1 If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the funny characters you
2 see. It is written in the POD format (see pod/perlpod.pod) which is
3 specially designed to be readable as is.
7 README.cygwin - Perl for Cygwin
11 This document will help you configure, make, test and install Perl
12 on Cygwin. This document also describes features of Cygwin that will
13 affect how Perl behaves at runtime.
15 B<NOTE:> There are pre-built Perl packages available for Cygwin and a
16 version of Perl is provided in the normal Cygwin install. If you do
17 not need to customize the configuration, consider using one of those
21 =head1 PREREQUISITES FOR COMPILING PERL ON CYGWIN
23 =head2 Cygwin = GNU+Cygnus+Windows (Don't leave UNIX without it)
25 The Cygwin tools are ports of the popular GNU development tools for Win32
26 platforms. They run thanks to the Cygwin library which provides the UNIX
27 system calls and environment these programs expect. More information
28 about this project can be found at:
30 http://www.cygwin.com/
32 A recent net or commercial release of Cygwin is required.
34 At the time this document was last updated, Cygwin 1.3.9 was current.
37 =head2 Cygwin Configuration
39 While building Perl some changes may be necessary to your Cygwin setup so
40 that Perl builds cleanly. These changes are B<not> required for normal
43 B<NOTE:> The binaries that are built will run on all Win32 versions.
44 They do not depend on your host system (Win9x/WinME, WinNT/Win2K)
45 or your Cygwin configuration (I<ntea>, I<ntsec>, binary/text mounts).
46 The only dependencies come from hard-coded pathnames like C</usr/local>.
47 However, your host system and Cygwin configuration will affect Perl's
48 runtime behavior (see L</"TEST">).
54 Set the C<PATH> environment variable so that Configure finds the Cygwin
55 versions of programs. Any Windows directories should be removed or
56 moved to the end of your C<PATH>.
60 If you do not have I<nroff> (which is part of the I<groff> package),
61 Configure will B<not> prompt you to install I<man> pages.
65 On WinNT with either the I<ntea> or I<ntsec> C<CYGWIN> settings, directory
66 and file permissions may not be set correctly. Since the build process
67 creates directories and files, to be safe you may want to run a `C<chmod
68 -R +w *>' on the entire Perl source tree.
70 Also, it is a well known WinNT "feature" that files created by a login
71 that is a member of the I<Administrators> group will be owned by the
72 I<Administrators> group. Depending on your umask, you may find that you
73 can not write to files that you just created (because you are no longer
74 the owner). When using the I<ntsec> C<CYGWIN> setting, this is not an
75 issue because it "corrects" the ownership to what you would expect on
80 =head1 CONFIGURE PERL ON CYGWIN
82 The default options gathered by Configure with the assistance of
83 F<hints/cygwin.sh> will build a Perl that supports dynamic loading
84 (which requires a shared F<libperl.dll>).
86 This will run Configure and keep a record:
88 ./Configure 2>&1 | tee log.configure
90 If you are willing to accept all the defaults run Configure with B<-de>.
91 However, several useful customizations are available.
93 =head2 Stripping Perl Binaries on Cygwin
95 It is possible to strip the EXEs and DLLs created by the build process.
96 The resulting binaries will be significantly smaller. If you want the
97 binaries to be stripped, you can either add a B<-s> option when Configure
100 Any additional ld flags (NOT including libraries)? [none] -s
101 Any special flags to pass to gcc to use dynamic linking? [none] -s
102 Any special flags to pass to ld2 to create a dynamically loaded library?
105 or you can edit F<hints/cygwin.sh> and uncomment the relevant variables
106 near the end of the file.
108 =head2 Optional Libraries for Perl on Cygwin
110 Several Perl functions and modules depend on the existence of
111 some optional libraries. Configure will find them if they are
112 installed in one of the directories listed as being used for library
113 searches. Pre-built packages for most of these are available from
114 the Cygwin installer.
120 The crypt package distributed with Cygwin is a Linux compatible 56-bit
121 DES crypt port by Corinna Vinschen.
123 Alternatively, the crypt libraries in GNU libc have been ported to Cygwin.
125 The DES based Ultra Fast Crypt port was done by Alexey Truhan:
127 ftp://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/pc/gnuwin32/cygwin/porters/Okhapkin_Sergey/cw32crypt-dist-0.tgz
129 NOTE: There are various export restrictions on DES implementations,
130 see the glibc README for more details.
