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[p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git] / README.vms
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b4bc034f 1If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the equal signs on the left.
2This file is written in the POD format (see [.POD]PERLPOD.POD;1) which is
3specially designed to be readable as is.
fb73857a 4
b4bc034f 5=head1 NAME
6
7README.vms - Configuring, building, testing, and installing perl on VMS
8
9=head1 SYNOPSIS
10
11To configure, build, test, and install perl on VMS:
12
13 @ Configure
14 mms
15 mms test
16 mms install
17
18mmk may be used in place of mms in the last three steps.
19
20=head1 DESCRIPTION
21
22=head2 Important safety tip
97abc6ad 23
3a385817 24The build and install procedures have changed significantly from the 5.004
b4bc034f 25releases! Make sure you read the "Configuring the Perl Build", "Building
26Perl", and "Installing Perl" sections of this document before you build or
27install.
97abc6ad 28
b4bc034f 29Also note that, as of Perl version 5.005 and later, an ANSI C compliant
30compiler is required to build Perl. VAX C is *not* ANSI compliant, as it
31died a natural death some time before the standard was set. Therefore
1bc81404 32VAX C will not compile Perl 5.005 or later. We are sorry about that.
3bf5f72b 33
b4bc034f 34If you are stuck without DEC C (the VAX C license should be good for DEC C,
3bf5f72b 35but the media charges might prohibit an upgrade), consider getting Gnu C
36instead.
37
b4bc034f 38
a83b6f46 39=head2 Introduction to Perl on VMS
fb73857a 40
41The VMS port of Perl is as functionally complete as any other Perl port
42(and as complete as the ports on some Unix systems). The Perl binaries
43provide all the Perl system calls that are either available under VMS or
b4bc034f 44reasonably emulated. There are some incompatibilities in process handling
45(e.g. the fork/exec model for creating subprocesses doesn't do what you
fb73857a 46might expect under Unix), mainly because VMS and Unix handle processes and
47sub-processes very differently.
48
b4bc034f 49There are still some unimplemented system functions, and of course we
fb73857a 50could use modules implementing useful VMS system services, so if you'd like
b4bc034f 51to lend a hand we'd love to have you. Join the Perl Porting Team Now!
fb73857a 52
53The current sources and build procedures have been tested on a VAX using
b4bc034f 54DEC C, and on an AXP using DEC C. If you run into problems with
1bc81404 55other compilers, please let us know. (Note: DEC C was renamed to Compaq C
56around version 6.2).
fb73857a 57
b4bc034f 58There are issues with various versions of DEC C, so if you're not running a
59relatively modern version, check the "DEC C issues" section later on in this
fb73857a 60document.
61
a83b6f46 62=head2 Other required software for Compiling Perl on VMS
b4bc034f 63
64In addition to VMS and DCL you will need two things:
fb73857a 65
b4bc034f 66=over 4
67
68=item 1 A C compiler.
69
1bc81404 70DEC (now Compaq) C or gcc for VMS (AXP or VAX).
b4bc034f 71
72=item 2 A make tool.
73
74DEC's MMS (v2.6 or later), or MadGoat's free MMS
75analog MMK (available from ftp.madgoat.com/madgoat) both work
76just fine. Gnu Make might work, but it's been so long since
77anyone's tested it that we're not sure. MMK is free though, so
78go ahead and use that.
79
80=back
81
a83b6f46 82=head2 Additional software that is optional for Perl on VMS
fb73857a 83
9f3f8d50 84You may also want to have on hand:
b4bc034f 85
86=over 4
87
88=item 1 GUNZIP/GZIP.EXE for VMS
89
90A de-compressor for *.gz and *.tgz files available from a number
58979ab1 91of web/ftp sites and is distributed on the OpenVMS Freeware CD-ROM
92from Compaq.
b4bc034f 93
9f3f8d50 94 http://www.fsf.org/order/ftp.html
58979ab1 95 http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/GZIP/
96 ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/VMS/
1bc81404 97 http://www.crinoid.com/utils/
b4bc034f 98
99=item 2 VMS TAR
100
101For reading and writing unix tape archives (*.tar files). Vmstar is also
58979ab1 102available from a number of web/ftp sites and is distributed on the OpenVMS
103Freeware CD-ROM from Compaq.
b4bc034f 104
9f3f8d50 105 ftp://ftp.lp.se/vms/
58979ab1 106 http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/VMSTAR/
107 ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/VMS/
b4bc034f 108
109=item 3 UNZIP.EXE for VMS
110
111A combination decompressor and archive reader/writer for *.zip files.
