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 implemented in Cygwin, define this symbol if you want
210 a threaded perl. If there is trouble, check that your Cygwin installation
213 =item * C<-Duselargefiles>
215 Although Win32 supports large files, Cygwin currently uses 32-bit integers
216 for internal size and position calculations.
218 =item * C<-Dmksymlinks>
220 Use this to build perl outside of the source tree. This works with Cygwin.
221 Details can be found in the F<INSTALL> document.
225 =head2 Suspicious Warnings on Cygwin
227 You may see some messages during Configure that seem suspicious.
233 I<ld2> is needed to build dynamic libraries, but it does not exist
234 when dlsym() checking occurs (it is not created until `C<make>' runs).
235 You will see the following message:
237 Checking whether your dlsym() needs a leading underscore ...
239 I can't compile and run the test program.
240 I'm guessing that dlsym doesn't need a leading underscore.
242 Since the guess is correct, this is not a problem.
244 =item * Win9x and C<d_eofnblk>
246 Win9x does not correctly report C<EOF> with a non-blocking read on a
247 closed pipe. You will see the following messages:
249 But it also returns -1 to signal EOF, so be careful!
250 WARNING: you can't distinguish between EOF and no data!
252 *** WHOA THERE!!! ***
253 The recommended value for $d_eofnblk on this machine was "define"!
254 Keep the recommended value? [y]
256 At least for consistency with WinNT, you should keep the recommended
259 =item * Compiler/Preprocessor defines
261 The following error occurs because of the Cygwin C<#define> of
264 Guessing which symbols your C compiler and preprocessor define...
265 try.c:<line#>: missing binary operator
267 This failure does not seem to cause any problems. With older gcc
268 versions, "parse error" is reported instead of "missing binary
273 =head1 MAKE ON CYGWIN
275 Simply run I<make> and wait:
277 make 2>&1 | tee log.make
279 =head2 Warnings on Cygwin
281 Warnings like these are normal:
283 perl.c: In function `S_parse_body':
284 perl.c:1468: warning: implicit declaration of function `init_os_extras'
286 pp_sys.c:289: warning: `S_emulate_eaccess' defined but not used
288 perlio.c: In function `perlsio_binmode':
289 perlio.c:98: warning: implicit declaration of function `setmode'
290 perlio.c:98: warning: passing arg 1 of `Perl_PerlIO_fileno' from incompatible pointer type
292 make: [extra.pods] Error 1 (ignored)
294 make: [extras.make] Error 1 (ignored)
298 During `C<make>', I<ld2> will be created and installed in your $installbin
299 directory (where you said to put public executables). It does not
300 wait until the `C<make install>' process to install the I<ld2> script,
301 this is because the remainder of the `C<make>' refers to I<ld2> without
302 fully specifying its path and does this from multiple subdirectories.
303 The assumption is that $installbin is in your current C<PATH>. If this
304 is not the case `C<make>' will fail at some point. If this happens,
305 just manually copy I<ld2> from the source directory to somewhere in
308 =head1 TEST ON CYGWIN
310 There are two steps to running the test suite:
312 make test 2>&1 | tee log.make-test
314 cd t;./perl harness 2>&1 | tee ../log.harness
316 The same tests are run both times, but more information is provided when
317 running as `C<./perl harness>'.
319 Test results vary depending on your host system and your Cygwin
320 configuration. If a test can pass in some Cygwin setup, it is always
321 attempted and explainable test failures are documented. It is possible
322 for Perl to pass all the tests, but it is more likely that some tests
323 will fail for one of the reasons listed below.
325 =head2 File Permissions on Cygwin
327 UNIX file permissions are based on sets of mode bits for
328 {read,write,execute} for each {user,group,other}. By default Cygwin
329 only tracks the Win32 read-only attribute represented as the UNIX file
330 user write bit (files are always readable, files are executable if they
331 have a F<.{com,bat,exe}> extension or begin with C<#!>, directories are
332 always readable and executable). On WinNT with the I<ntea> C<CYGWIN>
333 setting, the additional mode bits are stored as extended file attributes.
