B<run> the C<./myconfig> shell script, and mail its output along with
an accurate description of your problem to perlbug@perl.org
-If C<Configure> itself fails, and does not generate a C<config.sh> file
+If Configure itself fails, and does not generate a config.sh file
(needed to run C<./myconfig>), then please mail perlbug@perl.org the
-description of how C<Configure> fails along with details of your system
+description of how Configure fails along with details of your system
- for example the output from running C<uname -a>
Please try to make your message brief but clear. Brief, clear bug
the important technical details of the problem you have encountered,
not whether your grammar and spelling is flawless.
-You should trim out unnecessary information. Do not include large
-files (such as config.sh or a complete Configure or make log) unless
-absolutely necessary. Do not include a complete transcript of your
-build session. Just include the failing commands, the relevant error
+Trim out unnecessary information. Do not include large files (such as
+config.sh or a complete Configure or make log) unless absolutely
+necessary. Do not include a complete transcript of your build
+session. Just include the failing commands, the relevant error
messages, and whatever preceding commands are necessary to give the
appropriate context. Plain text should usually be sufficient--fancy
attachments or encodings may actually reduce the number of people who
=head1 SYNOPSIS
-First, make sure you are installing an up-to-date version of Perl. If
-you didn't get your Perl source from CPAN, check the latest version at
-http://www.cpan.org/src/
+First, make sure you have an up-to-date version of Perl. If you
+didn't get your Perl source from CPAN, check the latest version at
+http://www.cpan.org/src/. Perl uses a version scheme where even-numbered
+subreleases (like 5.6.x and 5.8.x) are stable maintenance releases and
+odd-numbered subreleases (like 5.7.x and 5.9.x) are unstable
+development releases. Development releases should not be used in
+production environments. Fixes and new features are first carefully
+tested in development releases and only if they prove themselves to be
+worthy will they be migrated to the maintenance releases.
-The basic steps to build and install perl5 on a Unix system
-with all the defaults are:
+The basic steps to build and install perl5 on a Unix system with all
+the defaults are:
rm -f config.sh Policy.sh
sh Configure -de
make test
make install
- # You may also wish to add these:
- (cd /usr/include && h2ph *.h sys/*.h)
- (installhtml --help)
- (cd pod && make tex && <process the latex files>)
-
Each of these is explained in further detail below.
-B<NOTE>: starting from the release 5.6.0, Perl uses a version
-scheme where even-numbered subreleases (like 5.6 and 5.8) are stable
-maintenance releases and odd-numbered subreleases (like 5.7 and 5.9) are
-unstable development releases. Development releases should not be
-used in production environments. Fixes and new features are first
-carefully tested in development releases and only if they prove
-themselves to be worthy will they be migrated to the maintenance
-releases.
-
The above commands will install Perl to /usr/local (or some other
platform-specific directory -- see the appropriate file in hints/.)
-If that's not okay with you, use
+If that's not okay with you, can run Configure interactively and use
rm -f config.sh Policy.sh
sh Configure
make test
make install
-For information on non-Unix systems, see the section on L<"Porting
-information"> below.
+ # You may also wish to add these:
+ (cd /usr/include && h2ph *.h sys/*.h)
+ (installhtml --help)
+ (cd pod && make tex && <process the latex files>)
-If "make install" just says "`install' is up to date" or something
-similar, you may be on a case-insensitive filesystems such as Mac's HFS+,
-and you should say "make install-all". (This confusion is brought to you
-by the Perl distribution having a file called INSTALL.)
+or you can use some of the Configure options described below.
If you have problems, corrections, or questions, please see
L<"Reporting Problems"> above.
B<text> embolden text, used for switches, programs or commands
C<code> literal code
L<name> A link (cross reference) to name
+ F<file> A filename
Although most of the defaults are probably fine for most users,
-you should probably at least skim through this entire document before
+you should probably at least skim through this document before
proceeding.
-If you're building Perl on a non-Unix system, you should also read
-the README file specific to your operating system, since this may
-provide additional or different instructions for building Perl. There
-are also README files for several flavors of Unix systems, such as
-Solaris, HP-UX, and AIX; if you have one of those systems, you should
-also read the README file specific to that system.
-
-If there is a hint file for your system (in the hints/ directory) you
-should also read that hint file for specific information for your
-system. (Unixware users should use the svr4.sh or the svr5.sh hint file.)
-Additional information is in the Porting/ directory.
-
-=head1 WARNING: This version requires an extra step to build old extensions.
+In addition to this file, check if there is a README file specific to
+your operating system, since it may provide additional or different
+instructions for building Perl. If there is a hint file for your
+system (in the hints/ directory) you should also read that hint file
+for even more information. (Unixware users should use the svr4.sh or
+the svr5.sh hint file.)
-5.005_53 and later releases do not export unadorned
-global symbols anymore. This means you may need to build rather old
-extensions that have not been updated for the current naming convention
-with:
-
- perl Makefile.PL POLLUTE=1
+For additional information about porting Perl, see the section on
+L<"Porting information"> below, and look at the files in the Porting/
+directory.
-Alternatively, you can enable CPP symbol pollution wholesale by
-building perl itself with:
+=head1 PRELIMINARIES
- sh Configure -Accflags=-DPERL_POLLUTE
+=head2 Changes and Incompatibilities
-pod/perl56delta.pod contains more details about this.
+Please see pod/perldelta.pod for a description of the changes and
+potential incompatibilities introduced with this release. A few of
+the most important issues are listed below, but you should refer
+to pod/perldelta.pod for more detailed information.
-=head1 WARNING: This version is not binary compatible with releases of
+=head3 WARNING: This version is not binary compatible with releases of
Perl prior to 5.9.0.
If you have built extensions (i.e. modules that include C code)
The standard extensions supplied with Perl will be handled automatically.
-On a related issue, old modules may possibly be affected by the
-changes in the Perl language in the current release. Please see
-pod/perldelta.pod (and the earlier pod/perl5Xdelta.pod) for a description of
-what's changed. See your installed copy of the perllocal.pod
-file for a (possibly incomplete) list of locally installed modules.
-Also see CPAN::autobundle for one way to make a "bundle" of your
-currently installed modules.
-
-=head1 WARNING: This version requires a compiler that supports ANSI C.
-
-Most C compilers are now ANSI-compliant. However, a few current
-computers are delivered with an older C compiler expressly for
-rebuilding the system kernel, or for some other historical reason.
-Alternatively, you may have an old machine which was shipped before
-ANSI compliance became widespread. Such compilers are not suitable
-for building Perl.
-
-If you find that your default C compiler is not ANSI-capable, but you
-know that an ANSI-capable compiler is installed on your system, you
-can tell F<Configure> to use the correct compiler by means of the
-C<-Dcc=> command-line option -- see L<"gcc">.
