-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
-
-perlwin32 - Perl under Win32
-
-=head1 SYNOPSIS
-
-These are instructions for building Perl under Windows NT (versions
-3.51 or 4.0), using Visual C++ (versions 2.0 through 5.0) or Borland
-C++ (version 5.x). Currently, this port may also build under Windows95,
-but you can expect problems stemming from the unmentionable command
-shell that infests that platform. Note this caveat is only about
-B<building> perl. Once built, you should be able to B<use> it on
-either Win32 platform (modulo the problems arising from the inferior
-command shell).
-
-=head1 DESCRIPTION
-
-Before you start, you should glance through the README file
-found in the top-level directory where the Perl distribution
-was extracted. Make sure you read and understand the terms under
-which this software is being distributed.
-
-Also make sure you read L<BUGS AND CAVEATS> below for the
-known limitations of this port.
-
-The INSTALL file in the perl top-level has much information that is
-only relevant to people building Perl on Unix-like systems. In
-particular, you can safely ignore any information that talks about
-"Configure".
-
-You may also want to look at two other options for building
-a perl that will work on Windows NT: the README.cygwin32 and
-README.os2 files, which each give a different set of rules to build
-a Perl that will work on Win32 platforms. Those two methods will
-probably enable you to build a more Unix-compatible perl, but you
-will also need to download and use various other build-time and
-run-time support software described in those files.
-
-This set of instructions is meant to describe a so-called "native"
-port of Perl to Win32 platforms. The resulting Perl requires no
-additional software to run (other than what came with your operating
-system). Currently, this port is capable of using either the
-Microsoft Visual C++ compiler, or the Borland C++ compiler. The
-ultimate goal is to support the other major compilers that can
-generally be used to build Win32 applications.
-
-This port currently supports MakeMaker (the set of modules that
-is used to build extensions to perl). Therefore, you should be
-able to build and install most extensions found in the CPAN sites.
-See L<Usage Hints> below for general hints about this.
-
-=head2 Setting Up
-
-=over 4
-
-=item Command Shell
-
-Use the default "cmd" shell that comes with NT. In particular, do
-*not* use the 4DOS/NT shell. The Makefile has commands that are not
-compatible with that shell. The Makefile also has known
-incompatibilites with the default shell that comes with Windows95,
-so building under Windows95 should be considered "unsupported".
-
-=item Borland C++
-
-If you are using the Borland compiler, you will need dmake, a freely
-available make that has very nice macro features and parallelability.
-(The make that Borland supplies is seriously crippled, and will not
-work for MakeMaker builds--if you *have* to bug someone about this,
-I suggest you bug Borland to fix their make :)
-
-A port of dmake for win32 platforms is available from
-"http://www-personal.umich.edu/~gsar/dmake-4.0-win32.tar.gz".
-Fetch and install dmake somewhere on your path. Also make sure you
-copy the Borland dmake.ini file to some location where you keep
-*.ini files. If you use the binary that comes with the above port, you
-will need to set INIT in your environment to the directory where you
-put the dmake.ini file.
-
-=item Microsoft Visual C++
-
-The NMAKE that comes with Visual C++ will suffice for building.
-If you did not choose to always initialize the Visual C++ compilation
-environment variables when you installed Visual C++ on your system, you
-will need to run the VCVARS32.BAT file usually found somewhere like
-C:\MSDEV4.2\BIN. This will set your build environment.
-
-You can also use dmake to build using Visual C++, provided: you
-copied the dmake.ini for Visual C++; set INIT to point to the
-directory where you put it, as above; and edit win32/config.vc
-and change "make=nmake" to "make=dmake". The last step is only
-essential if you want to use dmake to be your default make for
-building extensions using MakeMaker.
-
-=item Permissions
-
-Depending on how you extracted the distribution, you have to make sure
-some of the files are writable by you. The easiest way to make sure of
-this is to execute:
-
- attrib -R *.* /S
-
-from the perl toplevel directory. You don't I<have> to do this if you
-used the right tools to extract the files in the standard distribution,
-but it doesn't hurt to do so.
-
-=back
-
-=head2 Building
-
-=over 4
-
-=item *
-
-Make sure you are in the "win32" subdirectory under the perl toplevel.
-This directory contains a "Makefile" that will work with
-versions of NMAKE that come with Visual C++ ver. 2.0 and above, and
-a dmake "makefile.mk" that will work for both Borland and Visual C++
-builds. The defaults in the dmake makefile are setup to build using the
-Borland compiler.
-
-=item *
-
-Edit the Makefile (or makefile.mk, if using dmake) and change the values
-of INST_DRV and INST_TOP if you want perl to be installed in a location
-other than "C:\PERL". If you are using Visual C++ ver. 2.0, uncomment
-the line that sets "CCTYPE=MSVC20".
-
-You will also have to make sure CCHOME points to wherever you installed
-your compiler.
-
-=item *
-
-Type "nmake" (or "dmake" if you are using that make).
-
-This should build everything. Specifically, it will create perl.exe,
-perl.dll, and perlglob.exe at the perl toplevel, and various other
-extension dll's under the lib\auto directory. If the build fails for
-any reason, make sure you have done the previous steps correctly.
-
-The build process may produce "harmless" compiler warnings (more or
-less copiously, depending on how picky your compiler gets). The
-maintainers are aware of these warnings, thankyouverymuch. :)
-
-When building using Visual C++, a perl95.exe will also get built. This
-executable is only needed on Windows95, and should be used instead of
-perl.exe, and then only if you want sockets to work properly on Windows95.
-This is necessitated by a bug in the Microsoft C Runtime that cannot be
-worked around in the "normal" perl.exe. Again, if this bugs you, please
-bug Microsoft :). perl95.exe gets built with its own private copy of the
-C Runtime that is not accessible to extensions (which see the DLL version
-of the CRT). Be aware, therefore, that this perl95.exe will have
-esoteric problems with extensions like perl/Tk that themselves use the C
-Runtime heavily, or want to free() pointers malloc()-ed by perl.
-
-You can avoid the perl95.exe problems completely if you use Borland
-C++ for building perl (perl95.exe is not needed and will not be built
-in that case).
-
-=back
-
-=head2 Testing
-
-Type "nmake test" (or "dmake test"). This will run most of the tests from
-the testsuite (many tests will be skipped, and but no test should fail).
-
-If some tests do fail, it may be because you are using a different command
-shell than the native "cmd.exe".