112Unzip is available from a number of web/ftp sites.
113
114 http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/UnZip.html
58979ab1 115 http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/INFO-ZIP/
116 ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/VMS/
117 ftp://ftp.openvms.compaq.com/
b4bc034f 118 ftp://ftp.madgoat.com/madgoat/
119 ftp://ftp.wku.edu/vms/
120
121=item 4 MOST
122
123Most is an optional pager that is convenient to use with perldoc (unlike
124TYPE/PAGE, MOST can go forward and backwards in a document and supports
125regular expression searching). Most builds with the slang
126library on VMS. Most and slang are available from:
127
128 ftp://space.mit.edu/pub/davis/
129 ftp://ftp.wku.edu/vms/narnia/most.zip
130
1bc81404 131=item 5 GNU PATCH and DIFFUTILS for VMS
132
133Patches to Perl are usually distributed as GNU unified or contextual diffs.
134Such patches are created by the GNU diff program (part of the diffutils
135distribution) and applied with GNU patch. VMS ports of these utilities are
136available here:
137
138 http://www.crinoid.com/utils/
139
b4bc034f 140=back
141
9f3f8d50 142Please note that UNZIP and GUNZIP are not the same thing (they work with
b4bc034f 143different formats). Many of the useful files from CPAN (the Comprehensive
58979ab1 144Perl Archive Network) are in *.tar.gz or *.tgz format (this includes copies
145of the source code for perl as well as modules and scripts that you may
146wish to add later) hence you probably want to have GUNZIP.EXE and
147VMSTAR.EXE on your VMS machine.
fb73857a 148
b4bc034f 149If you want to include socket support, you'll need a TCP/IP stack and either
150DEC C, or socket libraries. See the "Socket Support (optional)" topic
151for more details.
fb73857a 152
b4bc034f 153=head1 Configuring the Perl build
fb73857a 154
97abc6ad 155To configure perl (a necessary first step), issue the command
fb73857a 156
b4bc034f 157 @ Configure
fb73857a 158
b4bc034f 159from the top of an unpacked perl source directory. You will be asked a
160series of questions, and the answers to them (along with the capabilities
161of your C compiler and network stack) will determine how perl is custom
162built for your machine.
fb73857a 163
b4bc034f 164If you have multiple C compilers installed, you'll have your choice of
165which one to use. Various older versions of DEC C had some caveats, so if
166you're using a version older than 5.2, check the "DEC C Issues" section.
fb73857a 167
b4bc034f 168If you have any symbols or logical names in your environment that may
169interfere with the build or regression testing of perl then configure.com
170will try to warn you about them. If a logical name is causing
7bb57f25 171you trouble but is in an LNM table that you do not have write access to
172then try defining your own to a harmless equivalence string in a table
173such that it is resolved before the other (e.g. if TMP is defined in the
b4bc034f 174SYSTEM table then try DEFINE TMP "NL:" or somesuch in your process table)
175otherwise simply deassign the dangerous logical names. The potentially
176troublesome logicals and symbols are:
7bb57f25 177
178 TMP "LOGICAL"
179 LIB "LOGICAL"
180 T "LOGICAL"
181 FOO "LOGICAL"
182 EXT "LOGICAL"
a3bd614a 183 SOME_LOGICAL_NAME_NOT_LIKELY "LOGICAL"
184 DOWN_LOGICAL_NAME_NOT_LIKELY "LOGICAL"
7bb57f25 185 TEST "SYMBOL"
fb73857a 186
97abc6ad 187As a handy shortcut, the command:
188
b4bc034f 189 @ Configure "-des"
190
191(note the quotation marks and case) will choose reasonable defaults
192automatically (it takes DEC C over Gnu C, DEC C sockets over SOCKETSHR
1bc81404 193sockets, and either over no sockets). Some options can be given
194explicitly on the command line; the following example specifies a
195non-default location for where Perl will be installed:
196
197 @ Configure "-d" "-Dprefix=dka100:[utils.perl5.]"