132 The MD5 port was done by Andy Piper:
134 ftp://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/pc/gnuwin32/cygwin/porters/Okhapkin_Sergey/libcrypt.tgz
136 =item * C<-lgdbm> (C<use GDBM_File>)
138 GDBM is available for Cygwin.
140 =item * C<-ldb> (C<use DB_File>)
142 BerkeleyDB is available for Cygwin. Some details can be found in
143 F<ext/DB_File/DB_File.pm>.
145 NOTE: The BerkeleyDB library only completely works on NTFS partitions.
147 =item * C<-lcygipc> (C<use IPC::SysV>)
149 A port of SysV IPC is available for Cygwin.
151 NOTE: This has B<not> been extensively tested. In particular,
152 C<d_semctl_semun> is undefined because it fails a Configure test
153 and on Win9x the I<shm*()> functions seem to hang. It also creates
154 a compile time dependency because F<perl.h> includes F<<sys/ipc.h>>
155 and F<<sys/sem.h>> (which will be required in the future when compiling
160 =head2 Configure-time Options for Perl on Cygwin
162 The F<INSTALL> document describes several Configure-time options. Some of
163 these will work with Cygwin, others are not yet possible. Also, some of
164 these are experimental. You can either select an option when Configure
165 prompts you or you can define (undefine) symbols on the command line.
171 Undefining this symbol forces Perl to be compiled statically.
173 =item * C<-Uusemymalloc>
175 By default Perl uses the malloc() included with the Perl source. If you
176 want to force Perl to build with the system malloc() undefine this symbol.
178 =item * C<-Uuseperlio>
180 Undefining this symbol disables the PerlIO abstraction, which is now the
183 =item * C<-Dusemultiplicity>
185 Multiplicity is required when embedding Perl in a C program and using
186 more than one interpreter instance. This works with the Cygwin port.
188 =item * C<-Duse64bitint>
190 By default Perl uses 32 bit integers. If you want to use larger 64
191 bit integers, define this symbol. If there is trouble, check that
192 your Cygwin installation is up to date.
194 =item * C<-Duselongdouble>
196 I<gcc> supports long doubles (12 bytes). However, several additional
197 long double math functions are necessary to use them within Perl
198 (I<{atan2, cos, exp, floor, fmod, frexp, isnan, log, modf, pow, sin, sqrt}l,
200 These are B<not> yet available with Cygwin.
202 =item * C<-Dusethreads>
204 POSIX threads are B<not> yet implemented in Cygwin completely.
206 =item * C<-Duselargefiles>
208 Although Win32 supports large files, Cygwin currently uses 32-bit integers
209 for internal size and position calculations.
211 =item * C<-Dmksymlinks>
213 Use this to build perl outside of the source tree. This works with Cygwin.
214 Details can be found in the F<INSTALL> document.
218 =head2 Suspicious Warnings on Cygwin
220 You may see some messages during Configure that seem suspicious.
226 I<ld2> is needed to build dynamic libraries, but it does not exist
227 when dlsym() checking occurs (it is not created until `C<make>' runs).
228 You will see the following message:
230 Checking whether your dlsym() needs a leading underscore ...
232 I can't compile and run the test program.
233 I'm guessing that dlsym doesn't need a leading underscore.
235 Since the guess is correct, this is not a problem.
237 =item * Win9x and C<d_eofnblk>
239 Win9x does not correctly report C<EOF> with a non-blocking read on a
240 closed pipe. You will see the following messages:
242 But it also returns -1 to signal EOF, so be careful!
243 WARNING: you can't distinguish between EOF and no data!
245 *** WHOA THERE!!! ***
246 The recommended value for $d_eofnblk on this machine was "define"!
247 Keep the recommended value? [y]
249 At least for consistency with WinNT, you should keep the recommended
252 =item * Compiler/Preprocessor defines
254 The following error occurs because of the Cygwin C<#define> of
257 Guessing which symbols your C compiler and preprocessor define...
258 try.c:<line#>: parse error
260 This failure does not seem to cause any problems.
264 =head1 MAKE ON CYGWIN
266 Simply run I<make> and wait:
268 make 2>&1 | tee log.make
270 =head2 Warnings on Cygwin
272 Warnings like these are normal:
274 warning: overriding commands for target <file>
275 warning: ignoring old commands for target <file>
277 dllwrap: no export definition file provided
278 dllwrap: creating one, but that may not be what you want
282 During `C<make>', I<ld2> will be created and installed in your $installbin
283 directory (where you said to put public executables). It does not
284 wait until the `C<make install>' process to install the I<ld2> script,
285 this is because the remainder of the `C<make>' refers to I<ld2> without
286 fully specifying its path and does this from multiple subdirectories.