-
-If you used the Borland compiler, you may see a failure in op/taint.t
-arising from the inability to find the Borland Runtime DLLs on the system
-default path. You will need to copy the DLLs reported by the messages
-from where Borland chose to install it, into the Windows system directory
-(usually somewhere like C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32), and rerun the test.
-
-Please report any other failures as described under L<BUGS AND CAVEATS>.
-
-=head2 Installation
-
-Type "nmake install" (or "dmake install"). This will put the newly
-built perl and the libraries under "C:\perl" (actually whatever you set
-C<INST_TOP> to in the Makefile). It will also install the pod
-documentation under C<$INST_TOP\lib\pod> and HTML versions of the same
-under C<$INST_TOP\lib\pod\html>. To use the Perl you just installed,
-set your PATH environment variable to "C:\perl\bin" (or C<$INST_TOP\bin>,
-if you changed the default as above).
-
-=head2 Usage Hints
-
-=over 4
-
-=item Environment Variables
-
-The installation paths that you set during the build get compiled
-into perl, so you don't have to do anything additional to start
-using that perl (except add its location to your PATH variable).
-
-If you put extensions in unusual places, you can set PERL5LIB
-to a list of paths separated by semicolons where you want perl
-to look for libraries. Look for descriptions of other environment
-variables you can set in the perlrun podpage.
-
-Sometime in the future, some of the configuration information
-for perl will be moved into the Windows registry.
-
-=item File Globbing
-
-By default, perl spawns an external program to do file globbing.
-The install process installs both a perlglob.exe and a perlglob.bat
-that perl can use for this purpose. Note that with the default
-installation, perlglob.exe will be found by the system before
-perlglob.bat.
-
-perlglob.exe relies on the argv expansion done by the C Runtime of
-the particular compiler you used, and therefore behaves very
-differently depending on the Runtime used to build it. To preserve
-compatiblity, perlglob.bat (a perl script/module that can be
-used portably) is installed. Besides being portable, perlglob.bat
-also offers enhanced globbing functionality.
-
-If you want perl to use perlglob.bat instead of perlglob.exe, just
-delete perlglob.exe from the install location (or move it somewhere
-perl cannot find). Using File::DosGlob.pm (which is the same
-as perlglob.bat) to override the internal CORE::glob() works about 10
-times faster than spawing perlglob.exe, and you should take this
-approach when writing new modules. See File::DosGlob for details.
-
-=item Using perl from the command line
-
-If you are accustomed to using perl from various command-line
-shells found in UNIX environments, you will be less than pleased
-with what Windows NT offers by way of a command shell.
-
-The crucial thing to understand about the "cmd" shell (which is
-the default on Windows NT) is that it does not do any wildcard
-expansions of command-line arguments (so wildcards need not be
-quoted). It also provides only rudimentary quoting. The only
-(useful) quote character is the double quote ("). It can be used to
-protect spaces in arguments and other special characters. The
-Windows NT documentation has almost no description of how the
-quoting rules are implemented, but here are some general observations
-based on experiments: The shell breaks arguments at spaces and
-passes them to programs in argc/argv. Doublequotes can be used
-to prevent arguments with spaces in them from being split up.
-You can put a double quote in an argument by escaping it with
-a backslash and enclosing the whole argument within double quotes.
-The backslash and the pair of double quotes surrounding the
-argument will be stripped by the shell.
-
-The file redirection characters "<", ">", and "|" cannot be quoted
-by double quotes (there are probably more such). Single quotes
-will protect those three file redirection characters, but the
-single quotes don't get stripped by the shell (just to make this
-type of quoting completely useless). The caret "^" has also
-been observed to behave as a quoting character (and doesn't get
-stripped by the shell also).
-
-Here are some examples of usage of the "cmd" shell:
-
-This prints two doublequotes:
-
- perl -e "print '\"\"' "
-
-This does the same:
-
- perl -e "print \"\\\"\\\"\" "
-
-This prints "bar" and writes "foo" to the file "blurch":
-
- perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" > blurch
-
-This prints "foo" ("bar" disappears into nowhereland):
-
- perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2> nul
-
-This prints "bar" and writes "foo" into the file "blurch":
-
- perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 1> blurch
-
-This pipes "foo" to the "less" pager and prints "bar" on the console:
-
- perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" | less
-
-This pipes "foo\nbar\n" to the less pager:
-
- perl -le "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2>&1 | less
-
-This pipes "foo" to the pager and writes "bar" in the file "blurch":
-
- perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2> blurch | less
-
-
-Discovering the usefullness of the "command.com" shell on Windows95
-is left as an exercise to the reader :)
-
-=item Building Extensions
-
-The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) offers a wealth
-of extensions, some of which require a C compiler to build.
-Look in http://www.perl.com/ for more information on CPAN.
-
-Most extensions (whether they require a C compiler or not) can
-be built, tested and installed with the standard mantra:
-
- perl Makefile.PL
- $MAKE
- $MAKE test
- $MAKE install
-
-where $MAKE stands for NMAKE or DMAKE. Some extensions may not
-provide a testsuite (so "$MAKE test" may not do anything, or fail),
-but most serious ones do.
-
-If a module implements XSUBs, you will need one of the supported
-C compilers. You must make sure you have set up the environment for
-the compiler for command-line compilation.
-
-If a module does not build for some reason, look carefully for
-why it failed, and report problems to the module author. If
-it looks like the extension building support is at fault, report
-that with full details of how the build failed using the perlbug
-utility.
-
-=item Win32 Specific Extensions
-
-A number of extensions specific to the Win32 platform are available
-from CPAN. You may find that many of these extensions are meant to
-be used under the Activeware port of Perl, which used to be the only
-native port for the Win32 platform. Since the Activeware port does not
-have adequate support for Perl's extension building tools, these
-extensions typically do not support those tools either, and therefore
-cannot be built using the generic steps shown in the previous section.
-
-To ensure smooth transitioning of existing code that uses the
-Activeware port, there is a bundle of Win32 extensions that contains
-all of the Activeware extensions and most other Win32 extensions from
-CPAN in source form, along with many added bugfixes, and with MakeMaker
-support. This bundle is available at:
-
- http://www.perl.com/CPAN/authors/id/GSAR/libwin32-0.08.tar.gz
-
-See the README in that distribution for building and installation
-instructions. Look for later versions that may be available at the
-same location.
-
-It is expected that authors of Win32 specific extensions will begin
-distributing their work in MakeMaker compatible form subsequent to
-the 5.004 release of perl, at which point the need for a dedicated
-bundle such as the above should diminish.
