1 If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the equal signs on the left.
2 This file is written in the POD format (see [.POD]PERLPOD.POD;1) which is
3 specially designed to be readable as is.
7 README.vms - Configuring, building, testing, and installing perl on VMS
11 To configure, build, test, and install perl on VMS:
18 mmk may be used in place of mms in the last three steps.
22 =head2 Important safety tip
24 The build and install procedures have changed significantly from the 5.004
25 releases! Make sure you read the "Configuring the Perl Build", "Building
26 Perl", and "Installing Perl" sections of this document before you build or
27 install. Also please note other changes in the current release by having
28 a look at L<perldelta/VMS>.
30 Also note that, as of Perl version 5.005 and later, an ANSI C compliant
31 compiler is required to build Perl. VAX C is *not* ANSI compliant, as it
32 died a natural death some time before the standard was set. Therefore
33 VAX C will not compile Perl 5.005 or later. We are sorry about that.
35 There have been no recent reports of builds using Gnu C, but latent
36 (and most likely outdated) support for it is still present in various
37 parts of the sources. Currently the HP (formerly Compaq, and even
38 more formerly DEC) C compiler is the only viable alternative for
41 There is minimal support for HP C++ but this support is not complete;
42 if you get it working please write to the vmsperl list (for info see
46 =head2 Introduction to Perl on VMS
48 The VMS port of Perl is as functionally complete as any other Perl port
49 (and as complete as the ports on some Unix systems). The Perl binaries
50 provide all the Perl system calls that are either available under VMS or
51 reasonably emulated. There are some incompatibilities in process handling
52 (e.g. the fork/exec model for creating subprocesses doesn't do what you
53 might expect under Unix), mainly because VMS and Unix handle processes and
54 sub-processes very differently.
56 There are still some unimplemented system functions, and of course we
57 could use modules implementing useful VMS system services, so if you'd like
58 to lend a hand we'd love to have you. Join the Perl Porting Team Now!
60 There are issues with various versions of DEC C, so if you're not running a
61 relatively modern version, check the "DEC C issues" section later on in this
64 =head2 Other required software for Compiling Perl on VMS
66 In addition to VMS and DCL you will need two things:
72 HP (formerly Compaq, more formerly DEC) C for VMS (VAX, Alpha, or Itanium).
76 DEC's MMS (v2.6 or later), or MadGoat's free MMS
77 analog MMK (available from ftp.madgoat.com/madgoat) both work
78 just fine. Gnu Make might work, but it's been so long since
79 anyone's tested it that we're not sure. MMK is free though, so
80 go ahead and use that.
84 =head2 Additional software that is optional for Perl on VMS
86 You may also want to have on hand:
90 =item 1 GUNZIP/GZIP.EXE for VMS
92 A de-compressor for *.gz and *.tgz files available from a number
93 of web/ftp sites and is distributed on the OpenVMS Freeware CD-ROM
96 http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/
97 http://www.crinoid.com/utils/
101 For reading and writing unix tape archives (*.tar files). Vmstar is also
102 available from a number of web/ftp sites and is distributed on the OpenVMS
103 Freeware CD-ROM from HP.
105 http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/
107 Recent versions of VMS tar on ODS-5 volumes may extract tape archive
108 files with ^. escaped periods in them. See below for further workarounds.
110 A port of GNU tar is also available as part of the GNV package:
112 http://gnv.sourceforge.net/
114 =item 3 UNZIP.EXE for VMS
116 A combination decompressor and archive reader/writer for *.zip files.
117 Unzip is available from a number of web/ftp sites.
119 http://www.info-zip.org/UnZip.html
120 http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/
121 ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/openvms
122 ftp://ftp.madgoat.com/madgoat/
123 ftp://ftp.process.com/vms-freeware/fileserv
127 Most is an optional pager that is convenient to use with perldoc (unlike
128 TYPE/PAGE, MOST can go forward and backwards in a document and supports
129 regular expression searching). Most builds with the slang
130 library on VMS. Most and slang are available from:
