died a natural death some time before the standard was set. Therefore
VAX C will not compile Perl 5.005 or later. We are sorry about that.
-If you are stuck without Compaq (formerly DEC) C consider trying Gnu C
-instead, though there have been no recent reports of builds using Gnu C.
-There is minimal support for Compaq C++ but this support is not complete;
+There have been no recent reports of builds using Gnu C, but latent
+(and most likely outdated) support for it is still present in various
+parts of the sources. Currently the HP (formerly Compaq, and even
+more formerly DEC) C compiler is the only viable alternative for
+building Perl.
+
+There is minimal support for HP C++ but this support is not complete;
if you get it working please write to the vmsperl list (for info see
L</"Mailing Lists">).
could use modules implementing useful VMS system services, so if you'd like
to lend a hand we'd love to have you. Join the Perl Porting Team Now!
-The current sources and build procedures have been tested on a VAX using
-DEC C, and on an AXP using DEC C. If you run into problems with
-other compilers, please let us know. (Note: DEC C was renamed to Compaq C
-around version 6.2).
-
There are issues with various versions of DEC C, so if you're not running a
relatively modern version, check the "DEC C issues" section later on in this
document.
=item 1 A C compiler.
-DEC (now Compaq) C or gcc for VMS (AXP or VAX).
+HP (formerly Compaq, more formerly DEC) C for VMS (VAX, Alpha, or Itanium).
=item 2 A make tool.
A de-compressor for *.gz and *.tgz files available from a number
of web/ftp sites and is distributed on the OpenVMS Freeware CD-ROM
-from Compaq.
+from HP.
- http://www.fsf.org/order/ftp.html
- http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/
+ http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/
http://www.crinoid.com/utils/
=item 2 VMS TAR
For reading and writing unix tape archives (*.tar files). Vmstar is also
available from a number of web/ftp sites and is distributed on the OpenVMS
-Freeware CD-ROM from Compaq.
+Freeware CD-ROM from HP.
+
+ http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/
- ftp://ftp.lp.se/vms/
- http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/
+Recent versions of VMS tar on ODS-5 volumes may extract tape archive
+files with ^. escaped periods in them. See below for further workarounds.
+
+A port of GNU tar is also available as part of the GNV package:
+
+ http://gnv.sourceforge.net/
=item 3 UNZIP.EXE for VMS
Unzip is available from a number of web/ftp sites.
http://www.info-zip.org/UnZip.html
- http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/
- ftp://ftp.openvms.compaq.com/
+ http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/
+ ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/openvms
ftp://ftp.madgoat.com/madgoat/
- ftp://ftp.process.com/vms-freeware/
+ ftp://ftp.process.com/vms-freeware/fileserv
=item 4 MOST
available here:
http://www.crinoid.com/utils/
- http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/
+ http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/
=back
DEC C, or socket libraries. See the "Socket Support (optional)" topic
for more details.
+=head1 Unpacking the Perl source code
+
+You may need to set up a foreign symbol for the unpacking utility of choice.
+
+If you unpack a perl source kit with a name containing multiple periods on
+an ODS-5 volume using recent versions of vmstar (e.g. V3.4 or later) you may
+need to be especially careful in unpacking the tape archive file. Try to use
+the ODS-2 compatability qualifiers such as:
+
+ vmstar /extract/verbose/ods2 perl-V^.VIII^.III.tar
+
+or:
+
+ vmstar -xvof perl-5^.8^.3.tar
+
+If you neglected to use the /ODS2 qualifier or the -o switch then you
+could rename the source directory:
+
+ set security/protection=(o:rwed) perl-5^.8^.3.dir
+ rename perl-5^.8^.3.dir perl-5_8_3.dir
+
+Perl on VMS as of 5.8.3 does not completely handle extended file
+parse styles such as are encountered on ODS-5. While it can be built,
+installed, and run on ODS-5 filesystems; it may encounter
+trouble with characters that are otherwise illegal on ODS-2
+volumes (notably the ^. escaped period sequence).