-
-=item Running Perl Scripts
-
-Perl scripts on UNIX use the "#!" (a.k.a "shebang") line to
-indicate to the OS that it should execute the file using perl.
-Win32 has no comparable means to indicate arbitrary files are
-executables.
-
-Instead, all available methods to execute plain text files on
-Win32 rely on the file "extension". There are three methods
-to use this to execute perl scripts:
-
-=over 8
-
-=item 1
-
-There is a facility called "file extension associations" that will
-work in Windows NT 4.0. This can be manipulated via the two
-commands "assoc" and "ftype" that come standard with Windows NT
-4.0. Type "ftype /?" for a complete example of how to set this
-up for perl scripts (Say what? You thought Windows NT wasn't
-perl-ready? :).
-
-=item 2
-
-Since file associations don't work everywhere, and there are
-reportedly bugs with file associations where it does work, the
-old method of wrapping the perl script to make it look like a
-regular batch file to the OS, may be used. The install process
-makes available the "pl2bat.bat" script which can be used to wrap
-perl scripts into batch files. For example:
-
- pl2bat foo.pl
-
-will create the file "FOO.BAT". Note "pl2bat" strips any
-.pl suffix and adds a .bat suffix to the generated file.
-
-If you use the 4DOS/NT or similar command shell, note that
-"pl2bat" uses the "%*" variable in the generated batch file to
-refer to all the command line arguments, so you may need to make
-sure that construct works in batch files. As of this writing,
-4DOS/NT users will need a "ParameterChar = *" statement in their
-4NT.INI file, or will need to execute "setdos /p*" in the 4DOS/NT
-startup file to enable this to work.
-
-=item 3
-
-Using "pl2bat" has a few problems: the file name gets changed,
-so scripts that rely on C<$0> to find what they must do may not
-run properly; running "pl2bat" replicates the contents of the
-original script, and so this process can be maintenance intensive
-if the originals get updated often. A different approach that
-avoids both problems is possible.
-
-A script called "runperl.bat" is available that can be copied
-to any filename (along with the .bat suffix). For example,
-if you call it "foo.bat", it will run the file "foo" when it is
-executed. Since you can run batch files on Win32 platforms simply
-by typing the name (without the extension), this effectively
-runs the file "foo", when you type either "foo" or "foo.bat".
-With this method, "foo.bat" can even be in a different location
-than the file "foo", as long as "foo" is available somewhere on
-the PATH. If your scripts are on a filesystem that allows symbolic
-links, you can even avoid copying "runperl.bat".
-
-Here's a diversion: copy "runperl.bat" to "runperl", and type
-"runperl". Explain the observed behavior, or lack thereof. :)
-Hint: .gnidnats llits er'uoy fi ,"lrepnur" eteled :tniH
-
-=back
-
-=item Miscellaneous Things
-
-A full set of HTML documentation is installed, so you should be
-able to use it if you have a web browser installed on your
-system.
-
-C<perldoc> is also a useful tool for browsing information contained
-in the documentation, especially in conjunction with a pager
-like C<less> (recent versions of which have Win32 support). You may
-have to set the PAGER environment variable to use a specific pager.
-"perldoc -f foo" will print information about the perl operator
-"foo".
-
-If you find bugs in perl, you can run C<perlbug> to create a
-bug report (you may have to send it manually if C<perlbug> cannot
-find a mailer on your system).
-
-=back
-
-=head1 BUGS AND CAVEATS
-
-This port should be considered beta quality software at the present
-time because some details are still in flux and there may be
-changes in any of these areas: build process, installation structure,
-supported utilities/modules, and supported perl functionality.
-In particular, functionality specific to the Win32 environment may
-ultimately be supported as either core modules or extensions. The
-beta status implies, among other things, that you should be prepared
-to recompile extensions when binary incompatibilites arise due to
-changes in the internal structure of the code.
-
-An effort has been made to ensure that the DLLs produced by the two
-supported compilers are compatible with each other (despite the
-best efforts of the compiler vendors). Extension binaries produced
-by one compiler should also coexist with a perl binary built by
-a different compiler. In order to accomplish this, PERL.DLL provides
-a layer of runtime code that uses the C Runtime that perl was compiled
-with. Extensions which include "perl.h" will transparently access
-the functions in this layer, thereby ensuring that both perl and
-extensions use the same runtime functions.
-
-If you have had prior exposure to Perl on Unix platforms, you will notice
-this port exhibits behavior different from what is documented. Most of the
-differences fall under one of these categories. We do not consider
-any of them to be serious limitations (especially when compared to the
-limited nature of some of the Win32 OSes themselves :)
-
-=over 8
-
-=item *
-
-C<stat()> and C<lstat()> functions may not behave as documented. They
-may return values that bear no resemblance to those reported on Unix
-platforms, and some fields (like the the one for inode) may be completely
-bogus.
-
-=item *
-
-The following functions are currently unavailable: C<fork()>,
-C<dump()>, C<chown()>, C<link()>, C<symlink()>, C<chroot()>,
-C<setpgrp()>, C<getpgrp()>, C<setpriority()>, C<getpriority()>,
-C<syscall()>, C<fcntl()>. This list is possibly very incomplete.
-
-=item *
-
-crypt() is not available due to silly export restrictions. It may
-become available when the laws change. Meanwhile, look in CPAN for
-extensions that provide it.
-
-=item *
-
-Various C<socket()> related calls are supported, but they may not
-behave as on Unix platforms.
-
-=item *
-
-The four-argument C<select()> call is only supported on sockets.
-
-=item *
-
-C<$?> ends up with the exitstatus of the subprocess (this is different
-from Unix, where the exitstatus is actually given by "$? >> 8").
-Failure to spawn() the subprocess is indicated by setting $? to
-"255<<8". This is subject to change.
-
-=item *
-
-Building modules available on CPAN is mostly supported, but this
-hasn't been tested much yet. Expect strange problems, and be
-prepared to deal with the consequences.
-
-=item *
-
-C<utime()>, C<times()> and process-related functions may not
-behave as described in the documentation, and some of the
-returned values or effects may be bogus.
-
-=item *
-
-Signal handling may not behave as on Unix platforms (where it
-doesn't exactly "behave", either :). For instance, calling C<die()>
-or C<exit()> from signal handlers will cause an exception, since most
-implementations of C<signal()> on Win32 are severely crippled.
