=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). 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).
+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
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 give a different set of rules to build a
-Perl that will work on Win32 platforms. Those two methods will
+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 only capable of using Microsoft's
-Visual C++ compiler. The ultimate goal is to support the other major
-compilers that can generally be used to build Win32 applications.
+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
=over 4
-=item *
+=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
incompatibilites with the default shell that comes with Windows95,
so building under Windows95 should be considered "unsupported".
-=item *
+=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.
-=item *
+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
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.
+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 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 want to build a perl capable of running on the Windows95
-platform, you will have to uncomment the line that sets "RUNTIME=-MT".
-(The default settings use the Microsoft-recommended -MD option for
-compiling, which uses the DLL version of the C RunTime Library. There
-currently exists a bug in the Microsoft CRTL that causes failure of
-the socket calls only on the Windows95 platform. This bug cannot be
-worked around if the DLL version of the CRTL is used, which is why you
-need to enable the -MT flag.) Perl compiled with -MT can be used on
-both Windows NT and Windows95.
+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".
-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".
+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.
+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". This will run most of the tests from the
-testsuite (many tests will be skipped, and but no test should fail).
+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".
-Please report any failures as described under L<BUGS AND CAVEATS>.
+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". 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<$INST_TOP\bin>, if you
-changed the default as above).
+Type "nmake install" (or "dmake install"). This will put the newly
+built perl and the libraries under "C:\perl" (actually whatever you set
+C<INST_TOP> to in the Makefile). It will also install the pod
+documentation under C<$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
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
perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 1> blurch
-This prints "foo" and writes "bar" to the file "blurch":
-
- perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2> 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'" |& less
-
-This does the same thing as the above:
-
perl -le "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2>&1 | less
This pipes "foo" to the pager and writes "bar" in the file "blurch":
be built, tested and installed with the standard mantra:
perl Makefile.PL
- nmake
- nmake test
- nmake install
+ $MAKE
+ $MAKE test
+ $MAKE install
-Note the NMAKE that comes with Visual C++ is required. Some
-extensions may not provide a testsuite (so "nmake test"
-may not do anything, or fail), but most serious ones do.
+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 a C compiler (Visual C++
-versions 2.0 and above are currently supported). You must make sure
-you have set up the environment for the compiler for command-line
-compilation.
+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, carefully look at
+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
=head1 BUGS AND CAVEATS
-This port has not been tested as extensively as we'd like, and
-therefore should be considered beta quality software. You should
-expect changes in virtually all 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. This means that you should be prepared to recompile
-extensions when binary incompatibilites arise due to changes in the
-internal structure of the code.
+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. This
+means that you should be prepared to recompile extensions when binary
+incompatibilites arise due to changes in the internal structure of
+the code.
+
+The DLLs produced by the two supported compilers are incompatible
+with each other due to the conventions they use to export symbols,
+and due to differences in the Runtime libraries that they provide.
+This means that extension binaries built under either compiler will
+only work with the perl binaries built under the same compiler.
+If you know of a robust, freely available C Runtime that can
+be used under win32, let us know.
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
The following functions are currently unavailable: C<fork()>, C<exec()>,
C<dump()>, C<chown()>, C<link()>, C<symlink()>, C<chroot()>,
C<setpgrp()>, C<getpgrp()>, C<setpriority()>, C<getpriority()>,
-C<syscall()>, C<fcntl()>, C<flock()>. This list is possibly very
-incomplete.
+C<syscall()>, C<fcntl()>. This list is possibly very incomplete.
=item *
=item *
-Signal handling may not behave as on Unix platforms.
+Signal handling may not behave as on Unix platforms (where it
+doesn't exactly "behave", either :).
=item *
File globbing may not behave as on Unix platforms. In particular,
-globbing does not understand wildcards in the pathname component,
-but only in the filename component. 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).
+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
=over 4
-=item Gary Ng <F<71564.1743@CompuServe.COM>>
+Gary Ng E<lt>71564.1743@CompuServe.COME<gt>
-=item Gurusamy Sarathy <F<gsar@umich.edu>>
+Gurusamy Sarathy E<lt>gsar@umich.eduE<gt>
-=item Nick Ing-Simmons <F<nick@ni-s.u-net.com>>
+Nick Ing-Simmons E<lt>nick@ni-s.u-net.comE<gt>
=back
Nick Ing-Simmons and Gurusamy Sarathy have made numerous and
sundry hacks since then.
-Last updated: 15 May 1997
+Borland support was added in 5.004_01 (Gurusamy Sarathy).
+
+Last updated: 11 June 1997
=cut
+
projects / p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git / blobdiff