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9ff7b177 1If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the funny characters you see.
2It is written in the POD format (see pod/perlpod.pod) which is specially
3designed to be readable as is.
4
5=head1 NAME
6
7README.macosx - Perl under Mac OS X
8
9=head1 SYNOPSIS
10
11This document briefly describes perl under Mac OS X.
12
13
14=head1 DESCRIPTION
15
e30a8c0c 16The latest Perl release (5.8.8 as of this writing) builds without changes
17under Mac OS X. Under 10.3 "Panther" and newer OS versions, all self-tests
18pass, and all standard features are supported.
9ff7b177 19
e30a8c0c 20Earlier Mac OS X releases (10.2 "Jaguar" and older) did not include a
21completely thread-safe libc, so threading is not fully supported. Also,
22earlier releases included a buggy libdb, so some of the DB_File tests
23are known to fail on those releases.
9ff7b177 24
25
f7451e23 26=head2 Installation Prefix
9ff7b177 27
28The default installation location for this release uses the traditional
29UNIX directory layout under /usr/local. This is the recommended location
30for most users, and will leave the Apple-supplied Perl and its modules
31undisturbed.
32
33Using an installation prefix of '/usr' will result in a directory layout
34that mirrors that of Apple's default Perl, with core modules stored in
35'/System/Library/Perl/${version}', CPAN modules stored in
36'/Library/Perl/${version}', and the addition of
37'/Network/Library/Perl/${version}' to @INC for modules that are stored
38on a file server and used by many Macs.
39
40
e30a8c0c 41=head2 SDK support
42
43First, export the path to the SDK into the build environment:
44
45 export SDK=/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.3.9.sdk
46
47Use an SDK by exporting some additions to Perl's 'ccflags' and '..flags'
48config variables:
49
50 ./Configure -Accflags="-nostdinc -B$SDK/usr/include/gcc \
51 -B$SDK/usr/lib/gcc -isystem$SDK/usr/include \
52 -F$SDK/System/Library/Frameworks" \
53 -Aldflags="-Wl,-syslibroot,$SDK" \
54 -de
55
56=head2 Universal Binary support
57
58To compile perl as a universal binary (built for both ppc and intel), export
59the SDK variable as above, selecting the 10.4u SDK:
60
61 export SDK=/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk
62
63In addition to the compiler flags used to select the SDK, also add the flags
64for creating a universal binary:
65
66 ./Configure -Accflags="-arch i686 -arch ppc -nostdinc -B$SDK/usr/include/gcc \
67 -B$SDK/usr/lib/gcc -isystem$SDK/usr/include \
68 -F$SDK/System/Library/Frameworks" \
69 -Aldflags="-arch i686 -arch ppc -Wl,-syslibroot,$SDK" \
70 -de
71
72Keep in mind that these compiler and linker settings will also be used when
73building CPAN modules. For XS modules to be compiled as a universal binary, any
74libraries it links to must also be universal binaries. The system libraries that
75Apple includes with the 10.4u SDK are all universal, but user-installed libraries
76may need to be re-installed as universal binaries.
77
ee94f810 78=head2 64-bit PPC support
79
80Follow the instructions in F<INSTALL> to build perl with support for 64-bit
81integers (C<use64bitint>) or both 64-bit integers and 64-bit addressing
82(C<use64bitall>). In the latter case, the resulting binary will run only
83on G5-based hosts.
84
85Support for 64-bit addressing is experimental: some aspects of Perl may be
86omitted or buggy. Note the messages output by F<Configure> for further
87information. Please use C<perlbug> to submit a problem report in the
88event that you encounter difficulties.
89
90When building 64-bit modules, it is your responsiblity to ensure that linked
91external libraries and frameworks provide 64-bit support: if they do not,
92module building may appear to succeed, but attempts to use the module will
93result in run-time dynamic linking errors, and subsequent test failures.