-
-If do not have an ANSI-capable compiler there are a couple of avenues
-open to you:
-
-=over 4
-
-=item *
-
-You may try obtaining GCC, available from GNU mirrors worldwide,
-listed at http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html . If, rather than
-building gcc from source code, you locate a binary version configured
-for your platform, be sure that it is compiled for the version of the
-operating system that you are using.
-
-=item *
-
-You may purchase a commercial ANSI C compiler from your system
-supplier or elsewhere. (Or your organization may already have
-licensed such software -- ask your colleagues to find out how to
-access it.) If there is a README file for your system in the Perl
-distribution (for example, F<README.hpux>), it may contain advice on
-suitable compilers.
+On a related issue, old modules may possibly be affected by the changes
+in the Perl language in the current release. Please see
+pod/perldelta.pod for a description of what's changed. See your
+installed copy of the perllocal.pod file for a (possibly incomplete)
+list of locally installed modules. Also see CPAN::autobundle for one
+way to make a "bundle" of your currently installed modules.
-=back
-
-Although Perl can be compiled using a C++ compiler, the Configure script
-does not work with some C++ compilers.
-
-=head1 Space Requirements
+=head2 Space Requirements
The complete perl5 source tree takes up about 60 MB of disk space.
After completing make, it takes up roughly 100 MB, though the actual
includes the version name. By default, Configure will reuse your old
name (e.g. /opt/perl/lib/i86pc-solaris/5.003) even if you're running
Configure for a different version, e.g. 5.004. Yes, Configure should
-probably check and correct for this, but it doesn't.
-Similarly, if you used a shared libperl.so (see below) with version
-numbers, you will probably want to adjust them as well.
+probably check and correct for this, but it doesn't. Similarly, if you
+used a shared libperl.so (see below) with version numbers, you will
+probably want to adjust them as well.
Also, be careful to check your architecture name. For example, some
Linux distributions use i386, while others may use i486. If you build
since Configure often searches for many different ways of performing
the same function.
-At any Configure prompt, you can type &-d and Configure will use the
+At any Configure prompt, you can type &-d and Configure will use the
defaults from then on.
After it runs, Configure will perform variable substitution on all the
*.SH files and offer to run make depend.
-=head2 Disabling older versions of Perl
-
-Configure will search for binary compatible versions of previously
-installed perl binaries in the tree that is specified as target tree
-and these will be used by the perl being built.
-
-To disable use of older perl modules, even completely valid pure perl
-modules, you can specify to not include the pathes found:
-
- sh Configure -Dinc_version_list=none ...
-
-When using the newer perl, you can add these pathes again in the
-$PERL5LIB environment variable or with perl's -I runtime option.
-
-=head2 Altering config.sh variables for C compiler switches etc.
-
-For most users, all of the Configure defaults are fine. Configure
-also has several convenient options which are described below.
-However, if Configure doesn't have an option to do what you want,
-you can change Configure variables after the platform hints have been
-run, by using Configure's -A switch. For example, here's how to add
-a couple of extra flags to C compiler invocations:
-
- sh Configure -Accflags="-DPERL_Y2KWARN -DPERL_POLLUTE_MALLOC"
-
-For more help on Configure switches, run:
-
- sh Configure -h
-
-=head2 Building Perl outside of the source directory
-
-Sometimes it is desirable to build Perl in a directory different from
-where the sources are, for example if you want to keep your sources
-read-only, or if you want to share the sources between different binary
-architectures. You can do this (if your file system supports symbolic
-links) by
-
- mkdir /tmp/perl/build/directory
- cd /tmp/perl/build/directory
- sh /path/to/perl/source/Configure -Dmksymlinks ...
-
-This will create in /tmp/perl/build/directory a tree of symbolic links
-pointing to files in /path/to/perl/source. The original files are left
-unaffected. After Configure has finished you can just say
-
- make all test
+=head2 Common Configure options
-and Perl will be built and tested, all in /tmp/perl/build/directory.
+Configure supports a number of useful options. Run
-=head2 Common Configure options
+ Configure -h
-Configure supports a number of useful options. Run B<Configure -h> to
-get a listing. See the Porting/Glossary file for a complete list of
+to get a listing. See the Porting/Glossary file for a complete list of
Configure variables you can set and their definitions.
=over 4
further details.)
You can specify a different 'prefix' for the default installation
-directory, when Configure prompts you or by using the Configure command
+directory when Configure prompts you, or by using the Configure command
line option -Dprefix='/some/directory', e.g.
sh Configure -Dprefix=/opt/perl
perl -V:config_args
(Check the output carefully, however, since this doesn't preserve
-spaces in arguments to Configure. For that, you have to look
-carefully at config_arg1, config_arg2, etc.)
+spaces in arguments to Configure. For that, you have to look carefully
+at config_arg1, config_arg2, etc.)
-By default, Configure will not try to link /usr/bin/perl to
-the current version of perl. You can turn on that behavior by running
+By default, Configure will not try to link /usr/bin/perl to the current
+version of perl. You can turn on that behavior by running
Configure -Dinstallusrbinperl
or by answering 'yes' to the appropriate Configure prompt.
-(Note that before perl 5.8.1, the default behavior was to create
-or overwrite /usr/bin/perl even if it already existed.)
-In any case, system administrators are strongly encouraged to
-put (symlinks to) perl and its accompanying utilities, such as perldoc,
+In any case, system administrators are strongly encouraged to put
+(symlinks to) perl and its accompanying utilities, such as perldoc,
into a directory typically found along a user's PATH, or in another
obvious and convenient place.
-=item Overriding an old config.sh
+=item Building a development release.
-If you want to use your old config.sh but override some of the items
-with command line options, you need to use B<Configure -O>.
+For development releases (odd subreleases, like 5.9.x) if you want to
+use Configure -d, you will also need to supply -Dusedevel to Configure,
+because the default answer to the question "do you really want to
+Configure a development version?" is "no". The -Dusedevel skips that
+sanity check.
=back
sh Configure -des
-Note: for development releases (odd subreleases, like 5.9, as opposed
-to maintenance releases which have even subreleases, like 5.6 and 5.8)
-if you want to use Configure -d, you will also need to supply -Dusedevel
-to Configure, because the default answer to the question "do you really
-want to Configure a development version?" is "no". The -Dusedevel
-skips that sanity check.
-
-For example for my Solaris system, I usually use
+For example for my Solaris/x86 system, I usually use
sh Configure -Dprefix=/opt/perl -Doptimize='-xpentium -xO4' -des
-=head2 GNU-style configure
+=head2 Altering config.sh variables for C compiler switches etc.
-If you prefer the GNU-style configure command line interface, you can
-use the supplied configure.gnu command, e.g.
+For most users, most of the Configure defaults are fine, or can easily
+be set on the Configure command line. However, if Configure doesn't
+have an option to do what you want, you can change Configure variables
+after the platform hints have been run by using Configure's -A switch.
