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 1.3.12 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
156 CPAN modules). NO LONGER SUPPORTED!
160 Included with the standard Cygwin netrelease is the inetutils package
161 which includes libutil.a.
165 =head2 Configure-time Options for Perl on Cygwin
167 The F<INSTALL> document describes several Configure-time options. Some of
168 these will work with Cygwin, others are not yet possible. Also, some of
169 these are experimental. You can either select an option when Configure
170 prompts you or you can define (undefine) symbols on the command line.
176 Undefining this symbol forces Perl to be compiled statically.
178 =item * C<-Uusemymalloc>
180 By default Perl uses the malloc() included with the Perl source. If you
181 want to force Perl to build with the system malloc() undefine this symbol.
183 =item * C<-Uuseperlio>
185 Undefining this symbol disables the PerlIO abstraction, which is now the
188 =item * C<-Dusemultiplicity>
190 Multiplicity is required when embedding Perl in a C program and using
191 more than one interpreter instance. This works with the Cygwin port.
193 =item * C<-Duse64bitint>
195 By default Perl uses 32 bit integers. If you want to use larger 64
196 bit integers, define this symbol. If there is trouble, check that
197 your Cygwin installation is up to date.
199 =item * C<-Duselongdouble>
201 I<gcc> supports long doubles (12 bytes). However, several additional
202 long double math functions are necessary to use them within Perl
203 (I<{atan2, cos, exp, floor, fmod, frexp, isnan, log, modf, pow, sin, sqrt}l,
205 These are B<not> yet available with Cygwin.
207 =item * C<-Dusethreads>
209 POSIX threads are B<not> yet implemented in Cygwin completely.
211 =item * C<-Duselargefiles>
213 Although Win32 supports large files, Cygwin currently uses 32-bit integers
214 for internal size and position calculations.
216 =item * C<-Dmksymlinks>
218 Use this to build perl outside of the source tree. This works with Cygwin.
219 Details can be found in the F<INSTALL> document.
223 =head2 Suspicious Warnings on Cygwin
225 You may see some messages during Configure that seem suspicious.
231 I<ld2> is needed to build dynamic libraries, but it does not exist
232 when dlsym() checking occurs (it is not created until `C<make>' runs).
233 You will see the following message:
235 Checking whether your dlsym() needs a leading underscore ...
237 I can't compile and run the test program.
238 I'm guessing that dlsym doesn't need a leading underscore.
240 Since the guess is correct, this is not a problem.
242 =item * Win9x and C<d_eofnblk>
244 Win9x does not correctly report C<EOF> with a non-blocking read on a
245 closed pipe. You will see the following messages:
247 But it also returns -1 to signal EOF, so be careful!
248 WARNING: you can't distinguish between EOF and no data!
250 *** WHOA THERE!!! ***
251 The recommended value for $d_eofnblk on this machine was "define"!
252 Keep the recommended value? [y]
254 At least for consistency with WinNT, you should keep the recommended
257 =item * Compiler/Preprocessor defines
259 The following error occurs because of the Cygwin C<#define> of
262 Guessing which symbols your C compiler and preprocessor define...
263 try.c:<line#>: missing binary operator
265 This failure does not seem to cause any problems. With older gcc
266 versions, "parse error" is reported instead of "missing binary
271 =head1 MAKE ON CYGWIN
273 Simply run I<make> and wait:
275 make 2>&1 | tee log.make
277 =head2 Warnings on Cygwin
279 Warnings like these are normal:
281 perl.c: In function `S_parse_body':
282 perl.c:1468: warning: implicit declaration of function `init_os_extras'
284 pp_sys.c:289: warning: `S_emulate_eaccess' defined but not used
286 perlio.c: In function `perlsio_binmode':
287 perlio.c:98: warning: implicit declaration of function `setmode'
288 perlio.c:98: warning: passing arg 1 of `Perl_PerlIO_fileno' from incompatible pointer type
290 make: [extra.pods] Error 1 (ignored)
292 make: [extras.make] Error 1 (ignored)
296 During `C<make>', I<ld2> will be created and installed in your $installbin
297 directory (where you said to put public executables). It does not
298 wait until the `C<make install>' process to install the I<ld2> script,
299 this is because the remainder of the `C<make>' refers to I<ld2> without
300 fully specifying its path and does this from multiple subdirectories.
301 The assumption is that $installbin is in your current C<PATH>. If this
302 is not the case `C<make>' will fail at some point. If this happens,
303 just manually copy I<ld2> from the source directory to somewhere in
306 =head1 TEST ON CYGWIN
308 There are two steps to running the test suite:
310 make test 2>&1 | tee log.make-test
312 cd t;./perl harness 2>&1 | tee ../log.harness
314 The same tests are run both times, but more information is provided when
315 running as `C<./perl harness>'.
317 Test results vary depending on your host system and your Cygwin
318 configuration. If a test can pass in some Cygwin setup, it is always
319 attempted and explainable test failures are documented. It is possible
320 for Perl to pass all the tests, but it is more likely that some tests
321 will fail for one of the reasons listed below.