94You can use C<file> to discover the architectures supported by a library:
95
96 $ file libgdbm.3.0.0.dylib
97 libgdbm.3.0.0.dylib: Mach-O fat file with 2 architectures
98 libgdbm.3.0.0.dylib (for architecture ppc): Mach-O dynamically linked shared library ppc
99 libgdbm.3.0.0.dylib (for architecture ppc64): Mach-O 64-bit dynamically linked shared library ppc64
100
101Note that this issue precludes the building of many Macintosh-specific CPAN
102modules (C<Mac::*>), as the required Apple frameworks do not provide PPC64
103support. Similarly, downloads from Fink or Darwinports are unlikely to provide
10464-bit support; the libraries must be rebuilt from source with the appropriate
105compiler and linker flags. For further information, see Apple's
106I<64-Bit Transition Guide> at
107L<http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Darwin/Conceptual/64bitPorting/index.html>.
108
f7451e23 109=head2 libperl and Prebinding
9ff7b177 110
111Mac OS X ships with a dynamically-loaded libperl, but the default for
112this release is to compile a static libperl. The reason for this is
113pre-binding. Dynamic libraries can be pre-bound to a specific address in
114memory in order to decrease load time. To do this, one needs to be aware
115of the location and size of all previously-loaded libraries. Apple
116collects this information as part of their overall OS build process, and
117thus has easy access to it when building Perl, but ordinary users would
118need to go to a great deal of effort to obtain the information needed
119for pre-binding.
120
f7451e23 121You can override the default and build a shared libperl if you wish
e30a8c0c 122(S<Configure ... -Duseshrlib>), but the load time on pre-10.4 OS
123releases will be greater than either the static library, or Apple's
f7451e23 124pre-bound dynamic library.
9ff7b177 125
e30a8c0c 126With 10.4 "Tiger" and newer, Apple has all but eliminated the performance
127penalty for non-prebound libraries.
9ff7b177 128
9ff7b177 129
e30a8c0c 130=head2 Updating Apple's Perl
ffb8d87a 131
e30a8c0c 132In a word - don't, at least without a *very* good reason. Your scripts
133can just as easily begin with "#!/usr/local/bin/perl" as with
134"#!/usr/bin/perl". Scripts supplied by Apple and other third parties as
135part of installation packages and such have generally only been tested
136with the /usr/bin/perl that's installed by Apple.
ffb8d87a 137
e30a8c0c 138If you find that you do need to update the system Perl, one issue worth
139keeping in mind is the question of static vs. dynamic libraries. If you
140upgrade using the default static libperl, you will find that the dynamic
141libperl supplied by Apple will not be deleted. If both libraries are
142present when an application that links against libperl is built, ld will
143link against the dynamic library by default. So, if you need to replace
144Apple's dynamic libperl with a static libperl, you need to be sure to
145delete the older dynamic library after you've installed the update.
ffb8d87a 146
9ff7b177 147
f7451e23 148=head2 Known problems
149
150If you have installed extra libraries such as GDBM through Fink
151(in other words, you have libraries under F</sw/lib>), or libdlcompat
152to F</usr/local/lib>, you may need to be extra careful when running
153Configure to not to confuse Configure and Perl about which libraries
154to use. Being confused will show up for example as "dyld" errors about
155symbol problems, for example during "make test". The safest bet is to run
156Configure as
157
158 Configure ... -Uloclibpth -Dlibpth=/usr/lib
159
160to make Configure look only into the system libraries. If you have some
161extra library directories that you really want to use (such as newer
162Berkeley DB libraries in pre-Panther systems), add those to the libpth:
163
164 Configure ... -Uloclibpth -Dlibpth='/usr/lib /opt/lib'
165
166The default of building Perl statically may cause problems with complex
167applications like Tk: in that case consider building shared Perl
168
169 Configure ... -Duseshrplib
170
171but remember that there's a startup cost to pay in that case (see above
172"libperl and Prebinding").
