-=====================================================================
-Perl 5 README file for the EPOC operating system.
-=====================================================================
+If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the funny characters you
+see. It is written in the POD format (see pod/perlpod.pod) which is
+specially designed to be readable as is.
+
+=head1 NAME
+
+README.epoc - Perl for EPOC
-Olaf Flebbe <o.flebbe@gmx.de>
-http://members.linuxstart.com/~oflebbe/perl/perl5.html
-2000-09-18
+=head1 SYNOPSIS
+
+Perl 5 README file for the EPOC operating system.
-=====================================================================
-Introduction
-=====================================================================
+=head1 INTRODUCTION
EPOC is a OS for palmtops and mobile phones. For more informations look at:
http://www.symbian.com/
-This is a port of perl to EPOC. It runs on the Psion Series 5, 5mx,
+This is a port of perl to EPOC. It runs on ER5 machines: Psion 5mx,
5mx Pro, Psion Revo and on the Ericson M128. I have no report about
-the Psion Netbook or the S7. For information about this hardware
-please refer to http://www.psion.com.
+the Psion Netbook or the S7. It runs on ER3 Hardware (Series 5
+classic), too. For more information about this hardware please refer
+to http://www.psion.com.
-=====================================================================
-Installation/Usage
-=====================================================================
+Vendors which like to have support for their devices are free to send
+me a sample.
-You will need ~4MB free space in order to install and run perl.
+=head1 INSTALLING PERL ON EPOC
-Install perl.sis on the EPOC machine (most likely a PSION Series 5,
-5mx). If you do not know how to do that, you are on your own.
+You can download a ready-to-install version from
+http://www.science-computing.de/o.flebbe/perl. You may find other
+versions with some CPAN modules included at this location.
-Perl itself and its standard library are using 2.5 MB disk space. I
-left out unicode support modules and modules which will not work with
-this version. (For details look into epoc/createpkg.pl). If you like
-to use them, you are free to copy them from a current perl release.
+You will need at least ~4MB free space in order to install and run
+perl.
-Get ESHELL from symbian:
+Install perl.sis on the EPOC machine. If you do not know how to do
+that, consult your PsiWin documentation.
+
+Perl itself and its standard library is using 2.5 MB disk space.
+Unicode support and some other modules are left out. (For details,
+please look into epoc/createpkg.pl). If you like to use these modules,
+you are free to copy them from a current perl release.
+
+=head1 STARTING PERL ON EPOC
+
+For ER5 machines, you can get the software Perlstart
+http://www.science-computing.de/o.flebbe/perl. It contains file
+recognizers for files with the extension .pl and .pm. With it you can
+start perl with a double click on the camel icon. Be sure to configure
+the perl installation drive first. You can even provide a script with
+a special commandline, if needed.
+
+Alternativly you can get ESHELL from symbian:
http://developer.epocworld.com/downloads/progs/Eshell.zip
-Now you can enter: perl -de 0 in order to run the perl debugger. If
-you are leaving perl, you get into the system screen. You have to
-switch back manually to ESHELL. When perl is running, you will see
-a task with the name STDOUT in the task list.
+Running ESHELL you can enter: perl -de 0 in order to run the perl
+debugger. If you are leaving perl, you get into the system screen. You
+have to switch back manually to ESHELL. When perl is running, you will
+see a task with the name STDOUT in the task list.
+
+If you have a ER3 machine (i.e. a PSION 5), you may have to supply the
+full path to the perl executable C:\system\programs\perl.exe.
-======================================================================
-IO Redirection
-======================================================================
+If you need to set the current directory of perl, please use the
+command line switch '-x'. See L<perlrun> for details.
+
+=head1 STOPPING PERL ON EPOC
+
+You can stop a running perl process in the task list by closing the
+application `STDOUT'. You cannot stop a running perl process if it has
+not written anyting to stdout or stderr! Be very cautious with I/O
+redirection. You will have to reboot the PDA!
+
+=head1 USING PERL ON EPOC
+
+=head2 I/O Redirection
You can redirect the output with the UNIX bourne shell syntax (this is
built into perl rather then eshell) For instance the following command
perl test.pl >stdout_file <stdin_file 2>stderr_file
-Alternativly you can use 2>&1 in order to add the standard error
+Alternatively you can use 2>&1 in order to add the standard error
output to stdout.
-======================================================================
-PATH Names
-======================================================================
+=head2 PATH Names
ESHELL looks for executables in ?:/System/Programs. The SIS file
installs perl in this special folder directory. The default drive and
path are the same as folder the executable resides. The EPOC
filesystem is case-preserving, not case-sensitive.