132 ftp://space.mit.edu/pub/davis/
133 ftp://ftp.process.com/vms-freeware/narnia/
135 =item 5 GNU PATCH and DIFFUTILS for VMS
137 Patches to Perl are usually distributed as GNU unified or contextual diffs.
138 Such patches are created by the GNU diff program (part of the diffutils
139 distribution) and applied with GNU patch. VMS ports of these utilities are
142 http://www.crinoid.com/utils/
143 http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/
147 Please note that UNZIP and GUNZIP are not the same thing (they work with
148 different formats). Many of the useful files from CPAN (the Comprehensive
149 Perl Archive Network) are in *.tar.gz or *.tgz format (this includes copies
150 of the source code for perl as well as modules and scripts that you may
151 wish to add later) hence you probably want to have GUNZIP.EXE and
152 VMSTAR.EXE on your VMS machine.
154 If you want to include socket support, you'll need a TCP/IP stack and either
155 DEC C, or socket libraries. See the "Socket Support (optional)" topic
158 =head1 Unpacking the Perl source code
160 You may need to set up a foreign symbol for the unpacking utility of choice.
162 As of version 5.10.0, Perl will still build and run on ODS-2 volumes,
163 including on VAX, but there are a number of modules whose temporary
164 files and tests are much happier residing on ODS-5 volumes. For
165 example, CPANPLUS will fail most of its tests on an ODS-2 volume because
166 it includes files with multiple dots that will have been converted to
167 underscores and the tests will have difficulty finding them. So your
168 best bet is to unpack the Perl source kit on an ODS-5 volume using
169 recent versions of vmstar (e.g. V3.4 or later). Contrary to advice
170 provided with previous versions of Perl, do I<not> use the ODS-2
171 compatability qualifier. Instead, use a command like the following:
173 vmstar /extract/verbose perl-V^.VIII^.III.tar
177 vmstar -xvf perl-5^.10^.0.tar
179 Then rename the top-level source directory like so:
181 set security/protection=(o:rwed) perl-5^.10^.0.dir
182 rename perl-5^.10^.0.dir perl-5_10_0.dir
184 The reason for this last step is that while filenames with multiple dots
185 are generally supported by Perl on VMS, I<directory> names with multiple
186 dots are a special case with special problems because the dot is the
187 traditional directory delimiter on VMS. Rudimentary support for
188 multi-dot directory names is available, but some of the oldest and most
189 essential parts of Perl (such as searching for and loading library
190 modules) do not yet fully support the ODS-5 caret-escape syntax.
192 =head1 Configuring the Perl build
194 To configure perl (a necessary first step), issue the command
198 from the top of an unpacked perl source directory. You will be asked a
199 series of questions, and the answers to them (along with the capabilities
200 of your C compiler and network stack) will determine how perl is custom
201 built for your machine.
203 If you have multiple C compilers installed, you'll have your choice of
204 which one to use. Various older versions of DEC C had some caveats, so if
205 you're using a version older than 5.2, check the "DEC C Issues" section.
207 If you have any symbols or logical names in your environment that may
208 interfere with the build or regression testing of perl then configure.com
209 will try to warn you about them. If a logical name is causing
210 you trouble but is in an LNM table that you do not have write access to
211 then try defining your own to a harmless equivalence string in a table
212 such that it is resolved before the other (e.g. if TMP is defined in the
213 SYSTEM table then try DEFINE TMP "NL:" or somesuch in your process table)
214 otherwise simply deassign the dangerous logical names. The potentially
215 troublesome logicals and symbols are:
234 As a handy shortcut, the command:
238 (note the quotation marks and case) will choose reasonable defaults
239 automatically (it takes DEC C over Gnu C, DEC C sockets over SOCKETSHR
240 sockets, and either over no sockets). Some options can be given
241 explicitly on the command line; the following example specifies a
242 non-default location for where Perl will be installed:
244 @ Configure "-d" "-Dprefix=dka100:[utils.perl5.]"
246 Note that the installation location would be by default where you unpacked
247 the source with a "_ROOT." appended. For example if you unpacked the perl
250 DKA200:[PERL-5_10_2...]
252 Then the PERL_SETUP.COM that gets written out by CONFIGURE.COM will
253 try to DEFINE your installation PERL_ROOT to be:
255 DKA200:[PERL-5_10_2_ROOT.]
257 More help with configure.com is available from:
261 See the "Changing compile-time options (optional)" section below to learn
262 even more details about how to influence the outcome of the important
263 configuration step. If you find yourself reconfiguring and rebuilding
264 then be sure to also follow the advice in the "Cleaning up and starting
265 fresh (optional)" and the checklist of items in the "CAVEATS" sections
268 =head2 Changing compile-time options (optional) for Perl on VMS
270 Most of the user definable features of Perl are enabled or disabled in
271 configure.com, which processes the hints file config_h.SH. There is
272 code in there to Do The Right Thing, but that may end up being the
273 wrong thing for you. Make sure you understand what you are doing since
274 inappropriate changes to configure.com or config_h.SH can render perl
275 unbuildable; odds are that there's nothing in there you'll need to
278 =head2 Socket Support (optional) for Perl on VMS
280 Perl includes a number of functions for IP sockets, which are available if
281 you choose to compile Perl with socket support. Since IP networking is an
282 optional addition to VMS, there are several different IP stacks available.
283 How well integrated they are into the system depends on the stack, your
284 version of VMS, and the version of your C compiler.
286 The default solution available is to use the socket routines built into DEC
287 C. Which routines are available depend on the version of VMS you're
288 running, and require proper UCX emulation by your TCP/IP vendor.
289 Relatively current versions of Multinet, TCPWare, Pathway, and UCX all
290 provide the required libraries--check your manuals or release notes to see
291 if your version is new enough.
293 The other solution uses the SOCKETSHR library. Before VAX/VMS 5.5-2 it was
294 the most portable solution. The SOCKETSHR library has not been maintained
295 since VAX/VMS 5.5-2, and it is not known if will even compile with the ANSI
296 C that Perl currently requires. It remains an option for historical reasons,
297 just in case someone might find it useful.
299 In combination with either UCX or NetLib, this supported all the major TCP
300 stacks (Multinet, Pathways, TCPWare, UCX, and CMU) on all versions of VMS
301 Perl ran on up to VAX/VMS 6.2 and Alpha VMS 1.5 with all the compilers on
302 both VAX and Alpha. The portion of the socket interface was also consistent
303 across versions of VMS and C compilers.
305 It has a problem with UDP sockets when used with Multinet, though, so you
306 should be aware of that.
308 As of VAX/VMS 5.5-2 and later, CMU is the only TCP/IP program that requires
309 socketshr, and the sources have been lost to the most recent CMU bug fixes,
310 so CMU is limited to OpenVMS/VAX 6.2 or earlier, which is the last release
311 that binaries for the last released patches are known to exist.
313 There is currently no official web site for downloading either CMU or
314 SOCKETSHR; however, copies may be found in the DECUS archives.
318 The configuration script will print out, at the very end, the MMS or MMK
319 command you need to compile perl. Issue it (exactly as printed) to start
322 Once you issue your MMS or MMK command, sit back and wait. Perl should
323 compile and link without a problem. If a problem does occur check the
324 "CAVEATS" section of this document. If that does not help send some
325 mail to the VMSPERL mailing list. Instructions are in the "Mailing Lists"
326 section of this document.
330 Once Perl has built cleanly you need to test it to make sure things work.
331 This step is very important since there are always things that can go wrong
332 somehow and yield a dysfunctional Perl for you.
334 Testing is very easy, though, as there's a full test suite in the perl
335 distribution. To run the tests, enter the *exact* MMS line you used to
336 compile Perl and add the word "test" to the end, like this:
338 If the compile command was:
342 then the test command ought to be:
346 MMS (or MMK) will run all the tests. This may take some time, as there are
347 a lot of tests. If any tests fail, there will be a note made on-screen.
348 At the end of all the tests, a summary of the tests, the number passed and
349 failed, and the time taken will be displayed.
351 The test driver invoked via MMS TEST has a DCL wrapper ([.VMS]TEST.COM) that
352 downgrades privileges to NETMBX, TMPMBX for the duration of the test run,
353 and then restores them to their prior state upon completion of testing.
354 This is done to ensure that the tests run in a private sandbox and can do no
355 harm to your system even in the unlikely event something goes badly wrong in
356 one of the test scripts while running the tests from a privileged account.
357 A side effect of this safety precaution is that the account used to run the
358 test suite must be the owner of the directory tree in which Perl has been
359 built; otherwise the manipulations of temporary files and directories
360 attempted by some of the tests will fail.