-Thus, signals may work only for simple things like setting a flag
-variable in the handler. Using signals under this port should
-currently be considered unsupported.
-
-=item *
-
-File globbing may not behave as on Unix platforms. In particular,
-if you don't use perlglob.bat for globbing, it will understand
-wildcards only in the filename component (and not in the pathname).
-In other words, something like "print <*/*.pl>" will not print all the
-perl scripts in all the subdirectories one level under the current one
-(like it does on UNIX platforms). perlglob.exe is also dependent on
-the particular implementation of wildcard expansion in the vendor
-libraries used to build it (which varies wildly at the present time).
-Using perlglob.bat (or File::DosGlob) avoids these limitations, but
-still only provides DOS semantics (read "warts") for globbing.
-
-=back
-
-Please send detailed descriptions of any problems and solutions that
-you may find to <F<perlbug@perl.com>>, along with the output produced
-by C<perl -V>.
-
-=head1 AUTHORS
-
-=over 4
-
-Gary Ng E<lt>71564.1743@CompuServe.COME<gt>
-
-Gurusamy Sarathy E<lt>gsar@umich.eduE<gt>
-
-Nick Ing-Simmons E<lt>nick@ni-s.u-net.comE<gt>
-
-=back
-
-This document is maintained by Gurusamy Sarathy.
-
-=head1 SEE ALSO
-
-L<perl>
-
-=head1 HISTORY
-
-This port was originally contributed by Gary Ng around 5.003_24,
-and borrowed from the Hip Communications port that was available
-at the time.
-
-Nick Ing-Simmons and Gurusamy Sarathy have made numerous and
-sundry hacks since then.
-
-Borland support was added in 5.004_01 (Gurusamy Sarathy).
-
-Last updated: 25 July 1997
-
-=cut
-
+If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the funny characters you\r
+see. It is written in the POD format (see pod/perlpod.pod) which is\r
+specially designed to be readable as is.\r
+\r
+=head1 NAME\r
+\r
+perlwin32 - Perl under Win32\r
+\r
+=head1 SYNOPSIS\r
+\r
+These are instructions for building Perl under Windows (9x, NT and\r
+2000).\r
+\r
+=head1 DESCRIPTION\r
+\r
+Before you start, you should glance through the README file\r
+found in the top-level directory to which the Perl distribution\r
+was extracted. Make sure you read and understand the terms under\r
+which this software is being distributed.\r
+\r
+Also make sure you read L<BUGS AND CAVEATS> below for the\r
+known limitations of this port.\r
+\r
+The INSTALL file in the perl top-level has much information that is\r
+only relevant to people building Perl on Unix-like systems. In\r
+particular, you can safely ignore any information that talks about\r
+"Configure".\r
+\r
+You may also want to look at two other options for building\r
+a perl that will work on Windows NT: the README.cygwin and\r
+README.os2 files, each of which give a different set of rules to\r
+build a Perl that will work on Win32 platforms. Those two methods\r
+will probably enable you to build a more Unix-compatible perl, but\r
+you will also need to download and use various other build-time and\r
+run-time support software described in those files.\r
+\r
+This set of instructions is meant to describe a so-called "native"\r
+port of Perl to Win32 platforms. The resulting Perl requires no\r
+additional software to run (other than what came with your operating\r
+system). Currently, this port is capable of using one of the\r
+following compilers:\r
+\r
+ Borland C++ version 5.02 or later\r
+ Microsoft Visual C++ version 4.2 or later\r
+ Mingw32 with GCC version 2.95.2 or better\r
+\r
+The last of these is a high quality freeware compiler. Support\r
+for it is still experimental. (Older versions of GCC are known\r
+not to work.)\r
+\r
+This port currently supports MakeMaker (the set of modules that\r
+is used to build extensions to perl). Therefore, you should be\r
+able to build and install most extensions found in the CPAN sites.\r
+See L<Usage Hints for Perl on Win32> below for general hints about this.\r
+\r
+=head2 Setting Up Perl on Win32\r
+\r
+=over 4\r
+\r
+=item Make\r
+\r
+You need a "make" program to build the sources. If you are using\r
+Visual C++ under Windows NT or 2000, nmake will work. All other\r
+builds need dmake.\r
+\r
+dmake is a freely available make that has very nice macro features\r
+and parallelability.\r
+\r
+A port of dmake for Windows is available from:\r
+\r
+ http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/GSAR/dmake-4.1pl1-win32.zip\r
+\r
+(This is a fixed version of the original dmake sources obtained from\r
+http://www.wticorp.com/dmake/. As of version 4.1PL1, the original\r
+sources did not build as shipped and had various other problems.\r
+A patch is included in the above fixed version.)\r
+\r
+Fetch and install dmake somewhere on your path (follow the instructions\r
+in the README.NOW file).\r
+\r
+There exists a minor coexistence problem with dmake and Borland C++\r
+compilers. Namely, if a distribution has C files named with mixed\r
+case letters, they will be compiled into appropriate .obj-files named\r
+with all lowercase letters, and every time dmake is invoked\r
+to bring files up to date, it will try to recompile such files again.\r
+For example, Tk distribution has a lot of such files, resulting in\r
+needless recompiles everytime dmake is invoked. To avoid this, you\r
+may use the script "sync_ext.pl" after a successful build. It is\r
+available in the win32 subdirectory of the Perl source distribution.\r
+\r
+=item Command Shell\r
+\r
+Use the default "cmd" shell that comes with NT. Some versions of the\r
+popular 4DOS/NT shell have incompatibilities that may cause you trouble.\r
+If the build fails under that shell, try building again with the cmd\r
+shell.\r
+\r
+The nmake Makefile also has known incompatibilities with the\r
+"command.com" shell that comes with Windows 9x. You will need to\r
+use dmake and makefile.mk to build under Windows 9x.\r
+\r
+The surest way to build it is on Windows NT, using the cmd shell.\r
+\r
+Make sure the path to the build directory does not contain spaces. The\r
+build usually works in this circumstance, but some tests will fail.\r
+\r
+=item Borland C++\r
+\r
+If you are using the Borland compiler, you will need dmake.\r
+(The make that Borland supplies is seriously crippled and will not\r
+work for MakeMaker builds.)\r
+\r
+See L</"Make"> above.\r
+\r
+=item Microsoft Visual C++\r
+\r
+The nmake that comes with Visual C++ will suffice for building.\r
