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1 | =head1 NAME |
2 | |
3 | perlvms - VMS-specific documentation for Perl |
4 | |
5 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
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6 | |
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7 | Gathered below are notes describing details of Perl 5's |
8 | behavior on VMS. They are a supplement to the regular Perl 5 |
9 | documentation, so we have focussed on the ways in which Perl |
10 | 5 functions differently under VMS than it does under Unix, |
11 | and on the interactions between Perl and the rest of the |
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12 | operating system. We haven't tried to duplicate complete |
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13 | descriptions of Perl features from the main Perl |
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14 | documentation, which can be found in the F<[.pod]> |
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15 | subdirectory of the Perl distribution. |
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16 | |
17 | We hope these notes will save you from confusion and lost |
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18 | sleep when writing Perl scripts on VMS. If you find we've |
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19 | missed something you think should appear here, please don't |
20 | hesitate to drop a line to vmsperl@genetics.upenn.edu. |
21 | |
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22 | =head1 Installation |
23 | |
24 | Directions for building and installing Perl 5 can be found in |
25 | the file F<README.vms> in the main source directory of the |
26 | Perl distribution.. |
27 | |
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28 | =head1 Organization of Perl Images |
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29 | |
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30 | =head2 Core Images |
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31 | |
32 | During the installation process, three Perl images are produced. |
33 | F<Miniperl.Exe> is an executable image which contains all of |
34 | the basic functionality of Perl, but cannot take advantage of |
35 | Perl extensions. It is used to generate several files needed |
36 | to build the complete Perl and various extensions. Once you've |
37 | finished installing Perl, you can delete this image. |
38 | |
39 | Most of the complete Perl resides in the shareable image |
40 | F<PerlShr.Exe>, which provides a core to which the Perl executable |
41 | image and all Perl extensions are linked. You should place this |
42 | image in F<Sys$Share>, or define the logical name F<PerlShr> to |
43 | translate to the full file specification of this image. It should |
44 | be world readable. (Remember that if a user has execute only access |
45 | to F<PerlShr>, VMS will treat it as if it were a privileged shareable |
46 | image, and will therefore require all downstream shareable images to be |
47 | INSTALLed, etc.) |
48 | |
49 | |
50 | Finally, F<Perl.Exe> is an executable image containing the main |
51 | entry point for Perl, as well as some initialization code. It |
52 | should be placed in a public directory, and made world executable. |
53 | In order to run Perl with command line arguments, you should |
54 | define a foreign command to invoke this image. |
55 | |
56 | =head2 Perl Extensions |
57 | |
58 | Perl extensions are packages which provide both XS and Perl code |
59 | to add new functionality to perl. (XS is a meta-language which |
60 | simplifies writing C code which interacts with Perl, see |
61 | L<perlapi> for more details.) The Perl code for an |
62 | extension is treated like any other library module - it's |
63 | made available in your script through the appropriate |
64 | C<use> or C<require> statement, and usually defines a Perl |
65 | package containing the extension. |
66 | |
67 | The portion of the extension provided by the XS code may be |
68 | connected to the rest of Perl in either of two ways. In the |
69 | B<static> configuration, the object code for the extension is |
70 | linked directly into F<PerlShr.Exe>, and is initialized whenever |
71 | Perl is invoked. In the B<dynamic> configuration, the extension's |
72 | machine code is placed into a separate shareable image, which is |
73 | mapped by Perl's DynaLoader when the extension is C<use>d or |
74 | C<require>d in your script. This allows you to maintain the |
75 | extension as a separate entity, at the cost of keeping track of the |
76 | additional shareable image. Most extensions can be set up as either |
77 | static or dynamic. |
78 | |
79 | The source code for an extension usually resides in its own |
80 | directory. At least three files are generally provided: |
81 | I<Extshortname>F<.xs> (where I<Extshortname> is the portion of |
82 | the extension's name following the last C<::>), containing |
83 | the XS code, I<Extshortname>F<.pm>, the Perl library module |
84 | for the extension, and F<Makefile.PL>, a Perl script which uses |
85 | the C<MakeMaker> library modules supplied with Perl to generate |
86 | a F<Descrip.MMS> file for the extension. |
87 | |
