X-Git-Url: http://git.shadowcat.co.uk/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?a=blobdiff_plain;f=README.win32;h=f7bf25c30e4df045bcf5f6855495f7bd060825b4;hb=9315344606fcfd0b2c00d68eb0f2ec830476ee23;hp=36953ec0da74c288660325b04363386fa1001172;hpb=68dc074516a6859e3424b48d1647bcb08b1a1a7d;p=p5sagit%2Fp5-mst-13.2.git diff --git a/README.win32 b/README.win32 index 36953ec..f7bf25c 100644 --- a/README.win32 +++ b/README.win32 @@ -4,21 +4,21 @@ specially designed to be readable as is. =head1 NAME -perlwin32 - Perl under WindowsNT [XXX and perhaps under Windows95] +perlwin32 - Perl under Win32 =head1 SYNOPSIS -These are instructions for building Perl under WindowsNT (versions -3.51 or 4.0), using Visual C++. +These are instructions for building Perl under Windows (9x, NT and +2000). =head1 DESCRIPTION -Before you start, you should glance through the README file found +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. -Make sure you read the L section below for the +Also make sure you read L below for the known limitations of this port. The INSTALL file in the perl top-level has much information that is @@ -26,220 +26,576 @@ only relevant to people building Perl on Unix-like systems. In particular, you can safely ignore any information that talks about "Configure". -You should probably also read the README.os2 file, which gives a -different set of rules to build a Perl that will work on Win32 -platforms. That method will probably enable you to build a more -Unix-compatible perl, but you will also need to download and use -various other support software described in that file. +You may also want to look at two other options for building +a perl that will work on Windows NT: the README.cygwin 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 only capable of using Microsoft's -Visual C++ compiler. The ultimate goal is to support the other major -compilers that can be used on the platforms. +system). Currently, this port is capable of using one of the +following compilers: + + Borland C++ version 5.02 or later + Microsoft Visual C++ version 4.2 or later + Mingw32 with GCC version 2.95.2 or better + +The last of these is a high quality freeware compiler. Support +for it is still experimental. (Older versions of GCC are known +not to work.) + +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 below for general hints about this. =head2 Setting Up =over 4 -=item * +=item Make -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. +You need a "make" program to build the sources. If you are using +Visual C++ under Windows NT or 2000, nmake will work. All other +builds need dmake. -=item * +dmake is a freely available make that has very nice macro features +and parallelability. -Run the VCVARS32.BAT file usually found somewhere like C:\MSDEV4.2\BIN. -This will set your build environment. +A port of dmake for Windows is available from: -=item * + http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/GSAR/dmake-4.1pl1-win32.zip -Depending on how you extracted the distribution, you have to make sure -all the files are writable by you. The easiest way to make sure of -this is to execute: +(This is a fixed version of original dmake sources obtained from +http://www.wticorp.com/dmake/. As of version 4.1PL1, the original +sources did not build as shipped, and had various other problems. +A patch is included in the above fixed version.) - attrib -R *.* /S +Fetch and install dmake somewhere on your path (follow the instructions +in the README.NOW file). -from the perl toplevel directory. You don't I 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. +=item Command Shell -=back +Use the default "cmd" shell that comes with NT. Some versions of the +popular 4DOS/NT shell have incompatibilities that may cause you trouble. +If the build fails under that shell, try building again with the cmd +shell. -=head2 Building and Installation +The nmake Makefile also has known incompatibilities with the +"command.com" shell that comes with Windows 9x. You will need to +use dmake and makefile.mk to build under Windows 9x. -=over 4 +The surest way to build it is on Windows NT, using the cmd shell. -=item * +Make sure the path to the build directory does not contain spaces. The +build usually works in this circumstance, but some tests will fail. -The "win32" directory contains *.mak files for use with the NMAKE that -comes with Visual C++ ver. 4.0 and above. If you wish to build perl -using Visual C++ versions