334 On WinNT with the I<ntsec> C<CYGWIN> setting, permissions use the standard
335 WinNT security descriptors and access control lists. Without one of
336 these options, these tests will fail (listing not updated yet):
338 Failed Test List of failed
339 ------------------------------------
349 op/stat.t 9, 20 (.tmp not an executable extension)
351 =head2 NDBM_File and ODBM_File do not work on FAT filesystems
353 Do not use NDBM_File or ODBM_File on FAT filesystem. They can be
354 built on a FAT filesystem, but many tests will fail:
356 ../ext/NDBM_File/ndbm.t 13 3328 71 59 83.10% 1-2 4 16-71
357 ../ext/ODBM_File/odbm.t 255 65280 ?? ?? % ??
358 ../lib/AnyDBM_File.t 2 512 12 2 16.67% 1 4
359 ../lib/Memoize/t/errors.t 0 139 11 5 45.45% 7-11
360 ../lib/Memoize/t/tie_ndbm.t 13 3328 4 4 100.00% 1-4
361 run/fresh_perl.t 97 1 1.03% 91
363 If you intend to run only on FAT (or if using AnyDBM_File on FAT),
364 run Configure with the -Ui_ndbm and -Ui_dbm options to prevent
365 NDBM_File and ODBM_File being built.
367 With NTFS (and CYGWIN=ntsec), there should be no problems even if
368 perl was built on FAT.
370 =head2 fork() failures in io_* tests
372 A fork() failure may result in the following tests failing:
374 ext/IO/lib/IO/t/io_multihomed.t
375 ext/IO/lib/IO/t/io_sock.t
376 ext/IO/lib/IO/t/io_unix.t
378 See comment on fork in L<Miscellaneous> below.
380 =head2 Script Portability on Cygwin
382 Cygwin does an outstanding job of providing UNIX-like semantics on top of
383 Win32 systems. However, in addition to the items noted above, there are
384 some differences that you should know about. This is a very brief guide
385 to portability, more information can be found in the Cygwin documentation.
391 Cygwin pathnames can be separated by forward (F</>) or backward (F<\\>)
392 slashes. They may also begin with drive letters (F<C:>) or Universal
393 Naming Codes (F<//UNC>). DOS device names (F<aux>, F<con>, F<prn>,
394 F<com*>, F<lpt?>, F<nul>) are invalid as base filenames. However, they
395 can be used in extensions (e.g., F<hello.aux>). Names may contain all
396 printable characters except these:
400 File names are case insensitive, but case preserving. A pathname that
401 contains a backslash or drive letter is a Win32 pathname (and not subject
402 to the translations applied to POSIX style pathnames).
406 When a file is opened it is in either text or binary mode. In text mode
407 a file is subject to CR/LF/Ctrl-Z translations. With Cygwin, the default
408 mode for an open() is determined by the mode of the mount that underlies
409 the file. Perl provides a binmode() function to set binary mode on files
410 that otherwise would be treated as text. sysopen() with the C<O_TEXT>
411 flag sets text mode on files that otherwise would be treated as binary:
413 sysopen(FOO, "bar", O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_TEXT)
415 lseek(), tell() and sysseek() only work with files opened in binary mode.
417 The text/binary issue is covered at length in the Cygwin documentation.
421 The Cygwin stat(), lstat() and readlink() functions make the F<.exe>
422 extension transparent by looking for F<foo.exe> when you ask for F<foo>
423 (unless a F<foo> also exists). Cygwin does not require a F<.exe>
424 extension, but I<gcc> adds it automatically when building a program.
425 However, when accessing an executable as a normal file (e.g., I<cp>
426 in a makefile) the F<.exe> is not transparent. The I<install> included
427 with Cygwin automatically appends a F<.exe> when necessary.
431 On WinNT chown() can change a file's user and group IDs. On Win9x chown()
432 is a no-op, although this is appropriate since there is no security model.
434 =item * Miscellaneous
436 File locking using the C<F_GETLK> command to fcntl() is a stub that
439 Win9x can not rename() an open file (although WinNT can).
441 The Cygwin chroot() implementation has holes (it can not restrict file
442 access by native Win32 programs).
444 Inplace editing C<perl -i> of files doesn't work without doing a backup
445 of the file being edited C<perl -i.bak> because of windowish restrictions,
446 therefore Perl adds the C<.bak> automatically if you use C<perl -i>
447 without specifying a backup extension.