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88 | =head2 Installing static extensions |
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89 | |
90 | Since static extensions are incorporated directly into |
91 | F<PerlShr.Exe>, you'll have to rebuild Perl to incorporate a |
92 | new extension. You should edit the main F<Descrip.MMS> or F<Makefile> |
93 | you use to build Perl, adding the extension's name to the C<ext> |
94 | macro, and the extension's object file to the C<extobj> macro. |
95 | You'll also need to build the extension's object file, either |
96 | by adding dependencies to the main F<Descrip.MMS>, or using a |
97 | separate F<Descrip.MMS> for the extension. Then, rebuild |
98 | F<PerlShr.Exe> to incorporate the new code. |
99 | |
100 | Finally, you'll need to copy the extension's Perl library |
101 | module to the F<[.>I<Extname>F<]> subdirectory under one |
102 | of the directories in C<@INC>, where I<Extname> is the name |
103 | of the extension, with all C<::> replaced by C<.> (e.g. |
104 | the library module for extension Foo::Bar would be copied |
105 | to a F<[.Foo.Bar]> subdirectory). |
106 | |
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107 | =head2 Installing dynamic extensions |
108 | |
109 | In general, the distributed kit for a Perl extension includes |
110 | a file named Makefile.PL, which is a Perl program which is used |
111 | to create a F<Descrip.MMS> file which can be used to build and |
112 | install the files required by the extension. The kit should be |
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113 | unpacked into a directory tree B<not> under the main Perl source |
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114 | directory, and the procedure for building the extension is simply |
115 | |
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116 | $ perl Makefile.PL ! Create Descrip.MMS |
117 | $ mmk ! Build necessary files |
118 | $ mmk test ! Run test code, if supplied |
119 | $ mmk install ! Install into public Perl tree |
120 | |
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121 | I<N.B.> The procedure by which extensions are built and |
122 | tested creates several levels (at least 4) under the |
123 | directory in which the extension's source files live. |
124 | For this reason, you shouldn't nest the source directory |
125 | too deeply in your directory structure, lest you eccedd RMS' |
126 | maximum of 8 levels of subdirectory in a filespec. (You |
127 | can use rooted logical names to get another 8 levels of |
128 | nesting, if you can't place the files near the top of |
129 | the physical directory structure.) |
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130 | |
131 | VMS support for this process in the current release of Perl |
132 | is sufficient to handle most extensions. However, it does |
133 | not yet recognize extra libraries required to build shareable |
134 | images which are part of an extension, so these must be added |
135 | to the linker options file for the extension by hand. For |
136 | instance, if the F<PGPLOT> extension to Perl requires the |
137 | F<PGPLOTSHR.EXE> shareable image in order to properly link |
138 | the Perl extension, then the line C<PGPLOTSHR/Share> must |
139 | be added to the linker options file F<PGPLOT.Opt> produced |
140 | during the build process for the Perl extension. |
141 | |
142 | By default, the shareable image for an extension is placed |
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143 | in the F<[.Lib.Auto.>I<Arch>.I<Extname>F<]> directory of the |
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144 | installed Perl directory tree (where I<Arch> is F<VMS_VAX> or |
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145 | F<VMS_AXP>, followed by the Perl version number, and I<Extname> |
146 | is the name of the extension, with each C<::> translated to C<.>). |
147 | However, it can be manually placed in any of several locations: |
148 | - the F<[.Lib.Auto.>I<Extname>F<]> subdirectory of one of |
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149 | the directories in C<@INC>, or |
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150 | - one of the directories in C<@INC>, or |
151 | - a directory which the extensions Perl library module |
152 | passes to the DynaLoader when asking it to map |
153 | the shareable image, or |
154 | - F<Sys$Share> or F<Sys$Library>. |
155 | If the shareable image isn't in any of these places, you'll need |
156 | to define a logical name I<Extshortname>, where I<Extshortname> |
157 | is the portion of the extension's name after the last C<::>, which |
158 | translates to the full file specification of the shareable image. |
159 | |
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160 | =head1 File specifications |
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161 | |
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162 | =head2 Syntax |
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163 | |
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164 | We have tried to make Perl aware of both VMS-style and Unix- |
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165 | style file specifications wherever possible. You may use |
