1- Last revised:
14-Dec-1995 by Charles Bailey
[email protected] 1+ Last revised:
19-Jan-1996 by Charles Bailey
[email protected] 22
33The VMS port of Perl is still under development. At this time, the Perl
44binaries built under VMS handle internal operations properly, for the most
@@ -12,8 +12,8 @@ you'd like to add something yourself, or join the porting team, we'd love to
1212have you!
1313
1414The current sources and build procedures have been tested on a VAX using VAXC
15- and on an AXP using DECC. If you run into problems with other compilers,
16- please let us know.
15+ and DECC, and on an AXP using DECC. If you run into problems with other
16+ compilers, please let us know.
1717
1818Note to DECC users: Some early versions of the DECCRTL contained a few bugs
1919which affect Perl performance:
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ stacks available, so it's difficult to automate the process of building Perl
4949with socket support in a way which will work on all systems.
5050
5151By default, Perl is built without IP socket support. If you define the macro
52- SOCKET when invoking MMS , however, socket support will be included. As
52+ SOCKET when invoking MMK , however, socket support will be included. As
5353distributed, Perl for VMS includes support for the SOCKETSHR socket library,
5454which is layered on MadGoat software's vendor-independent NETLIB interface.
5555This provides support for all socket calls used by Perl except the
@@ -114,7 +114,10 @@ subdirectory contains several files, among which are the following:
114114 WriteMain.Pl - Perl script to generate Perlmain.C
115115The [.Ext...] directories contain VMS-specific extensions distributed with
116116Perl. There may also be other files in [.VMS...] pertaining to features under
117- development; for the most part, you can ignore them.
117+ development; for the most part, you can ignore them. Note that packages in
118+ [.ext.*] are not built with Perl by default; you build the ones you want
119+ once the basic Perl build is complete (see the perlvms docs for instructions
120+ on building extensions.)
118121
119122Config.VMS and Decrip.MMS/Makefile are set up to build a version of Perl which
120123includes all features known to work when this release was assembled. If you
@@ -141,7 +144,7 @@ it specifically from Config.
141144Examine the information at the beginning of Descrip.MMS for information about
142145specifying alternate C compilers or building a version of Perl with debugging
143146support. For instance, if you want to use DECC, you'll need to include the
144- /macro="decc=1" qualifier to MMS (If you're using make, these options are not
147+ /macro="decc=1" qualifier to MMK (If you're using make, these options are not
145148supported.) If you're on an AXP system, define the macro __AXP__ (MMK does
146149this for you), and DECC will automatically be selected.
147150
@@ -160,7 +163,14 @@ set up to use VAXC on a VAX, and does not include socket support. You can
160163either edit the Makefile by hand, using Descrip.MMS as a guide, or use the
161164Makefile to build Miniperl.Exe, and then run the Perl script MMS2Make.pl,
162165found in the [.VMS] subdirectory, to generate a new Makefile with the options
163- appropriate to your site.
166+ appropriate to your site. If you are using MM[SK], and you decide to rebuild
167+ Perl with a different set of parameters (e.g. changing the C compiler, or
168+ adding socket support), be sure to say
169+ $ MMK/Descrip=[.VMS] realclean
170+ first, in order to remove files generated during the previous build. If
171+ you omit this step, you risk ending up with a copy of Perl which
172+ composed partially of old files and partially of new ones, which may lead
173+ to strange effects when you try to run Perl.
164174
165175Note for sites using DECC: A bug in some early versions of the DECC RTL on the
166176AXP causes newlines to be lost when writing to a pipe. This causes
@@ -191,6 +201,17 @@ This will build the following files:
191201 used to build PerlShr.Exe. It should be used when
192202 rebuilding PerlShr.Exe via MakeMaker-produced
193203 Descrip.MMS files for static extensions.
204+ c2ph - Perl program which generates template code to access
205+ C struct members from Perl.