287 The assumption is that $installbin is in your current C<PATH>. If this
288 is not the case `C<make>' will fail at some point. If this happens,
289 just manually copy I<ld2> from the source directory to somewhere in
292 =head1 TEST ON CYGWIN
294 There are two steps to running the test suite:
296 make test 2>&1 | tee log.make-test
298 cd t;./perl harness 2>&1 | tee ../log.harness
300 The same tests are run both times, but more information is provided when
301 running as `C<./perl harness>'.
303 Test results vary depending on your host system and your Cygwin
304 configuration. If a test can pass in some Cygwin setup, it is always
305 attempted and explainable test failures are documented. It is possible
306 for Perl to pass all the tests, but it is more likely that some tests
307 will fail for one of the reasons listed below.
309 =head2 File Permissions on Cygwin
311 UNIX file permissions are based on sets of mode bits for
312 {read,write,execute} for each {user,group,other}. By default Cygwin
313 only tracks the Win32 read-only attribute represented as the UNIX file
314 user write bit (files are always readable, files are executable if they
315 have a F<.{com,bat,exe}> extension or begin with C<#!>, directories are
316 always readable and executable). On WinNT with the I<ntea> C<CYGWIN>
317 setting, the additional mode bits are stored as extended file attributes.
318 On WinNT with the I<ntsec> C<CYGWIN> setting, permissions use the standard
319 WinNT security descriptors and access control lists. Without one of
320 these options, these tests will fail:
322 Failed Test List of failed
323 ------------------------------------
333 op/stat.t 9, 20 (.tmp not an executable extension)
335 =head2 Script Portability on Cygwin
337 Cygwin does an outstanding job of providing UNIX-like semantics on top of
338 Win32 systems. However, in addition to the items noted above, there are
339 some differences that you should know about. This is a very brief guide
340 to portability, more information can be found in the Cygwin documentation.
346 Cygwin pathnames can be separated by forward (F</>) or backward (F<\\>)
347 slashes. They may also begin with drive letters (F<C:>) or Universal
348 Naming Codes (F<//UNC>). DOS device names (F<aux>, F<con>, F<prn>,
349 F<com*>, F<lpt?>, F<nul>) are invalid as base filenames. However, they
350 can be used in extensions (e.g., F<hello.aux>). Names may contain all
351 printable characters except these:
355 File names are case insensitive, but case preserving. A pathname that
356 contains a backslash or drive letter is a Win32 pathname (and not subject
357 to the translations applied to POSIX style pathnames).
361 When a file is opened it is in either text or binary mode. In text mode
362 a file is subject to CR/LF/Ctrl-Z translations. With Cygwin, the default
363 mode for an open() is determined by the mode of the mount that underlies
364 the file. Perl provides a binmode() function to set binary mode on files
365 that otherwise would be treated as text. sysopen() with the C<O_TEXT>
366 flag sets text mode on files that otherwise would be treated as binary:
368 sysopen(FOO, "bar", O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_TEXT)
370 lseek(), tell() and sysseek() only work with files opened in binary mode.
372 The text/binary issue is covered at length in the Cygwin documentation.
376 The Cygwin stat(), lstat() and readlink() functions make the F<.exe>
377 extension transparent by looking for F<foo.exe> when you ask for F<foo>
378 (unless a F<foo> also exists). Cygwin does not require a F<.exe>
379 extension, but I<gcc> adds it automatically when building a program.
380 However, when accessing an executable as a normal file (e.g., I<cp>
381 in a makefile) the F<.exe> is not transparent. The I<install> included
382 with Cygwin automatically appends a F<.exe> when necessary.
386 On WinNT chown() can change a file's user and group IDs. On Win9x chown()
387 is a no-op, although this is appropriate since there is no security model.
389 =item * Miscellaneous
391 File locking using the C<F_GETLK> command to fcntl() is a stub that
394 Win9x can not rename() an open file (although WinNT can).
396 The Cygwin chroot() implementation has holes (it can not restrict file
397 access by native Win32 programs).