+You will need to run the VCVARS32.BAT file, usually found somewhere\r
+like C:\MSDEV4.2\BIN. This will set your build environment.\r
+\r
+You can also use dmake to build using Visual C++; provided, however,\r
+you set OSRELEASE to "microsft" (or whatever the directory name\r
+under which the Visual C dmake configuration lives) in your environment\r
+and edit win32/config.vc to change "make=nmake" into "make=dmake". The\r
+latter step is only essential if you want to use dmake as your default\r
+make for building extensions using MakeMaker.\r
+\r
+=item Mingw32 with GCC\r
+\r
+GCC-2.95.2 binaries can be downloaded from:\r
+\r
+ ftp://ftp.xraylith.wisc.edu/pub/khan/gnu-win32/mingw32/\r
+\r
+You also need dmake. See L</"Make"> above on how to get it.\r
+\r
+The GCC-2.95.2 bundle comes with Mingw32 libraries and headers.\r
+\r
+Make sure you install the binaries that work with MSVCRT.DLL as indicated\r
+in the README for the GCC bundle. You may need to set up a few environment\r
+variables (usually ran from a batch file).\r
+\r
+There are a couple of problems with the version of gcc-2.95.2-msvcrt.exe\r
+released 7 November 1999:\r
+\r
+=over\r
+\r
+=item *\r
+\r
+It left out a fix for certain command line quotes. To fix this, be sure\r
+to download and install the file fixes/quote-fix-msvcrt.exe from the above\r
+ftp location.\r
+\r
+=item *\r
+\r
+The definition of the fpos_t type in stdio.h may be wrong. If your\r
+stdio.h has this problem, you will see an exception when running the\r
+test t/lib/io_xs.t. To fix this, change the typedef for fpos_t from\r
+"long" to "long long" in the file i386-mingw32msvc/include/stdio.h,\r
+and rebuild.\r
+\r
+=back\r
+\r
+A potentially simpler to install (but probably soon-to-be-outdated) bundle\r
+of the above package with the mentioned fixes already applied is available\r
+here:\r
+\r
+ http://downloads.ActiveState.com/pub/staff/gsar/gcc-2.95.2-msvcrt.zip\r
+ ftp://ftp.ActiveState.com/pub/staff/gsar/gcc-2.95.2-msvcrt.zip\r
+\r
+=back\r
+\r
+=head2 Building\r
+\r
+=over 4\r
+\r
+=item *\r
+\r
+Make sure you are in the "win32" subdirectory under the perl toplevel.\r
+This directory contains a "Makefile" that will work with\r
+versions of nmake that come with Visual C++, and a dmake "makefile.mk"\r
+that will work for all supported compilers. The defaults in the dmake\r
+makefile are setup to build using the GCC compiler.\r
+\r
+=item *\r
+\r
+Edit the makefile.mk (or Makefile, if you're using nmake) and change \r
+the values of INST_DRV and INST_TOP. You can also enable various\r
+build flags. These are explained in the makefiles.\r
+\r
+You will have to make sure that CCTYPE is set correctly and that \r
+CCHOME points to wherever you installed your compiler.\r
+\r
+The default value for CCHOME in the makefiles for Visual C++\r
+may not be correct for some versions. Make sure the default exists\r
+and is valid.\r
+\r
+If you have either the source or a library that contains des_fcrypt(),\r
+enable the appropriate option in the makefile. des_fcrypt() is not\r
+bundled with the distribution due to US Government restrictions\r
+on the export of cryptographic software. Nevertheless, this routine\r
+is part of the "libdes" library (written by Eric Young) which is widely\r
+available worldwide, usually along with SSLeay (for example, \r
+"ftp://fractal.mta.ca/pub/crypto/SSLeay/DES/"). Set CRYPT_SRC to the\r
+name of the file that implements des_fcrypt(). Alternatively, if\r
+you have built a library that contains des_fcrypt(), you can set\r
+CRYPT_LIB to point to the library name. The location above contains\r
+many versions of the "libdes" library, all with slightly different\r
+implementations of des_fcrypt(). Older versions have a single,\r
+self-contained file (fcrypt.c) that implements crypt(), so they may be\r
+easier to use. A patch against the fcrypt.c found in libdes-3.06 is\r
+in des_fcrypt.patch.\r
+\r
+Perl will also build without des_fcrypt(), but the crypt() builtin will\r
+fail at run time.\r
+\r
+Be sure to read the instructions near the top of the makefiles carefully.\r
+\r
+=item *\r
+\r
+Type "dmake" (or "nmake" if you are using that make).\r
+\r
+This should build everything. Specifically, it will create perl.exe,\r
+perl56.dll at the perl toplevel, and various other extension dll's\r
+under the lib\auto directory. If the build fails for any reason, make\r
+sure you have done the previous steps correctly.\r
+\r
+=back\r
+\r
+=head2 Testing Perl on Win32\r
+\r
+Type "dmake test" (or "nmake test"). This will run most of the tests from\r
+the testsuite (many tests will be skipped).\r
+\r
+There should be no test failures when running under Windows NT 4.0 or\r
+Windows 2000. Many tests I<will> fail under Windows 9x due to the inferior\r
+command shell.\r
+\r
+Some test failures may occur if you use a command shell other than the\r
+native "cmd.exe", or if you are building from a path that contains\r
+spaces. So don't do that.\r
+\r
+If you are running the tests from a emacs shell window, you may see\r
+failures in op/stat.t. Run "dmake test-notty" in that case.\r
+\r
+If you're using the Borland compiler, you may see a failure in op/taint.t\r
+arising from the inability to find the Borland Runtime DLLs on the system\r
+default path. You will need to copy the DLLs reported by the messages\r
+from where Borland chose to install it, into the Windows system directory\r
+(usually somewhere like C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32) and rerun the test.\r
+\r
+If you're using Borland compiler versions 5.2 and below, you may run into\r
+problems finding the correct header files when building extensions. For\r
+example, building the "Tk" extension may fail because both perl and Tk\r
+contain a header file called "patchlevel.h". The latest Borland compiler\r
+(v5.5) is free of this misbehaviour, and it even supports an\r
+option -VI- for backward (bugward) compatibility for using the old Borland\r
+search algorithm to locate header files.\r
+\r
+Please report any other failures as described under L<BUGS AND CAVEATS>.\r
+\r
+=head2 Installation of Perl on Win32\r
+\r
+Type "dmake install" (or "nmake install"). This will put the newly\r
+built perl and the libraries under whatever C<INST_TOP> points to in the\r
+Makefile. It will also install the pod documentation under\r
+C<$INST_TOP\$VERSION\lib\pod> and HTML versions of the same under\r
+C<$INST_TOP\$VERSION\lib\pod\html>. To use the Perl you just installed,\r