-EPOC uses the ?: syntax for establishing a search order: First in C: (RAM),
-then on D: (CF Card) and last in Z: (ROM).
+The EPOC estdlib uses the ?: syntax for establishing a search order:
+First in C: (RAM), then on D: (CF Card, if present) and last in Z:
+(ROM). For instance ?:\a.txt searches for C:\a.txt, D:\a.txt (and
+Z:\a.txt)
-The perl @INC search path is now implemented with '?:'. Your perl
-executable can now live on a different drive than the perl library or
-even your scripts.
+The perl @INC search path is implemented with '?:'. Your perl
+executable can live on a different drive than the perl library or even
+your scripts.
ESHELL paths have to be written with backslashes '\', file arguments
to perl with slashes '/'. Remember that I/O redirection is done
perl.exe C:/test.pl >C:/output.txt
-You can automatically search for file on all EPOC drives with a ? as
-the driver letter. For instance ?:\a.txt searches for C:\a.txt,
-D:\b.txt (and Z:\a.txt).
-
-======================================================================
-Editors
-======================================================================
+=head2 Editors
-A suitable text-editor can be downloaded
-from symbian http://developer.epocworld.com/downloads/progs/Editor.zip
+A suitable text editor can be downloaded from symbian
+ http://developer.epocworld.com/downloads/progs/Editor.zip
-====================================================================
-Features
-====================================================================
+=head2 Features
The built-in function EPOC::getcwd returns the current directory.
-======================================================================
-Restrictions
-======================================================================
+=head2 Restrictions
Features are left out, because of restrictions of the POSIX support in
EPOC:
-+ backquoting, pipes etc.
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+backquoting, pipes etc.
+
+=item *
+
+system() does not inherit ressources like: file descriptors,
+environment etc.
-+ system() does not inherit ressources like: file descriptors,
- environment etc.
+=item *
-+ signal, kill, alarm. Do not try to use them. This may be
- impossible to implement on EPOC.
+signal, kill, alarm. Do not try to use them. This may be
+impossible to implement on EPOC.
-+ select is missing.
+=item *
-+ binmode does not exist. (No CR LF to LF translation for text files)
+select is missing.
-+ EPOC does not handle the notion of current drive and current
- directory very well (i.e. not at all, but it tries hard to emulate
- one) See PATH.
+=item *
-+ You need the shell eshell.exe in order to run perl.exe and supply
- it with arguments.
+binmode does not exist. (No CR LF to LF translation for text files)
-+ Heap is limited to 4MB.
+=item *
-===================================================================
-Compiling Perl 5 on the EPOC cross compiling envionment.
-===================================================================
+EPOC does not handle the notion of current drive and current
+directory very well (i.e. not at all, but it tries hard to emulate
+one) See PATH.
+
+=item *
+
+Heap is limited to 4MB.
+
+=item *
+
+Dynamic loading is not implemented.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 Compiling Perl 5 on the EPOC cross compiling environment
Sorry, this is far too short.
- You will need the C++ SDK from http://developer.epocworld.com/.
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+You will need the C++ SDK from http://developer.epocworld.com/.
+
+=item *
- You will need to set up the cross SDK from
- http://members.linuxstart.com/~oflebbe
+You will need to set up the cross SDK from
+http://www.science-computing.de/o.flebbe/sdk
- You may have to adjust config.sh (cc, cppflags) for your epoc
- install location.
+=item *
- You may have to adjust config.sh for your cross SDK location
+You may have to adjust config.sh (cc, cppflags) to reflect your epoc
+and SDK location.
- Get the Perl sources from your nearest CPAN site.
+=item *
- Unpack the sources.
+Get the Perl sources from your nearest CPAN site.
- Build a native perl from this sources...
+=item *
+
+Unpack the sources.
+
+=item *
+
+Build a native perl from this sources... Make sure to save the
+miniperl executable as miniperl.native.
+
+Start again from scratch
cp epoc/* .
./Configure -S
- make perl.a
+ make
cp miniperl.native miniperl
- make perl
+ make
make ext/Errno/pm_to_blib
perl link.pl perlmain.o lib/auto/DynaLoader/DynaLoader.a \
lib/auto/Data/Dumper/Dumper.a \
wine G:/bin/makesis perl.pkg perl.sis
+=back
-====================================================================
-Support Status
-====================================================================
+=head1 SUPPORT STATUS
I'm offering this port "as is". You can ask me questions, but I can't
guarantee I'll be able to answer them.
+
+=head1 AUTHOR
+
+Olaf Flebbe <o.flebbe@science-computing.de>
+http://www.science-computing.de/o.flebbe/perl/
+
+=head1 LAST UPDATE
+
+2001-02-26
+
+=cut