362 If any tests fail, it means something is wrong with Perl, or at least
363 with the particular module or feature that reported failure. If the test suite
364 hangs (some tests can take upwards of two or three minutes, or more if
365 you're on an especially slow machine, depending on your machine speed, so
366 don't be hasty), then the test *after* the last one displayed failed. Don't
367 install Perl unless you're confident that you're OK. Regardless of how
368 confident you are, make a bug report to the VMSPerl mailing list.
370 If one or more tests fail, you can get more information on the failure by
371 issuing this command sequence:
373 @ [.VMS]TEST .typ "" "-v" [.subdir]test.T
375 where ".typ" is the file type of the Perl images you just built (if you
376 didn't do anything special, use .EXE), and "[.subdir]test.T" is the test
377 that failed. For example, with a normal Perl build, if the test indicated
378 that t/op/time failed, then you'd do this:
380 @ [.VMS]TEST .EXE "" "-v" [.OP]TIME.T
382 Note that test names are reported in UNIX syntax and relative to the
383 top-level build directory. When supplying them individually to the test
384 driver, you can use either UNIX or VMS syntax, but you must give the path
385 relative to the [.T] directory and you must also add the .T extension to the
386 filename. So, for example if the test lib/Math/Trig fails, you would run:
388 @ [.VMS]TEST .EXE "" -"v" [-.lib.math]trig.t
390 When you send in a bug report for failed tests, please include the output
391 from this command, which is run from the main source directory:
395 Note that -"V" really is a capital V in double quotes. This will dump out a
396 couple of screens worth of configuration information, and can help us
397 diagnose the problem. If (and only if) that did not work then try enclosing
402 If (and only if) that did not work then try enclosing the output of:
406 You may also be asked to provide your C compiler version ("CC/VERSION NL:"
407 with DEC C, "gcc --version" with GNU CC). To obtain the version of MMS or
408 MMK you are running try "MMS/ident" or "MMK /ident". The GNU make version
409 can be identified with "make --version".
411 =head2 Cleaning up and starting fresh (optional) installing Perl on VMS
413 If you need to recompile from scratch, you have to make sure you clean up
414 first. There is a procedure to do it--enter the *exact* MMS line you used
415 to compile and add "realclean" at the end, like this:
417 if the compile command was:
421 then the cleanup command ought to be:
425 If you do not do this things may behave erratically during the subsequent
426 rebuild attempt. They might not, too, so it is best to be sure and do it.
428 =head1 Installing Perl
430 There are several steps you need to take to get Perl installed and
437 Check your default file protections with
439 SHOW PROTECTION /DEFAULT
441 and adjust if necessary with SET PROTECTION=(code)/DEFAULT.
445 Decide where you want Perl to be installed (unless you have already done so
446 by using the "prefix" configuration parameter -- see the example in the
447 "Configuring the Perl build" section).
449 The DCL script PERL_SETUP.COM that is written by CONFIGURE.COM will help you
450 with the definition of the PERL_ROOT and PERLSHR logical names and the PERL
451 foreign command symbol. Take a look at PERL_SETUP.COM and modify it if you
452 want to. The installation process will execute PERL_SETUP.COM and copy
453 files to the directory tree pointed to by the PERL_ROOT logical name defined
454 there, so make sure that you have write access to the parent directory of
455 what will become the root of your Perl installation.
459 Run the install script via:
467 If for some reason it complains about target INSTALL being up to date,
468 throw a /FORCE switch on the MMS or MMK command.
472 Copy PERL_SETUP.COM to a place accessible to your perl users.
476 COPY PERL_SETUP.COM SYS$LIBRARY:
478 If you want to have everyone on the system have access to perl
479 then add a line that reads
481 $ @sys$library:perl_setup
483 to SYS$MANAGER:SYLOGIN.COM.
485 Two alternatives to the foreign symbol would be to install PERL into
486 DCLTABLES.EXE (Check out the section "Installing Perl into DCLTABLES
487 (optional)" for more information), or put the image in a
488 directory that's in your DCL$PATH (if you're using VMS V6.2 or higher).
