perl 5.002beta2 patch: toke.c
[p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git] / README.vms
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eacfb5f1 1Last revised: 14-Dec-1995 by Charles Bailey bailey@genetics.upenn.edu
a0d0e21e 2
748a9306 3The VMS port of Perl is still under development. At this time, the Perl
a0d0e21e 4binaries built under VMS handle internal operations properly, for the most
5part, as well as most of the system calls which have close equivalents under
6VMS. There are still some incompatibilities in process handling (e.g the
7fork/exec model for creating subprocesses doesn't do what you might expect
748a9306 8under Unix), and there remain some file handling differences from Unix. Over
9the longer term, we'll try to get many of the useful VMS system services
10integrated as well, depending on time and people available. Of course, if
11you'd like to add something yourself, or join the porting team, we'd love to
12have you!
a0d0e21e 13
14The current sources and build procedures have been tested on a VAX using VAXC
748a9306 15and on an AXP using DECC. If you run into problems with other compilers,
a0d0e21e 16please let us know.
17
748a9306 18Note to DECC users: Some early versions of the DECCRTL contained a few bugs
19which affect Perl performance:
20 - Newlines are lost on I/O through pipes, causing lines to run together.
21 This shows up as RMS RTB errors when reading from a pipe. You can
22 work around this by having one process write data to a file, and
4633a7c4 23 then having the other read the file, instead of the pipe. This is
24 fixed in version 4 of DECC.
748a9306 25 - The modf() routine returns a non-integral value for some values above
26 INT_MAX; the Perl "int" operator will return a non-integral value in
4633a7c4 27 these cases. This is fixed in version 4 of DECC.
28 - On the AXP, if SYSNAM privilege is enabled, the CRTL chdir() routine
29 changes the process default device and directory permanently, even
30 though the call specified that the change should not persist after
31 Perl exited. This is fixed by DEC CSC patch AXPACRT04_061.
a0d0e21e 32
33* Other software required
34
35At the moment, in addition to basic VMS, you'll need two things:
36 - a C compiler: VAXC, DECC, or gcc for the VAX; DECC for the AXP
eacfb5f1 37 - a make tool: DEC's MMS (version 2.6 or later) or the free analog MMK
38 (available from ftp.spc.edu), or a standard make utility (e.g. GNU make,
39 also available from ftp.spc.edu).
40In addition, you may include socket support if you have an IP stack running
a0d0e21e 41on your system. See the topic "Socket support" for more information.
42
43* Socket support
44
748a9306 45Perl includes a number of IP socket routines among its builtin functions,
46which are available if you choose to compile Perl with socket support. Since
a0d0e21e 47IP networking is an optional addition to VMS, there are several different IP
eacfb5f1 48stacks available, so it's difficult to automate the process of building Perl
49with socket support in a way which will work on all systems.
a0d0e21e 50
748a9306 51By default, Perl is built without IP socket support. If you define the macro
a0d0e21e 52SOCKET when invoking MMS, however, socket support will be included. As
748a9306 53distributed, Perl for VMS includes support for the SOCKETSHR socket library,
a0d0e21e 54which is layered on MadGoat software's vendor-independent NETLIB interface.
748a9306 55This provides support for all socket calls used by Perl except the
4633a7c4 56[g|s]etnet*() routines, which are replaced for the moment by stubs which
748a9306 57generate a fatal error if a Perl script attempts to call one of these routines.
eacfb5f1 58Both SOCKETSHR and NETLIB are available from MadGoat ftp sites, such as
59ftp.spc.edu or ftp.wku.edu.
60
4633a7c4 61You can link Perl directly to your TCP/IP stack's library, *as long as* it
62supplies shims for stdio routines which will properly handle both sockets and
63normal file descriptors. This is necessary because Perl does not distinguish
64between the two, and will try to make normal stdio calls such as read() and
65getc() on socket file descriptors. If you'd like to link Perl directly to
66your IP stack, then make the following changes:
a0d0e21e 67 - In Descrip.MMS, locate the section beginning with .ifdef SOCKET, and
68 change the SOCKLIB macro so that it translates to the filespec of your
69 IP stack's socket library. This will be added to the RTL options file.
70 - Edit the file SockAdapt.H in the [.VMS] subdirectory so that it
eacfb5f1 71 includes the Socket.H, In.H, Inet.H, NetDb.H, and, if necessary,
4633a7c4 72 Errno.H header files for your IP stack, or so that it declares the
73 standard TCP/IP constants and data structures appropriately. (See
74 the distributed copy of SockAdapt.H for a collection of the structures
75 needed by Perl itself, and [.ext.Socket]Socket.xs for a list of the
76 constants used by the Socket extension, if you elect to built it.)