166 | either style, or both, on the command line and in scripts, |
167 | but you may not combine the two styles within a single fle |
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168 | specification. VMS Perl interprets Unix pathnames in much |
169 | the same way as the CRTL (I<e.g.> the first component of |
170 | an absolute path is read as the device name for the |
171 | VMS file specification). There are a set of functions |
172 | provided in the C<VMS::Filespec> package for explicit |
173 | interconversion between VMS and Unix syntax; its |
174 | documentation provides more details. |
175 | |
176 | Filenames are, of course, still case-insensitive. For |
177 | consistency, most Perl routines return filespecs using |
178 | lower case letters only, regardless of the case used in |
179 | the arguments passed to them. (This is true only when |
180 | running under VMS; Perl respects the case-sensitivity |
181 | of OSs like Unix.) |
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182 | |
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183 | We've tried to minimize the dependence of Perl library |
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184 | modules on Unix syntax, but you may find that some of these, |
185 | as well as some scripts written for Unix systems, will |
186 | require that you use Unix syntax, since they will assume that |
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187 | '/' is the directory separator, I<etc.> If you find instances |
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188 | of this in the Perl distribution itself, please let us know, |
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189 | so we can try to work around them. |
190 | |
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191 | =head2 Wildcard expansion |
192 | |
193 | File specifications containing wildcards are allowed both on |
194 | the command line and within Perl globs (e.g. <CE<lt>*.cE<gt>>). If |
195 | the wildcard filespec uses VMS syntax, the resultant |
196 | filespecs will follow VMS syntax; if a Unix-style filespec is |
197 | passed in, Unix-style filespecs will be returned. |
198 | |
199 | If the wildcard filespec contains a device or directory |
200 | specification, then the resultant filespecs will also contain |
201 | a device and directory; otherwise, device and directory |
202 | information are removed. VMS-style resultant filespecs will |
203 | contain a full device and directory, while Unix-style |
204 | resultant filespecs will contain only as much of a directory |
205 | path as was present in the input filespec. For example, if |
206 | your default directory is Perl_Root:[000000], the expansion |
207 | of C<[.t]*.*> will yield filespecs like |
208 | "perl_root:[t]base.dir", while the expansion of C<t/*/*> will |
209 | yield filespecs like "t/base.dir". (This is done to match |
210 | the behavior of glob expansion performed by Unix shells.) |
211 | |
212 | Similarly, the resultant filespec will contain the file version |
213 | only if one was present in the input filespec. |
214 | |
215 | =head2 Pipes |
216 | |
217 | Input and output pipes to Perl filehandles are supported; the |
218 | "file name" is passed to lib$spawn() for asynchronous |
219 | execution. You should be careful to close any pipes you have |
220 | opened in a Perl script, lest you leave any "orphaned" |
221 | subprocesses around when Perl exits. |
222 | |
223 | You may also use backticks to invoke a DCL subprocess, whose |
224 | output is used as the return value of the expression. The |
225 | string between the backticks is passed directly to lib$spawn |
226 | as the command to execute. In this case, Perl will wait for |
227 | the subprocess to complete before continuing. |
228 | |
229 | =head1 PERL5LIB and PERLLIB |
230 | |
231 | The PERL5LIB and PERLLIB logical names work as documented L<perl>, |
232 | except that the element separator is '|' instead of ':'. The |
233 | directory specifications may use either VMS or Unix syntax. |
234 | |
235 | =head1 Command line |
236 | |
237 | =head2 I/O redirection and backgrounding |
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238 | |
239 | Perl for VMS supports redirection of input and output on the |
240 | command line, using a subset of Bourne shell syntax: |
241 | <F<file> reads stdin from F<file>, |
242 | >F<file> writes stdout to F<file>, |
243 | >>F<file> appends stdout to F<file>, |
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244 | 2>F<file> writes stderr to F<file>, and |
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245 | 2>>F<file> appends stderr to F<file>. |
246 | |
247 | In addition, output may be piped to a subprocess, using the |
248 | character '|'. Anything after this character on the command |
249 | line is passed to a subprocess for execution; the subprocess |
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250 | takes the output of Perl as its input. |
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251 | |
252 | Finally, if the command line ends with '&', the entire |
253 | command is run in the background as an asynchronous |
254 | subprocess. |
255 | |
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256 | =head2 Command line switches |
