-Last revised: 09-Oct-1994 by Charles Bailey bailey@genetics.upenn.edu
+Last revised: 19-Jan-1996 by Charles Bailey bailey@genetics.upenn.edu
-The VMS port of perl5 is still under development. At this time, the perl
+The VMS port of Perl is still under development. At this time, the Perl
binaries built under VMS handle internal operations properly, for the most
part, as well as most of the system calls which have close equivalents under
VMS. There are still some incompatibilities in process handling (e.g the
fork/exec model for creating subprocesses doesn't do what you might expect
-under Unix), and there remain some file handling differences from Unix. There
-is a VMS implementation of the DynaLoader, but it hasn't been tested much, so
-it may still have some bugs in it. Over the longer term, we'll try to get many
-of the useful VMS system services integrated as well, depending on time and
-people available. Of course, if you'd like to add something yourself, or join
-the porting team, we'd love to have you!
+under Unix), and there remain some file handling differences from Unix. Over
+the longer term, we'll try to get many of the useful VMS system services
+integrated as well, depending on time and people available. Of course, if
+you'd like to add something yourself, or join the porting team, we'd love to
+have you!
The current sources and build procedures have been tested on a VAX using VAXC
-and on an AXP using DECC. IF you run into problems with other compilers,
-please let us know.
+and DECC, and on an AXP using DECC. If you run into problems with other
+compilers, please let us know.
+Note to DECC users: Some early versions of the DECCRTL contained a few bugs
+which affect Perl performance:
+ - Newlines are lost on I/O through pipes, causing lines to run together.
+ This shows up as RMS RTB errors when reading from a pipe. You can
+ work around this by having one process write data to a file, and
+ then having the other read the file, instead of the pipe. This is
+ fixed in version 4 of DECC.
+ - The modf() routine returns a non-integral value for some values above
+ INT_MAX; the Perl "int" operator will return a non-integral value in
+ these cases. This is fixed in version 4 of DECC.
+ - On the AXP, if SYSNAM privilege is enabled, the CRTL chdir() routine
+ changes the process default device and directory permanently, even
+ though the call specified that the change should not persist after
+ Perl exited. This is fixed by DEC CSC patch AXPACRT04_061.
* Other software required
At the moment, in addition to basic VMS, you'll need two things:
- a C compiler: VAXC, DECC, or gcc for the VAX; DECC for the AXP
- - a make tool: DEC's MMS or the free analog MMK (available from ftp.spc.edu)
- or a standard make utility (e.g. GNU make, also available from
- ftp.spc.edu).
-In addition, you may include socket support if you have a IP stack running
+ - a make tool: DEC's MMS (version 2.6 or later) or the free analog MMK
+ (available from ftp.spc.edu), or a standard make utility (e.g. GNU make,
+ also available from ftp.spc.edu).
+In addition, you may include socket support if you have an IP stack running
on your system. See the topic "Socket support" for more information.
* Socket support
-Perl5 includes a number of IP socket routines among its builtin functions,
-which are available if you choose to compile perl with socket support. Since
+Perl includes a number of IP socket routines among its builtin functions,
+which are available if you choose to compile Perl with socket support. Since
IP networking is an optional addition to VMS, there are several different IP
-stacks available, it's difficult to automate the process of building perl5 with
-socket support in a way which will work on all systems.
+stacks available, so it's difficult to automate the process of building Perl
+with socket support in a way which will work on all systems.
-By default, perl5 is built without IP socket support. If you define the macro
-SOCKET when invoking MMS, however, socket support will be included. As
-distributed, perl5 for VMS includes support for the SOCKETSHR socket library,
+By default, Perl is built without IP socket support. If you define the macro
+SOCKET when invoking MMK, however, socket support will be included. As
+distributed, Perl for VMS includes support for the SOCKETSHR socket library,
which is layered on MadGoat software's vendor-independent NETLIB interface.
-This provides support for all socket calls used by perl5 except the
-[g|s]et*ent() routines, which are replaced for the moment by stubs which
-generate a fatal error if a perl script attempts to call one of these routines.