198
dab31494 199Note that the installation location would be by default where you unpacked
fe05d1a7 200the source with a "_ROOT." appended. For example if you unpacked the perl
dab31494 201source into:
202
203 DKA200:[PERL-5_10_2...]
204
205Then the PERL_SETUP.COM that gets written out by Configure.com will
206try to DEFINE your installation PERL_ROOT to be:
207
fe05d1a7 208 DKA200:[PERL-5_10_2_ROOT.]
dab31494 209
1bc81404 210More help with configure.com is available from:
b4bc034f 211
212 @ Configure "-h"
213
214See the "Changing compile-time options (optional)" section below to learn
215even more details about how to influence the outcome of the important
216configuration step. If you find yourself reconfiguring and rebuilding
217then be sure to also follow the advice in the "Cleaning up and starting
218fresh (optional)" and the checklist of items in the "CAVEATS" sections
219below.
220
a83b6f46 221=head2 Changing compile-time options (optional) for Perl on VMS
b4bc034f 222
223Most of the user definable features of Perl are enabled or disabled in
224[.VMS]CONFIG.VMS. There is code in there to Do The Right Thing, but that
225may end up being the wrong thing for you. Make sure you understand what
226you are doing since inappropriate changes to CONFIG.VMS can render perl
227unbuildable.
228
229Odds are that there's nothing here to change, unless you're on a version of
230VMS later than 6.2 and DEC C later than 5.6. Even if you are, the correct
231values will still be chosen, most likely. Poking around here should be
232unnecessary.
233
234The one exception is the various *DIR install locations. Changing those
235requires changes in genconfig.pl as well. Be really careful if you need to
236change these, as they can cause some fairly subtle problems.
237
a83b6f46 238=head2 Socket Support (optional) for Perl on VMS
b4bc034f 239
240Perl includes a number of functions for IP sockets, which are available if
241you choose to compile Perl with socket support. Since IP networking is an
242optional addition to VMS, there are several different IP stacks available.
243How well integrated they are into the system depends on the stack, your
244version of VMS, and the version of your C compiler.
245
246The most portable solution uses the SOCKETSHR library. In combination with
247either UCX or NetLib, this supports all the major TCP stacks (Multinet,
248Pathways, TCPWare, UCX, and CMU) on all versions of VMS Perl runs on, with
249all the compilers on both VAX and Alpha. The socket interface is also
250consistent across versions of VMS and C compilers. It has a problem with
251UDP sockets when used with Multinet, though, so you should be aware of
252that.
253
254The other solution available is to use the socket routines built into DEC
255C. Which routines are available depend on the version of VMS you're
256running, and require proper UCX emulation by your TCP/IP vendor.
257Relatively current versions of Multinet, TCPWare, Pathway, and UCX all
258provide the required libraries--check your manuals or release notes to see
259if your version is new enough.
260
261=head1 Building Perl
262
263The configuration script will print out, at the very end, the MMS or MMK
264command you need to compile perl. Issue it (exactly as printed) to start
265the build.
97abc6ad 266
b4bc034f 267Once you issue your MMS or MMK command, sit back and wait. Perl should
268compile and link without a problem. If a problem does occur check the
269"CAVEATS" section of this document. If that does not help send some
270mail to the VMSPERL mailing list. Instructions are in the "Mailing Lists"
271section of this document.
97abc6ad 272
b4bc034f 273=head1 Testing Perl
fb73857a 274
b4bc034f 275Once Perl has built cleanly you need to test it to make sure things work.
276This step is very important since there are always things that can go wrong
277somehow and yield a dysfunctional Perl for you.
fb73857a 278
279Testing is very easy, though, as there's a full test suite in the perl
b4bc034f 280distribution. To run the tests, enter the *exact* MMS line you used to
fb73857a 281compile Perl and add the word "test" to the end, like this:
282
b4bc034f 283If the compile command was:
fb73857a 284
b4bc034f 285 MMS
fb73857a 286
b4bc034f 287then the test command ought to be:
fb73857a 288
b4bc034f 289 MMS test
fb73857a 290
b4bc034f 291MMS (or MMK) will run all the tests. This may take some time, as there are
292a lot of tests. If any tests fail, there will be a note made on-screen.