+For example, here's how to add a couple of extra flags to C compiler
+invocations:
- CC=gcc ./configure.gnu
+ sh Configure -Accflags="-DPERL_Y2KWARN -DPERL_POLLUTE_MALLOC"
-The configure.gnu script emulates a few of the more common configure
-options. Try
+For more help on Configure switches, run
- ./configure.gnu --help
+ sh Configure -h
-for a listing.
+=head2 Major Configure-time Build Options
-(The file is called configure.gnu to avoid problems on systems
-that would not distinguish the files "Configure" and "configure".)
+There are several different ways to Configure and build perl for your
+system. For most users, the defaults are sensible and will work.
+Some users, however, may wish to further customize perl. Here are
+some of the main things you can change.
-See L<Cross-compilation> below for information on cross-compiling.
+=head3 Threads
-=head2 Installation Directories
+On some platforms, perl can be compiled with support for threads. To
+enable this, run
-The installation directories can all be changed by answering the
-appropriate questions in Configure. For convenience, all the
-installation questions are near the beginning of Configure.
-Do not include trailing slashes on directory names.
+ sh Configure -Dusethreads
-I highly recommend running Configure interactively to be sure it puts
-everything where you want it. At any point during the Configure
-process, you can answer a question with &-d and Configure will use
-the defaults from then on. Alternatively, you can
+Currently, you need to specify -Dusethreads on the Configure command
+line so that the hint files can make appropriate adjustments.
- grep '^install' config.sh
+The default is to compile without thread support.
-after Configure has run to verify the installation paths.
+Perl has two different internal threads implementations. The current
+model (available internally since 5.6, and as a user-level module since
+5.8) is called interpreter-based implementation (ithreads), with one
+interpreter per thread, and explicit sharing of data. The 5.005
+version (5005threads) is considered obsolete, buggy, and unmaintained.
-The defaults are intended to be reasonable and sensible for most
-people building from sources. Those who build and distribute binary
-distributions or who export perl to a range of systems will probably
-need to alter them. If you are content to just accept the defaults,
-you can safely skip the next section.
+By default, Configure selects ithreads if -Dusethreads is specified.
-The directories set up by Configure fall into three broad categories.
+However, if you insist, you can select the unsupported old 5005threads behavior
-=over 4
+ sh Configure -Dusethreads -Duse5005threads
-=item Directories for the perl distribution
+The 'threads' module is for use with the ithreads implementation. The
+'Thread' module offers an interface to either 5005threads or ithreads
+(whichever has been configured).
-By default, Configure will use the following directories for 5.9.0.
-$version is the full perl version number, including subversion, e.g.
-5.9.0 or 5.9.1, and $archname is a string like sun4-sunos,
-determined by Configure. The full definitions of all Configure
-variables are in the file Porting/Glossary.
+When using threads, perl uses a dynamically-sized buffer for some of
+the thread-safe library calls, such as those in the getpw*() family.
+This buffer starts small, but it will keep growing until the result
+fits. To get a fixed upper limit, you should compile Perl with
+PERL_REENTRANT_MAXSIZE defined to be the number of bytes you want. One
+way to do this is to run Configure with
+C<-Accflags=-DPERL_REENTRANT_MAXSIZE=65536>
- Configure variable Default value
- $prefixexp /usr/local
- $binexp $prefixexp/bin
- $scriptdirexp $prefixexp/bin
- $privlibexp $prefixexp/lib/perl5/$version
- $archlibexp $prefixexp/lib/perl5/$version/$archname
- $man1direxp $prefixexp/man/man1
- $man3direxp $prefixexp/man/man3
- $html1direxp (none)
- $html3direxp (none)
+=head3 Large file support.
-$prefixexp is generated from $prefix, with ~ expansion done to convert home
-directories into absolute paths. Similarly for the other variables listed. As
-file system calls do not do this, you should always reference the ...exp
-variables, to support users who build perl in their home directory.
+Since Perl 5.6.0, Perl has supported large files (files larger than
+2 gigabytes), and in many common platforms like Linux or Solaris this
+support is on by default.
-Actually, Configure recognizes the SVR3-style
-/usr/local/man/l_man/man1 directories, if present, and uses those
-instead. Also, if $prefix contains the string "perl", the library
-directories are simplified as described below. For simplicity, only
-the common style is shown here.
+This is both good and bad. It is good in that you can use large files,
+seek(), stat(), and -s them. It is bad in that if you are interfacing Perl
+using some extension, the components you are connecting to must also
+be large file aware: if Perl thinks files can be large but the other
+parts of the software puzzle do not understand the concept, bad things
+will happen. One popular extension suffering from this ailment is the
+Apache extension mod_perl.
-=item Directories for site-specific add-on files
+There's also one known limitation with the current large files
+implementation: unless you also have 64-bit integers (see the next
+section), you cannot use the printf/sprintf non-decimal integer formats
+like C<%x> to print filesizes. You can use C<%d>, though.
-After perl is installed, you may later wish to add modules (e.g. from
-CPAN) or scripts. Configure will set up the following directories to
-be used for installing those add-on modules and scripts.
+=head3 64 bit support.
- Configure variable Default value
- $siteprefixexp $prefixexp
- $sitebinexp $siteprefixexp/bin
- $sitescriptexp $siteprefixexp/bin
- $sitelibexp $siteprefixexp/lib/perl5/site_perl/$version
- $sitearchexp $siteprefixexp/lib/perl5/site_perl/$version/$archname
- $siteman1direxp $siteprefixexp/man/man1
- $siteman3direxp $siteprefixexp/man/man3
- $sitehtml1direxp (none)
- $sitehtml3direxp (none)
+If your platform does not have run natively at 64 bits, but can
+simulate them with compiler flags and/or C<long long> or C<int64_t>,
+you can build a perl that uses 64 bits.
-By default, ExtUtils::MakeMaker will install architecture-independent
-modules into $sitelib and architecture-dependent modules into $sitearch.
+There are actually two modes of 64-bitness: the first one is achieved
+using Configure -Duse64bitint and the second one using Configure
+-Duse64bitall. The difference is that the first one is minimal and
+the second one maximal. The first works in more places than the second.
-=item Directories for vendor-supplied add-on files
+The C<use64bitint> option does only as much as is required to get
+64-bit integers into Perl (this may mean, for example, using "long
+longs") while your memory may still be limited to 2 gigabytes (because
+your pointers could still be 32-bit). Note that the name C<64bitint>
+does not imply that your C compiler will be using 64-bit C<int>s (it
+might, but it doesn't have to). The C<use64bitint> simply means that
+you will be able to have 64 bit-wide scalar values.
-Lastly, if you are building a binary distribution of perl for
-distribution, Configure can optionally set up the following directories
-for you to use to distribute add-on modules.
+The C<use64bitall> option goes all the way by attempting to switch
+integers (if it can), longs (and pointers) to being 64-bit. This may
+create an even more binary incompatible Perl than -Duse64bitint: the
+resulting executable may not run at all in a 32-bit box, or you may
+have to reboot/reconfigure/rebuild your operating system to be 64-bit
+aware.