+
=head1 Configuring the Perl build
To configure perl (a necessary first step), issue the command
unbuildable; odds are that there's nothing in there you'll need to
change.
-The one exception is the various *DIR install locations. Changing those
-requires changes in genconfig.pl as well. Be really careful if you need to
-change these, as they can cause some fairly subtle problems.
-
=head2 Socket Support (optional) for Perl on VMS
Perl includes a number of functions for IP sockets, which are available if
How well integrated they are into the system depends on the stack, your
version of VMS, and the version of your C compiler.
-The most portable solution uses the SOCKETSHR library. In combination with
-either UCX or NetLib, this supports all the major TCP stacks (Multinet,
-Pathways, TCPWare, UCX, and CMU) on all versions of VMS Perl runs on, with
-all the compilers on both VAX and Alpha. The socket interface is also
-consistent across versions of VMS and C compilers. It has a problem with
-UDP sockets when used with Multinet, though, so you should be aware of
-that.
-
-The other solution available is to use the socket routines built into DEC
+The default solution available is to use the socket routines built into DEC
C. Which routines are available depend on the version of VMS you're
running, and require proper UCX emulation by your TCP/IP vendor.
Relatively current versions of Multinet, TCPWare, Pathway, and UCX all
provide the required libraries--check your manuals or release notes to see
if your version is new enough.
+The other solution uses the SOCKETSHR library. Before VAX/VMS 5.5-2 it was
+the most portable solution. The SOCKETSHR library has not been maintained
+since VAX/VMS 5.5-2, and it is not known if will even compile with the ANSI
+C that Perl currently requires. It remains an option for historical reasons,
+just in case someone might find it useful.
+
+In combination with either UCX or NetLib, this supported all the major TCP
+stacks (Multinet, Pathways, TCPWare, UCX, and CMU) on all versions of VMS
+Perl ran on up to VAX/VMS 6.2 and Alpha VMS 1.5 with all the compilers on
+both VAX and Alpha. The portion of the socket interface was also consistent
+across versions of VMS and C compilers.
+
+It has a problem with UDP sockets when used with Multinet, though, so you
+should be aware of that.
+
+As of VAX/VMS 5.5-2 and later, CMU is the only TCP/IP program that requires
+socketshr, and the sources have been lost to the most recent CMU bug fixes,
+so CMU is limited to OpenVMS/VAX 6.2 or earlier, which is the last release
+that binaries for the last released patches are known to exist.
+
+There is currently no official web site for downloading either CMU or
+SOCKETSHR; however, copies may be found in the DECUS archives.
+
=head1 Building Perl
The configuration script will print out, at the very end, the MMS or MMK
=head2 Running h2ph to create perl header files (optional) on VMS
-If using DEC C or Compaq C ensure that you have extracted loose versions
-of your compiler's header or *.H files. Be sure to check the contents of:
+If using HP C, ensure that you have extracted loose versions of your
+compiler's header or *.H files. Be sure to check the contents of:
SYS$LIBRARY:DECC$RTLDEF.TLB
SYS$LIBRARY:SYS$LIB_C.TLB
a VAX or on Alpha versions of VMS prior to 7.2). But MakeMaker will not
warn you if you start out building a module too deep in a directory.
+As noted above ODS-5 escape sequences such as ^. can break the perl
+build. Solutions include renaming files and directories as needed or
+being careful to use the -o switch or /ODS2 qualifier with latter
+versions of the vmstar utility when unpacking perl or CPAN modules
+on ODS-5 volumes.
+
Be sure that the process that you use to build perl has a PGFLQ greater
than 100000. Be sure to have a correct local time zone to UTC offset
defined (in seconds) in the logical name SYS$TIMEZONE_DIFFERENTIAL before
http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~binder/perl.html
http://lists.perl.org/showlist.cgi?name=vmsperl
http://archive.develooper.com/vmsperl@perl.org/
- http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvms/products/ips/apache/csws_modperl.html
+ http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/products/ips/apache/csws_modperl.html
=head1 SEE ALSO