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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.
4
5=head1 NAME
6
7README.vos - Perl for Stratus VOS
8
9=head1 SYNOPSIS
24e8e380 10
050dfae0 11This file contains notes for building perl on the Stratus VOS
12operating system. Perl is a scripting or macro language that is
13popular on many systems. See L<perlbook> for a number of good
14books on Perl.
4f3de37c 15
3fd80bd6 16These are instructions for building Perl from source. Most
17people can simply download a pre-compiled distribution from the
18VOS anonymous FTP site. This version of Perl is not supported
19on VOS Release 14.2.0 or earlier releases. If you are running
20VOS Release 14.3.0 or later, download Perl from
21ftp://ftp.stratus.com/pub/vos/posix/ga/ga.html. Instructions
22for unbundling the Perl distribution file are at
23ftp://ftp.stratus.com/pub/vos/utility/utility.html.
495c5fdc 24
050dfae0 25If you are running VOS Release 14.4.1 or later, you can obtain a
26pre-compiled, supported copy of perl by purchasing Release 2.0.1
27of the VOS GNU C++ and GNU Tools product from Stratus
28Technologies.
29
3fd80bd6 30=head1 BUILDING PERL FOR VOS
050dfae0 31
3fd80bd6 32To build perl from its source code, you must have a Continuum
33platform running VOS Release 14.5.0 or later, the STCP product,
34and the GNU C++ and GNU Tools, Release 2.0.1 or later.
24e8e380 35
c71882ca 36To build full perl using the supplied Configure script and
37makefiles, change to the "vos" subdirectory and type the command
38"compile_full_perl" or "start_process compile_full_perl". This
39will configure, build, and test perl. All of the test cases
40that are executed should pass.
9a997319 41
3fd80bd6 42=head1 INSTALLING PERL IN VOS
9a997319 43
050dfae0 44=over 4
24e8e380 45
050dfae0 46=item 1
24e8e380 47
050dfae0 48If you have built perl using the Configure script, ensure that
cc07ed0b 49you have modify permission to C<< >system>ported >> and type
9a997319 50
050dfae0 51 gmake install
24e8e380 52
050dfae0 53=item 2
24e8e380 54
9a997319 55While there are currently no architecture-specific
56extensions or modules distributed with perl, the following
57directories can be used to hold such files:
24e8e380 58
3fd80bd6 59 >system>ported>lib>perl5>5.9.0>68k
60 >system>ported>lib>perl5>5.9.0>860
61 >system>ported>lib>perl5>5.9.0>7100
62 >system>ported>lib>perl5>5.9.0>8000
24e8e380 63
3fd80bd6 64=item 3
9a997319 65
66Site-specific perl extensions and modules can be installed in one of
67two places. Put architecture-independent files into:
24e8e380 68
3fd80bd6 69 >system>ported>lib>perl5>site_perl>5.9.0
24e8e380 70
050dfae0 71Put site-specific architecture-dependent files into one of the
72following directories:
24e8e380 73
3fd80bd6 74 >system>ported>lib>perl5>site_perl>5.9.0>68k
75 >system>ported>lib>perl5>site_perl>5.9.0>860
76 >system>ported>lib>perl5>site_perl>5.9.0>7100
77 >system>ported>lib>perl5>site_perl>5.9.0>8000
24e8e380 78
3fd80bd6 79=item 4
9a997319 80
81You can examine the @INC variable from within a perl program
82to see the order in which Perl searches these directories.
495c5fdc 83
9a997319 84=back
85
86=head1 USING PERL IN VOS
87
a83b6f46 88=head2 Restrictions of Perl on VOS
495c5fdc 89
24e8e380 90This port of Perl version 5 to VOS prefers Unix-style,
91slash-separated pathnames over VOS-style greater-than-separated
92pathnames. VOS-style pathnames should work in most contexts, but
93if you have trouble, replace all greater-than characters by slash
94characters. Because the slash character is used as a pathname
95delimiter, Perl cannot process VOS pathnames containing a slash
96character in a directory or file name; these must be renamed.
495c5fdc 97
24e8e380 98This port of Perl also uses Unix-epoch date values internally.
99As long as you are dealing with ASCII character string
100representations of dates, this should not be an issue. The
101supported epoch is January 1, 1980 to January 17, 2038.
495c5fdc 102
24e8e380 103See the file pod/perlport.pod for more information about the VOS
104port of Perl.
495c5fdc 105
11d33b1d 106=head2 Handling of underflow and overflow
107
108VOS does not support automatically mapping overflowed
109floating-point values to +infinity, nor automatically mapping
110underflowed floating-point values to -infinity, unlike many
111other platforms. The Perl pack function has been modified to
112perform such mapping in software on VOS. Performing other
113floating-point computations that underflow or overflow will
114probably result in SIGFPE. Don't push your luck.
115
116=head1 TEST STATUS
117
118When Perl is built using the native build process on VOS Release
11914.5.0 and GNU C++/GNU Tools 2.0.1, all attempted tests either
120pass or result in TODO (ignored) failures.
121
9a997319 122=head1 SUPPORT STATUS
495c5fdc 123
495c5fdc 124I'm offering this port "as is". You can ask me questions, but I
5b8c1387 125can't guarantee I'll be able to answer them. There are some
24e8e380 126excellent books available on the Perl language; consult a book
127seller.
495c5fdc 128
050dfae0 129If you want a supported version of perl for VOS, purchase the VOS
130GNU C++ and GNU Tools Release 2.0.1 product from Stratus
131Technologies, along with a support contract (or from anyone else
132who will sell you support).
133
9a997319 134=head1 AUTHOR
135
4f3de37c 136Paul Green (Paul.Green@stratus.com)
9a997319 137
138=head1 LAST UPDATE
139
3fd80bd6 140August 12, 2002
9a997319 141
142=cut