- Configure variable Default value
- $vendorprefixexp (none)
- (The next ones are set only if vendorprefix is set.)
- $vendorbinexp $vendorprefixexp/bin
- $vendorscriptexp $vendorprefixexp/bin
- $vendorlibexp
- $vendorprefixexp/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/$version
- $vendorarchexp
- $vendorprefixexp/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/$version/$archname
- $vendorman1direxp $vendorprefixexp/man/man1
- $vendorman3direxp $vendorprefixexp/man/man3
- $vendorhtml1direxp (none)
- $vendorhtml3direxp (none)
+Natively 64-bit systems like Alpha and Cray need neither -Duse64bitint
+nor -Duse64bitall.
-These are normally empty, but may be set as needed. For example,
-a vendor might choose the following settings:
+ NOTE: 64-bit support is still experimental on most platforms.
+ Existing support only covers the LP64 data model. In particular, the
+ LLP64 data model is not yet supported. 64-bit libraries and system
+ APIs on many platforms have not stabilized--your mileage may vary.
- $prefix /usr
- $siteprefix /usr/local
- $vendorprefix /usr
+=head3 Long doubles
-This would have the effect of setting the following:
+In some systems you may be able to use long doubles to enhance the
+range and precision of your double precision floating point numbers
+(that is, Perl's numbers). Use Configure -Duselongdouble to enable
+this support (if it is available).
- $binexp /usr/bin
- $scriptdirexp /usr/bin
- $privlibexp /usr/lib/perl5/$version
- $archlibexp /usr/lib/perl5/$version/$archname
- $man1direxp /usr/man/man1
- $man3direxp /usr/man/man3
+=head3 "more bits"
- $sitebinexp /usr/local/bin
- $sitescriptexp /usr/local/bin
- $sitelibexp /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/$version
- $sitearchexp /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/$version/$archname
- $siteman1direxp /usr/local/man/man1
- $siteman3direxp /usr/local/man/man3
+You can "Configure -Dusemorebits" to turn on both the 64-bit support
+and the long double support.
- $vendorbinexp /usr/bin
- $vendorscriptexp /usr/bin
- $vendorlibexp /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/$version
- $vendorarchexp /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/$version/$archname
- $vendorman1direxp /usr/man/man1
- $vendorman3direxp /usr/man/man3
+=head3 Selecting File IO mechanisms
-Note how in this example, the vendor-supplied directories are in the
-/usr hierarchy, while the directories reserved for the end-user are in
-the /usr/local hierarchy.
+Executive summary: as of Perl 5.8, you should use the default "PerlIO"
+as the IO mechanism unless you have a good reason not to.
-The entire installed library hierarchy is installed in locations with
-version numbers, keeping the installations of different versions distinct.
-However, later installations of Perl can still be configured to search the
-installed libraries corresponding to compatible earlier versions.
-See L<"Coexistence with earlier versions of perl5"> below for more details
-on how Perl can be made to search older version directories.
+In more detail: previous versions of perl used the standard IO
+mechanisms as defined in stdio.h. Versions 5.003_02 and later of perl
+introduced alternate IO mechanisms via a "PerlIO" abstraction, but up
+until and including Perl 5.6, the stdio mechanism was still the default
+and the only supported mechanism.
-Of course you may use these directories however you see fit. For
-example, you may wish to use $siteprefix for site-specific files that
-are stored locally on your own disk and use $vendorprefix for
-site-specific files that are stored elsewhere on your organization's
-network. One way to do that would be something like
-
- sh Configure -Dsiteprefix=/usr/local -Dvendorprefix=/usr/share/perl
-
-=item otherlibdirs
-
-As a final catch-all, Configure also offers an $otherlibdirs
-variable. This variable contains a colon-separated list of additional
-directories to add to @INC. By default, it will be empty.
-Perl will search these directories (including architecture and
-version-specific subdirectories) for add-on modules and extensions.
-
-For example, if you have a bundle of perl libraries from a previous
-installation, perhaps in a strange place:
-
- Configure -Dotherlibdirs=/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.1
-
-=item APPLLIB_EXP
-
-There is one other way of adding paths to @INC at perl build time, and
-that is by setting the APPLLIB_EXP C pre-processor token to a colon-
-separated list of directories, like this
-
- sh Configure -Accflags='-DAPPLLIB_EXP=\"/usr/libperl\"'
-
-The directories defined by APPLLIB_EXP get added to @INC I<first>,
-ahead of any others, and so provide a way to override the standard perl
-modules should you, for example, want to distribute fixes without
-touching the perl distribution proper. And, like otherlib dirs,
-version and architecture specific subdirectories are also searched, if
-present, at run time. Of course, you can still search other @INC
-directories ahead of those in APPLLIB_EXP by using any of the standard
-run-time methods: $PERLLIB, $PERL5LIB, -I, use lib, etc.
-
-=item Man Pages
-
-In versions 5.005_57 and earlier, the default was to store module man
-pages in a version-specific directory, such as
-/usr/local/lib/perl5/$version/man/man3. The default for 5.005_58 and
-after is /usr/local/man/man3 so that most users can find the man pages
-without resetting MANPATH.
-
-You can continue to use the old default from the command line with
-
- sh Configure -Dman3dir=/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.9.0/man/man3
-
-Some users also prefer to use a .3pm suffix. You can do that with
-
- sh Configure -Dman3ext=3pm
-
-Again, these are just the defaults, and can be changed as you run
-Configure.
-
-=item HTML pages
-
-Currently, the standard perl installation does not do anything with
-HTML documentation, but that may change in the future. Further, some
-add-on modules may wish to install HTML documents. The html Configure
-variables listed above are provided if you wish to specify where such
-documents should be placed. The default is "none", but will likely
-eventually change to something useful based on user feedback.
-
-=back
-
-Some users prefer to append a "/share" to $privlib and $sitelib
-to emphasize that those directories can be shared among different
-architectures.
-
-Note that these are just the defaults. You can actually structure the
-directories any way you like. They don't even have to be on the same
-filesystem.
-
-Further details about the installation directories, maintenance and
-development subversions, and about supporting multiple versions are
-discussed in L<"Coexistence with earlier versions of perl5"> below.
-
-If you specify a prefix that contains the string "perl", then the
-library directory structure is slightly simplified. Instead of
-suggesting $prefix/lib/perl5/, Configure will suggest $prefix/lib.
-
-Thus, for example, if you Configure with
--Dprefix=/opt/perl, then the default library directories for 5.9.0 are
-
- Configure variable Default value
- $privlib /opt/perl/lib/5.9.0
- $archlib /opt/perl/lib/5.9.0/$archname
- $sitelib /opt/perl/lib/site_perl/5.9.0
- $sitearch /opt/perl/lib/site_perl/5.9.0/$archname
-
-=head2 Changing the installation directory
-
-Configure distinguishes between the directory in which perl (and its
-associated files) should be installed and the directory in which it
-will eventually reside. For most sites, these two are the same; for
-sites that use AFS, this distinction is handled automatically.