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257 | |
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258 | The following command line switches behave differently under |
259 | VMS than described in L<perlrun>. Note also that in order |
260 | to pass uppercase switches to Perl, you need to enclose |
261 | them in double-quotes on the command line, since the CRTL |
262 | downcases all unquoted strings. |
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263 | |
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264 | =item -i |
265 | |
266 | If the C<-i> switch is present but no extension for a backup |
267 | copy is given, then inplace editing creates a new version of |
268 | a file; the existing copy is not deleted. (Note that if |
269 | an extension is given, an existing file is renamed to the backup |
270 | file, as is the case under other operating systems, so it does |
271 | not remain as a previous version under the original filename.) |
272 | |
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273 | =item -S |
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274 | |
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275 | If the C<-S> switch is present I<and> the script name does |
276 | not contain a directory, then Perl translates the logical |
277 | name DCL$PATH as a searchlist, using each translation as |
278 | a directory in which to look for the script. In addition, |
279 | if no file type is specified, Perl looks in each directory |
280 | for a file matching the name specified, with a blank type, |
281 | a type of F<.pl>, and a type of F<.com>, in that order. |
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282 | |
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283 | =item -u |
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284 | |
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285 | The C<-u> switch causes the VMS debugger to be invoked |
286 | after the Perl program is compiled, but before it has |
287 | run. It does not create a core dump file. |
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288 | |
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289 | =head1 Perl functions |
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290 | |
291 | As of the time this document was last revised, the following |
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292 | Perl functions were implemented in the VMS port of Perl |
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293 | (functions marked with * are discussed in more detail below): |
294 | |
295 | file tests*, abs, alarm, atan, binmode*, bless, |
296 | caller, chdir, chmod, chown, chomp, chop, chr, |
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297 | close, closedir, cos, crypt*, defined, delete, |
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298 | die, do, dump*, each, endpwent, eof, eval, exec*, |
299 | exists, exit, exp, fileno, fork*, getc, getlogin, |
300 | getpwent*, getpwnam*, getpwuid*, glob, gmtime*, goto, |
301 | grep, hex, import, index, int, join, keys, kill*, |
302 | last, lc, lcfirst, length, local, localtime, log, m//, |
303 | map, mkdir, my, next, no, oct, open, opendir, ord, pack, |
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304 | pipe, pop, pos, print, printf, push, q//, qq//, qw//, |
305 | qx//, quotemeta, rand, read, readdir, redo, ref, rename, |
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306 | require, reset, return, reverse, rewinddir, rindex, |
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307 | rmdir, s///, scalar, seek, seekdir, select(internal), |
308 | select (system call)*, setpwent, shift, sin, sleep, |
309 | sort, splice, split, sprintf, sqrt, srand, stat, |
310 | study, substr, sysread, system*, syswrite, tell, |
311 | telldir, tie, time, times*, tr///, uc, ucfirst, umask, |
312 | undef, unlink*, unpack, untie, unshift, use, utime*, |
313 | values, vec, wait, waitpid*, wantarray, warn, write, y/// |
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314 | |
315 | The following functions were not implemented in the VMS port, |
316 | and calling them produces a fatal error (usually) or |
317 | undefined behavior (rarely, we hope): |
318 | |
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319 | chroot, dbmclose, dbmopen, fcntl, flock, |
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320 | getpgrp, getppid, getpriority, getgrent, getgrgid, |
321 | getgrnam, setgrent, endgrent, ioctl, link, lstat, |
322 | msgctl, msgget, msgsend, msgrcv, readlink, semctl, |
323 | semget, semop, setpgrp, setpriority, shmctl, shmget, |
324 | shmread, shmwrite, socketpair, symlink, syscall, truncate |
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325 | |
326 | The following functions may or may not be implemented, |
327 | depending on what type of socket support you've built into |
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328 | your copy of Perl: |
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329 | |
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330 | accept, bind, connect, getpeername, |
331 | gethostbyname, getnetbyname, getprotobyname, |
332 | getservbyname, gethostbyaddr, getnetbyaddr, |
