5.8.0-RC1 on SunOS 4!

[p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git] / pod / perlvar.pod

diff --git a/pod/perlvar.pod b/pod/perlvar.pod
index bf1d765..0672c4e 100644 (file)
--- a/pod/perlvar.pod
+++ b/pod/perlvar.pod
@@ -1003,11 +1003,17 @@ built, as determined during the configuration process.  The value
 is identical to C<$Config{'osname'}>.  See also L<Config> and the 
 B<-V> command-line switch documented in L<perlrun>.
 
+In Windows platforms, $^O is not very helpful: since it is always
+C<MSWin32>, it doesn't tell the difference between
+95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/CE/.NET.  Use Win32::GetOSName() or
+Win32::GetOSVersion() (see L<Win32> and L<perlport>) to distinguish
+between the variants.
+
 =item ${^OPEN}
 
 An internal variable used by PerlIO.  A string in two parts, separated
-by a C<\0> byte, the first part is the input disciplines, the second
-part is the output disciplines.
+by a C<\0> byte, the first part describes the input layers, the second
+part describes the output layers.
 
 =item $PERLDB
 
@@ -1158,7 +1164,8 @@ a relative or absolute pathname of the perl program file, or may
 be the string used to invoke perl but not the pathname of the
 perl program file.  Also, most operating systems permit invoking
 programs that are not in the PATH environment variable, so there
-is no guarantee that the value of $^X is in PATH.
+is no guarantee that the value of $^X is in PATH.  For VMS, the
+value may or may not include a version number.
 
 You usually can use the value of $^X to re-invoke an independent
 copy of the same perl that is currently running, e.g.,
@@ -1177,10 +1184,10 @@ following statements:
 
 # Build up a set of file names (not command names).
   use Config;
-  use File::Spec;
-  $this_perl = File::Spec->canonpath($^X);
-  $this_perl .= $Config{exe_ext}
-          unless $this_perl =~ m/$Config{exe_ext}$/i;
+  $this_perl = $^X;
+  if ($^O ne 'VMS')
+     {$this_perl .= $Config{_exe}
+          unless $this_perl =~ m/$Config{_exe}$/i;}
 
 Because many operating systems permit anyone with read access to
 the Perl program file to make a copy of it, patch the copy, and
@@ -1191,10 +1198,10 @@ this goal, and produce a pathname that can be invoked as a
 command or referenced as a file.
 
   use Config;
-  use File::Spec;
-  $secure_perl_path = File::Spec->canonpath($Config{perlpath});
-  $secure_perl_path .= $Config{exe_ext}
-          unless $secure_perl_path =~ m/$Config{exe_ext}$/i;
+  $secure_perl_path = $Config{perlpath};
+  if ($^O ne 'VMS')
+     {$secure_perl_path .= $Config{_exe}
+          unless $secure_perl_path =~ m/$Config{_exe}$/i;}
 
 =item ARGV