+you will need to add two components to your PATH environment variable,\r
+C<$INST_TOP\$VERSION\bin> and C<$INST_TOP\$VERSION\bin\$ARCHNAME>.\r
+For example:\r
+\r
+ set PATH c:\perl\5.6.0\bin;c:\perl\5.6.0\bin\MSWin32-x86;%PATH%\r
+\r
+If you opt to comment out INST_VER and INST_ARCH in the makefiles, the\r
+installation structure is much simpler. In that case, it will be\r
+sufficient to add a single entry to the path, for instance:\r
+\r
+ set PATH c:\perl\bin;%PATH%\r
+\r
+=head2 Usage Hints for Perl on Win32\r
+\r
+=over 4\r
+\r
+=item Environment Variables\r
+\r
+The installation paths that you set during the build get compiled\r
+into perl, so you don't have to do anything additional to start\r
+using that perl (except add its location to your PATH variable).\r
+\r
+If you put extensions in unusual places, you can set PERL5LIB\r
+to a list of paths separated by semicolons where you want perl\r
+to look for libraries. Look for descriptions of other environment\r
+variables you can set in L<perlrun>.\r
+\r
+You can also control the shell that perl uses to run system() and\r
+backtick commands via PERL5SHELL. See L<perlrun>.\r
+\r
+Perl does not depend on the registry, but it can look up certain default\r
+values if you choose to put them there. Perl attempts to read entries from\r
+C<HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Perl> and C<HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Perl>.\r
+Entries in the former override entries in the latter. One or more of the\r
+following entries (of type REG_SZ or REG_EXPAND_SZ) may be set:\r
+\r
+ lib-$] version-specific standard library path to add to @INC\r
+ lib standard library path to add to @INC\r
+ sitelib-$] version-specific site library path to add to @INC\r
+ sitelib site library path to add to @INC\r
+ vendorlib-$] version-specific vendor library path to add to @INC\r
+ vendorlib vendor library path to add to @INC\r
+ PERL* fallback for all %ENV lookups that begin with "PERL"\r
+\r
+Note the C<$]> in the above is not literal. Substitute whatever version\r
+of perl you want to honor that entry, e.g. C<5.6.0>. Paths must be\r
+separated with semicolons, as usual on win32.\r
+\r
+=item File Globbing\r
+\r
+By default, perl handles file globbing using the File::Glob extension,\r
+which provides portable globbing.\r
+\r
+If you want perl to use globbing that emulates the quirks of DOS\r
+filename conventions, you might want to consider using File::DosGlob\r
+to override the internal glob() implementation. See L<File::DosGlob> for\r
+details.\r
+\r
+=item Using perl from the command line\r
+\r
+If you are accustomed to using perl from various command-line\r
+shells found in UNIX environments, you will be less than pleased\r
+with what Windows offers by way of a command shell.\r
+\r
+The crucial thing to understand about the Windows environment is that\r
+the command line you type in is processed twice before Perl sees it.\r
+First, your command shell (usually CMD.EXE on Windows NT, and\r
+COMMAND.COM on Windows 9x) preprocesses the command line, to handle\r
+redirection, environment variable expansion, and location of the\r
+executable to run. Then, the perl executable splits the remaining\r
+command line into individual arguments, using the C runtime library\r
+upon which Perl was built.\r
+\r
+It is particularly important to note that neither the shell nor the C\r
+runtime do any wildcard expansions of command-line arguments (so\r
+wildcards need not be quoted). Also, the quoting behaviours of the\r
+shell and the C runtime are rudimentary at best (and may, if you are\r
+using a non-standard shell, be inconsistent). The only (useful) quote\r
+character is the double quote ("). It can be used to protect spaces\r
+and other special characters in arguments.\r
+\r
+The Windows NT documentation has almost no description of how the\r
+quoting rules are implemented, but here are some general observations\r
+based on experiments: The C runtime breaks arguments at spaces and\r
+passes them to programs in argc/argv. Double quotes can be used to\r
+prevent arguments with spaces in them from being split up. You can\r
+put a double quote in an argument by escaping it with a backslash and\r
+enclosing the whole argument within double quotes. The backslash and\r
+the pair of double quotes surrounding the argument will be stripped by\r
+the C runtime.\r
+\r
+The file redirection characters "<", ">", and "|" can be quoted by\r
+double quotes (although there are suggestions that this may not always\r
+be true). Single quotes are not treated as quotes by the shell or\r
+the C runtime, they don't get stripped by the shell (just to make\r
+this type of quoting completely useless). The caret "^" has also\r
+been observed to behave as a quoting character, but this appears\r
+to be a shell feature, and the caret is not stripped from the command\r
+line, so Perl still sees it (and the C runtime phase does not treat\r
+the caret as a quote character).\r
+\r
+Here are some examples of usage of the "cmd" shell:\r
+\r
+This prints two doublequotes:\r
+\r
+ perl -e "print '\"\"' "\r
+\r
+This does the same:\r
+\r
+ perl -e "print \"\\\"\\\"\" "\r
+\r
+This prints "bar" and writes "foo" to the file "blurch":\r
+\r
+ perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" > blurch\r
+\r
+This prints "foo" ("bar" disappears into nowhereland):\r
+\r
+ perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2> nul\r
+\r
+This prints "bar" and writes "foo" into the file "blurch":\r
+\r
+ perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 1> blurch\r
+\r
+This pipes "foo" to the "less" pager and prints "bar" on the console:\r
+\r
+ perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" | less\r
+\r
+This pipes "foo\nbar\n" to the less pager:\r
+\r
+ perl -le "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2>&1 | less\r
+\r
+This pipes "foo" to the pager and writes "bar" in the file "blurch":\r
+\r
+ perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2> blurch | less\r
+\r
+\r
+Discovering the usefulness of the "command.com" shell on Windows 9x\r
+is left as an exercise to the reader :)\r
+\r
+One particularly pernicious problem with the 4NT command shell for\r
+Windows NT is that it (nearly) always treats a % character as indicating\r
+that environment variable expansion is needed. Under this shell, it is\r
+therefore important to always double any % characters which you want\r