333 | getprotobynumber, getservbyport, gethostent, |
334 | getnetent, getprotoent, getservent, sethostent, |
335 | setnetent, setprotoent, setservent, endhostent, |
336 | endnetent, endprotoent, endservent, getsockname, |
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337 | getsockopt, listen, recv, select(system call)*, |
338 | send, setsockopt, shutdown, socket |
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339 | |
340 | |
341 | =item File tests |
342 | |
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343 | The tests C<-b>, C<-B>, C<-c>, C<-C>, C<-d>, C<-e>, C<-f>, |
344 | C<-o>, C<-M>, C<-s>, C<-S>, C<-t>, C<-T>, and C<-z> work as |
345 | advertised. The return values for C<-r>, C<-w>, and C<-x> |
346 | tell you whether you can actually access the file; this may |
347 | not reflect the UIC-based file protections. Since real and |
348 | effective UIC don't differ under VMS, C<-O>, C<-R>, C<-W>, |
349 | and C<-X> are equivalent to C<-o>, C<-r>, C<-w>, and C<-x>. |
350 | Similarly, several other tests, including C<-A>, C<-g>, C<-k>, |
351 | C<-l>, C<-p>, and C<-u>, aren't particularly meaningful under |
352 | VMS, and the values returned by these tests reflect whatever |
353 | your CRTL C<stat()> routine does to the equivalent bits in the |
354 | st_mode field. Finally, C<-d> returns true if passed a device |
355 | specification without an explicit directory (e.g. C<DUA1:>), as |
356 | well as if passed a directory. |
357 | |
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358 | Note: Some sites have reported problems when using the file-access |
359 | tests (C<-r>, C<-w>, and C<-x>) on files accessed via DEC's DFS. |
360 | Specifically, since DFS does not currently provide access to the |
361 | extended file header of files on remote volumes, attempts to |
362 | examine the ACL fail, and the file tests will return false, |
363 | with C<$!> indicating that the file does not exist. You can |
364 | use C<stat> on these files, since that checks UIC-based protection |
365 | only, and then manually check the appropriate bits, as defined by |
366 | your C compiler's F<stat.h>, in the mode value it returns, if you |
367 | need an approximation of the file's protections. |
368 | |
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369 | =item binmode FILEHANDLE |
370 | |
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371 | The C<binmode> operator will attempt to insure that no translation |
372 | of carriage control occurs on input from or output to this filehandle. |
373 | Since this involves reopening the file and then restoring its |
374 | file position indicator, if this function returns FALSE, the |
375 | underlying filehandle may no longer point to an open file, or may |
376 | point to a different position in the file than before C<binmode> |
377 | was called. |
378 | |
379 | Note that C<binmode> is generally not necessary when using normal |
380 | filehandles; it is provided so that you can control I/O to existing |
381 | record-structured files when necessary. You can also use the |
382 | C<vmsfopen> function in the VMS::Stdio extension to gain finer |
383 | control of I/O to files and devices with different record structures. |
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384 | |
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385 | =item crypt PLAINTEXT, USER |
386 | |
387 | The C<crypt> operator uses the C<sys$hash_password> system |
388 | service to generate the hashed representation of PLAINTEXT. |
389 | If USER is a valid username, the algorithm and salt values |
390 | are taken from that user's UAF record. If it is not, then |
391 | the preferred algorithm and a salt of 0 are used. The |
392 | quadword encrypted value is returned as an 8-character string. |
393 | |
394 | The value returned by C<crypt> may be compared against |
395 | the encrypted password from the UAF returned by the C<getpw*> |
396 | functions, in order to authenticate users. If you're |
397 | going to do this, remember that the encrypted password in |
398 | the UAF was generated using uppercase username and |
399 | password strings; you'll have to upcase the arguments to |
400 | C<crypt> to insure that you'll get the proper value: |
401 | |
402 | sub validate_passwd { |
403 | my($user,$passwd) = @_; |
404 | my($pwdhash); |
405 | if ( !($pwdhash = (getpwnam($user))[1]) || |
406 | $pwdhash ne crypt("\U$passwd","\U$name") ) { |
407 | intruder_alert($name); |
408 | } |
409 | return 1; |
410 | } |
411 | |
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412 | =item dump |
413 | |
414 | Rather than causing Perl to abort and dump core, the C<dump> |
415 | operator invokes the VMS debugger. If you continue to |
416 | execute the Perl program under the debugger, control will |
417 | be transferred to the label specified as the argument to |
418 | C<dump>, or, if no label was specified, back to the |
419 | beginning of the program. All other state of the program |
420 | (I<e.g.> values of variables, open file handles) are not |
421 | affected by calling C<dump>. |
422 | |
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423 | =item exec LIST |
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424 | |