-If you'd like to link perl directly to your IP stack to take advantage of these
-routines or to eliminate the intermediate NETLIB, then make the following
-changes:
+This provides support for all socket calls used by Perl except the
+[g|s]etnet*() routines, which are replaced for the moment by stubs which
+generate a fatal error if a Perl script attempts to call one of these routines.
+Both SOCKETSHR and NETLIB are available from MadGoat ftp sites, such as
+ftp.spc.edu or ftp.wku.edu.
+
+You can link Perl directly to your TCP/IP stack's library, *as long as* it
+supplies shims for stdio routines which will properly handle both sockets and
+normal file descriptors. This is necessary because Perl does not distinguish
+between the two, and will try to make normal stdio calls such as read() and
+getc() on socket file descriptors. If you'd like to link Perl directly to
+your IP stack, then make the following changes:
- In Descrip.MMS, locate the section beginning with .ifdef SOCKET, and
change the SOCKLIB macro so that it translates to the filespec of your
IP stack's socket library. This will be added to the RTL options file.
- Edit the file SockAdapt.H in the [.VMS] subdirectory so that it
- includes the In.H, NetDb.H, and, if necessary, Errno.H header files
- for your IP stack, or so that it declares the standard TCP/IP data
- structures appropriately (see the distributed copy of SockAdapt.H
- for a collection of the structures needed by perl.) You should also
- define any logical names necessary to find these files before invoking
- MMS to build perl.
+ includes the Socket.H, In.H, Inet.H, NetDb.H, and, if necessary,
+ Errno.H header files for your IP stack, or so that it declares the
+ standard TCP/IP constants and data structures appropriately. (See
+ the distributed copy of SockAdapt.H for a collection of the structures
+ needed by Perl itself, and [.ext.Socket]Socket.xs for a list of the
+ constants used by the Socket extension, if you elect to built it.)
+ You should also define any logical names necessary for your C compiler
+ to find these files before invoking MM[KS] to build Perl.
- Edit the file SockAdapt.C in the [.VMS] subdirectory so that it
contains routines which substitute for any IP library routines
- required by perl which your IP stack does not provide. This may
+ required by Perl which your IP stack does not provide. This may
require a little trial and error; we'll try to compile a complete
- list soon of socket routines required by perl5.
+ list soon of socket routines required by Perl.
+
-* Building perl under VMS
+* Building Perl under VMS
-Since you're reading this, presumable you've unpacked the perl distribution
+Since you're reading this, presumably you've unpacked the Perl distribution
into its directory tree, in which you will find a [.vms] subdirectory below
the directory in which this file is found. If this isn't the case, then you'll
need to unpack the distribution properly, or manually edit Descrip.MMS or
-the VMS Makefile. to alter directory paths as necessary. (I'd advise using the
+the VMS Makefile to alter directory paths as necessary. (I'd advise using the
`normal' directory tree, at least for the first time through.) This
subdirectory contains several files, among which are the following:
- Config.VMS - A template C header file set up for VMS.
- Descrip.MMS - The MMS/MMK dependency file for building perl
- GenConfig.Pl - A perl script to generate Config.SH retrospectively
+ Config.VMS - A template Config.H set up for VMS.
+ Descrip.MMS - The MMS/MMK dependency file for building Perl
+ GenConfig.Pl - A Perl script to generate Config.SH retrospectively
from Config.VMS, since the Configure shell script which
normally generates Config.SH doesn't run under VMS.
GenOpt.Com - A little DCL procedure used to write some linker options
files, since not all make utilities can do this easily.
- Gen_ShrFls.Pl - A perl script which generates linker options files and
+ Gen_ShrFls.Pl - A Perl script which generates linker options files and
MACRO declarations for PerlShr.Exe.
- Makefile. - The make dependency file for building perl
- MMS2Make.Pl - A perl script used to generate Makefile. from Descrip.MMS
+ Makefile - The make dependency file for building Perl
+ MMS2Make.Pl - A Perl script used to generate Makefile from Descrip.MMS
+ PerlVMS.pod - Documentation for VMS-specific behavior of Perl
+ Perly_[CH].VMS - Versions of the byacc output from Perl's grammar,
+ modified to include VMS-specific C compiler options
+ SockAdapt.[CH] - C source code used to integrate VMS TCP/IP support
+ Test.Com - DCL driver for Perl regression tests
VMSish.H - C header file containing VMS-specific definitions
VMS.C - C source code for VMS-specific routines
- WriteMain.Pl - A perl script used to generate perlmain.c during the build.
