure.com |
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| 453 | script prints! |
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[10723] | 454 | |
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[14544] | 455 | The next big gotcha is directory depth. Perl can create directories four, |
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| 456 | five, or even six levels deep during the build, so you don't have to be |
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| 457 | too deep to start to hit the RMS 8 level limit (for versions of VMS prior |
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| 458 | to V7.2 and even with V7.2 on the VAX). It is best to do |
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[10723] | 459 | |
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[14544] | 460 | DEFINE/TRANS=(CONC,TERM) PERLSRC "disk:[dir.dir.dir.perldir.]" |
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| 461 | SET DEFAULT PERLSRC:[000000] |
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[10723] | 462 | |
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[14544] | 463 | before building in cases where you have to unpack the distribution so deep |
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| 464 | (note the trailing period in the definition of PERLSRC). Perl modules |
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| 465 | from CPAN can be just as bad (or worse), so watch out for them, too. Perl's |
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| 466 | configuration script will warn if it thinks you are too deep (at least on |
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| 467 | a VAX or on Alpha versions of VMS prior to 7.2). But MakeMaker will not |
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| 468 | warn you if you start out building a module too deep in a directory. |
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[10723] | 469 | |
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[14544] | 470 | Be sure that the process that you use to build perl has a PGFLQ greater |
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| 471 | than 100000. Be sure to have a correct local time zone to UTC offset |
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| 472 | defined (in seconds) in the logical name SYS$TIMEZONE_DIFFERENTIAL before |
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| 473 | running the regression test suite. The SYS$MANAGER:UTC$CONFIGURE_TDF.COM |
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| 474 | procedure will help you set that logical for your system but may require |
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| 475 | system privileges. For example, a location 5 hours west of UTC (such as |
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| 476 | the US East coast while not on daylight savings time) would have: |
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[10723] | 477 | |
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[14544] | 478 | DEFINE SYS$TIMEZONE_DIFFERENTIAL "-18000" |
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[10723] | 479 | |
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[14544] | 480 | A final thing that causes trouble is leftover pieces from a failed |
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| 481 | build. If things go wrong make sure you do a "(MMK|MMS|make) realclean" |
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| 482 | before you rebuild. |
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[10723] | 483 | |
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[14544] | 484 | =head2 DEC C issues |
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[10723] | 485 | |
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[14544] | 486 | Note to DEC C users: Some early versions (pre-5.2, some pre-4. If you're DEC |
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| 487 | C 5.x or higher, with current patches if any, you're fine) of the DECCRTL |
---|
| 488 | contained a few bugs which affect Perl performance: |
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[10723] | 489 | |
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[14544] | 490 | =over 4 |
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[10723] | 491 | |
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[14544] | 492 | =item - pipes |
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[10723] | 493 | |
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[14544] | 494 | Newlines are lost on I/O through pipes, causing lines to run together. |
---|
| 495 | This shows up as RMS RTB errors when reading from a pipe. You can |
---|
| 496 | work around this by having one process write data to a file, and |
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| 497 | then having the other read the file, instead of the pipe. This is |
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| 498 | fixed in version 4 of DEC C. |
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[10723] | 499 | |
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[14544] | 500 | =item - modf() |
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[10723] | 501 | |
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[14544] | 502 | The modf() routine returns a non-integral value for some values above |
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| 503 | INT_MAX; the Perl "int" operator will return a non-integral value in |
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| 504 | these cases. This is fixed in version 4 of DEC C. |
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[10723] | 505 | |
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[14544] | 506 | =item - ALPACRT ECO |
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[10723] | 507 | |
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[14544] | 508 | On the AXP, if SYSNAM privilege is enabled, the CRTL chdir() routine |
---|
| 509 | changes the process default device and directory permanently, even |
---|
| 510 | though the call specified that the change should not persist after |
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| 511 | Perl exited. This is fixed by DEC CSC patch ALPACRT04_061 or later. |
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| 512 | See also: |
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[10723] | 513 | |
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[14544] | 514 | http://ftp.service.digital.com/patches/.new/openvms.html |
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[10723] | 515 | |
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[14544] | 516 | =back |