490 An alternative to having PERL_SETUP.COM define the PERLSHR logical name
491 is to simply copy it into the system shareable library directory with:
493 copy perl_root:[000000]perlshr.exe sys$share:
495 See also the "INSTALLing images (optional)" section.
497 =head2 Installing Perl into DCLTABLES (optional) on VMS
499 Execute the following command file to define PERL as a DCL command.
500 You'll need CMKRNL privilege to install the new dcltables.exe.
504 ! modify to reflect location of your perl.exe
507 image perl_root:[000000]perl.exe
510 $ set command perl /table=sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe -
511 /output=sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe
512 $ install replace sys$common:[syslib]dcltables.exe
515 =head2 INSTALLing Perl images (optional) on VMS
517 On systems that are using perl quite a bit, and particularly those with
518 minimal RAM, you can boost the performance of perl by INSTALLing it as
519 a known image. PERLSHR.EXE is typically larger than 3000 blocks
520 and that is a reasonably large amount of IO to load each time perl is
523 INSTALL ADD PERLSHR/SHARE
524 INSTALL ADD PERL/HEADER
526 should be enough for PERLSHR.EXE (/share implies /header and /open),
527 while /HEADER should do for PERL.EXE (perl.exe is not a shared image).
529 If your code 'use's modules, check to see if there is a shareable image for
530 them, too. In the base perl build, POSIX, IO, Fcntl, Opcode, SDBM_File,
531 DCLsym, and Stdio, and other extensions all have shared images that can be
534 How much of a win depends on your memory situation, but if you are firing
535 off perl with any regularity (like more than once every 20 seconds or so)
536 it is probably beneficial to INSTALL at least portions of perl.
538 While there is code in perl to remove privileges as it runs you are advised
539 to NOT INSTALL PERL.EXE with PRIVs!
541 =head2 Running h2ph to create perl header files (optional) on VMS
543 If using HP C, ensure that you have extracted loose versions of your
544 compiler's header or *.H files. Be sure to check the contents of:
546 SYS$LIBRARY:DECC$RTLDEF.TLB
547 SYS$LIBRARY:SYS$LIB_C.TLB
548 SYS$LIBRARY:SYS$STARLET_C.TLB
552 If using GNU cc then also check your GNU_CC:[000000...] tree for the locations
553 of the GNU cc headers.
555 =head1 Reporting Bugs
557 If you come across what you think might be a bug in Perl, please report
558 it. There's a script in PERL_ROOT:[UTILS], perlbug, that walks you through
559 the process of creating a bug report. This script includes details of your
560 installation, and is very handy. Completed bug reports should go to
565 Probably the single biggest gotcha in compiling Perl is giving the wrong
566 switches to MMS/MMK when you build. Use *exactly* what the configure.com
569 The next big gotcha is directory depth. Perl can create directories four,
570 five, or even six levels deep during the build, so you don't have to be
571 too deep to start to hit the RMS 8 level limit (for ODS 2 volumes which were
572 common on versions of VMS prior to V7.2 and even with V7.2 on the VAX).
575 DEFINE/TRANS=(CONC,TERM) PERLSRC "disk:[dir.dir.dir.perldir.]"
576 SET DEFAULT PERLSRC:[000000]
578 before building in cases where you have to unpack the distribution so deep
579 (note the trailing period in the definition of PERLSRC). Perl modules
580 from CPAN can be just as bad (or worse), so watch out for them, too. Perl's
581 configuration script will warn if it thinks you are too deep (at least on
582 a VAX or on Alpha versions of VMS prior to 7.2). But MakeMaker will not
583 warn you if you start out building a module too deep in a directory.
585 As noted above ODS-5 escape sequences such as ^. can break the perl
586 build. Solutions include renaming files and directories as needed or
587 being careful to use the -o switch or /ODS2 qualifier with latter
588 versions of the vmstar utility when unpacking perl or CPAN modules
591 Be sure that the process that you use to build perl has a PGFLQ greater
592 than 100000. Be sure to have a correct local time zone to UTC offset
593 defined (in seconds) in the logical name SYS$TIMEZONE_DIFFERENTIAL before
594 running the regression test suite. The SYS$MANAGER:UTC$CONFIGURE_TDF.COM
595 procedure will help you set that logical for your system but may require
596 system privileges. For example, a location 5 hours west of UTC (such as
597 the US East coast while not on daylight savings time) would have:
599 DEFINE SYS$TIMEZONE_DIFFERENTIAL "-18000"
601 A final thing that causes trouble is leftover pieces from a failed
602 build. If things go wrong make sure you do a "(MMK|MMS|make) realclean"
605 =head2 DEC C issues with Perl on VMS
607 Note to DEC C users: Some early versions (pre-5.2, some pre-4. If you're DEC
608 C 5.x or higher, with current patches if any, you're fine) of the DECCRTL
609 contained a few bugs which affect Perl performance:
615 Newlines are lost on I/O through pipes, causing lines to run together.
616 This shows up as RMS RTB errors when reading from a pipe. You can
617 work around this by having one process write data to a file, and
618 then having the other read the file, instead of the pipe. This is
619 fixed in version 4 of DEC C.