-There may also be other files pertaining to features under development; for the
-most part, you can ignore them.
+ VMS_Yfix.Pl - Perl script to convert Perly.[CH] to Perly_[CH].VMS
+ WriteMain.Pl - Perl script to generate Perlmain.C
+The [.Ext...] directories contain VMS-specific extensions distributed with
+Perl. There may also be other files in [.VMS...] pertaining to features under
+development; for the most part, you can ignore them. Note that packages in
+[.ext.*] are not built with Perl by default; you build the ones you want
+once the basic Perl build is complete (see the perlvms docs for instructions
+on building extensions.)
-Config.VMS and Decrip.MMS/Makefile. are set up to build a version of perl which
+Config.VMS and Decrip.MMS/Makefile are set up to build a version of Perl which
includes all features known to work when this release was assembled. If you
have code at your site which would support additional features (e.g. emulation
of Unix system calls), feel free to make the appropriate changes to these
-files. (Note: Do not use or edit config.h in the main perl source directory;
+files. (Note: Do not use or edit config.h in the main Perl source directory;
it is superseded by the current Config.VMS during the build.) You may also
-wish to make site-specific changes to Descrip.MMS or Makefile. to reflect local
+wish to make site-specific changes to Descrip.MMS or Makefile to reflect local
conventions for naming of files, etc.
-At the moment, system-specific information which becomes part of the perl5
-Config extension is hard-coded into the file genconfig.pl in the vms
-subdirectory. Before you build perl, you should make any changes to the list
-at the end of this file necessary to reflect your system (e.g your hostname and
-VMS version).
+There are several pieces of system-specific information which become part of
+the Perl Config extension. Under VMS, the data for Config are generated by the
+script GenConfig.Pl in the [.VMS] subdirectory. It tries to ascertain the
+necessary information from various files, or from the system itself, and
+generally does the right thing. There is a list of hard-coded values at the
+end of this script which specifies items that are correct for most VMS systems,
+but may be incorrect for you, if your site is set up in an unusual fashion. If
+you're familiar with Perl's Config extension, feel free to edit these values as
+necessary. If this doesn't mean much to you, don't worry -- the information is
+probably correct, and even if it's not, none of these parameters affect your
+ability to build or run Perl. You'll only get the wrong answer if you ask for
+it specifically from Config.
Examine the information at the beginning of Descrip.MMS for information about
-specifying alternate C compilers or building a version of perl with debugging
+specifying alternate C compilers or building a version of Perl with debugging
support. For instance, if you want to use DECC, you'll need to include the
-/macro="decc=1" qualifier to MMS (If you're using make, these options are not
+/macro="decc=1" qualifier to MMK (If you're using make, these options are not
supported.) If you're on an AXP system, define the macro __AXP__ (MMK does
this for you), and DECC will automatically be selected.
-To start the build, set default to the main source directory.
-Then, if you are using MMS or MMK, issue the command
+To start the build, set default to the main source directory. Since
+Descrip.MMS assumes that VMS commands have their usual meaning, and makes use
+of command-line macros, you may want to be certain that you haven't defined DCL
+symbols which would interfere with the build. Then, if you are using MMS or
+MMK, say
$ MMS/Descrip=[.VMS] ! or MMK
-If you are using make, issue the command
-$ Make -f [.VMS]Makefile.
-Note that the Makefile. doesn't support conditional compilation, and is
+(N.B. If you are using MMS, you must use version 2.6 or later; a bug in
+earlier versions produces malformed cc command lines.) If you are using a
+version of make, say
+$ Make -f [.VMS]Makefile
+Note that the Makefile doesn't support conditional compilation, is
set up to use VAXC on a VAX, and does not include socket support. You can
-either edit the Makefile. by hand, using Descrip.MMS as a guide, or use the
-Makefile. to build Miniperl.Exe, and then run the Perl script MMS@Make.pl,
+either edit the Makefile by hand, using Descrip.MMS as a guide, or use the
+Makefile to build Miniperl.Exe, and then run the Perl script MMS2Make.pl,
found in the [.VMS] subdirectory, to generate a new Makefile with the options
appropriate to your site.