293At the end of all the tests, a summary of the tests, the number passed and
294failed, and the time taken will be displayed.
fb73857a 295
b4bc034f 296If any tests fail, it means something is wrong with Perl. If the test suite
fb73857a 297hangs (some tests can take upwards of two or three minutes, or more if
9f3f8d50 298you're on an especially slow machine, depending on your machine speed, so
fb73857a 299don't be hasty), then the test *after* the last one displayed failed. Don't
300install Perl unless you're confident that you're OK. Regardless of how
301confident you are, make a bug report to the VMSPerl mailing list.
302
b4bc034f 303If one or more tests fail, you can get more information on the failure by
304issuing this command sequence:
fb73857a 305
b4bc034f 306 @ [.VMS]TEST .typ "" "-v" [.subdir]test.T
fb73857a 307
308where ".typ" is the file type of the Perl images you just built (if you
309didn't do anything special, use .EXE), and "[.subdir]test.T" is the test
310that failed. For example, with a normal Perl build, if the test indicated
311that [.op]time failed, then you'd do this:
312
b4bc034f 313 @ [.VMS]TEST .EXE "" "-v" [.OP]TIME.T
fb73857a 314
315When you send in a bug report for failed tests, please include the output
316from this command, which is run from the main source directory:
317
b4bc034f 318 MCR []MINIPERL "-V"
319
320Note that -"V" really is a capital V in double quotes. This will dump out a
321couple of screens worth of configuration information, and can help us
322diagnose the problem. If (and only if) that did not work then try enclosing
323the output of:
324
325 MMS printconfig
fb73857a 326
9f3f8d50 327If (and only if) that did not work then try enclosing the output of:
328
b4bc034f 329 @ [.vms]myconfig
fb73857a 330
b4bc034f 331You may also be asked to provide your C compiler version ("CC/VERSION NL:"
332with DEC C, "gcc --version" with GNU CC). To obtain the version of MMS or
333MMK you are running try "MMS/ident" or "MMK /ident". The GNU make version
334can be identified with "make --version".
335
a83b6f46 336=head2 Cleaning up and starting fresh (optional) installing Perl on VMS
fb73857a 337
338If you need to recompile from scratch, you have to make sure you clean up
b4bc034f 339first. There is a procedure to do it--enter the *exact* MMS line you used
340to compile and add "realclean" at the end, like this:
fb73857a 341
b4bc034f 342if the compile command was:
fb73857a 343
b4bc034f 344 MMS
fb73857a 345
b4bc034f 346then the cleanup command ought to be:
fb73857a 347
b4bc034f 348 MMS realclean
fb73857a 349
b4bc034f 350If you do not do this things may behave erratically during the subsequent
351rebuild attempt. They might not, too, so it is best to be sure and do it.
fb73857a 352
b4bc034f 353=head1 Installing Perl
fb73857a 354
355There are several steps you need to take to get Perl installed and
3a385817 356running.
fb73857a 357
a3ef2c6f 358=over 4
b4bc034f 359
a3ef2c6f 360=item 1
fb73857a 361
a3ef2c6f 362Check your default file protections with
fb73857a 363
a3ef2c6f 364 SHOW PROTECTION /DEFAULT
fb73857a 365
a3ef2c6f 366and adjust if necessary with SET PROTECTION=(code)/DEFAULT.
fb73857a 367
a3ef2c6f 368=item 2
3a385817 369
1bc81404 370Decide where you want Perl to be installed (unless you have already done so
371by using the "prefix" configuration parameter -- see the example in the
372"Configuring the Perl build" section).
b4bc034f 373
1bc81404 374The DCL script PERL_SETUP.COM that is written by CONFIGURE.COM will help you
375with the definition of the PERL_ROOT and PERLSHR logical names and the PERL
376foreign command symbol. Take a look at PERL_SETUP.COM and modify it if you
377want to. The installation process will execute PERL_SETUP.COM and copy
378files to the directory tree pointed to by the PERL_ROOT logical name defined
379there, so make sure that you have write access to the parent directory of
380what will become the root of your Perl installation.
fb73857a 381
a3ef2c6f 382=item 3
b4bc034f 383
a3ef2c6f 384Run the install script via:
b4bc034f 385
a3ef2c6f 386 MMS install
b4bc034f 387
a3ef2c6f 388or
9f3f8d50 389
a3ef2c6f 390 MMK install
b4bc034f 391
a3ef2c6f 392If for some reason it complains about target INSTALL being up to date,
393throw a /FORCE switch on the MMS or MMK command.
b4bc034f 394
a3ef2c6f 395=back
396
1bc81404 397Copy PERL_SETUP.COM to a place accessible to your perl users.