449 Using fork() after loading multiple dlls may fail with an internal cygwin
450 error like the following:
452 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
454 200 [main] perl 377147 sync_with_child: child -395691(0xB8) died before initialization with status code 0x1
455 1370 [main] perl 377147 sync_with_child: *** child state child loading dlls
457 Use the rebase utility to resolve the conflicting dll addresses. The
458 rebase package is included in the Cygwin netrelease. Use setup.exe from
459 F<http://www.cygwin.com/setup.exe> to install it.
463 =head1 INSTALL PERL ON CYGWIN
465 This will install Perl, including I<man> pages.
467 make install 2>&1 | tee log.make-install
469 NOTE: If C<STDERR> is redirected `C<make install>' will B<not> prompt
470 you to install I<perl> into F</usr/bin>.
472 You may need to be I<Administrator> to run `C<make install>'. If you
473 are not, you must have write access to the directories in question.
475 Information on installing the Perl documentation in HTML format can be
476 found in the F<INSTALL> document.
478 =head1 MANIFEST ON CYGWIN
480 These are the files in the Perl release that contain references to Cygwin.
481 These very brief notes attempt to explain the reason for all conditional
482 code. Hopefully, keeping this up to date will allow the Cygwin port to
483 be kept as clean as possible (listing not updated yet).
489 INSTALL README.cygwin README.win32 MANIFEST
490 Changes Changes5.005 Changes5.004 Changes5.6
491 pod/perl.pod pod/perlport.pod pod/perlfaq3.pod
492 pod/perldelta.pod pod/perl5004delta.pod pod/perl56delta.pod
493 pod/perlhist.pod pod/perlmodlib.pod pod/buildtoc.PL pod/perltoc.pod
495 =item Build, Configure, Make, Install
500 ext/IPC/SysV/hints/cygwin.pl
501 ext/NDBM_File/hints/cygwin.pl
502 ext/ODBM_File/hints/cygwin.pl
504 Configure - help finding hints from uname,
505 shared libperl required for dynamic loading
506 Makefile.SH - linklibperl
507 Porting/patchls - cygwin in port list
508 installman - man pages with :: translated to .
509 installperl - install dll/ld2/perlld, install to pods
510 makedepend.SH - uwinfix
514 t/io/tell.t - binmode
515 t/lib/b.t - ignore Cwd from os_extras
516 t/lib/glob-basic.t - Win32 directory list access differs from read mode
517 t/op/magic.t - $^X/symlink WORKAROUND, s/.exe//
518 t/op/stat.t - no /dev, skip Win32 ftCreationTime quirk
519 (cache manager sometimes preserves ctime of file
520 previously created and deleted), no -u (setuid)
522 =item Compiled Perl Source
524 EXTERN.h - __declspec(dllimport)
525 XSUB.h - __declspec(dllexport)
526 cygwin/cygwin.c - os_extras (getcwd, spawn)
529 doio.c - win9x can not rename a file when it is open
530 pp_sys.c - do not define h_errno, pp_system with spawn
533 =item Compiled Module Source
535 ext/POSIX/POSIX.xs - tzname defined externally
536 ext/SDBM_File/sdbm/pair.c
537 - EXTCONST needs to be redefined from EXTERN.h
538 ext/SDBM_File/sdbm/sdbm.c
541 =item Perl Modules/Scripts
543 lib/Cwd.pm - hook to internal Cwd::cwd
544 lib/ExtUtils/MakeMaker.pm
545 - require MM_Cygwin.pm
546 lib/ExtUtils/MM_Cygwin.pm
547 - canonpath, cflags, manifypods, perl_archive
548 lib/File/Find.pm - on remote drives stat() always sets st_nlink to 1
549 lib/File/Spec/Unix.pm - preserve //unc
550 lib/File/Temp.pm - no directory sticky bit
551 lib/perl5db.pl - use stdin not /dev/tty
552 utils/perldoc.PL - version comment
556 =head1 BUGS ON CYGWIN
558 Support for swapping real and effective user and group IDs is incomplete.
559 On WinNT Cygwin provides setuid(), seteuid(), setgid() and setegid().
560 However, additional Cygwin calls for manipulating WinNT access tokens
561 and security contexts are required.
565 Charles Wilson <cwilson@ece.gatech.edu>,
566 Eric Fifer <egf7@columbia.edu>,
567 alexander smishlajev <als@turnhere.com>,
568 Steven Morlock <newspost@morlock.net>,
569 Sebastien Barre <Sebastien.Barre@utc.fr>,
570 Teun Burgers <burgers@ecn.nl>,
571 Gerrit P. Haase <gp@familiehaase.de>.
575 Last updated: 2003-03-20