173
80626d0c 174Starting with Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4), Apple shipped broken locale files for
ffb8d87a 175the eu_ES locale (Basque-Spain). In previous releases of Perl, this resulted in
176failures in the C<lib/locale> test. These failures have been supressed
177in the current release of Perl by making the test ignore the broken locale.
178If you need to use the eu_ES locale, you should contact Apple support.
f7451e23 179
180=head2 MacPerl
9ff7b177 181
182Quite a bit has been written about MacPerl, the Perl distribution for
183"Classic MacOS" - that is, versions 9 and earlier of MacOS. Because it
184runs in environment that's very different from that of UNIX, many things
185are done differently in MacPerl. Modules are installed using a different
186procedure, Perl itself is built differently, path names are different,
187etc.
188
189From the perspective of a Perl programmer, Mac OS X is more like a
190traditional UNIX than Classic MacOS. If you find documentation that
191refers to a special procedure that's needed for MacOS that's drastically
192different from the instructions provided for UNIX, the MacOS
193instructions are quite often intended for MacPerl on Classic MacOS. In
194that case, the correct procedure on Mac OS X is usually to follow the
195UNIX instructions, rather than the MacPerl instructions.
196
197
f7451e23 198=head2 Carbon
9ff7b177 199
200MacPerl ships with a number of modules that are used to access the
201classic MacOS toolbox. Many of these modules have been updated to use
202Mac OS X's newer "Carbon" toolbox, and are available from CPAN in the
203"Mac::Carbon" module.
204
205
f7451e23 206=head2 Cocoa
9ff7b177 207
208There are two ways to use Cocoa from Perl. Apple's PerlObjCBridge
209module, included with Mac OS X, can be used by standalone scripts to
210access Foundation (i.e. non-GUI) classes and objects.
211
212An alternative is CamelBones, a framework that allows access to both
213Foundation and AppKit classes and objects, so that full GUI applications
214can be built in Perl. CamelBones can be found on SourceForge, at
215L<http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/camelbones/>.
216
217
6c8f3f7c 218=head1 Starting From Scratch
219
220Unfortunately it is not that difficult somehow manage to break one's
221Mac OS X Perl rather severely. If all else fails and you want to
222really, B<REALLY>, start from scratch and remove even your Apple Perl
223installation (which has become corrupted somehow), the following
224instructions should do it. B<Please think twice before following
225these instructions: they are much like conducting brain surgery to
226yourself. Without anesthesia.> We will B<not> come to fix your system
227if you do this.
228
229First, get rid of the libperl.dylib:
230
231 # cd /System/Library/Perl/darwin/CORE
232 # rm libperl.dylib
233
234Then delete every .bundle file found anywhere in the folders:
235
236 /System/Library/Perl
237 /Library/Perl
238
239You can find them for example by
240
241 # find /System/Library/Perl /Library/Perl -name '*.bundle' -print
242
e30a8c0c 243After this you can either copy Perl from your operating system media
6c8f3f7c 244(you will need at least the /System/Library/Perl and /usr/bin/perl),
245or rebuild Perl from the source code with C<Configure -Dprefix=/usr
246-Dusershrplib> NOTE: the C<-Dprefix=/usr> to replace the system Perl
247works much better with Perl 5.8.1 and later, in Perl 5.8.0 the
248settings were not quite right.
249
e30a8c0c 250"Pacifist" from CharlesSoft (L<http://www.charlessoft.com/>) is a nice
251way to extract the Perl binaries from the OS media, without having to
252reinstall the entire OS.
253
6c8f3f7c 254
9ff7b177 255=head1 AUTHOR
256
ffb8d87a 257This README was written by Sherm Pendley E<lt>sherm@dot-app.orgE<gt>,
258and subsequently updated by Dominic Dunlop E<lt>domo@computer.orgE<gt>.
6c8f3f7c 259The "Starting From Scratch" recipe was contributed by John Montbriand
260E<lt>montbriand@apple.comE<gt>.
9ff7b177 261
262=head1 DATE
263
ee94f810 264Last modified 2006-02-24.