-However, sites that use software such as depot to manage software
-packages, or users building binary packages for distribution may also
-wish to install perl into a different directory and use that
-management software to move perl to its final destination. This
-section describes how to do that.
-
-Suppose you want to install perl under the /tmp/perl5 directory. You
-could edit config.sh and change all the install* variables to point to
-/tmp/perl5 instead of /usr/local, or you could simply use the
-following command line:
-
- sh Configure -Dinstallprefix=/tmp/perl5
-
-(replace /tmp/perl5 by a directory of your choice).
-
-Beware, though, that if you go to try to install new add-on
-modules, they too will get installed in under '/tmp/perl5' if you
-follow this example. The next section shows one way of dealing with
-that problem.
-
-=head2 Creating an installable tar archive
-
-If you need to install perl on many identical systems, it is
-convenient to compile it once and create an archive that can be
-installed on multiple systems. Suppose, for example, that you want to
-create an archive that can be installed in /opt/perl.
-Here's one way to do that:
-
- # Set up to install perl into a different directory,
- # e.g. /tmp/perl5 (see previous part).
- sh Configure -Dinstallprefix=/tmp/perl5 -Dprefix=/opt/perl -des
- make
- make test
- make install # This will install everything into /tmp/perl5.
- cd /tmp/perl5
- # Edit $archlib/Config.pm and $archlib/.packlist to change all the
- # install* variables back to reflect where everything will
- # really be installed. (That is, change /tmp/perl5 to /opt/perl
- # everywhere in those files.)
- # Check the scripts in $scriptdir to make sure they have the correct
- # #!/wherever/perl line.
- tar cvf ../perl5-archive.tar .
- # Then, on each machine where you want to install perl,
- cd /opt/perl # Or wherever you specified as $prefix
- tar xvf perl5-archive.tar
-
-Alternatively, the DESTDIR variable is honored during C<make install>.
-The DESTDIR is automatically prepended to all the installation paths
-(and there is no need to edit anything). With DESTDIR, the above
-example can we written as:
-
- sh Configure -Dprefix=/opt/perl -des
- make
- make test
- make install DESTDIR=/tmp/perl5
- cd /tmp/perl5/opt/perl
- tar cvf /tmp/perl5-archive.tar .
-
-=head2 Site-wide Policy settings
-
-After Configure runs, it stores a number of common site-wide "policy"
-answers (such as installation directories and the local perl contact
-person) in the Policy.sh file. If you want to build perl on another
-system using the same policy defaults, simply copy the Policy.sh file
-to the new system and Configure will use it along with the appropriate
-hint file for your system.
-
-Alternatively, if you wish to change some or all of those policy
-answers, you should
-
- rm -f Policy.sh
-
-to ensure that Configure doesn't re-use them.
-
-Further information is in the Policy_sh.SH file itself.
-
-If the generated Policy.sh file is unsuitable, you may freely edit it
-to contain any valid shell commands. It will be run just after the
-platform-specific hints files.
-
-=head2 Configure-time Options
-
-There are several different ways to Configure and build perl for your
-system. For most users, the defaults are sensible and will work.
-Some users, however, may wish to further customize perl. Here are
-some of the main things you can change.
-
-=head2 Threads
-
-On some platforms, perl can be compiled with
-support for threads. To enable this, run
-
- sh Configure -Dusethreads
-
-Currently, you need to specify -Dusethreads on the Configure command
-line so that the hint files can make appropriate adjustments.
-
-The default is to compile without thread support.
-
-Perl has two different internal threads implementations. The current
-model (available internally since 5.6, and as a user-level module
-since 5.8) is called interpreter-based implementation (ithreads),
-with one interpreter per thread, and explicit sharing of data.
-
-The 5.005 version (5005threads) is considered obsolete, buggy, and
-unmaintained.
-
-By default, Configure selects ithreads if -Dusethreads is specified.
-
-(You need to also use the PerlIO layer, explained later, if you decide
-to use ithreads, to guarantee the good interworking of threads and I/O.)
-
-However, if you wish, you can select the unsupported old 5005threads behavior
-
- sh Configure -Dusethreads -Duse5005threads
-
-If you decide to use ithreads, the 'threads' module allows their use,
-and the 'Thread' module offers an interface to both 5005threads and
-ithreads (whichever has been configured).
-
-When building threaded for certain library calls like the getgr*() and
-the getpw*() there is a dynamically sized result buffer: the buffer
-starts small but Perl will keep growing the buffer until the result fits.
-To get a fixed upper limit you will have to recompile Perl with
-PERL_REENTRANT_MAXSIZE defined to be the number of bytes you want.
-One way to do this is to run Configure with
-C<-Accflags=-DPERL_REENTRANT_MAXSIZE=65536>
-
-=head2 Large file support.
-
-Since Perl 5.6.0, Perl has supported large files (files larger than
-2 gigabytes), and in many common platforms like Linux or Solaris this
-support is on by default.
-
-This is both good and bad. It is good in that you can use large files,
-seek(), stat(), and -s them. It is bad in that if you are interfacing Perl
-using some extension, the components you are connecting to must also
-be large file aware: if Perl thinks files can be large but the other
-parts of the software puzzle do not understand the concept, bad things
-will happen. One popular extension suffering from this ailment is the
-Apache extension mod_perl.
-
-There's also one known limitation with the current large files
-implementation: unless you also have 64-bit integers (see the next
-section), you cannot use the printf/sprintf non-decimal integer
-formats like C<%x> to print filesizes. You can use C<%d>, though.
-
-=head2 64 bit support.
-
-If your platform does not have 64 bits natively, but can simulate them
-with compiler flags and/or C<long long> or C<int64_t>, you can build a
-perl that uses 64 bits.
-
-There are actually two modes of 64-bitness: the first one is achieved
-using Configure -Duse64bitint and the second one using Configure
--Duse64bitall. The difference is that the first one is minimal and
-the second one maximal. The first works in more places than the second.
-
-The C<use64bitint> does only as much as is required to get 64-bit
-integers into Perl (this may mean, for example, using "long longs")
-while your memory may still be limited to 2 gigabytes (because your
-pointers could still be 32-bit). Note that the name C<64bitint> does
-not imply that your C compiler will be using 64-bit C<int>s (it might,
-but it doesn't have to): the C<use64bitint> means that you will be
-able to have 64 bits wide scalar values.
-
-The C<use64bitall> goes all the way by attempting to switch also
-integers (if it can), longs (and pointers) to being 64-bit. This may
-create an even more binary incompatible Perl than -Duse64bitint: the
-resulting executable may not run at all in a 32-bit box, or you may
-have to reboot/reconfigure/rebuild your operating system to be 64-bit
-aware.
-
-Natively 64-bit systems like Alpha and Cray need neither -Duse64bitint
-nor -Duse64bitall.
-
- NOTE: 64-bit support is still experimental on most platforms.