between 2.0 and 4.0, do the following three -additional steps (these three steps are not required if you are -using Visual C++ versions 4.0 and above): +=item Borland C++ -=over 8 +If you are using the Borland compiler, you will need dmake. +(The make that Borland supplies is seriously crippled, and will not +work for MakeMaker builds.) -=item 1. +See L/"Make"> above. -Overwrite the *.mak files in the win32 subdirectory with the versions -in the win32\VC-2.0 directory. (The only difference in those makefiles -is in how the $(INCLUDE) variable is handled--VC 2.0 NMAKE does not -grok a path list in $(INCLUDE)). +=item Microsoft Visual C++ -=item 2. +The nmake that comes with Visual C++ will suffice for building. +You will need to run the VCVARS32.BAT file usually found somewhere +like C:\MSDEV4.2\BIN. This will set your build environment. -Reset your INCLUDE environment variable to the MSVC include directory. -For example: +You can also use dmake to build using Visual C++, provided: +you set OSRELEASE to "microsft" (or whatever the directory name +under which the Visual C dmake configuration lives) in your environment, +and edit win32/config.vc to change "make=nmake" into "make=dmake". The +latter step is only essential if you want to use dmake as your default +make for building extensions using MakeMaker. - set INCLUDE=E:\MSVC20\INCLUDE +=item Mingw32 with GCC -This must have only one directory (a list of directories will not work). -VCVARS32.BAT may put multiple locations in there, which is why this step -is required. +GCC-2.95.2 binaries can be downloaded from: -=item 3. + ftp://ftp.xraylith.wisc.edu/pub/khan/gnu-win32/mingw32/ -Apply the patch found in win32\VC-2.0\vc2.patch, like so: +The GCC-2.95.2 bundle comes with Mingw32 libraries and headers. - cd win32 - patch -p2 -N < VC-2.0\vc2.patch +Make sure you install the binaries that work with MSVCRT.DLL as indicated +in the README for the GCC bundle. You may need to set up a few environment +variables (usually run from a batch file). -You may have to edit win32\win32.c manually if you don't have GNU patch. +The version of gcc-2.95.2-msvcrt.exe released 7 November 1999 left out +a fix for certain command line quotes, so be sure to download and install +fixes/quote-fix-msvcrt.exe too. + +You also need dmake. See L above on how to get it. =back -=item * +=head2 Building -Make sure you are in the "win32" subdirectory under the perl toplevel. +=over 4 =item * -Type "nmake" while in the "win32" subdirectory. 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 make fails for any reason, make -sure you have done the previous steps correctly. +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++, and a dmake "makefile.mk" +that will work for all supported compilers. The defaults in the dmake +makefile are setup to build using the GCC compiler. =item * -Type "nmake install". This will put the newly built perl and the -libraries under C:\PERL. If you want to alter this location, to say, -D:\FOO\PERL, you will have to say: +Edit the makefile.mk (or Makefile, if using nmake) and change the values +of INST_DRV and INST_TOP. You can also enable various build +flags. These are explained in the makefiles. + +You will have to make sure CCTYPE is set correctly, and CCHOME points +to wherever you installed your compiler. + +The default value for CCHOME in the makefiles for Visual C++ +may not be correct for some versions. Make sure the default exists +and is valid. + +If you have either the source or a library that contains des_fcrypt(), +enable the appropriate option in the makefile. des_fcrypt() is not +bundled with the distribution due to US Government restrictions +on the export of cryptographic software. Nevertheless, this routine +is part of the "libdes" library (written by Eric Young) which is widely +available worldwide, usually along with SSLeay (for example: +"ftp://fractal.mta.ca/pub/crypto/SSLeay/DES/"). Set CRYPT_SRC to the +name of the file that implements des_fcrypt(). Alternatively, if +you have built a library that contains des_fcrypt(), you can set +CRYPT_LIB to point to the library name. The location above contains +many versions of the "libdes" library, all with slightly different +implementations of des_fcrypt(). Older versions have a single, +self-contained file (fcrypt.c) that implements crypt(), so they may be +easier to use. A patch against the fcrypt.c found in libdes-3.06 is +in des_fcrypt.patch. + +Perl will also build without