623 The modf() routine returns a non-integral value for some values above
624 INT_MAX; the Perl "int" operator will return a non-integral value in
625 these cases. This is fixed in version 4 of DEC C.
629 On the AXP, if SYSNAM privilege is enabled, the CRTL chdir() routine
630 changes the process default device and directory permanently, even
631 though the call specified that the change should not persist after
632 Perl exited. This is fixed by DEC CSC patch ALPACRT04_061 or later.
635 http://ftp.support.compaq.com/patches/.new/openvms.shtml
639 Please note that in later versions "DEC C" may also be known as
642 =head2 GNU issues with Perl on VMS
644 It has been a while since the GNU utilities such as GCC or GNU make
645 were used to build perl on VMS. Hence they may require a great deal
646 of source code modification to work again.
648 http://slacvx.slac.stanford.edu/HELP/GCC
649 http://www.progis.de/
650 http://www.lp.se/products/gnu.html
652 =head2 Floating Point Considerations
654 Prior to 5.8.0, Perl simply accepted the default floating point options of the
655 C compiler, namely representing doubles with D_FLOAT on VAX and G_FLOAT on
656 Alpha. Single precision floating point values are represented in F_FLOAT
657 format when either D_FLOAT or G_FLOAT is in use for doubles. Beginning with
658 5.8.0, Alpha builds now use IEEE floating point formats by default, which in
659 VMS parlance are S_FLOAT for singles and T_FLOAT for doubles. IEEE is not
660 available on VAX, so F_FLOAT and D_FLOAT remain the defaults for singles and
661 doubles respectively. The available non-default options are G_FLOAT on VAX
662 and D_FLOAT or G_FLOAT on Alpha.
664 The use of IEEE on Alpha introduces NaN, infinity, and denormalization
665 capabilities not available with D_FLOAT and G_FLOAT. When using one of those
666 non-IEEE formats, silent underflow and overflow are emulated in the conversion
667 of strings to numbers, but it is preferable to get the real thing by using
670 Regardless of what floating point format you consider preferable, be aware
671 that the choice may have an impact on compatibility with external libraries,
672 such as database interfaces, and with existing data, such as data created with
673 the C<pack> function and written to disk, or data stored via the Storable
674 extension. For example, a C<pack("d", $foo)")> will create a D_FLOAT,
675 G_FLOAT, or T_FLOAT depending on what your Perl was configured with. When
676 written to disk, the value can only be retrieved later by a Perl configured
677 with the same floating point option that was in effect when it was created.
679 To obtain a non-IEEE build on Alpha, simply answer no to the "Use IEEE math?"
680 question during the configuration. To obtain an option different from the C
681 compiler default on either VAX or Alpha, put in the option that you want in
682 answer to the "Any additional cc flags?" question. For example, to obtain a
683 G_FLOAT build on VAX, put in C</FLOAT=G_FLOAT>.
685 =head2 Multinet issues with Perl on VMS
687 Prior to the release of Perl 5.8.0 it was noted that the regression
688 test for lib/Net/hostent (in file [.lib.Net]hostent.t) will fail owing
689 to problems with the hostent structure returned by C calls to either
690 gethostbyname() or gethostbyaddr() using DEC or Compaq C with a
691 Multinet TCP/IP stack. The problem was noted in Multinet 4.3A
692 using either Compaq C 6.5 or DEC C 6.0, and with Multinet 4.2A
693 using DEC C 5.2, but could easily affect other versions of Multinet.
694 Process Software Inc. has acknowledged a bug in the Multinet version
695 of UCX$IPC_SHR and has provided an ECO for it. The ECO is called
696 UCX_LIBRARY_EMULATION-010_A044 and is available from:
698 http://www.multinet.process.com/eco.html
700 As of this writing, the ECO is only available for Multinet versions
701 4.3A and later. You may determine the version of Multinet that you
702 are running using the command:
704 multinet show /version
706 from the DCL command prompt.