206+ h2ph - Perl program which generates template code to access
207+ #defined constants in a C header file from Perl,
208+ using the "old-style" interface. (Largely supplanted
209+ by h2xs.)
210+ h2xs - Perl program which generates template files for creating
211+ XSUB extensions, optionally beginning with the #defined
212+ constants in a C header file.
213+ [.pod]perldoc - A Perl program which locates and displays documentation
214+ for Perl and its extensions.
194215 [.Lib]Config.pm - the Perl extension which saves configuration information
195216 about Perl and your system.
196217 [.Lib]DynaLoader.pm - The Perl extension which performs dynamic linking of
@@ -201,6 +222,30 @@ There are, of course, a number of other files created for use during the build.
201222Once you've got the binaries built, you may wish to `build' the `tidy' or
202223`clean' targets to remove extra files.
203224
225+ If you run into problems during the build, you can get help from the VMSPerl
226+ or perl5-porters mailing lists (see below). When you report the problem,
227+ please include the following information:
228+ - The version of Perl you're trying to build. Please include any
229+ "letter" patchlevel, in addition to the version number. If the
230+ build successfully created Miniperl.Exe, you can check this by
231+ saying '$ MCR Sys$Disk:[]Miniperl -v'. Also, please mention
232+ where you obtained the distribution kit; in particular, note
233+ whether you were using a basic Perl kit or the VMS test kit
234+ (see below).
235+ - The exact command you issued to build Perl.
236+ - A copy of all error messages which were generated during the build.
237+ Please include enough of the build log to establish the context of
238+ the error messages.
239+ - A summary of your configuration. If the build progressed far enough
240+ to generate Miniperl.Exe and [.Lib]Config.pm, you can obtain this
241+ by saying '$ MCR Sys$Disk:[]Miniperl "-V"' (note the "" around -V).
242+ If not, then you can say '$ MMK/Descrip=[.VMS] printconfig' to
243+ produce the summary.
244+ This may sound like a lot of information to send, but it'll often make
245+ it easier for someone to spot the problem, instead of having to give
246+ a spectrum of possibilities.
247+
248+
204249
205250* Installing Perl once it's built
206251
@@ -227,12 +272,17 @@ Once the build is complete, you'll need to do the following:
227272 is written in a simple markup format which can be easily read. In this
228273 directory as well are pod2man and pod2html translators to reformat the
229274 docs for common display engines; a pod2hlp translator is under development.
230- Information on Perl can also be gleaned from the files in the [.doc]
231- subdirectory (internals documents and summaries of changes), and from
232- the test scripts in the [.t...] subdirectories. For this reason,
233- you may wish to copy these subtrees into directories under Perl_Root.
275+ These files are copied to [.lib.pod] during the installation.
276+ - Define a foreign command to execute perldoc, such as
277+ $ Perldoc == "''Perl' Perl_Root:[lib.pod]Perldoc -t"
278+ This will allow users to retrieve documentation using Perldoc. For
279+ more details, say "perldoc perldoc".
234280That's it.
235281
282+ If you run into a bug in Perl, please submit a bug report. The PerlBug
283+ program, found in the [.lib] directory, will walk you through the process
284+ of assembling the necessary information into a bug report, and sending
285+ of to the Perl bug reporting address,
[email protected] .
236286
237287* For more information
238288
@@ -294,7 +344,7 @@ and to the entire VMSperl group for useful advice and suggestions. In addition
294344the perl5-porters, especially Andy Dougherty <
[email protected] >
295345and Tim Bunce <
[email protected] >, deserve credit for their creativity and
296346willingness to work with the VMS newcomers. Finally, the greatest debt of
297- gratitude is due to Larry Wall <lwall@netlabs .com>, for having the ideas which
347+ gratitude is due to Larry Wall <lwall@sems .com>, for having the ideas which
298348have made our sleepless nights possible.
299349
300350Thanks,
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