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425 | The C<exec> operator behaves in one of two different ways. |
426 | If called after a call to C<fork>, it will invoke the CRTL |
427 | C<execv()> routine, passing its arguments to the subprocess |
428 | created by C<fork> for execution. In this case, it is |
429 | subject to all limitations that affect C<execv()>. (In |
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430 | particular, this usually means that the command executed in |
431 | the subprocess must be an image compiled from C source code, |
432 | and that your options for passing file descriptors and signal |
433 | handlers to the subprocess are limited.) |
434 | |
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435 | If the call to C<exec> does not follow a call to C<fork>, it |
436 | will cause Perl to exit, and to invoke the command given as |
437 | an argument to C<exec> via C<lib$do_command>. If the argument |
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438 | begins with a '$' (other than as part of a filespec), then it |
439 | is executed as a DCL command. Otherwise, the first token on |
440 | the command line is treated as the filespec of an image to |
441 | run, and an attempt is made to invoke it (using F<.Exe> and |
442 | the process defaults to expand the filespec) and pass the |
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443 | rest of C<exec>'s argument to it as parameters. |
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444 | |
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445 | You can use C<exec> in both ways within the same script, as |
446 | long as you call C<fork> and C<exec> in pairs. Perl |
447 | keeps track of how many times C<fork> and C<exec> have been |
448 | called, and will call the CRTL C<execv()> routine if there have |
449 | previously been more calls to C<fork> than to C<exec>. |
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450 | |
451 | =item fork |
452 | |
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453 | The C<fork> operator works in the same way as the CRTL |
454 | C<vfork()> routine, which is quite different under VMS than |
455 | under Unix. Specifically, while C<fork> returns 0 after it |
456 | is called and the subprocess PID after C<exec> is called, in |
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457 | both cases the thread of execution is within the parent |
458 | process, so there is no opportunity to perform operations in |
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459 | the subprocess before calling C<exec>. |
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460 | |
748a9306 |
461 | In general, the use of C<fork> and C<exec> to create |
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462 | subprocess is not recommended under VMS; wherever possible, |
748a9306 |
463 | use the C<system> operator or piped filehandles instead. |
464 | |
465 | =item getpwent |
c07a80fd |
466 | |
748a9306 |
467 | =item getpwnam |
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468 | |
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469 | =item getpwuid |
470 | |
471 | These operators obtain the information described in L<perlfunc>, |
472 | if you have the privileges necessary to retrieve the named user's |
473 | UAF information via C<sys$getuai>. If not, then only the C<$name>, |
474 | C<$uid>, and C<$gid> items are returned. The C<$dir> item contains |
475 | the login directory in VMS syntax, while the C<$comment> item |
476 | contains the login directory in Unix syntax. The C<$gcos> item |
477 | contains the owner field from the UAF record. The C<$quota> |
478 | item is not used. |
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479 | |
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480 | =item gmtime |
481 | |
482 | The C<gmtime> operator will function properly if you have a |
483 | working CRTL C<gmtime()> routine, or if the logical name |
484 | SYS$TIMEZONE_DIFFERENTIAL is defined as the number of seconds |
485 | which must be added to UTC to yield local time. (This logical |
486 | name is defined automatically if you are running a version of |
487 | VMS with built-in UTC support.) If neither of these cases is |
488 | true, a warning message is printed, and C<undef> is returned. |
489 | |
490 | =item kill |
491 | |
492 | In most cases, C<kill> kill is implemented via the CRTL's C<kill()> |
493 | function, so it will behave according to that function's |
494 | documentation. If you send a SIGKILL, however, the $DELPRC system |
495 | service is is called directly. This insures that the target |
496 | process is actually deleted, if at all possible. (The CRTL's C<kill()> |
497 | function is presently implemented via $FORCEX, which is ignored by |
498 | supervisor-mode images like DCL.) |
499 | |
500 | Also, negative signal values don't do anything special under |
501 | VMS; they're just converted to the corresponding positive value. |
502 | |
503 | =item select (system call) |
504 | |
505 | If Perl was not built with socket support, the system call |
506 | version of C<select> is not available at all. If socket |
507 | support is present, then the system call version of |