708 If the ECO is unavailable for your version of Multinet and you are
709 unable to upgrade, you might try using Perl programming constructs
712 $address = substr($gethostbyname_addr,0,4);
714 to temporarily work around the problem, or if you are brave
715 and do not mind the possibility of breaking IPv6 addresses,
716 you might modify the pp_sys.c file to add an ad-hoc correction
720 --- pp_sys.c;1 Thu May 30 14:42:17 2002
721 +++ pp_sys.c Thu May 30 12:54:02 2002
722 @@ -4684,6 +4684,10 @@
727 + hent->h_length = 4;
730 if (GIMME != G_ARRAY) {
731 PUSHs(sv = sv_newmortal());
734 then re-compile and re-test your perl. After the installation
735 of the Multinet ECO you ought to back out any such changes though.
739 There are several mailing lists available to the Perl porter. For VMS
740 specific issues (including both Perl questions and installation problems)
741 there is the VMSPERL mailing list. It is usually a low-volume (10-12
742 messages a week) mailing list.
744 To subscribe, send a mail message to VMSPERL-SUBSCRIBE@PERL.ORG. The VMSPERL
745 mailing list address is VMSPERL@PERL.ORG. Any mail sent there gets echoed
746 to all subscribers of the list. There is a searchable archive of the list
749 http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/vmsperl/
751 To unsubscribe from VMSPERL send a message to VMSPERL-UNSUBSCRIBE@PERL.ORG.
752 Be sure to do so from the subscribed account that you are canceling.
754 =head2 Web sites for Perl on VMS
756 Vmsperl pages on the web include:
758 http://www.sidhe.org/vmsperl/index.html
759 http://www.crinoid.com/
760 http://duphy4.physics.drexel.edu/pub/cgi_info.htmlx
761 http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-module/VMS/
762 http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/vmsperl/
763 http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~binder/perl.html
764 http://lists.perl.org/showlist.cgi?name=vmsperl
765 http://archive.develooper.com/vmsperl@perl.org/
766 http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/products/ips/apache/csws_modperl.html
770 Perl information for users and programmers about the port of perl to VMS is
771 available from the [.VMS]PERLVMS.POD file that gets installed as L<perlvms>.
772 For administrators the perlvms document also includes a detailed discussion
773 of extending vmsperl with CPAN modules after Perl has been installed.
777 Revised 3-December-2007 by Craig Berry craigberry@mac.com.
778 Revised 25-February-2000 by Peter Prymmer pvhp@best.com.
779 Revised 27-October-1999 by Craig Berry craigberry@mac.com.
780 Revised 01-March-1999 by Dan Sugalski dan@sidhe.org.
781 Originally by Charles Bailey bailey@newman.upenn.edu.
783 =head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
785 A real big thanks needs to go to Charles Bailey
786 bailey@newman.upenn.edu, who is ultimately responsible for Perl 5.004
787 running on VMS. Without him, nothing the rest of us have done would be at
790 There are, of course, far too many people involved in the porting and testing
791 of Perl to mention everyone who deserves it, so please forgive us if we've
792 missed someone. That said, special thanks are due to the following:
794 Tim Adye T.J.Adye@rl.ac.uk
795 for the VMS emulations of getpw*()
796 David Denholm denholm@conmat.phys.soton.ac.uk
797 for extensive testing and provision of pipe and SocketShr code,
798 Mark Pizzolato mark@infocomm.com
799 for the getredirection() code
800 Rich Salz rsalz@bbn.com
801 for readdir() and related routines
802 Peter Prymmer pvhp@best.com
803 for extensive testing, as well as development work on
804 configuration and documentation for VMS Perl,
805 Dan Sugalski dan@sidhe.org
806 for extensive contributions to recent version support,
807 development of VMS-specific extensions, and dissemination
808 of information about VMS Perl,
809 the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory and the
810 Laboratory of Nuclear Studies at Cornell University for
811 the opportunity to test and develop for the AXP,
812 John Hasstedt John.Hasstedt@sunysb.edu
813 for VAX VMS V7.2 support
815 and to the entire VMSperl group for useful advice and suggestions. In
816 addition the perl5-porters deserve credit for their creativity and
817 willingness to work with the VMS newcomers. Finally, the greatest debt of
818 gratitude is due to Larry Wall larry@wall.org, for having the ideas which
819 have made our sleepless nights possible.