- Existing support only covers the LP64 data model. In particular, the
- LLP64 data model is not yet supported. 64-bit libraries and system
- APIs on many platforms have not stabilized--your mileage may vary.
-
-=head2 Long doubles
-
-In some systems you may be able to use long doubles to enhance the
-range and precision of your double precision floating point numbers
-(that is, Perl's numbers). Use Configure -Duselongdouble to enable
-this support (if it is available).
-
-=head2 "more bits"
-
-You can "Configure -Dusemorebits" to turn on both the 64-bit support
-and the long double support.
-
-=head2 Selecting File IO mechanisms
-
-Executive summary: as of Perl 5.8, you should use the default "PerlIO"
-as the IO mechanism unless you have a good reason not to.
-
-In more detail: previous versions of perl used the standard IO
-mechanisms as defined in stdio.h. Versions 5.003_02 and later of perl
-introduced alternate IO mechanisms via a "PerlIO" abstraction, but up
-until and including Perl 5.6, the stdio mechanism was still the default
-and the only supported mechanism.
-
-Starting from Perl 5.8, the default mechanism is to use the PerlIO
-abstraction, because it allows better control of I/O mechanisms,
-instead of having to work with (often, work around) vendors' I/O
-implementations.
+Starting from Perl 5.8, the default mechanism is to use the PerlIO
+abstraction, because it allows better control of I/O mechanisms,
+instead of having to work with (often, work around) vendors' I/O
+implementations.
This PerlIO abstraction can be (but again, unless you know what you
are doing, should not be) disabled either on the Configure command
_exit vs. exit. If you have this problem, the fix is to go back to
your sfio sources and correct iffe's guess about atexit.
-=head2 Algorithmic Complexity Attacks on Hashes
+=head3 Algorithmic Complexity Attacks on Hashes
In Perls 5.8.0 and earlier it was easy to create degenerate hashes.
Processing such hashes would consume large amounts of CPU time,
hashes "unordered". The use of the Data::Dumper C<Sortkeys> option is
recommended.
-=head2 SOCKS
+=head3 SOCKS
Perl can be configured to be 'socksified', that is, to use the SOCKS
TCP/IP proxy protocol library. SOCKS is used to give applications
access to transport layer network proxies. Perl supports only SOCKS
Version 5. You can find more about SOCKS from http://www.socks.nec.com/
-=head2 Dynamic Loading
+=head3 Dynamic Loading
By default, Configure will compile perl to use dynamic loading if
your system supports it. If you want to force perl to be compiled
statically, you can either choose this when Configure prompts you or
you can use the Configure command line option -Uusedl.
-=head2 Building a shared Perl library
+=head3 Building a shared Perl library
Currently, for most systems, the main perl executable is built by
linking the "perl library" libperl.a with perlmain.o, your static
results.
The default name for the shared library is typically something like
-libperl.so.3.2 (for Perl 5.003_02) or libperl.so.302 or simply
+libperl.so.6.2 (for Perl 5.6.2), or libperl.so.602, or simply
libperl.so. Configure tries to guess a sensible naming convention
based on your C library name. Since the library gets installed in a
version-specific architecture-dependent directory, the exact name
You can elect to build a shared libperl by
- sh Configure -Duseshrplib
+ sh Configure -Duseshrplib
+
+To build a shared libperl, the environment variable controlling shared
+library search (LD_LIBRARY_PATH in most systems, DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH for
+NeXTSTEP/OPENSTEP/Darwin, LIBRARY_PATH for BeOS, LD_LIBRARY_PATH/SHLIB_PATH
+for HP-UX, LIBPATH for AIX, PATH for Cygwin) must be set up to include
+the Perl build directory because that's where the shared libperl will
+be created. Configure arranges makefile to have the correct shared
+library search settings. You can find the name of the environment
+variable Perl thinks works in your your system by
+
+ grep ldlibpthname config.sh
+
+However, there are some special cases where manually setting the
+shared library path might be required. For example, if you want to run
+something like the following with the newly-built but not-yet-installed
+./perl:
+
+ cd t; ./perl misc/failing_test.t
+or
+ ./perl -Ilib ~/my_mission_critical_test
+
+then you need to set up the shared library path explicitly.
+You can do this with
+
+ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=`pwd`:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH; export LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+
+for Bourne-style shells, or
+
+ setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH `pwd`
+
+for Csh-style shells. (This procedure may also be needed if for some
+unexpected reason Configure fails to set up makefile correctly.) (And
+again, it may be something other than LD_LIBRARY_PATH for you, see above.)
+
+You can often recognize failures to build/use a shared libperl from error
+messages complaining about a missing libperl.so (or libperl.sl in HP-UX),
+for example:
+18126:./miniperl: /sbin/loader: Fatal Error: cannot map libperl.so
+
+There is also an potential problem with the shared perl library if you
+want to have more than one "flavor" of the same version of perl (e.g.
+with and without -DDEBUGGING). For example, suppose you build and
+install a standard Perl 5.8.0 with a shared library. Then, suppose you
+try to build Perl 5.8.0 with -DDEBUGGING enabled, but everything else
+the same, including all the installation directories. How can you
+ensure that your newly built perl will link with your newly built
+libperl.so.8 rather with the installed libperl.so.8? The answer is
+that you might not be able to. The installation directory is encoded
+in the perl binary with the LD_RUN_PATH environment variable (or
+equivalent ld command-line option). On Solaris, you can override that
+with LD_LIBRARY_PATH; on Linux, you can only override at runtime via
+LD_PRELOAD, specifying the exact filename you wish to be used; and on
+Digital Unix, you can override LD_LIBRARY_PATH by setting the
+_RLD_ROOT environment variable to point to the perl build directory.
+
+In other words, it is generally not a good idea to try to build a perl
+with a shared library if $archlib/CORE/$libperl already exists from a
+previous build.
+
+A good workaround is to specify a different directory for the
+architecture-dependent library for your -DDEBUGGING version of perl.
+You can do this by changing all the *archlib* variables in config.sh to
+point to your new architecture-dependent library.
+
+=head2 Installation Directories
+
+The installation directories can all be changed by answering the
+appropriate questions in Configure. For convenience, all the
+installation questions are near the beginning of Configure.
+Do not include trailing slashes on directory names.
+
+I highly recommend running Configure interactively to be sure it puts
+everything where you want it. At any point during the Configure
+process, you can answer a question with &-d and Configure will use
+the defaults from then on. Alternatively, you can
+
+ grep '^install' config.sh
+
+after Configure has run to verify the installation paths.
+
+The defaults are intended to be reasonable and sensible for most
+people building from sources. Those who build and distribute binary
+distributions or who export perl to a range of systems will probably
+need to alter them. If you are content to just accept the defaults,
+you can safely skip the next section.
+
+The directories set up by Configure fall into three broad categories.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item Directories for the perl distribution
+
+By default, Configure will use the following directories for 5.9.0.
+$version is the full perl version number, including subversion, e.g.