77 You should also define any logical names necessary for your C compiler
78 to find these files before invoking MM[KS] to build Perl.
a0d0e21e 79 - Edit the file SockAdapt.C in the [.VMS] subdirectory so that it
80 contains routines which substitute for any IP library routines
748a9306 81 required by Perl which your IP stack does not provide. This may
a0d0e21e 82 require a little trial and error; we'll try to compile a complete
748a9306 83 list soon of socket routines required by Perl.
a0d0e21e 84
4633a7c4 85
748a9306 86* Building Perl under VMS
a0d0e21e 87
748a9306 88Since you're reading this, presumably you've unpacked the Perl distribution
a0d0e21e 89into its directory tree, in which you will find a [.vms] subdirectory below
90the directory in which this file is found. If this isn't the case, then you'll
91need to unpack the distribution properly, or manually edit Descrip.MMS or
748a9306 92the VMS Makefile to alter directory paths as necessary. (I'd advise using the
a0d0e21e 93`normal' directory tree, at least for the first time through.) This
94subdirectory contains several files, among which are the following:
eacfb5f1 95 Config.VMS - A template Config.H set up for VMS.
748a9306 96 Descrip.MMS - The MMS/MMK dependency file for building Perl
97 GenConfig.Pl - A Perl script to generate Config.SH retrospectively
a0d0e21e 98 from Config.VMS, since the Configure shell script which
99 normally generates Config.SH doesn't run under VMS.
100 GenOpt.Com - A little DCL procedure used to write some linker options
101 files, since not all make utilities can do this easily.
748a9306 102 Gen_ShrFls.Pl - A Perl script which generates linker options files and
a0d0e21e 103 MACRO declarations for PerlShr.Exe.
eacfb5f1 104 Makefile - The make dependency file for building Perl
748a9306 105 MMS2Make.Pl - A Perl script used to generate Makefile from Descrip.MMS
eacfb5f1 106 PerlVMS.pod - Documentation for VMS-specific behavior of Perl
107 Perly_[CH].VMS - Versions of the byacc output from Perl's grammar,
108 modified to include VMS-specific C compiler options
109 SockAdapt.[CH] - C source code used to integrate VMS TCP/IP support
110 Test.Com - DCL driver for Perl regression tests
a0d0e21e 111 VMSish.H - C header file containing VMS-specific definitions
112 VMS.C - C source code for VMS-specific routines
eacfb5f1 113 VMS_Yfix.Pl - Perl script to convert Perly.[CH] to Perly_[CH].VMS
114 WriteMain.Pl - Perl script to generate Perlmain.C
115The [.Ext...] directories contain VMS-specific extensions distributed with
116Perl. There may also be other files in [.VMS...] pertaining to features under
117development; for the most part, you can ignore them.
a0d0e21e 118
748a9306 119Config.VMS and Decrip.MMS/Makefile are set up to build a version of Perl which
a0d0e21e 120includes all features known to work when this release was assembled. If you
121have code at your site which would support additional features (e.g. emulation
122of Unix system calls), feel free to make the appropriate changes to these
748a9306 123files. (Note: Do not use or edit config.h in the main Perl source directory;
a0d0e21e 124it is superseded by the current Config.VMS during the build.) You may also
748a9306 125wish to make site-specific changes to Descrip.MMS or Makefile to reflect local
a0d0e21e 126conventions for naming of files, etc.
127
eacfb5f1 128There are several pieces of system-specific information which become part of
129the Perl Config extension. Under VMS, the data for Config are generated by the
130script GenConfig.Pl in the [.VMS] subdirectory. It tries to ascertain the
131necessary information from various files, or from the system itself, and
132generally does the right thing. There is a list of hard-coded values at the
133end of this script which specifies items that are correct for most VMS systems,
134but may be incorrect for you, if your site is set up in an unusual fashion. If
135you're familiar with Perl's Config extension, feel free to edit these values as
136necessary. If this doesn't mean much to you, don't worry -- the information is
137probably correct, and even if it's not, none of these parameters affect your
138ability to build or run Perl. You'll only get the wrong answer if you ask for
139it specifically from Config.
a0d0e21e 140
141Examine the information at the beginning of Descrip.MMS for information about
748a9306 142specifying alternate C compilers or building a version of Perl with debugging
a0d0e21e 143support. 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
145supported.) If you're on an AXP system, define the macro __AXP__ (MMK does
146this for you), and DECC will automatically be selected.