508 | C<select> functions only for file descriptors attached |
509 | to sockets. It will not provide information about regular |
510 | files or pipes, since the CRTL C<select()> routine does not |
511 | provide this functionality. |
512 | |
748a9306 |
513 | =item stat EXPR |
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514 | |
748a9306 |
515 | Since VMS keeps track of files according to a different scheme |
516 | than Unix, it's not really possible to represent the file's ID |
517 | in the C<st_dev> and C<st_ino> fields of a C<struct stat>. Perl |
518 | tries its best, though, and the values it uses are pretty unlikely |
519 | to be the same for two different files. We can't guarantee this, |
520 | though, so caveat scriptor. |
521 | |
522 | =item system LIST |
523 | |
524 | The C<system> operator creates a subprocess, and passes its |
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525 | arguments to the subprocess for execution as a DCL command. |
e518068a |
526 | Since the subprocess is created directly via C<lib$spawn()>, any |
748a9306 |
527 | valid DCL command string may be specified. If LIST consists |
528 | of the empty string, C<system> spawns an interactive DCL subprocess, |
529 | in the same fashion as typiing B<SPAWN> at the DCL prompt. |
530 | Perl waits for the subprocess to complete before continuing |
531 | execution in the current process. |
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532 | |
1c9f8daa |
533 | =item time |
534 | |
535 | The value returned by C<time> is the offset in seconds from |
536 | 01-JAN-1970 00:00:00 (just like the CRTL's times() routine), in order |
537 | to make life easier for code coming in from the POSIX/Unix world. |
538 | |
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539 | =item times |
540 | |
748a9306 |
541 | The array returned by the C<times> operator is divided up |
542 | according to the same rules the CRTL C<times()> routine. |
a0d0e21e |
543 | Therefore, the "system time" elements will always be 0, since |
544 | there is no difference between "user time" and "system" time |
545 | under VMS, and the time accumulated by subprocess may or may |
546 | not appear separately in the "child time" field, depending on |
748a9306 |
547 | whether L<times> keeps track of subprocesses separately. Note |
548 | especially that the VAXCRTL (at least) keeps track only of |
549 | subprocesses spawned using L<fork> and L<exec>; it will not |
550 | accumulate the times of suprocesses spawned via pipes, L<system>, |
551 | or backticks. |
552 | |
16d20bd9 |
553 | =item unlink LIST |
554 | |
555 | C<unlink> will delete the highest version of a file only; in |
556 | order to delete all versions, you need to say |
557 | 1 while (unlink LIST); |
558 | You may need to make this change to scripts written for a |
559 | Unix system which expect that after a call to C<unlink>, |
560 | no files with the names passed to C<unlink> will exist. |
4633a7c4 |
561 | (Note: This can be changed at compile time; if you |
562 | C<use Config> and C<$Config{'d_unlink_all_versions'}> is |
563 | C<define>, then C<unlink> will delete all versions of a |
564 | file on the first call.) |
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565 | |
566 | C<unlink> will delete a file if at all possible, even if it |
567 | requires changing file protection (though it won't try to |
568 | change the protection of the parent directory). You can tell |
569 | whether you've got explicit delete access to a file by using the |
570 | C<VMS::Filespec::candelete> operator. For instance, in order |
571 | to delete only files to which you have delete access, you could |
572 | say something like |
4e592037 |
573 | |
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574 | sub safe_unlink { |
575 | my($file,$num); |
576 | foreach $file (@_) { |
577 | next unless VMS::Filespec::candelete($file); |
578 | $num += unlink $file; |
579 | } |
580 | $num; |
581 | } |
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582 | |
583 | (or you could just use C<VMS::Stdio::remove>, if you've installed |
584 | the VMS::Stdio extension distributed with Perl). If C<unlink> has to |
585 | change the file protection to delete the file, and you interrupt it |
586 | in midstream, the file may be left intact, but with a changed ACL |
587 | allowing you delete access. |
16d20bd9 |
588 | |
748a9306 |
589 | =item utime LIST |
590 | |
591 | Since ODS-2, the VMS file structure for disk files, does not keep |
592 | track of access times, this operator changes only the modification |
593 | time of the file (VMS revision date). |
594 | |
595 | =item waitpid PID,FLAGS |
596 | |
597 | If PID is a subprocess started by a piped L<open>, C<waitpid> |
598 | will wait for that subprocess, and return its final |
599 | status value. If PID is a subprocess created in some other way |
600 | (e.g. SPAWNed before Perl was invoked), or is not a subprocess of |
601 | the current process, C<waitpid> will check once per second whether |
602 | the process has completed, and when it has, will return 0. (If PID |
603 | specifies a process that isn't a subprocess of the current process, |
604 | and you invoked Perl with the C<-w> switch, a warning will be issued.) |
605 | |