+Perl to see (for example, for hash variables), even when they are\r
+quoted.\r
+\r
+=item Building Extensions\r
+\r
+The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) offers a wealth\r
+of extensions, some of which require a C compiler to build.\r
+Look in http://www.cpan.org/ for more information on CPAN.\r
+\r
+Note that not all of the extensions available from CPAN may work\r
+in the Win32 environment; you should check the information at\r
+http://testers.cpan.org/ before investing too much effort into\r
+porting modules that don't readily build.\r
+\r
+Most extensions (whether they require a C compiler or not) can\r
+be built, tested and installed with the standard mantra:\r
+\r
+ perl Makefile.PL\r
+ $MAKE\r
+ $MAKE test\r
+ $MAKE install\r
+\r
+where $MAKE is whatever 'make' program you have configured perl to\r
+use. Use "perl -V:make" to find out what this is. Some extensions\r
+may not provide a testsuite (so "$MAKE test" may not do anything or\r
+fail), but most serious ones do.\r
+\r
+It is important that you use a supported 'make' program, and\r
+ensure Config.pm knows about it. If you don't have nmake, you can\r
+either get dmake from the location mentioned earlier or get an\r
+old version of nmake reportedly available from:\r
+\r
+ ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/MSLFILES/nmake15.exe\r
+\r
+Another option is to use the make written in Perl, available from\r
+CPAN:\r
+\r
+ http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/NI-S/Make-0.03.tar.gz\r
+\r
+You may also use dmake. See L</"Make"> above on how to get it.\r
+\r
+Note that MakeMaker actually emits makefiles with different syntax\r
+depending on what 'make' it thinks you are using. Therefore, it is\r
+important that one of the following values appears in Config.pm:\r
+\r
+ make='nmake' # MakeMaker emits nmake syntax\r
+ make='dmake' # MakeMaker emits dmake syntax\r
+ any other value # MakeMaker emits generic make syntax\r
+ (e.g GNU make, or Perl make)\r
+\r
+If the value doesn't match the 'make' program you want to use,\r
+edit Config.pm to fix it.\r
+\r
+If a module implements XSUBs, you will need one of the supported\r
+C compilers. You must make sure you have set up the environment for\r
+the compiler for command-line compilation.\r
+\r
+If a module does not build for some reason, look carefully for\r
+why it failed, and report problems to the module author. If\r
+it looks like the extension building support is at fault, report\r
+that with full details of how the build failed using the perlbug\r
+utility.\r
+\r
+=item Command-line Wildcard Expansion\r
+\r
+The default command shells on DOS descendant operating systems (such\r
+as they are) usually do not expand wildcard arguments supplied to\r
+programs. They consider it the application's job to handle that.\r
+This is commonly achieved by linking the application (in our case,\r
+perl) with startup code that the C runtime libraries usually provide.\r
+However, doing that results in incompatible perl versions (since the\r
+behavior of the argv expansion code differs depending on the\r
+compiler, and it is even buggy on some compilers). Besides, it may\r
+be a source of frustration if you use such a perl binary with an\r
+alternate shell that *does* expand wildcards.\r
+\r
+Instead, the following solution works rather well. The nice things\r
+about it are 1) you can start using it right away; 2) it is more \r
+powerful, because it will do the right thing with a pattern like\r
+*/*/*.c; 3) you can decide whether you do/don't want to use it; and\r
+4) you can extend the method to add any customizations (or even \r
+entirely different kinds of wildcard expansion).\r
+\r
+ C:\> copy con c:\perl\lib\Wild.pm\r
+ # Wild.pm - emulate shell @ARGV expansion on shells that don't\r
+ use File::DosGlob;\r
+ @ARGV = map {\r
+ my @g = File::DosGlob::glob($_) if /[*?]/;\r
+ @g ? @g : $_;\r
+ } @ARGV;\r
+ 1;\r
+ ^Z\r
+ C:\> set PERL5OPT=-MWild\r
+ C:\> perl -le "for (@ARGV) { print }" */*/perl*.c\r
+ p4view/perl/perl.c\r
+ p4view/perl/perlio.c\r
+ p4view/perl/perly.c\r
+ perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c\r
+ perl5.005/win32/perllib.c\r
+ perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c\r
+ perl5.005/win32/perllib.c\r
+ perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c\r
+ perl5.005/win32/perllib.c\r
+\r
+Note there are two distinct steps there: 1) You'll have to create\r
+Wild.pm and put it in your perl lib directory. 2) You'll need to\r
+set the PERL5OPT environment variable. If you want argv expansion\r
+to be the default, just set PERL5OPT in your default startup\r
+environment.\r
+\r
+If you are using the Visual C compiler, you can get the C runtime's\r
+command line wildcard expansion built into perl binary. The resulting\r
+binary will always expand unquoted command lines, which may not be\r
+what you want if you use a shell that does that for you. The expansion\r
+done is also somewhat less powerful than the approach suggested above.\r
+\r
+=item Win32 Specific Extensions\r
+\r
+A number of extensions specific to the Win32 platform are available\r
+from CPAN. You may find that many of these extensions are meant to\r
+be used under the Activeware port of Perl, which used to be the only\r
+native port for the Win32 platform. Since the Activeware port does not\r
+have adequate support for Perl's extension building tools, these\r
+extensions typically do not support those tools either and, therefore,\r
+cannot be built using the generic steps shown in the previous section.\r
+\r
+To ensure smooth transitioning of existing code that uses the\r
+ActiveState port, there is a bundle of Win32 extensions that contains\r
+all of the ActiveState extensions and most other Win32 extensions from\r
+CPAN in source form, along with many added bugfixes, and with MakeMaker\r
+support. This bundle is available at:\r
+\r
+ http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/GSAR/libwin32-0.151.zip\r
+\r
+See the README in that distribution for building and installation\r
+instructions. Look for later versions that may be available at the\r
+same location.\r
+\r
+=item Running Perl Scripts\r
+\r
+Perl scripts on UNIX use the "#!" (a.k.a "shebang") line to\r
+indicate to the OS that it should execute the file using perl.\r
+Win32 has no comparable means to indicate arbitrary files are\r
+executables.\r
+\r
+Instead, all available methods to execute plain text files on\r