147
748a9306 148To start the build, set default to the main source directory. Since
149Descrip.MMS assumes that VMS commands have their usual meaning, and makes use
150of command-line macros, you may want to be certain that you haven't defined DCL
151symbols which would interfere with the build. Then, if you are using MMS or
152MMK, say
a0d0e21e 153$ MMS/Descrip=[.VMS] ! or MMK
eacfb5f1 154(N.B. If you are using MMS, you must use version 2.6 or later; a bug in
155earlier versions produces malformed cc command lines.) If you are using a
156version of make, say
748a9306 157$ Make -f [.VMS]Makefile
158Note that the Makefile doesn't support conditional compilation, is
a0d0e21e 159set up to use VAXC on a VAX, and does not include socket support. You can
748a9306 160either edit the Makefile by hand, using Descrip.MMS as a guide, or use the
161Makefile to build Miniperl.Exe, and then run the Perl script MMS2Make.pl,
a0d0e21e 162found in the [.VMS] subdirectory, to generate a new Makefile with the options
163appropriate to your site.
164
eacfb5f1 165Note for sites using DECC: A bug in some early versions of the DECC RTL on the
166AXP causes newlines to be lost when writing to a pipe. This causes
a0d0e21e 167Gen_ShrFls.pl to fail, since it can't read the preprocessor output to identify
eacfb5f1 168global variables and routines. A different bug in the DECC preprocessor itself
169for some patched versions of DECC 4.0 on the VAX also makes it impossible for
170Gen_ShrFls.pl to parse the preprocessor output. In either case, the problem is
171generally manifested as missing global symbols when linking PerlShr.Exe or
172Perl.Exe. You can work around this problem by defining the macro
173DECC_PIPES_BROKEN when you invoke MMS or MMK.
a0d0e21e 174
175This will build the following files:
176 Miniperl.Exe - a stand-alone version of without any extensions.
748a9306 177 Miniperl has all the intrinsic capabilities of Perl,
a0d0e21e 178 but cannot make use of the DynaLoader or any
179 extensions which use XS code.
748a9306 180 PerlShr.Exe - a shareable image containing most of Perl's internal
a0d0e21e 181 routines and global variables. Perl.Exe is linked to
182 this image, as are all dynamic extensions, so everyone's
183 using the same set of global variables and routines.
748a9306 184 Perl.Exe - the main Perl executable image. It's contains the
a0d0e21e 185 main() routine, plus code for any statically linked
186 extensions.
187 PerlShr_Attr.Opt - A linker options file which specifies psect attributes
188 matching those in PerlShr.Exe. It should be used when
189 linking images against PerlShr.Exe
748a9306 190 PerlShr_Bld.Opt - A linker options file which specifies various things
191 used to build PerlShr.Exe. It should be used when
192 rebuilding PerlShr.Exe via MakeMaker-produced
193 Descrip.MMS files for static extensions.
194 [.Lib]Config.pm - the Perl extension which saves configuration information
195 about Perl and your system.
eacfb5f1 196 [.Lib]DynaLoader.pm - The Perl extension which performs dynamic linking of
a0d0e21e 197 shareable images for extensions.
eacfb5f1 198 Several subdirectories under [.Lib] containing preprocessed files or
199 site-specific files.
a0d0e21e 200There are, of course, a number of other files created for use during the build.
201Once you've got the binaries built, you may wish to `build' the `tidy' or
202`clean' targets to remove extra files.
203
204
748a9306 205* Installing Perl once it's built
a0d0e21e 206
207Once the build is complete, you'll need to do the following:
208 - Put PerlShr.Exe in a common directory, and make it world-readable.
209 If you place it in a location other than Sys$Share, you'll need to
210 define the logical name PerlShr to point to the image.
eacfb5f1 211 - Put Perl.Exe in a common directory, and make it world-executable.
748a9306 212 - Define a foreign command to invoke Perl, using a statement like
a0d0e21e 213 $ Perl == "$dev:[dir]Perl.Exe"
748a9306 214 - Create a world-readable directory tree for Perl library modules,
a0d0e21e 215 scripts, and what-have-you, and define PERL_ROOT as a rooted logical
748a9306 216 name pointing to the top of this tree (i.e. if your Perl files were
217 going to live in DKA1:[Util.Perl5...], then you should
218 $ Define/Translation=Concealed Perl_Root DKA1:[Util.Perl5.]
219 (Be careful to follow the rules for rooted logical names; in particular,
220 remember that a rooted logical name cannot have as its device portion
221 another rooted logical name - you've got to supply the actual device name
222 and directory path to the root directory.)