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[10723] | 517 | |
---|
[14544] | 518 | Please note that in later versions "DEC C" may also be known as |
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| 519 | "Compaq C". |
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[10723] | 520 | |
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[14544] | 521 | =head2 GNU issues |
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[10723] | 522 | |
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[14544] | 523 | It has been a while since the GNU utilities such as GCC or GNU make |
---|
| 524 | were used to build perl on VMS. Hence they may require a great deal |
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| 525 | of source code modification to work again. |
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[10723] | 526 | |
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[14544] | 527 | http://slacvx.slac.stanford.edu/HELP/GCC |
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| 528 | http://www.progis.de/ |
---|
| 529 | http://vms.gnu.org/ |
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| 530 | http://www.lp.se/products/gnu.html |
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[10723] | 531 | |
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[14544] | 532 | =head1 Mailing Lists |
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[10723] | 533 | |
---|
[14544] | 534 | There are several mailing lists available to the Perl porter. For VMS |
---|
| 535 | specific issues (including both Perl questions and installation problems) |
---|
| 536 | there is the VMSPERL mailing list. It is usually a low-volume (10-12 |
---|
| 537 | messages a week) mailing list. |
---|
[10723] | 538 | |
---|
[14544] | 539 | The subscription address is MAJORDOMO@PERL.ORG. Send a mail message with |
---|
| 540 | just the words SUBSCRIBE VMSPERL in the body of the message. |
---|
| 541 | |
---|
| 542 | The VMSPERL mailing list address is VMSPERL@PERL.ORG. Any mail sent there |
---|
| 543 | gets echoed to all subscribers of the list. There is a searchable archive of |
---|
| 544 | the list on the web at: |
---|
[10723] | 545 | |
---|
[14544] | 546 | http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/vmsperl/ |
---|
| 547 | |
---|
| 548 | To unsubscribe from VMSPERL send the message UNSUBSCRIBE VMSPERL to |
---|
| 549 | MAJORDOMO@PERL.ORG. Be sure to do so from the subscribed account that |
---|
| 550 | you are canceling. |
---|
[10723] | 551 | |
---|
[14544] | 552 | =head2 Web sites |
---|
[10723] | 553 | |
---|
[14544] | 554 | Vmsperl pages on the web include: |
---|
[10723] | 555 | |
---|
[14544] | 556 | http://www.sidhe.org/vmsperl/index.html |
---|
| 557 | http://duphy4.physics.drexel.edu/pub/cgi_info.htmlx |
---|
| 558 | http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/vmsperl/ |
---|
| 559 | http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-module/VMS/ |
---|
| 560 | http://nucwww.chem.sunysb.edu/htbin/software_list.cgi |
---|
| 561 | http://www.best.com/~pvhp/vms/ |
---|
| 562 | http://bkfug.kfunigraz.ac.at/~binder/perl.html |
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[10723] | 563 | |
---|
[14544] | 564 | =head1 SEE ALSO |
---|
[10723] | 565 | |
---|
[14544] | 566 | Perl information for users and programmers about the port of perl to VMS is |
---|
| 567 | available from the [.VMS]PERLVMS.POD file that gets installed as L<perlvms>. |
---|
| 568 | For administrators the perlvms document also includes a detailed discussion |
---|
| 569 | of extending vmsperl with CPAN modules after Perl has been installed. |
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[10723] | 570 | |
---|
[14544] | 571 | =head1 AUTHORS |
---|
[10723] | 572 | |
---|
[14544] | 573 | Last revised 25-February-2000 by Peter Prymmer pvhp@best.com. |
---|
| 574 | Revised 27-October-1999 by Craig Berry craig.berry@metamorgs.com. |
---|
| 575 | Revised 01-March-1999 by Dan Sugalski dan@sidhe.org. |
---|
| 576 | Originally by Charles Bailey bailey@newman.upenn.edu. |
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[10723] | 577 | |
---|
[14544] | 578 | =head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
---|
| 579 | |
---|
| 580 | A real big thanks needs to go to Charles Bailey |
---|
| 581 | bailey@newman.upenn.edu, who is ultimately responsible for Perl 5.004 |
---|
| 582 | running on VMS. Without him, nothing the rest of us have done would be at |
---|
| 583 | all important. |
---|
| 584 | |
---|
[10723] | 585 | There are, of course, far too many people involved in the porting and testing |
---|
| 586 | of Perl to mention everyone who deserves it, so please forgive us if we've |
---|
| 587 | missed someone. That said, special thanks are due to the following: |
---|
[14544] | 588 | |
---|
| 589 | Tim Adye T.J.Adye@rl.ac.uk |
---|
[10723] | 590 | for the VMS emulations of getpw*() |
---|
[14544] | 591 | David Denholm denholm@conmat.phys.soton.ac.uk |
---|
[10723] | 592 | for extensive testing and provision of pipe and SocketShr code, |
---|
[14544] | 593 | Mark Pizzolato mark@infocomm.com |
---|
[10723] | 594 | for the getredirection() code |
---|
[14544] | 595 | Rich Salz rsalz@bbn.com |
---|
[10723] | 596 | for readdir() and related routines |
---|
[14544] | 597 | Peter Prymmer pvhp@best.com |
---|
[10723] | 598 | for extensive testing, as well as development work on |
---|
| 599 | configuration and documentation for VMS Perl, |
---|
[14544] | 600 | Dan Sugalski dan@sidhe.org |
---|
| 601 | for extensive contributions to recent version support, |
---|
| 602 | development of VMS-specific extensions, and dissemination |
---|
| 603 | of information about VMS Perl, |
---|
[10723] | 604 | the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory and the |
---|
| 605 | Laboratory of Nuclear Studies at Cornell University for |
---|
[14544] | 606 | the opportunity to test and develop for the AXP, |
---|
| 607 | John Hasstedt John.Hasstedt@sunysb.edu |
---|
| 608 | for VAX VMS V7.2 support |
---|
| 609 | |
---|
| 610 | and to the entire VMSperl group for useful advice and suggestions. In |
---|
| 611 | addition the perl5-porters deserve credit for their creativity and |
---|
[10723] | 612 | willingness to work with the VMS newcomers. Finally, the greatest debt of |
---|
[14544] | 613 | gratitude is due to Larry Wall larry@wall.org, for having the ideas which |
---|
[10723] | 614 | have made our sleepless nights possible. |
---|
| 615 | |
---|
| 616 | Thanks, |
---|
| 617 | The VMSperl group |
---|
[14544] | 618 | |
---|
| 619 | =cut |
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| 620 | |
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