-Note for sites using early versions of DECC: A bug in some versions of the
-DECC RTL causes newlines to be lost when writing to a pipe. This causes
-Gen_ShrFls.pl to fail, since it can't read the preprocessor output to identify
-global variables and routines. You can work around this problem by defining
-the macro DECC_PIPES_BROKEN when you invoke MMS or MMK.
+If you are using MM[SK], and you decide to rebuild Perl with a different set
+of parameters (e.g. changing the C compiler, or adding socket support), be
+sure to say
+$ MMK/Descrip=[.VMS] realclean
+first, in order to remove files generated during the previous build. If
+you omit this step, you risk ending up with a copy of Perl which
+composed partially of old files and partially of new ones, which may lead
+to strange effects when you try to run Perl.
+
+A bug in some early versions of the DECC RTL on the AXP causes newlines
+to be lost when writing to a pipe. A different bug in some patched versions
+of DECC 4.0 for VAX can also scramble preprocessor output. Finally, gcc 2.7.2
+has yet another preprocessor bug, which causes line breaks to be inserted
+into the output at inopportune times. Each of these bugs causes Gen_ShrFls.pl
+to fail, since it can't parse the preprocessor output to identify global
+variables and routines. This problem is generally manifested as missing
+global symbols when linking PerlShr.Exe or Perl.Exe. You can work around
+it by defining the macro PIPES_BROKEN when you invoke MMS or MMK.
+
This will build the following files:
Miniperl.Exe - a stand-alone version of without any extensions.
- Miniperl has all the intrinsic capabilities of perl,
+ Miniperl has all the intrinsic capabilities of Perl,
but cannot make use of the DynaLoader or any
extensions which use XS code.
- PerlShr.Exe - a shareable image containing most of perl's internal
+ PerlShr.Exe - a shareable image containing most of Perl's internal
routines and global variables. Perl.Exe is linked to
this image, as are all dynamic extensions, so everyone's
using the same set of global variables and routines.
- Perl.Exe - the main perl executable image. It's contains the
+ Perl.Exe - the main Perl executable image. It's contains the
main() routine, plus code for any statically linked
extensions.
PerlShr_Attr.Opt - A linker options file which specifies psect attributes
matching those in PerlShr.Exe. It should be used when
linking images against PerlShr.Exe
- [.Lib]Config.pm - the perl extension which saves configuration information
- about perl and your system.
- [.lib]DynaLoader.pm - The perl extension which performs dynamic linking of
+ PerlShr_Bld.Opt - A linker options file which specifies various things
+ used to build PerlShr.Exe. It should be used when
+ rebuilding PerlShr.Exe via MakeMaker-produced
+ Descrip.MMS files for static extensions.
+ c2ph - Perl program which generates template code to access
+ C struct members from Perl.
+ h2ph - Perl program which generates template code to access
+ #defined constants in a C header file from Perl,
+ using the "old-style" interface. (Largely supplanted
+ by h2xs.)
+ h2xs - Perl program which generates template files for creating
+ XSUB extensions, optionally beginning with the #defined
+ constants in a C header file.
+ [.lib.pod]perldoc - A Perl program which locates and displays documentation
+ for Perl and its extensions.
+ [.Lib]Config.pm - the Perl extension which saves configuration information
+ about Perl and your system.
+ [.Lib]DynaLoader.pm - The Perl extension which performs dynamic linking of
shareable images for extensions.
+ Several subdirectories under [.Lib] containing preprocessed files or
+ site-specific files.
There are, of course, a number of other files created for use during the build.
Once you've got the binaries built, you may wish to `build' the `tidy' or
`clean' targets to remove extra files.
+If you run into problems during the build, you can get help from the VMSPerl
+or perl5-porters mailing lists (see below). When you report the problem,
+please include the following information:
+ - The version of Perl you're trying to build. Please include any
+ "letter" patchlevel, in addition to the version number. If the
+ build successfully created Miniperl.Exe, you can check this by
+ saying '$ MCR Sys$Disk:[]Miniperl -v'. Also, please mention
+ where you obtained the distribution kit; in particular, note
+ whether you were using a basic Perl kit or the VMS test kit
+ (see below).