des_fcrypt(), but the crypt() builtin will +fail at run time. + +Be sure to read the instructions near the top of the makefiles carefully. - nmake install INST_TOP=D:\FOO\PERL +=item * + +Type "dmake" (or "nmake" if you are using that make). -instead. To use the Perl you just installed, make sure you set your -PATH environment variable to C:\PERL\BIN (or D:\FOO\PERL\BIN). +This should build everything. Specifically, it will create perl.exe, +perl56.dll 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. =back =head2 Testing -Type "nmake test". This will run most of the tests from the -testsuite (many tests will be skipped, and some tests will fail). -Most failures are due to UNIXisms in the standard perl testsuite. +Type "dmake test" (or "nmake test"). This will run most of the tests from +the testsuite (many tests will be skipped). -To get a more detailed breakdown of the tests that failed, say: +There should be no test failures when running under Windows NT 4.0 or +Windows 2000. Many tests I fail under Windows 9x due to the inferior +command shell. - cd ..\t - .\perl harness +Some test failures may occur if you use a command shell other than the +native "cmd.exe", or if you are building from a path that contains +spaces. So don't do that. -This should produce a summary very similar to the following: +If you are running the tests from a emacs shell window, you may see +failures in op/stat.t. Run "dmake test-notty" in that case. - Failed Test Status Wstat Total Fail Failed List of failed - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - io/fs.t 26 16 61.54% 1-5, 7-11, 16-18, 23-25 - io/tell.t 13 1 7.69% 10 - lib/anydbm.t 12 1 8.33% 2 - lib/findbin.t 1 1 100.00% 1 - lib/sdbm.t 12 1 8.33% 2 - op/mkdir.t 7 2 28.57% 3, 7 - op/runlevel.t 8 1 12.50% 4 - op/stat.t 56 3 5.36% 3-4, 20 - op/taint.t 98 20 20.41% 1-6, 14, 16, 19-21, 24, 26, 35-3 - pragma/locale.t 98 40 40.82% 1, 13-14, 21-27, 33, 39, 45-53, - Failed 10/149 test scripts, 93.29% okay. 86/3506 subtests failed, 97.55% okay. +If you're using 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. -Check if any additional tests other than the ones shown here -failed. The standard testsuite will ultimately be modified so -that the testsuite avoids running irrelevant tests on Win32. +Please report any other failures as described under L. -=head1 BUGS AND CAVEATS +=head2 Installation + +Type "dmake install" (or "nmake install"). This will put the newly +built perl and the libraries under whatever C points to in the +Makefile. It will also install the pod documentation under +C<$INST_TOP\$VERSION\lib\pod> and HTML versions of the same under +C<$INST_TOP\$VERSION\lib\pod\html>. To use the Perl you just installed, +you will need to add two components to your PATH environment variable, +C<$INST_TOP\$VERSION\bin>, and C<$INST_TOP\$VERSION\bin\$ARCHNAME>. +For example: -This is still very much an experimental port, and should be considered -alpha quality software. You can expect changes in virtually all of -these areas: build process, installation structure, supported -utilities/modules, and supported perl functionality. Specifically, -functionality that supports the Win32 environment may be ultimately -be supported as either core modules or extensions. + set PATH c:\perl\5.6.0\bin;c:\perl\5.6.0\bin\MSWin32-x86;%PATH% -Many tests from the standard testsuite either fail or produce different -results under this port. Most of the problems fall under one of these -categories +If you opt to comment out INST_VER and INST_ARCH in the makefiles, the +installation structure is much simpler. In that case, it will be +sufficient to add a single entry to the path, for instance: -=over 8 + set PATH c:\perl\bin;%PATH% -=item * +=head2 Usage Hints -C and C functions may not behave as documented. They -may return values that bear no resemblance to those reported on Unix -platforms, and some fields may be completely bogus. +=over 4 -=item * +=item Environment Variables -The following functions are currently unavailable: C, C, -C, C, C, C, C, C, -C, C, C, C, -C, C, C. This list is possibly incomplete. +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). -=item * +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 L. -Various C related calls are supported, but they may not -behave as on Unix platforms. +You can also control the shell that perl uses to run system() and +backtick commands via PERL5SHELL. See L. -=item * +Perl does not depend on the registry, but