398
a3ef2c6f 399For example:
fb73857a 400
a3ef2c6f 401 COPY PERL_SETUP.COM SYS$LIBRARY:
b4bc034f 402
a3ef2c6f 403If you want to have everyone on the system have access to perl
404then add a line that reads
fb73857a 405
a3ef2c6f 406 $ @sys$library:perl_setup
491527d0 407
a3ef2c6f 408to SYS$MANAGER:SYLOGIN.COM.
85988417 409
a3ef2c6f 410Two alternatives to the foreign symbol would be to install PERL into
411DCLTABLES.EXE (Check out the section "Installing Perl into DCLTABLES
412(optional)" for more information), or put the image in a
413directory that's in your DCL$PATH (if you're using VMS V6.2 or higher).
85988417 414
a3ef2c6f 415An alternative to having PERL_SETUP.COM define the PERLSHR logical name
416is to simply copy it into the system shareable library directory with:
417
418 copy perl_root:[000000]perlshr.exe sys$share:
85988417 419
a3ef2c6f 420See also the "INSTALLing images (optional)" section.
491527d0 421
a83b6f46 422=head2 Installing Perl into DCLTABLES (optional) on VMS
fb73857a 423
9ef4b0a6 424Execute the following command file to define PERL as a DCL command.
b4bc034f 425You'll need CMKRNL privilege to install the new dcltables.exe.
fb73857a 426
7bb57f25 427 $ create perl.cld
428 !
429 ! modify to reflect location of your perl.exe
430 !
431 define verb perl
432 image perl_root:[000000]perl.exe
433 cliflags (foreign)
434 $!
435 $ set command perl /table=sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe -
436 /output=sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe
437 $ install replace sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe
438 $ exit
fb73857a 439
a83b6f46 440=head2 INSTALLing Perl images (optional) on VMS
9f3f8d50 441
442On systems that are using perl quite a bit, and particularly those with
443minimal RAM, you can boost the performance of perl by INSTALLing it as
1bc81404 444a known image. PERLSHR.EXE is typically larger than 2500 blocks
9f3f8d50 445and that is a reasonably large amount of IO to load each time perl is
446invoked.
447
448 INSTALL ADD PERLSHR/SHARE
b4bc034f 449 INSTALL ADD PERL/HEADER
9f3f8d50 450
451should be enough for PERLSHR.EXE (/share implies /header and /open),
452while /HEADER should do for PERL.EXE (perl.exe is not a shared image).
453
b4bc034f 454If your code 'use's modules, check to see if there is a shareable image for
455them, too. In the base perl build, POSIX, IO, Fcntl, Opcode, SDBM_File,
9f3f8d50 456DCLsym, and Stdio all have shared images that can be installed /SHARE.
457
b4bc034f 458How much of a win depends on your memory situation, but if you are firing
9f3f8d50 459off perl with any regularity (like more than once every 20 seconds or so)
b4bc034f 460it is probably beneficial to INSTALL at least portions of perl.
9f3f8d50 461
462While there is code in perl to remove privileges as it runs you are advised
463to NOT INSTALL PERL.EXE with PRIVs!
fb73857a 464
dab31494 465=head2 Running h2ph to create perl header files (optional) on VMS
466
467If using DEC C or Compaq C ensure that you have extracted loose versions
468of your compiler's header or *.H files. Be sure to check the contents of:
469
470 SYS$LIBRARY:DECC$RTLDEF.TLB
471 SYS$LIBRARY:SYS$LIB_C.TLB
472 SYS$LIBRARY:SYS$STARLET_C.TLB
473
474etcetera.
475
476If using GNU cc then also check your GNU_CC:[000000...] tree for the locations
477of the GNU cc headers.
