(?p{}) has been deprecated for a long time.
[p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git] / README.epoc
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9a997319 1If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the funny characters you
2see. It is written in the POD format (see pod/perlpod.pod) which is
3specially designed to be readable as is.
4d2c4e07 4
9a997319 5=head1 NAME
6
7README.epoc - Perl for EPOC
4d2c4e07 8
9a997319 9=head1 SYNOPSIS
10
2585f9a3 11Perl 5 README file for the EPOC Release 5 operating system.
9a997319 12
13=head1 INTRODUCTION
4d2c4e07 14
d1be9408 15EPOC is an OS for palmtops and mobile phones. For more informations look at:
3a2f06e9 16http://www.symbian.com/
4d2c4e07 17
2585f9a3 18This is a port of perl to the epocemx SDK by Eberhard Mattes, which
3a1825b5 19itself uses the SDK by symbian. Essentially epocemx it is a POSIX
6c852fd0 20look alike environment for the EPOC OS. For more information look at:
21http://epocemx.sourceforge.net/
2585f9a3 22
23perl and epocemx runs on Epoc Release 5 machines: Psion 5mx, 5mx Pro,
a4cd2bbe 24Psion Revo, Psion Netbook and on the Ericsson M128. It may run on Epoc
2585f9a3 25Release 3 Hardware (Series 5 classic), too. For more information about
1577cd80 26this hardware please refer to http://www.psion.com/
d5ff79b3 27
28Vendors which like to have support for their devices are free to send
29me a sample.
4d2c4e07 30
9a997319 31=head1 INSTALLING PERL ON EPOC
4d2c4e07 32
d5ff79b3 33You can download a ready-to-install version from
6c852fd0 34http://www.oflebbe.de/oflebbe/perl/
d5ff79b3 35
6c852fd0 36You will need at least ~6MB free space in order to install and run perl.
d5ff79b3 37
2585f9a3 38Please install the emxusr.sis package from
6c852fd0 39http://epocemx.sourceforge.net/ first.
2585f9a3 40
d5ff79b3 41Install perl.sis on the EPOC machine. If you do not know how to do
42that, consult your PsiWin documentation.
43
2585f9a3 44Perl itself and its standard library is using 4 MB disk space.
d5ff79b3 45Unicode support and some other modules are left out. (For details,
46please look into epoc/createpkg.pl). If you like to use these modules,
47you are free to copy them from a current perl release.
ae2d1787 48
d5ff79b3 49=head1 STARTING PERL ON EPOC
ae2d1787 50
2585f9a3 51Please use the epocemx shell to start perl. perl integrates with the
52conventions of epocemx.
4d2c4e07 53
a83b6f46 54=head2 Editors on Epoc
4d2c4e07 55
d5ff79b3 56A suitable text editor can be downloaded from symbian
02a99678 57http://www.symbian.com/developer/downloads/files/editor.zip
ed79a026 58
a83b6f46 59=head2 Features of Perl on Epoc
4d2c4e07 60
ed79a026 61The built-in function EPOC::getcwd returns the current directory.
3a2f06e9 62
a83b6f46 63=head2 Restrictions of Perl on Epoc
4d2c4e07 64
ed79a026 65Features are left out, because of restrictions of the POSIX support in
66EPOC:
4d2c4e07 67
9a997319 68=over 4
69
eccd403f 70=item *
71
72socket IO is only implemented poorly. You can only use sysread and
73syswrite on them. The commands read, write, print, <> do not work for
74sockets. This may change iff epocemx supports sockets.
75
9a997319 76=item *
77
2585f9a3 78kill, alarm and signals. Do not try to use them. This may be
9a997319 79impossible to implement on EPOC.
80
81=item *
82
83select is missing.
84
85=item *
ae2d1787 86
9a997319 87binmode does not exist. (No CR LF to LF translation for text files)
ae2d1787 88
9a997319 89=item *
ae2d1787 90
9a997319 91EPOC does not handle the notion of current drive and current
92directory very well (i.e. not at all, but it tries hard to emulate
3a1825b5 93one). See PATH.
ae2d1787 94
9a997319 95=item *
ae2d1787 96
d5ff79b3 97Heap is limited to 4MB.
4d2c4e07 98
9a997319 99=item *
4d2c4e07 100
d5ff79b3 101Dynamic loading is not implemented.
4d2c4e07 102
9a997319 103=back
104
105=head2 Compiling Perl 5 on the EPOC cross compiling environment
4d2c4e07 106
3a2f06e9 107Sorry, this is far too short.
4d2c4e07 108
9a997319 109=over 4
110
111=item *
112
2585f9a3 113You will need the epocemx SDK from Eberhard Mattes.
4d2c4e07 114
9a997319 115=item *
4d2c4e07 116
9a997319 117Get the Perl sources from your nearest CPAN site.
4d2c4e07 118
9a997319 119=item *
4d2c4e07 120
9a997319 121Unpack the sources.
ae2d1787 122
9a997319 123=item *
ae2d1787 124
d5ff79b3 125Build a native perl from this sources... Make sure to save the
126miniperl executable as miniperl.native.
127
128Start again from scratch
ed79a026 129
3a2f06e9 130 cp epoc/* .
f83d2536 131 ./Configure -S
d5ff79b3 132 make
3a2f06e9 133 cp miniperl.native miniperl
2585f9a3 134 touch miniperl.exe
d5ff79b3 135 make
3a2f06e9 136 perl createpkg.pl
4d2c4e07 137
02a99678 138 emxsis perl.pkg perl.sis
4d2c4e07 139
9a997319 140=back
4d2c4e07 141
a83b6f46 142=head1 SUPPORT STATUS OF PERL ON EPOC
4d2c4e07 143
ed79a026 144I'm offering this port "as is". You can ask me questions, but I can't
2585f9a3 145guarantee I'll be able to answer them. Since the port to epocemx is
146quite new, please check the web for updates first.
147
148Very special thanks to Eberhard Mattes for epocemx.
9a997319 149
150=head1 AUTHOR
151
6c852fd0 152Olaf Flebbe <olaf@oflebbe.de>
153http://www.oflebbe.de/oflebbe/perl/
9a997319 154
155=head1 LAST UPDATE
156
6c852fd0 1572003-01-18
9a997319 158
159=cut