it can look up certain default +values if you choose to put them there. Perl attempts to read entries from +C and C. +Entries in the former override entries in the latter. One or more of the +following entries (of type REG_SZ or REG_EXPAND_SZ) may be set: -The four-argument C call is only supported on sockets. + lib-$] version-specific standard library path to add to @INC + lib standard library path to add to @INC + sitelib-$] version-specific site library path to add to @INC + sitelib site library path to add to @INC + vendorlib-$] version-specific vendor library path to add to @INC + vendorlib vendor library path to add to @INC + PERL* fallback for all %ENV lookups that begin with "PERL" -=item * +Note the C<$]> in the above is not literal. Substitute whatever version +of perl you want to honor that entry, e.g. C<5.6.0>. Paths must be +separated with semicolons, as usual on win32. -The behavior of C or the C operator (a.k.a. "backticks"), -when used to call interactive commands, is ill-defined. +=item File Globbing -=item * +By default, perl handles file globbing using the File::Glob extension, +which provides portable globbing. -C<$!> doesn't work reliably yet. +If you want perl to use globbing that emulates the quirks of DOS +filename conventions, you might want to consider using File::DosGlob +to override the internal glob() implementation. See L for +details. -=item * +=item Using perl from the command line -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. +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 offers by way of a command shell. -=item * +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. -C, C and process-related functions may not -behave as described in the documentation, and some of the -returned values or effects may be bogus. +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). -=item * +Here are some examples of usage of the "cmd" shell: -Signal handling may not behave as on Unix platforms. +This prints two doublequotes: -=item * + perl -e "print '\"\"' " -File globbing may not behave as on Unix platforms. +This does the same: -=item * + 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: -Not all of the utilities that come with the Perl distribution -are supported yet. + 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 usefulness of the "command.com" shell on Windows 9x +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.cpan.org/ for more information on CPAN. + +Note that not all of the extensions available from CPAN may work +in the Win32 environment; you should check the information at +http://testers.cpan.org/ before investing too much effort into +porting modules that don't readily build. + +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 $MAKE is whatever 'make' program you have configured perl to +use. Use "perl -V:make" to find out what this is. Some extensions +may not provide a testsuite (so "$MAKE test" may not do anything, or +fail), but most serious ones do. + +It is important that you use a supported 'make' program, and +ensure Config.pm knows about it. If you don't have nmake, you can +either get dmake from the location mentioned earlier, or get an +old version of nmake reportedly available from: + + ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/MSLFILES/nmake15.exe + +Another option is to use the make written in Perl, available from +CPAN: + + http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/NI-S/Make-0.03.tar.gz + +You may also use dmake. See L above on how to get it. + +Note that MakeMaker actually emits makefiles with different syntax +depending on what 'make' it thinks you are using. Therefore, it is +important that one of the following values appears in Config.pm: + + make='nmake' # MakeMaker emits nmake syntax + make='dmake' # MakeMaker emits dmake syntax + any other value # MakeMaker emits generic make syntax + (e.g GNU make, or Perl make) + +If the value doesn't match the 'make' program you want to use, +edit Config.pm to fix it. + +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 Command-line Wildcard Expansion + +The default command shells on DOS descendant operating systems (such +as they are) usually do not expand wildcard arguments supplied to +programs. They consider it the application's job to handle that. +This is commonly achieved by linking the application (in our case, +perl) with startup code that the C runtime libraries usually provide. +However, doing that results in incompatible