478
b4bc034f 479=head1 Reporting Bugs
fb73857a 480
481If you come across what you think might be a bug in Perl, please report
482it. There's a script in PERL_ROOT:[UTILS], perlbug, that walks you through
483the process of creating a bug report. This script includes details of your
484installation, and is very handy. Completed bug reports should go to
9f3f8d50 485perlbug@perl.com.
fb73857a 486
b4bc034f 487=head1 CAVEATS
fb73857a 488
489Probably the single biggest gotcha in compiling Perl is giving the wrong
b4bc034f 490switches to MMS/MMK when you build. Use *exactly* what the configure.com
491script prints!
492
493The next big gotcha is directory depth. Perl can create directories four,
494five, or even six levels deep during the build, so you don't have to be
dab31494 495too deep to start to hit the RMS 8 level limit (for ODS 2 volumes which were
496common on versions of VMS prior to V7.2 and even with V7.2 on the VAX).
497It is best to do:
b4bc034f 498
499 DEFINE/TRANS=(CONC,TERM) PERLSRC "disk:[dir.dir.dir.perldir.]"
500 SET DEFAULT PERLSRC:[000000]
501
502before building in cases where you have to unpack the distribution so deep
503(note the trailing period in the definition of PERLSRC). Perl modules
504from CPAN can be just as bad (or worse), so watch out for them, too. Perl's
505configuration script will warn if it thinks you are too deep (at least on
506a VAX or on Alpha versions of VMS prior to 7.2). But MakeMaker will not
507warn you if you start out building a module too deep in a directory.
508
509Be sure that the process that you use to build perl has a PGFLQ greater
510than 100000. Be sure to have a correct local time zone to UTC offset
511defined (in seconds) in the logical name SYS$TIMEZONE_DIFFERENTIAL before
512running the regression test suite. The SYS$MANAGER:UTC$CONFIGURE_TDF.COM
513procedure will help you set that logical for your system but may require
514system privileges. For example, a location 5 hours west of UTC (such as
515the US East coast while not on daylight savings time) would have:
516
517 DEFINE SYS$TIMEZONE_DIFFERENTIAL "-18000"
518
519A final thing that causes trouble is leftover pieces from a failed
520build. If things go wrong make sure you do a "(MMK|MMS|make) realclean"
fb73857a 521before you rebuild.
522
a83b6f46 523=head2 DEC C issues with Perl on VMS
fb73857a 524
b4bc034f 525Note to DEC C users: Some early versions (pre-5.2, some pre-4. If you're DEC
c54e8273 526C 5.x or higher, with current patches if any, you're fine) of the DECCRTL
fb73857a 527contained a few bugs which affect Perl performance:
b4bc034f 528
529=over 4
530
531=item - pipes
532
533Newlines are lost on I/O through pipes, causing lines to run together.
534This shows up as RMS RTB errors when reading from a pipe. You can
535work around this by having one process write data to a file, and
536then having the other read the file, instead of the pipe. This is
537fixed in version 4 of DEC C.
538
539=item - modf()
540
541The modf() routine returns a non-integral value for some values above
542INT_MAX; the Perl "int" operator will return a non-integral value in
543these cases. This is fixed in version 4 of DEC C.
544
545=item - ALPACRT ECO
546
547On the AXP, if SYSNAM privilege is enabled, the CRTL chdir() routine
548changes the process default device and directory permanently, even
549though the call specified that the change should not persist after
550Perl exited. This is fixed by DEC CSC patch ALPACRT04_061 or later.
551See also:
552
58979ab1 553 http://ftp.service.compaq.com/patches/.new/openvms.html
b4bc034f 554
555=back
556
557Please note that in later versions "DEC C" may also be known as
558"Compaq C".
559
a83b6f46 560=head2 GNU issues with Perl on VMS
b4bc034f 561
562It has been a while since the GNU utilities such as GCC or GNU make
563were used to build perl on VMS. Hence they may require a great deal
564of source code modification to work again.
565
566 http://slacvx.slac.stanford.edu/HELP/GCC
567 http://www.progis.de/
568 http://vms.gnu.org/
569 http://www.lp.se/products/gnu.html
570
571=head1 Mailing Lists
572
573There are several mailing lists available to the Perl porter. For VMS
fb73857a 574specific issues (including both Perl questions and installation problems)
b4bc034f 575there is the VMSPERL mailing list. It is usually a low-volume (10-12
fb73857a 576messages a week) mailing list.