+ - The exact command you issued to build Perl.
+ - A copy of all error messages which were generated during the build.
+ Please include enough of the build log to establish the context of
+ the error messages.
+ - A summary of your configuration. If the build progressed far enough
+ to generate Miniperl.Exe and [.Lib]Config.pm, you can obtain this
+ by saying '$ MCR Sys$Disk:[]Miniperl "-V"' (note the "" around -V).
+ If not, then you can say '$ MMK/Descrip=[.VMS] printconfig' to
+ produce the summary.
+This may sound like a lot of information to send, but it'll often make
+it easier for someone to spot the problem, instead of having to give
+a spectrum of possibilities.
+
+
-* Installing perl once it's built
+* Installing Perl once it's built
Once the build is complete, you'll need to do the following:
- Put PerlShr.Exe in a common directory, and make it world-readable.
If you place it in a location other than Sys$Share, you'll need to
- define the logical name PerlShr to point to the image.
- - Put Perl.Exe in a common directory, and make it world executable
- - Define a foreign command to invoke perl, using a statement like
+ define the logical name PerlShr to point to the image. (If you're
+ installing on a VMScluster, be sure that each node is using the
+ copy of PerlShr you expect [e.g. if you put PerlShr.Exe in Sys$Share,
+ do they all share Sys$Share?]).
+ - Put Perl.Exe in a common directory, and make it world-executable.
+ - Define a foreign command to invoke Perl, using a statement like
$ Perl == "$dev:[dir]Perl.Exe"
- - Create a world-readable directory tree for perl library modules,
+ - Create a world-readable directory tree for Perl library modules,
scripts, and what-have-you, and define PERL_ROOT as a rooted logical
- name pointing to the top of this tree (i.e. if your perl files were
- going to live in DKA1:[Perl5...], then you should
- $ Define/Translation=Concealed Perl_Root DKA1:[Perl5.]
- - Define the logical name PERLSHR as the full file specification of
- PERLSHR.EXE, so executable images linked to it can find it. Alternatively,
- you can justput PERLSHR.EXE int SYS$SHARE.
- - Place the files from the [.lib] subdirectory in the distribution package
- into a [.lib] subdirectory off the root directory described above.
- - Most of the perl5 documentation lives in the [.pod] subdirectory, and
+ name pointing to the top of this tree (i.e. if your Perl files were
+ going to live in DKA1:[Util.Perl5...], then you should
+ $ Define/Translation=Concealed Perl_Root DKA1:[Util.Perl5.]
+ (Be careful to follow the rules for rooted logical names; in particular,
+ remember that a rooted logical name cannot have as its device portion
+ another rooted logical name - you've got to supply the actual device name
+ and directory path to the root directory.)
+ - Place the files from the [.lib...] directory tree in the distribution
+ package into a [.lib...] directory tree off the root directory described
+ above.
+ - Most of the Perl documentation lives in the [.pod] subdirectory, and
is written in a simple markup format which can be easily read. In this
directory as well are pod2man and pod2html translators to reformat the
docs for common display engines; a pod2hlp translator is under development.
- Information on perl5 can also be gleaned from the files in the [.doc]
- subdirectory (internals documents and summaries of changes), and from
- the test scripts in the [.t...] subdirectories.
-For now, that's it.
+ These files are copied to [.lib.pod] during the installation.
+ - Define a foreign command to execute perldoc, such as
+ $ Perldoc == "''Perl' Perl_Root:[lib.pod]Perldoc -t"
+ This will allow users to retrieve documentation using Perldoc. For
+ more details, say "perldoc perldoc".
+That's it.
+If you run into a bug in Perl, please submit a bug report. The PerlBug
+program, found in the [.lib] directory, will walk you through the process
+of assembling the necessary information into a bug report, and sending
+of to the Perl bug reporting address, perlbug@perl.com.
* For more information
-If you're interested in more information on perl in general, consult the Usenet
-newsgroup comp.lang.perl. The FAQ for that group provides pointers to other
-online sources of information, as well as books describing perl in depth.
+If you're interested in more information on Perl in general, you may wish to
+consult the Usenet newsgroups comp.lang.perl.announce and comp.lang.perl.misc.