perl versions (since the +behavior of the argv expansion code differs depending on the +compiler, and it is even buggy on some compilers). Besides, it may +be a source of frustration if you use such a perl binary with an +alternate shell that *does* expand wildcards. + +Instead, the following solution works rather well. The nice things +about it: 1) you can start using it right away 2) it is more powerful, +because it will do the right thing with a pattern like */*/*.c +3) you can decide whether you do/don't want to use it 4) you can +extend the method to add any customizations (or even entirely +different kinds of wildcard expansion). + + C:\> copy con c:\perl\lib\Wild.pm + # Wild.pm - emulate shell @ARGV expansion on shells that don't + use File::DosGlob; + @ARGV = map { + my @g = File::DosGlob::glob($_) if /[*?]/; + @g ? @g : $_; + } @ARGV; + 1; + ^Z + C:\> set PERL5OPT=-MWild + C:\> perl -le "for (@ARGV) { print }" */*/perl*.c + p4view/perl/perl.c + p4view/perl/perlio.c + p4view/perl/perly.c + perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c + perl5.005/win32/perllib.c + perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c + perl5.005/win32/perllib.c + perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c + perl5.005/win32/perllib.c + +Note there are two distinct steps there: 1) You'll have to create +Wild.pm and put it in your perl lib directory. 2) You'll need to +set the PERL5OPT environment variable. If you want argv expansion +to be the default, just set PERL5OPT in your default startup +environment. + +If you are using the Visual C compiler, you can get the C runtime's +command line wildcard expansion built into perl binary. The resulting +binary will always expand unquoted command lines, which may not be +what you want if you use a shell that does that for you. The expansion +done is also somewhat less powerful than the approach suggested above. + +=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 +ActiveState port, there is a bundle of Win32 extensions that contains +all of the ActiveState 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.cpan.org/authors/id/GSAR/libwin32-0.151.zip + +See the README in that distribution for building and installation +instructions. Look for later versions that may be available at the +same location. + +=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 is also a useful tool for browsing information contained +in the documentation, especially in conjunction with a pager +like C (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 to create a +bug report (you may have to send it manually if C cannot +find a mailer on your system). + +=back + +=head1 BUGS AND CAVEATS + +Some of the built-in functions do not act exactly as documented in +L, and a few are not implemented at all. To avoid +surprises, particularly if you have had prior exposure to Perl +in other operating environments or if you intend to write code +that will be portable to other environments, see L +for a reasonably definitive list of these differences. + +Not all extensions available from CPAN may build or work properly +in the Win32 environment. See L. + +Most C related calls are supported, but they may not +behave as on Unix platforms. See L for the full list. + +Signal handling may not behave as on Unix platforms (where it +doesn't exactly "behave", either :). For instance, calling C +or C from signal handlers will cause an exception, since most +implementations of C 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. + Please send detailed descriptions of any problems and solutions that you may find to >, along with the output produced by C. @@ -248,14 +604,16 @@ by C. =over 4 -=item Gary Ng > +Gary Ng E71564.1743@CompuServe.COME -=item Gurusamy Sarathy > +Gurusamy Sarathy Egsar@activestate.comE -=item Nick Ing-Simmons > +Nick Ing-Simmons Enick@ni-s.u-net.comE =back +This document is maintained by Gurusamy Sarathy. + =head1 SEE ALSO L @@ -264,12 +622,19 @@ L 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. +at the time. Various people have made numerous and sundry hacks +since then. -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: 19 March 1997 +GCC/mingw32 support was added in 5.005 (Nick Ing-Simmons). -=cut +Support for PERL_OBJECT was added in 5.005 (ActiveState Tool Corp). + +Support for fork() emulation was added in 5.6 (ActiveState Tool Corp). + +Win9x support was added in 5.6 (Benjamin Stuhl). +Last updated: 22 March 2000 + +=cut