577
1bc81404 578To subscribe, send a mail message to VMSPERL-SUBSCRIBE@PERL.ORG. The VMSPERL
579mailing list address is VMSPERL@PERL.ORG. Any mail sent there gets echoed
580to all subscribers of the list. There is a searchable archive of the list
581on the web at:
b4bc034f 582
583 http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/vmsperl/
a83b6f46 584
1bc81404 585To unsubscribe from VMSPERL send a message to VMSPERL-UNSUBSCRIBE@PERL.ORG.
586Be sure to do so from the subscribed account that you are canceling.
b4bc034f 587
a83b6f46 588=head2 Web sites for Perl on VMS
b4bc034f 589
590Vmsperl pages on the web include:
591
592 http://www.sidhe.org/vmsperl/index.html
1bc81404 593 http://www.crinoid.com/
b4bc034f 594 http://duphy4.physics.drexel.edu/pub/cgi_info.htmlx
b4bc034f 595 http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-module/VMS/
60d9c7be 596 http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/vmsperl/
b4bc034f 597 http://nucwww.chem.sunysb.edu/htbin/software_list.cgi
598 http://www.best.com/~pvhp/vms/
599 http://bkfug.kfunigraz.ac.at/~binder/perl.html
60d9c7be 600 http://lists.perl.org/showlist.cgi?name=vmsperl
601 http://archive.develooper.com/vmsperl@perl.org/
fb73857a 602
b4bc034f 603=head1 SEE ALSO
604
605Perl information for users and programmers about the port of perl to VMS is
606available from the [.VMS]PERLVMS.POD file that gets installed as L<perlvms>.
607For administrators the perlvms document also includes a detailed discussion
608of extending vmsperl with CPAN modules after Perl has been installed.
609
610=head1 AUTHORS
611
1bc81404 612Revised 5-April-2001 by Craig Berry craigberry@mac.com.
613Revised 25-February-2000 by Peter Prymmer pvhp@best.com.
614Revised 27-October-1999 by Craig Berry craigberry@mac.com.
b4bc034f 615Revised 01-March-1999 by Dan Sugalski dan@sidhe.org.
616Originally by Charles Bailey bailey@newman.upenn.edu.
617
618=head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
fb73857a 619
620A real big thanks needs to go to Charles Bailey
b4bc034f 621bailey@newman.upenn.edu, who is ultimately responsible for Perl 5.004
fb73857a 622running on VMS. Without him, nothing the rest of us have done would be at
623all important.
624
625There are, of course, far too many people involved in the porting and testing
626of Perl to mention everyone who deserves it, so please forgive us if we've
627missed someone. That said, special thanks are due to the following:
b4bc034f 628
629 Tim Adye T.J.Adye@rl.ac.uk
fb73857a 630 for the VMS emulations of getpw*()
b4bc034f 631 David Denholm denholm@conmat.phys.soton.ac.uk
fb73857a 632 for extensive testing and provision of pipe and SocketShr code,
b4bc034f 633 Mark Pizzolato mark@infocomm.com
fb73857a 634 for the getredirection() code
b4bc034f 635 Rich Salz rsalz@bbn.com
fb73857a 636 for readdir() and related routines
b4bc034f 637 Peter Prymmer pvhp@best.com
fb73857a 638 for extensive testing, as well as development work on
639 configuration and documentation for VMS Perl,
b4bc034f 640 Dan Sugalski dan@sidhe.org
fb73857a 641 for extensive contributions to recent version support,
642 development of VMS-specific extensions, and dissemination
643 of information about VMS Perl,
644 the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory and the
645 Laboratory of Nuclear Studies at Cornell University for
9f3f8d50 646 the opportunity to test and develop for the AXP,
a3ef2c6f 647 John Hasstedt John.Hasstedt@sunysb.edu
648 for VAX VMS V7.2 support
b4bc034f 649
fb73857a 650and to the entire VMSperl group for useful advice and suggestions. In
651addition the perl5-porters deserve credit for their creativity and
652willingness to work with the VMS newcomers. Finally, the greatest debt of
b4bc034f 653gratitude is due to Larry Wall larry@wall.org, for having the ideas which
fb73857a 654have made our sleepless nights possible.
655
656Thanks,
657The VMSperl group
b4bc034f 658
659=cut
660