=head1 NAME
-perlfaq2 - Obtaining and Learning about Perl ($Revision: 7861 $)
+perlfaq2 - Obtaining and Learning about Perl
=head1 DESCRIPTION
The standard release of perl (the one maintained by the perl
development team) is distributed only in source code form. You
-can find this at http://www.cpan.org/src/latest.tar.gz , which
-is in a standard Internet format (a gzipped archive in POSIX tar format).
+can find the latest releases at http://www.cpan.org/src/README.html .
Perl builds and runs on a bewildering number of platforms. Virtually
all known and current Unix derivatives are supported (perl's native
platform), as are other systems like VMS, DOS, OS/2, Windows,
QNX, BeOS, OS X, MPE/iX and the Amiga.
-Binary distributions for some proprietary platforms, including
-Apple systems, can be found http://www.cpan.org/ports/ directory.
-Because these are not part of the standard distribution, they may
-and in fact do differ from the base perl port in a variety of ways.
-You'll have to check their respective release notes to see just
-what the differences are. These differences can be either positive
-(e.g. extensions for the features of the particular platform that
-are not supported in the source release of perl) or negative (e.g.
-might be based upon a less current source release of perl).
+Binary distributions for some proprietary platforms can be found
+http://www.cpan.org/ports/ directory. Because these are not part of
+the standard distribution, they may and in fact do differ from the
+base perl port in a variety of ways. You'll have to check their
+respective release notes to see just what the differences are. These
+differences can be either positive (e.g. extensions for the features
+of the particular platform that are not supported in the source
+release of perl) or negative (e.g. might be based upon a less current
+source release of perl).
=head2 How can I get a binary version of perl?
-If you don't have a C compiler because your vendor for whatever
-reasons did not include one with your system, the best thing to do is
-grab a binary version of gcc from the net and use that to compile perl
-with. CPAN only has binaries for systems that are terribly hard to
-get free compilers for, not for Unix systems.
+(contributed by brian d foy)
-Some URLs that might help you are:
+ActiveState: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, AIX and HP-UX
- http://www.cpan.org/ports/
- http://www.perl.com/pub/language/info/software.html
+ http://www.activestate.com/
-Someone looking for a perl for Win16 might look to Laszlo Molnar's djgpp
-port in http://www.cpan.org/ports/#msdos , which comes with clear
-installation instructions. A simple installation guide for MS-DOS using
-Ilya Zakharevich's OS/2 port is available at
-http://www.cs.ruu.nl/%7Epiet/perl5dos.html
-and similarly for Windows 3.1 at http://www.cs.ruu.nl/%7Epiet/perlwin3.html .
+Sunfreeware.com: Solaris 2.5 to Solaris 10 (SPARC and x86)
+
+ http://www.sunfreeware.com/
+
+Strawberry Perl: Windows, Perl 5.8.8 and 5.10.0
+
+ http://www.strawberryperl.com
+
+IndigoPerl: Windows
+
+ http://indigostar.com/
=head2 I don't have a C compiler. How can I build my own Perl interpreter?
first. Consult the Usenet FAQs for your operating system for
information on where to get such a binary version.
+You might look around the net for a pre-built binary of Perl (or a
+C compiler!) that meets your needs, though:
+
+For Windows, Vanilla Perl ( http://vanillaperl.com/ ) and Strawberry Perl
+( http://strawberryperl.com/ ) come with a
+bundled C compiler. ActivePerl is a pre-compiled version of Perl
+ready-to-use.
+
+For Sun systems, SunFreeware.com provides binaries of most popular
+applications, including compilers and Perl.
+
=head2 I copied the perl binary from one machine to another, but scripts don't work.
That's probably because you forgot libraries, or library paths differ.
Several groups devoted to the Perl language are on Usenet:
- comp.lang.perl.announce Moderated announcement group
- comp.lang.perl.misc High traffic general Perl discussion
- comp.lang.perl.moderated Moderated discussion group
- comp.lang.perl.modules Use and development of Perl modules
- comp.lang.perl.tk Using Tk (and X) from Perl
-
- comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi Writing CGI scripts for the Web.