401 =head1 INSTALL PERL ON CYGWIN
403 This will install Perl, including I<man> pages.
405 make install 2>&1 | tee log.make-install
407 NOTE: If C<STDERR> is redirected `C<make install>' will B<not> prompt
408 you to install I<perl> into F</usr/bin>.
410 You may need to be I<Administrator> to run `C<make install>'. If you
411 are not, you must have write access to the directories in question.
413 Information on installing the Perl documentation in HTML format can be
414 found in the F<INSTALL> document.
416 =head1 MANIFEST ON CYGWIN
418 These are the files in the Perl release that contain references to Cygwin.
419 These very brief notes attempt to explain the reason for all conditional
420 code. Hopefully, keeping this up to date will allow the Cygwin port to
421 be kept as clean as possible.
427 INSTALL README.cygwin README.win32 MANIFEST
428 Changes Changes5.005 Changes5.004 Changes5.6
429 pod/perl.pod pod/perlport.pod pod/perlfaq3.pod
430 pod/perldelta.pod pod/perl5004delta.pod pod/perl56delta.pod
431 pod/perlhist.pod pod/perlmodlib.pod pod/buildtoc.PL pod/perltoc.pod
433 =item Build, Configure, Make, Install
438 ext/IPC/SysV/hints/cygwin.pl
439 ext/NDBM_File/hints/cygwin.pl
440 ext/ODBM_File/hints/cygwin.pl
442 Configure - help finding hints from uname,
443 shared libperl required for dynamic loading
444 Makefile.SH - linklibperl
445 Porting/patchls - cygwin in port list
446 installman - man pages with :: translated to .
447 installperl - install dll/ld2/perlld, install to pods
448 makedepend.SH - uwinfix
452 t/io/tell.t - binmode
453 t/lib/b.t - ignore Cwd from os_extras
454 t/lib/glob-basic.t - Win32 directory list access differs from read mode
455 t/op/magic.t - $^X/symlink WORKAROUND, s/.exe//
456 t/op/stat.t - no /dev, skip Win32 ftCreationTime quirk
457 (cache manager sometimes preserves ctime of file
458 previously created and deleted), no -u (setuid)
460 =item Compiled Perl Source
462 EXTERN.h - __declspec(dllimport)
463 XSUB.h - __declspec(dllexport)
464 cygwin/cygwin.c - os_extras (getcwd, spawn)
467 doio.c - win9x can not rename a file when it is open
468 pp_sys.c - do not define h_errno, pp_system with spawn
471 =item Compiled Module Source
473 ext/POSIX/POSIX.xs - tzname defined externally
474 ext/SDBM_File/sdbm/pair.c
475 - EXTCONST needs to be redefined from EXTERN.h
476 ext/SDBM_File/sdbm/sdbm.c
479 =item Perl Modules/Scripts
481 lib/Cwd.pm - hook to internal Cwd::cwd
482 lib/ExtUtils/MakeMaker.pm
483 - require MM_Cygwin.pm
484 lib/ExtUtils/MM_Cygwin.pm
485 - canonpath, cflags, manifypods, perl_archive
486 lib/File/Find.pm - on remote drives stat() always sets st_nlink to 1
487 lib/File/Spec/Unix.pm - preserve //unc
488 lib/File/Temp.pm - no directory sticky bit
489 lib/perl5db.pl - use stdin not /dev/tty
490 utils/perldoc.PL - version comment
494 =head1 BUGS ON CYGWIN
496 When I<make> starts, it warns about overriding commands for F<perlmain.o>.
498 Support for swapping real and effective user and group IDs is incomplete.
499 On WinNT Cygwin provides setuid(), seteuid(), setgid() and setegid().
500 However, additional Cygwin calls for manipulating WinNT access tokens
501 and security contexts are required.
505 Charles Wilson <cwilson@ece.gatech.edu>,
506 Eric Fifer <egf7@columbia.edu>,
507 alexander smishlajev <als@turnhere.com>,
508 Steven Morlock <newspost@morlock.net>,
509 Sebastien Barre <Sebastien.Barre@utc.fr>,
510 Teun Burgers <burgers@ecn.nl>,
511 Gerrit Haase <gh@familiehaase.de>.
515 Last updated: 2002-02-27