4633a7c4 223 - Place the files from the [.lib...] directory tree in the distribution
224 package into a [.lib...] directory tree off the root directory described
225 above.
748a9306 226 - Most of the Perl documentation lives in the [.pod] subdirectory, and
a0d0e21e 227 is written in a simple markup format which can be easily read. In this
228 directory as well are pod2man and pod2html translators to reformat the
229 docs for common display engines; a pod2hlp translator is under development.
748a9306 230 Information on Perl can also be gleaned from the files in the [.doc]
a0d0e21e 231 subdirectory (internals documents and summaries of changes), and from
eacfb5f1 232 the test scripts in the [.t...] subdirectories. For this reason,
233 you may wish to copy these subtrees into directories under Perl_Root.
234That's it.
a0d0e21e 235
236
237* For more information
238
748a9306 239If you're interested in more information on Perl in general, consult the Usenet
eacfb5f1 240newsgroups comp.lang.perl.announce and comp.lang.perl.misc. The FAQ for these
241groups provides pointers to other online sources of information, as well as
242books describing Perl in depth.
a0d0e21e 243
748a9306 244If you're interested in up-to-date information on Perl development and
a0d0e21e 245internals, you might want to subscribe to the perl5-porters mailing list. You
748a9306 246can do this by sending a message to perl5-porters-request@nicoh.com, containing
a0d0e21e 247the single line
16d20bd9 248subscribe perl5-porters
a0d0e21e 249This is a moderately high-volume list at the moment (25-50 messages/day).
250
4633a7c4 251If you're interested in ongoing information about the VMS port, you can
252subscribe to the VMSperl mailing list by sending a request to
a0d0e21e 253bailey@genetics.upenn.edu (it's to a human, not a list server - this is a small
254operation at the moment). And, as always, we welcome any help or code you'd
255like to offer - you can send mail to bailey@genetics.upenn.edu or directly to
256the VMSperl list at vmsperl@genetics.upenn.edu.
257
4633a7c4 258Finally, if you'd like to try out the latest changes to VMS Perl, you can
259retrieve a test distribution kit by anonymous ftp from genetics.upenn.edu, in
260the file [.perl5]perl5_ppp_yymmddx.zip, where "ppp" is the current Perl
261patchlevel, and "yymmddx" is a sequence number indicating the date that
eacfb5f1 262particular kit was assembled. In order to make retrieval convenient, this
263kit is also available by the name Perl5_VMSTest.Zip. These test kits contain
264"unofficial" patches from the perl5-porters group, test patches for important
265bugs, and VMS-specific fixes and improvements which have occurred since the
266last Perl release. Most of these changes will be incorporated in the next
267release of Perl, but until Larry Wall's looked at them and said they're OK,
268none of them should be considered official.
4633a7c4 269
748a9306 270Good luck using Perl. Please let us know how it works for you - we can't
a0d0e21e 271guarantee that we'll be able to fix bugs quickly, but we'll try, and we'd
272certainly like to know they're out there.
273
274
275* Acknowledgements
276
277There are, of course, far too many people involved in the porting and testing
748a9306 278of Perl to mention everyone who deserves it, so please forgive us if we've
a0d0e21e 279missed someone. That said, special thanks are due to the following:
748a9306 280 Tim Adye <T.J.Adye@rl.ac.uk>
281 for the VMS emulations of getpw*()
a0d0e21e 282 David Denholm <denholm@conmat.phys.soton.ac.uk>
283 for extensive testing and provision of pipe and SocketShr code,
284 Mark Pizzolato <mark@infocomm.com>
285 for the getredirection() code
286 Rich Salz <rsalz@bbn.com>
287 for readdir() and related routines
288 Denis Haskin <DWH@epub.ziff.com>
748a9306 289 for work on a pod-to-hlp translator for the Perl documentation
a0d0e21e 290 Richard Dyson <dyson@blaze.physics.uiowa.edu> and
291 Kent Covert <kacovert@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu>
292 for additional testing on the AXP.
293and to the entire VMSperl group for useful advice and suggestions. In addition
294the perl5-porters, especially Andy Dougherty <doughera@lafcol.lafayette.edu>
295and Tim Bunce <Tim.Bunce@ig.co.uk>, deserve credit for their creativity and
296willingness to work with the VMS newcomers. Finally, the greatest debt of
297gratitude is due to Larry Wall <lwall@netlabs.com>, for having the ideas which
298have made our sleepless nights possible.
299
300Thanks,
301The VMSperl group