+5.9.0 or 5.9.1, and $archname is a string like sun4-sunos,
+determined by Configure. The full definitions of all Configure
+variables are in the file Porting/Glossary.
+
+ Configure variable Default value
+ $prefixexp /usr/local
+ $binexp $prefixexp/bin
+ $scriptdirexp $prefixexp/bin
+ $privlibexp $prefixexp/lib/perl5/$version
+ $archlibexp $prefixexp/lib/perl5/$version/$archname
+ $man1direxp $prefixexp/man/man1
+ $man3direxp $prefixexp/man/man3
+ $html1direxp (none)
+ $html3direxp (none)
+
+$prefixexp is generated from $prefix, with ~ expansion done to convert home
+directories into absolute paths. Similarly for the other variables listed. As
+file system calls do not do this, you should always reference the ...exp
+variables, to support users who build perl in their home directory.
+
+Actually, Configure recognizes the SVR3-style
+/usr/local/man/l_man/man1 directories, if present, and uses those
+instead. Also, if $prefix contains the string "perl", the library
+directories are simplified as described below. For simplicity, only
+the common style is shown here.
+
+=item Directories for site-specific add-on files
+
+After perl is installed, you may later wish to add modules (e.g. from
+CPAN) or scripts. Configure will set up the following directories to
+be used for installing those add-on modules and scripts.
+
+ Configure variable Default value
+ $siteprefixexp $prefixexp
+ $sitebinexp $siteprefixexp/bin
+ $sitescriptexp $siteprefixexp/bin
+ $sitelibexp $siteprefixexp/lib/perl5/site_perl/$version
+ $sitearchexp $siteprefixexp/lib/perl5/site_perl/$version/$archname
+ $siteman1direxp $siteprefixexp/man/man1
+ $siteman3direxp $siteprefixexp/man/man3
+ $sitehtml1direxp (none)
+ $sitehtml3direxp (none)
+
+By default, ExtUtils::MakeMaker will install architecture-independent
+modules into $sitelib and architecture-dependent modules into $sitearch.
+
+=item Directories for vendor-supplied add-on files
+
+Lastly, if you are building a binary distribution of perl for
+distribution, Configure can optionally set up the following directories
+for you to use to distribute add-on modules.
+
+ Configure variable Default value
+ $vendorprefixexp (none)
+ (The next ones are set only if vendorprefix is set.)
+ $vendorbinexp $vendorprefixexp/bin
+ $vendorscriptexp $vendorprefixexp/bin
+ $vendorlibexp
+ $vendorprefixexp/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/$version
+ $vendorarchexp
+ $vendorprefixexp/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/$version/$archname
+ $vendorman1direxp $vendorprefixexp/man/man1
+ $vendorman3direxp $vendorprefixexp/man/man3
+ $vendorhtml1direxp (none)
+ $vendorhtml3direxp (none)
+
+These are normally empty, but may be set as needed. For example,
+a vendor might choose the following settings:
+
+ $prefix /usr
+ $siteprefix /usr/local
+ $vendorprefix /usr
+
+This would have the effect of setting the following:
+
+ $binexp /usr/bin
+ $scriptdirexp /usr/bin
+ $privlibexp /usr/lib/perl5/$version
+ $archlibexp /usr/lib/perl5/$version/$archname
+ $man1direxp /usr/man/man1
+ $man3direxp /usr/man/man3
+
+ $sitebinexp /usr/local/bin
+ $sitescriptexp /usr/local/bin
+ $sitelibexp /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/$version
+ $sitearchexp /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/$version/$archname
+ $siteman1direxp /usr/local/man/man1
+ $siteman3direxp /usr/local/man/man3
+
+ $vendorbinexp /usr/bin
+ $vendorscriptexp /usr/bin
+ $vendorlibexp /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/$version
+ $vendorarchexp /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/$version/$archname
+ $vendorman1direxp /usr/man/man1
+ $vendorman3direxp /usr/man/man3
+
+Note how in this example, the vendor-supplied directories are in the
+/usr hierarchy, while the directories reserved for the end-user are in
+the /usr/local hierarchy.
+
+The entire installed library hierarchy is installed in locations with
+version numbers, keeping the installations of different versions distinct.
+However, later installations of Perl can still be configured to search the
+installed libraries corresponding to compatible earlier versions.
+See L<"Coexistence with earlier versions of perl5"> below for more details
+on how Perl can be made to search older version directories.
+
+Of course you may use these directories however you see fit. For
+example, you may wish to use $siteprefix for site-specific files that
+are stored locally on your own disk and use $vendorprefix for
+site-specific files that are stored elsewhere on your organization's
+network. One way to do that would be something like
+
+ sh Configure -Dsiteprefix=/usr/local -Dvendorprefix=/usr/share/perl
+
+=item otherlibdirs
+
+As a final catch-all, Configure also offers an $otherlibdirs
+variable. This variable contains a colon-separated list of additional
+directories to add to @INC. By default, it will be empty.
+Perl will search these directories (including architecture and
+version-specific subdirectories) for add-on modules and extensions.
+
+For example, if you have a bundle of perl libraries from a previous
+installation, perhaps in a strange place:
+
+ Configure -Dotherlibdirs=/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.1
+
+=item APPLLIB_EXP
+
+There is one other way of adding paths to @INC at perl build time, and
+that is by setting the APPLLIB_EXP C pre-processor token to a colon-
+separated list of directories, like this
+
+ sh Configure -Accflags='-DAPPLLIB_EXP=\"/usr/libperl\"'
+
+The directories defined by APPLLIB_EXP get added to @INC I<first>,
+ahead of any others, and so provide a way to override the standard perl
+modules should you, for example, want to distribute fixes without
+touching the perl distribution proper. And, like otherlib dirs,
+version and architecture specific subdirectories are also searched, if
+present, at run time. Of course, you can still search other @INC
+directories ahead of those in APPLLIB_EXP by using any of the standard
+run-time methods: $PERLLIB, $PERL5LIB, -I, use lib, etc.
+
+=item Man Pages
+
+In versions 5.005_57 and earlier, the default was to store module man
+pages in a version-specific directory, such as
+/usr/local/lib/perl5/$version/man/man3. The default for 5.005_58 and
+after is /usr/local/man/man3 so that most users can find the man pages
+without resetting MANPATH.
+
+You can continue to use the old default from the command line with
+
+ sh Configure -Dman3dir=/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.9.0/man/man3
+
+Some users also prefer to use a .3pm suffix. You can do that with
+
+ sh Configure -Dman3ext=3pm
+
+Again, these are just the defaults, and can be changed as you run
+Configure.
+
+=item HTML pages
+
+Currently, the standard perl installation does not do anything with
+HTML documentation, but that may change in the future. Further, some
+add-on modules may wish to install HTML documents. The html Configure
+variables listed above are provided if you wish to specify where such
+documents should be placed. The default is "none", but will likely
+eventually change to something useful based on user feedback.