323 =head2 File Permissions on Cygwin
325 UNIX file permissions are based on sets of mode bits for
326 {read,write,execute} for each {user,group,other}. By default Cygwin
327 only tracks the Win32 read-only attribute represented as the UNIX file
328 user write bit (files are always readable, files are executable if they
329 have a F<.{com,bat,exe}> extension or begin with C<#!>, directories are
330 always readable and executable). On WinNT with the I<ntea> C<CYGWIN>
331 setting, the additional mode bits are stored as extended file attributes.
332 On WinNT with the I<ntsec> C<CYGWIN> setting, permissions use the standard
333 WinNT security descriptors and access control lists. Without one of
334 these options, these tests will fail (listing not updated yet):
336 Failed Test List of failed
337 ------------------------------------
347 op/stat.t 9, 20 (.tmp not an executable extension)
349 =head2 NDBM_File and ODBM_File do not work on FAT filesystems
351 Do not use NDBM_File or ODBM_File on FAT filesystem. They can be
352 built on a FAT filesystem, but many tests will fail:
354 ../ext/NDBM_File/ndbm.t 13 3328 71 59 83.10% 1-2 4 16-71
355 ../ext/ODBM_File/odbm.t 255 65280 ?? ?? % ??
356 ../lib/AnyDBM_File.t 2 512 12 2 16.67% 1 4
357 ../lib/Memoize/t/errors.t 0 139 11 5 45.45% 7-11
358 ../lib/Memoize/t/tie_ndbm.t 13 3328 4 4 100.00% 1-4
359 run/fresh_perl.t 97 1 1.03% 91
361 If you intend to run only on FAT (or if using AnyDBM_File on FAT),
362 run Configure with the -Ui_ndbm and -Ui_dbm options to prevent
363 NDBM_File and ODBM_File being built.
365 With NTFS (and CYGWIN=ntsec), there should be no problems even if
366 perl was built on FAT.
368 =head2 fork() failures in io_* tests
370 A fork() failure may result in the following tests failing:
372 ext/IO/lib/IO/t/io_multihomed.t
373 ext/IO/lib/IO/t/io_sock.t
374 ext/IO/lib/IO/t/io_unix.t
376 See comment on fork in L<Miscellaneous> below.
378 =head2 Script Portability on Cygwin
380 Cygwin does an outstanding job of providing UNIX-like semantics on top of
381 Win32 systems. However, in addition to the items noted above, there are
382 some differences that you should know about. This is a very brief guide
383 to portability, more information can be found in the Cygwin documentation.
389 Cygwin pathnames can be separated by forward (F</>) or backward (F<\\>)
390 slashes. They may also begin with drive letters (F<C:>) or Universal
391 Naming Codes (F<//UNC>). DOS device names (F<aux>, F<con>, F<prn>,
392 F<com*>, F<lpt?>, F<nul>) are invalid as base filenames. However, they
393 can be used in extensions (e.g., F<hello.aux>). Names may contain all
394 printable characters except these:
398 File names are case insensitive, but case preserving. A pathname that
399 contains a backslash or drive letter is a Win32 pathname (and not subject
400 to the translations applied to POSIX style pathnames).
404 When a file is opened it is in either text or binary mode. In text mode
405 a file is subject to CR/LF/Ctrl-Z translations. With Cygwin, the default
406 mode for an open() is determined by the mode of the mount that underlies
407 the file. Perl provides a binmode() function to set binary mode on files
408 that otherwise would be treated as text. sysopen() with the C<O_TEXT>
409 flag sets text mode on files that otherwise would be treated as binary:
411 sysopen(FOO, "bar", O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_TEXT)
413 lseek(), tell() and sysseek() only work with files opened in binary mode.
415 The text/binary issue is covered at length in the Cygwin documentation.
419 The Cygwin stat(), lstat() and readlink() functions make the F<.exe>
420 extension transparent by looking for F<foo.exe> when you ask for F<foo>
421 (unless a F<foo> also exists). Cygwin does not require a F<.exe>
422 extension, but I<gcc> adds it automatically when building a program.
423 However, when accessing an executable as a normal file (e.g., I<cp>
424 in a makefile) the F<.exe> is not transparent. The I<install> included
425 with Cygwin automatically appends a F<.exe> when necessary.
429 On WinNT chown() can change a file's user and group IDs. On Win9x chown()
430 is a no-op, although this is appropriate since there is no security model.
432 =item * Miscellaneous
434 File locking using the C<F_GETLK> command to fcntl() is a stub that
437 Win9x can not rename() an open file (although WinNT can).
439 The Cygwin chroot() implementation has holes (it can not restrict file
440 access by native Win32 programs).
442 Inplace editing C<perl -i> of files doesn't work without doing a backup
443 of the file being edited C<perl -i.bak> because of windowish restrictions,
444 so Perl adds the C<.bak> automatically if you just use C<perl -i>.