+ comp.lang.perl.announce Moderated announcement group
+ comp.lang.perl.misc High traffic general Perl discussion
+ comp.lang.perl.moderated Moderated discussion group
+ comp.lang.perl.modules Use and development of Perl modules
+ comp.lang.perl.tk Using Tk (and X) from Perl
Some years ago, comp.lang.perl was divided into those groups, and
comp.lang.perl itself officially removed. While that group may still
Perl 5 Pocket Reference
by Johan Vromans
- ISBN 0-596-00032-4 [3rd edition May 2000]
- http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/perlpr3/
+ ISBN 0-596-00374-9 [4th edition July 2002]
+ http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/perlpr4/
=item Tutorials
Learning Perl
by Randal L. Schwartz, Tom Phoenix, and brian d foy
- ISBN 0-596-10105-8 [4th edition July 2005]
- http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/learnperl4/
+ ISBN 0-596-52010-7 [5th edition June 2008]
+ http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596520106/
Intermediate Perl (the "Alpaca Book")
by Randal L. Schwartz and brian d foy, with Tom Phoenix (foreword by Damian Conway)
ISBN 0-596-10206-2 [1st edition March 2006]
- http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/lrnperlorm/
+ http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/intermediateperl/
+
+ Mastering Perl
+ by brian d foy
+ ISBN 0-596-52724-1 [1st edition July 2007]
+ http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596527242/
=item Task-Oriented
ISBN 0-596-00503-2 [1st edition January 2004]
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/perldebugpr/
+ Pro Perl Debugging
+ by Richard Foley with Andy Lester
+ ISBN 1-59059-454-1 [1st edition July 2005]
+ http://www.apress.com/book/view/1590594541
+
=back
=head2 Which magazines have Perl content?
I<The Perl Review> ( http://www.theperlreview.com ) focuses on Perl
almost completely (although it sometimes sneaks in an article about
-another language).
+another language). There's also I<$foo Magazin>, a german magazine
+dedicated to Perl, at ( http://www.foo-magazin.de ).
Magazines that frequently carry quality articles on Perl include I<The
Perl Review> ( http://www.theperlreview.com ), I<Unix Review> (
The Google search engine now carries archived and searchable newsgroup
content.
-http://groups.google.com/groups?group=comp.lang.perl.misc
+http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.perl.misc/topics
If you have a question, you can be sure someone has already asked the
same question at some point on c.l.p.m. It requires some time and patience
=head2 Where do I send bug reports?
-If you are reporting a bug in the perl interpreter or the modules
-shipped with Perl, use the I<perlbug> program in the Perl distribution or
-mail your report to perlbug@perl.org or at http://rt.perl.org/perlbug/ .
+(contributed by brian d foy)
+
+First, ensure that you've found an actual bug. Second, ensure you've
+found an actual bug.
+
+If you've found a bug with the perl interpreter or one of the modules
+in the standard library (those that come with Perl), you can use the
+C<perlbug> utility that comes with Perl (>= 5.004). It collects
+information about your installation to include with your message, then
+sends the message to the right place.
-For Perl modules, you can submit bug reports to the Request Tracker set
-up at http://rt.cpan.org .
+To determine if a module came with your version of Perl, you can
+use the C<Module::CoreList> module. It has the information about
+the modules (with their versions) included with each release of Perl.
-If you are posting a bug with a non-standard port (see the answer to
-"What platforms is perl available for?"), a binary distribution, or a
-non-standard module (such as Tk, CGI, etc), then please see the
-documentation that came with it to determine the correct place to post
-bugs.
+Every CPAN module has a bug tracker set up in RT, http://rt.cpan.org .
+You can submit bugs to RT either through its web interface or by
+email. To email a bug report, send it to
+bug-E<lt>distribution-nameE<gt>@rt.cpan.org . For example, if you
+wanted to report a bug in C<Business::ISBN>, you could send a message to
+bug-Business-ISBN@rt.cpan.org .
-Read the perlbug(1) man page (perl5.004 or later) for more information.
+Some modules might have special reporting requirements, such as a
+Sourceforge or Google Code tracking system, so you should check the
+module documentation too.
=head2 What is perl.com? Perl Mongers? pm.org? perl.org? cpan.org?
which maintains the web site http://www.perl.org/ as a general
advocacy site for the Perl language. It uses the domain to provide
general support services to the Perl community, including the hosting
-of mailing lists, web sites, and other services. The web site
-http://www.perl.org/ is a general advocacy site for the Perl language,
-and there are many other sub-domains for special topics, such as
+of mailing lists, web sites, and other services. There are also many
+other sub-domains for special topics like learning Perl, Perl news, jobs
+in Perl, such as:
http://learn.perl.org/
http://use.perl.org/
=head1 REVISION
-Revision: $Revision: 7861 $
+Revision: $Revision$
-Date: $Date: 2006-09-29 22:19:18 +0200 (ven, 29 sep 2006) $
+Date: $Date$
See L<perlfaq> for source control details and availability.
=head1 AUTHOR AND COPYRIGHT
-Copyright (c) 1997-2006 Tom Christiansen, Nathan Torkington, and
+Copyright (c) 1997-2009 Tom Christiansen, Nathan Torkington, and
other authors as noted. All rights reserved.
This documentation is free; you can redistribute it and/or modify it