+Win32 rely on the file "extension". There are three methods\r
+to use this to execute perl scripts:\r
+\r
+=over 8\r
+\r
+=item 1\r
+\r
+There is a facility called "file extension associations" that will\r
+work in Windows NT 4.0. This can be manipulated via the two\r
+commands "assoc" and "ftype" that come standard with Windows NT\r
+4.0. Type "ftype /?" for a complete example of how to set this\r
+up for perl scripts (Say what? You thought Windows NT wasn't\r
+perl-ready? :).\r
+\r
+=item 2\r
+\r
+Since file associations don't work everywhere, and there are\r
+reportedly bugs with file associations where it does work, the\r
+old method of wrapping the perl script to make it look like a\r
+regular batch file to the OS, may be used. The install process\r
+makes available the "pl2bat.bat" script which can be used to wrap\r
+perl scripts into batch files. For example:\r
+\r
+ pl2bat foo.pl\r
+\r
+will create the file "FOO.BAT". Note "pl2bat" strips any\r
+.pl suffix and adds a .bat suffix to the generated file.\r
+\r
+If you use the 4DOS/NT or similar command shell, note that\r
+"pl2bat" uses the "%*" variable in the generated batch file to\r
+refer to all the command line arguments, so you may need to make\r
+sure that construct works in batch files. As of this writing,\r
+4DOS/NT users will need a "ParameterChar = *" statement in their\r
+4NT.INI file or will need to execute "setdos /p*" in the 4DOS/NT\r
+startup file to enable this to work.\r
+\r
+=item 3\r
+\r
+Using "pl2bat" has a few problems: the file name gets changed,\r
+so scripts that rely on C<$0> to find what they must do may not\r
+run properly; running "pl2bat" replicates the contents of the\r
+original script, and so this process can be maintenance intensive\r
+if the originals get updated often. A different approach that\r
+avoids both problems is possible.\r
+\r
+A script called "runperl.bat" is available that can be copied\r
+to any filename (along with the .bat suffix). For example,\r
+if you call it "foo.bat", it will run the file "foo" when it is\r
+executed. Since you can run batch files on Win32 platforms simply\r
+by typing the name (without the extension), this effectively\r
+runs the file "foo", when you type either "foo" or "foo.bat".\r
+With this method, "foo.bat" can even be in a different location\r
+than the file "foo", as long as "foo" is available somewhere on\r
+the PATH. If your scripts are on a filesystem that allows symbolic\r
+links, you can even avoid copying "runperl.bat".\r
+\r
+Here's a diversion: copy "runperl.bat" to "runperl", and type\r
+"runperl". Explain the observed behavior, or lack thereof. :)\r
+Hint: .gnidnats llits er'uoy fi ,"lrepnur" eteled :tniH\r
+\r
+=back\r
+\r
+=item Miscellaneous Things\r
+\r
+A full set of HTML documentation is installed, so you should be\r
+able to use it if you have a web browser installed on your\r
+system.\r
+\r
+C<perldoc> is also a useful tool for browsing information contained\r
+in the documentation, especially in conjunction with a pager\r
+like C<less> (recent versions of which have Win32 support). You may\r
+have to set the PAGER environment variable to use a specific pager.\r
+"perldoc -f foo" will print information about the perl operator\r
+"foo".\r
+\r
+If you find bugs in perl, you can run C<perlbug> to create a\r
+bug report (you may have to send it manually if C<perlbug> cannot\r
+find a mailer on your system).\r
+\r
+=back\r
+\r
+=head1 BUGS AND CAVEATS\r
+\r
+Norton AntiVirus interferes with the build process, particularly if \r
+set to "AutoProtect, All Files, when Opened". Unlike large applications \r
+the perl build process opens and modifies a lot of files. Having the \r
+the AntiVirus scan each and every one slows build the process significantly.\r
+Worse, with PERLIO=stdio the build process fails with peculiar messages\r
+as the virus checker interacts badly with miniperl.exe writing configure \r
+files (it seems to either catch file part written and treat it as suspicious,\r
+or virus checker may have it "locked" in a way which inhibits miniperl\r
+updating it). The build does complete with \r
+\r
+ set PERLIO=perlio\r
+\r
+but that may be just luck. Other AntiVirus software may have similar issues.\r
+\r
+Some of the built-in functions do not act exactly as documented in\r
+L<perlfunc>, and a few are not implemented at all. To avoid\r
+surprises, particularly if you have had prior exposure to Perl\r
+in other operating environments or if you intend to write code\r
+that will be portable to other environments. See L<perlport>\r
+for a reasonably definitive list of these differences.\r
+\r
+Not all extensions available from CPAN may build or work properly\r
+in the Win32 environment. See L</"Building Extensions">.\r
+\r
+Most C<socket()> related calls are supported, but they may not\r
+behave as on Unix platforms. See L<perlport> for the full list.\r
+\r
+Signal handling may not behave as on Unix platforms (where it\r
+doesn't exactly "behave", either :). For instance, calling C<die()>\r
+or C<exit()> from signal handlers will cause an exception, since most\r
+implementations of C<signal()> on Win32 are severely crippled.\r
+Thus, signals may work only for simple things like setting a flag\r
+variable in the handler. Using signals under this port should\r
+currently be considered unsupported.\r
+\r
+Please send detailed descriptions of any problems and solutions that \r
+you may find to <F<perlbug@perl.com>>, along with the output produced\r
+by C<perl -V>.\r
+\r
+=head1 AUTHORS\r
+\r
+=over 4\r
+\r
+=item Gary Ng E<lt>71564.1743@CompuServe.COME<gt>\r
+\r
+=item Gurusamy Sarathy E<lt>gsar@activestate.comE<gt>\r
+\r
+=item Nick Ing-Simmons E<lt>nick@ing-simmons.netE<gt>\r
+\r
+=back\r
+\r
+This document is maintained by Gurusamy Sarathy.\r
+\r
+=head1 SEE ALSO\r
+\r
+L<perl>\r
+\r
+=head1 HISTORY\r
+\r
+This port was originally contributed by Gary Ng around 5.003_24,\r
+and borrowed from the Hip Communications port that was available\r
+at the time. Various people have made numerous and sundry hacks\r
+since then.\r
+\r
+Borland support was added in 5.004_01 (Gurusamy Sarathy).\r
+\r
+GCC/mingw32 support was added in 5.005 (Nick Ing-Simmons).\r
+\r
+Support for PERL_OBJECT was added in 5.005 (ActiveState Tool Corp).\r
+\r
+Support for fork() emulation was added in 5.6 (ActiveState Tool Corp).\r
+\r
+Win9x support was added in 5.6 (Benjamin Stuhl).\r
+\r
+Last updated: 1 April 2001\r
+\r
+=cut\r