606 | The FLAGS argument is ignored in all cases. |
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607 | |
a5f75d66 |
608 | =head1 Perl variables |
609 | |
610 | =item %ENV |
611 | |
612 | Reading the elements of the %ENV array returns the |
613 | translation of the logical name specified by the key, |
614 | according to the normal search order of access modes and |
615 | logical name tables. If you append a semicolon to the |
616 | logical name, followed by an integer, that integer is |
617 | used as the translation index for the logical name, |
618 | so that you can look up successive values for search |
619 | list logical names. For instance, if you say |
620 | |
621 | $ Define STORY once,upon,a,time,there,was |
622 | $ perl -e "for ($i = 0; $i <= 6; $i++) " - |
740ce14c |
623 | _$ -e "{ print $ENV{'story;'.$i},' '}" |
a5f75d66 |
624 | |
625 | Perl will print C<ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS>. |
626 | |
627 | The %ENV keys C<home>, C<path>,C<term>, and C<user> |
628 | return the CRTL "environment variables" of the same |
629 | names, if these logical names are not defined. The |
630 | key C<default> returns the current default device |
631 | and directory specification, regardless of whether |
632 | there is a logical name DEFAULT defined.. |
633 | |
634 | Setting an element of %ENV defines a supervisor-mode logical |
635 | name in the process logical name table. C<Undef>ing or |
636 | C<delete>ing an element of %ENV deletes the equivalent user- |
637 | mode or supervisor-mode logical name from the process logical |
638 | name table. If you use C<undef>, the %ENV element remains |
639 | empty. If you use C<delete>, another attempt is made at |
640 | logical name translation after the deletion, so an inner-mode |
641 | logical name or a name in another logical name table will |
642 | replace the logical name just deleted. It is not possible |
643 | at present to define a search list logical name via %ENV. |
644 | |
740ce14c |
645 | At present, the first time you iterate over %ENV using |
edc7bc49 |
646 | C<keys>, or C<values>, you will incur a time penalty as all |
647 | logical names are read, in order to fully populate %ENV. |
648 | Subsequent iterations will not reread logical names, so they |
649 | won't be as slow, but they also won't reflect any changes |
650 | to logical name tables caused by other programs. The C<each> |
651 | operator is special: it returns each element I<already> in |
652 | %ENV, but doesn't go out and look for more. Therefore, if |
653 | you've previously used C<keys> or C<values>, you'll see all |
654 | the logical names visible to your process, and if not, you'll |
655 | see only the names you've looked up so far. (This is a |
656 | consequence of the way C<each> is implemented now, and it |
657 | may change in the future, so it wouldn't be a good idea |
658 | to rely on it too much.) |
740ce14c |
659 | |
a5f75d66 |
660 | In all operations on %ENV, the key string is treated as if it |
661 | were entirely uppercase, regardless of the case actually |
662 | specified in the Perl expression. |
663 | |
664 | =item $? |
665 | |
666 | Since VMS status values are 32 bits wide, the value of C<$?> |
667 | is simply the final status value of the last subprocess to |
668 | complete. This differs from the behavior of C<$?> under Unix, |
669 | and under VMS' POSIX environment, in that the low-order 8 bits |
670 | of C<$?> do not specify whether the process terminated normally |
671 | or due to a signal, and you do not need to shift C<$?> 8 bits |
672 | to the right in order to find the process' exit status. |
673 | |
674 | =item $! |
675 | |
676 | The string value of C<$!> is that returned by the CRTL's |
677 | strerror() function, so it will include the VMS message for |
678 | VMS-specific errors. The numeric value of C<$!> is the |
679 | value of C<errno>, except if errno is EVMSERR, in which |
680 | case C<$!> contains the value of vaxc$errno. Setting C<$!> |
4e592037 |
681 | always sets errno to the value specified. If this value is |
682 | EVMSERR, it also sets vaxc$errno to 4 (NONAME-F-NOMSG), so |
683 | that the string value of C<$!> won't reflect the VMS error |
684 | message from before C<$!> was set. |
685 | |
686 | =item $^E |
687 | |
688 | This variable provides direct access to VMS status values |
689 | in vaxc$errno, which are often more specific than the |
690 | generic Unix-style error messages in C<$!>. Its numeric value |
691 | is the value of vaxc$errno, and its string value is the |
692 | corresponding VMS message string, as retrieved by sys$getmsg(). |
693 | Setting C<$^E> sets vaxc$errno to the value specified. |
694 | |
695 | =item $| |
696 | |
697 | Setting C<$|> for an I/O stream causes data to be flushed |
698 | all the way to disk on each write (I<i.e.> not just to |
699 | the underlying RMS buffers for a file). In other words, |
700 | it's equivalent to calling fflush() and fsync() from C. |
a5f75d66 |
701 | |
748a9306 |
702 | =head1 Revision date |
a0d0e21e |
703 | |
4e592037 |
704 | This document was last updated on 28-Feb-1996, for Perl 5, |
e518068a |
705 | patchlevel 2. |
706 | |
707 | =head1 AUTHOR |
708 | |
709 | Charles Bailey bailey@genetics.upenn.edu |
710 | |