446 Using fork() after loading multiple dlls may fail with an internal cygwin
447 error like the following:
449 C:\CYGWIN\BIN\PERL.EXE: *** couldn't allocate memory 0x10000(4128768) for 'C:\CYGWIN\LIB\PERL5\5.6.1\CYGWIN-MULTI\AUTO\SOCKET\SOCKET.DLL' alignment, Win32 error 8
451 200 [main] perl 377147 sync_with_child: child -395691(0xB8) died before initialization with status code 0x1
452 1370 [main] perl 377147 sync_with_child: *** child state child loading dlls
454 Use the rebase utility to resolve the conflicting dll addresses.
455 See: http://www.tishler.net/jason/software/rebase/
456 and http://sources.redhat.com/ml/cygwin/2002-07/msg00276.html
460 =head1 INSTALL PERL ON CYGWIN
462 This will install Perl, including I<man> pages.
464 make install 2>&1 | tee log.make-install
466 NOTE: If C<STDERR> is redirected `C<make install>' will B<not> prompt
467 you to install I<perl> into F</usr/bin>.
469 You may need to be I<Administrator> to run `C<make install>'. If you
470 are not, you must have write access to the directories in question.
472 Information on installing the Perl documentation in HTML format can be
473 found in the F<INSTALL> document.
475 =head1 MANIFEST ON CYGWIN
477 These are the files in the Perl release that contain references to Cygwin.
478 These very brief notes attempt to explain the reason for all conditional
479 code. Hopefully, keeping this up to date will allow the Cygwin port to
480 be kept as clean as possible (listing not updated yet).
486 INSTALL README.cygwin README.win32 MANIFEST
487 Changes Changes5.005 Changes5.004 Changes5.6
488 pod/perl.pod pod/perlport.pod pod/perlfaq3.pod
489 pod/perldelta.pod pod/perl5004delta.pod pod/perl56delta.pod
490 pod/perlhist.pod pod/perlmodlib.pod pod/buildtoc.PL pod/perltoc.pod
492 =item Build, Configure, Make, Install
497 ext/IPC/SysV/hints/cygwin.pl
498 ext/NDBM_File/hints/cygwin.pl
499 ext/ODBM_File/hints/cygwin.pl
501 Configure - help finding hints from uname,
502 shared libperl required for dynamic loading
503 Makefile.SH - linklibperl
504 Porting/patchls - cygwin in port list
505 installman - man pages with :: translated to .
506 installperl - install dll/ld2/perlld, install to pods
507 makedepend.SH - uwinfix
511 t/io/tell.t - binmode
512 t/lib/b.t - ignore Cwd from os_extras
513 t/lib/glob-basic.t - Win32 directory list access differs from read mode
514 t/op/magic.t - $^X/symlink WORKAROUND, s/.exe//
515 t/op/stat.t - no /dev, skip Win32 ftCreationTime quirk
516 (cache manager sometimes preserves ctime of file
517 previously created and deleted), no -u (setuid)
519 =item Compiled Perl Source
521 EXTERN.h - __declspec(dllimport)
522 XSUB.h - __declspec(dllexport)
523 cygwin/cygwin.c - os_extras (getcwd, spawn)
526 doio.c - win9x can not rename a file when it is open
527 pp_sys.c - do not define h_errno, pp_system with spawn
530 =item Compiled Module Source
532 ext/POSIX/POSIX.xs - tzname defined externally
533 ext/SDBM_File/sdbm/pair.c
534 - EXTCONST needs to be redefined from EXTERN.h
535 ext/SDBM_File/sdbm/sdbm.c
538 =item Perl Modules/Scripts
540 lib/Cwd.pm - hook to internal Cwd::cwd
541 lib/ExtUtils/MakeMaker.pm
542 - require MM_Cygwin.pm
543 lib/ExtUtils/MM_Cygwin.pm
544 - canonpath, cflags, manifypods, perl_archive
545 lib/File/Find.pm - on remote drives stat() always sets st_nlink to 1
546 lib/File/Spec/Unix.pm - preserve //unc
547 lib/File/Temp.pm - no directory sticky bit
548 lib/perl5db.pl - use stdin not /dev/tty
549 utils/perldoc.PL - version comment
553 =head1 BUGS ON CYGWIN
555 Support for swapping real and effective user and group IDs is incomplete.
556 On WinNT Cygwin provides setuid(), seteuid(), setgid() and setegid().
557 However, additional Cygwin calls for manipulating WinNT access tokens
558 and security contexts are required.
562 Charles Wilson <cwilson@ece.gatech.edu>,
563 Eric Fifer <egf7@columbia.edu>,
564 alexander smishlajev <als@turnhere.com>,
565 Steven Morlock <newspost@morlock.net>,
566 Sebastien Barre <Sebastien.Barre@utc.fr>,
567 Teun Burgers <burgers@ecn.nl>,
568 Gerrit Haase <gh@familiehaase.de>.
572 Last updated: 2002-10-07