+The FAQ for these groups provides pointers to other online sources of
+information, as well as books describing Perl in depth.
-If you're interested in up-to-date information on perl5 development and
+If you're interested in up-to-date information on Perl development and
internals, you might want to subscribe to the perl5-porters mailing list. You
-can do this by sending a message to perl5-porters-request@isi.edu, containing
+can do this by sending a message to perl5-porters-request@nicoh.com, containing
the single line
-subscribe perl5-porters Your Name Here
-This is a moderately high-volume list at the moment (25-50 messages/day).
+subscribe perl5-porters
+This is a high-volume list at the moment (>50 messages/day).
-Finally, if you're interested in ongoing information about the VMS port, you
-can subscribe to the VMSperl mailing list by sending a request to
-bailey@genetics.upenn.edu (it's to a human, not a list server - this is a small
-operation at the moment). And, as always, we welcome any help or code you'd
+If you're interested in ongoing information about the VMS port, you can
+subscribe to the VMSPerl mailing list by sending a request to
+vmsperl-request@genetics.upenn.edu, containing the single line
+subscribe VMSPerl
+as the body of the message. And, as always, we welcome any help or code you'd
like to offer - you can send mail to bailey@genetics.upenn.edu or directly to
-the VMSperl list at vmsperl@genetics.upenn.edu.
+the VMSPerl list at vmsperl@genetics.upenn.edu.
+
+Finally, if you'd like to try out the latest changes to VMS Perl, you can
+retrieve a test distribution kit by anonymous ftp from genetics.upenn.edu, in
+the file [.perl5]perl5_ppp_yymmddx.zip, where "ppp" is the current Perl
+patchlevel, and "yymmddx" is a sequence number indicating the date that
+particular kit was assembled. In order to make retrieval convenient, this
+kit is also available by the name Perl5_VMSTest.Zip. These test kits contain
+"unofficial" patches from the perl5-porters group, test patches for important
+bugs, and VMS-specific fixes and improvements which have occurred since the
+last Perl release. Most of these changes will be incorporated in the next
+release of Perl, but until Larry Wall's looked at them and said they're OK,
+none of them should be considered official.
-Good luck using perl. Please let us know how it works for you - we can't
+Good luck using Perl. Please let us know how it works for you - we can't
guarantee that we'll be able to fix bugs quickly, but we'll try, and we'd
certainly like to know they're out there.
* Acknowledgements
There are, of course, far too many people involved in the porting and testing
-of perl5 to mention everyone who deserves it, so please forgive us if we've
+of Perl to mention everyone who deserves it, so please forgive us if we've
missed someone. That said, special thanks are due to the following:
+ Tim Adye <T.J.Adye@rl.ac.uk>
+ for the VMS emulations of getpw*()
David Denholm <denholm@conmat.phys.soton.ac.uk>
for extensive testing and provision of pipe and SocketShr code,
Mark Pizzolato <mark@infocomm.com>
for the getredirection() code
Rich Salz <rsalz@bbn.com>
for readdir() and related routines
- Denis Haskin <DWH@epub.ziff.com>
- for work on a pod-to-hlp translator for the perl5 documentation
- Richard Dyson <dyson@blaze.physics.uiowa.edu> and
- Kent Covert <kacovert@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu>
- for additional testing on the AXP.
+ Peter Prymmer <pvhp@lns62.lns.cornell.edu)
+ for extensive testing, as well as development work on
+ configuration and documentation for VMS Perl,
+ the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory and the
+ Laboratory of Nuclear Studies at Cornell University for
+ the the opportunity to test and develop for the AXP,
and to the entire VMSperl group for useful advice and suggestions. In addition
the perl5-porters, especially Andy Dougherty <doughera@lafcol.lafayette.edu>
and Tim Bunce <Tim.Bunce@ig.co.uk>, deserve credit for their creativity and
willingness to work with the VMS newcomers. Finally, the greatest debt of
-gratitude is due to Larry Wall <lwall@netlabs.com>, for having the ideas which
+gratitude is due to Larry Wall <larry@wall.org>, for having the ideas which
have made our sleepless nights possible.
Thanks,
projects / p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git / blobdiff