+
+=back
+
+Some users prefer to append a "/share" to $privlib and $sitelib
+to emphasize that those directories can be shared among different
+architectures.
+
+Note that these are just the defaults. You can actually structure the
+directories any way you like. They don't even have to be on the same
+filesystem.
-To build a shared libperl, the environment variable controlling shared
-library search (LD_LIBRARY_PATH in most systems, DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH for
-NeXTSTEP/OPENSTEP/Darwin, LIBRARY_PATH for BeOS, LD_LIBRARY_PATH/SHLIB_PATH
-for HP-UX, LIBPATH for AIX, PATH for Cygwin) must be set up to include
-the Perl build directory because that's where the shared libperl will
-be created. Configure arranges makefile to have the correct shared
-library search settings. You can find the name of the environment
-variable Perl thinks works in your your system by
+Further details about the installation directories, maintenance and
+development subversions, and about supporting multiple versions are
+discussed in L<"Coexistence with earlier versions of perl5"> below.
- grep ldlibpthname config.sh
+If you specify a prefix that contains the string "perl", then the
+library directory structure is slightly simplified. Instead of
+suggesting $prefix/lib/perl5/, Configure will suggest $prefix/lib.
-However, there are some special cases where manually setting the
-shared library path might be required. For example, if you want to run
-something like the following with the newly-built but not-yet-installed
-./perl:
+Thus, for example, if you Configure with
+-Dprefix=/opt/perl, then the default library directories for 5.9.0 are
- cd t; ./perl misc/failing_test.t
-or
- ./perl -Ilib ~/my_mission_critical_test
+ Configure variable Default value
+ $privlib /opt/perl/lib/5.9.0
+ $archlib /opt/perl/lib/5.9.0/$archname
+ $sitelib /opt/perl/lib/site_perl/5.9.0
+ $sitearch /opt/perl/lib/site_perl/5.9.0/$archname
-then you need to set up the shared library path explicitly.
-You can do this with
+=head2 Changing the installation directory
- LD_LIBRARY_PATH=`pwd`:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH; export LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+Configure distinguishes between the directory in which perl (and its
+associated files) should be installed and the directory in which it
+will eventually reside. For most sites, these two are the same; for
+sites that use AFS, this distinction is handled automatically.
+However, sites that use software such as depot to manage software
+packages, or users building binary packages for distribution may also
+wish to install perl into a different directory and use that
+management software to move perl to its final destination. This
+section describes how to do that.
-for Bourne-style shells, or
+Suppose you want to install perl under the /tmp/perl5 directory. You
+could edit config.sh and change all the install* variables to point to
+/tmp/perl5 instead of /usr/local, or you could simply use the
+following command line:
- setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH `pwd`
+ sh Configure -Dinstallprefix=/tmp/perl5
-for Csh-style shells. (This procedure may also be needed if for some
-unexpected reason Configure fails to set up makefile correctly.) (And
-again, it may be something other than LD_LIBRARY_PATH for you, see above.)
+(replace /tmp/perl5 by a directory of your choice).
-You can often recognize failures to build/use a shared libperl from error
-messages complaining about a missing libperl.so (or libperl.sl in HP-UX),
-for example:
-18126:./miniperl: /sbin/loader: Fatal Error: cannot map libperl.so
+Beware, though, that if you go to try to install new add-on
+modules, they too will get installed in under '/tmp/perl5' if you
+follow this example. The next section shows one way of dealing with
+that problem.
-There is also an potential problem with the shared perl library if you
-want to have more than one "flavor" of the same version of perl (e.g.
-with and without -DDEBUGGING). For example, suppose you build and
-install a standard Perl 5.8.0 with a shared library. Then, suppose you
-try to build Perl 5.8.0 with -DDEBUGGING enabled, but everything else
-the same, including all the installation directories. How can you
-ensure that your newly built perl will link with your newly built
-libperl.so.8 rather with the installed libperl.so.8? The answer is
-that you might not be able to. The installation directory is encoded
-in the perl binary with the LD_RUN_PATH environment variable (or
-equivalent ld command-line option). On Solaris, you can override that
-with LD_LIBRARY_PATH; on Linux, you can only override at runtime via
-LD_PRELOAD, specifying the exact filename you wish to be used; and on
-Digital Unix, you can override LD_LIBRARY_PATH by setting the
-_RLD_ROOT environment variable to point to the perl build directory.
+=head2 Creating an installable tar archive
-In other words, it is generally not a good idea to try to build a perl
-with a shared library if $archlib/CORE/$libperl already exists from a
-previous build.
+If you need to install perl on many identical systems, it is convenient
+to compile it once and create an archive that can be installed on
+multiple systems. Suppose, for example, that you want to create an
+archive that can be installed in /opt/perl. One way to do that is by
+using the DESTDIR variable during C<make install>. The DESTDIR is
+automatically prepended to all the installation paths. Thus you
+simply do:
-A good workaround is to specify a different directory for the
-architecture-dependent library for your -DDEBUGGING version of perl.
-You can do this by changing all the *archlib* variables in config.sh to
-point to your new architecture-dependent library.
+ sh Configure -Dprefix=/opt/perl -des
+ make
+ make test
+ make install DESTDIR=/tmp/perl5
+ cd /tmp/perl5/opt/perl
+ tar cvf /tmp/perl5-archive.tar .
-=head2 Malloc Issues
+=head2 Site-wide Policy settings
-Perl relies heavily on malloc(3) to grow data structures as needed,
-so perl's performance can be noticeably affected by the performance of
-the malloc function on your system. The perl source is shipped with a
-version of malloc that has been optimized for the typical requests from
-perl, so there's a chance that it may be both faster and use less memory
-than your system malloc.
+After Configure runs, it stores a number of common site-wide "policy"
+answers (such as installation directories and the local perl contact
+person) in the Policy.sh file. If you want to build perl on another
+system using the same policy defaults, simply copy the Policy.sh file
+to the new system and Configure will use it along with the appropriate
+hint file for your system.
-However, if your system already has an excellent malloc, or if you are
-experiencing difficulties with extensions that use third-party libraries
-that call malloc, then you should probably use your system's malloc.
-(Or, you might wish to explore the malloc flags discussed below.)
+Alternatively, if you wish to change some or all of those policy
+answers, you should
-=over 4
+ rm -f Policy.sh
-=item Using the system malloc
+to ensure that Configure doesn't re-use them.
-To build without perl's malloc, you can use the Configure command
+Further information is in the Policy_sh.SH file itself.
- sh Configure -Uusemymalloc
+If the generated Policy.sh file is unsuitable, you may freely edit it
+to contain any valid shell commands. It will be run just after the
+platform-specific hints files.
-or you can answer 'n' at the appropriate interactive Configure prompt.
+=head2 Disabling older versions of Perl
-=item -DPERL_POLLUTE_MALLOC
+Configure will search for binary compatible versions of previously
+installed perl binaries in the tree that is specified as target tree
+and these will be used by the perl being built.
+See L<"Coexistence with earlier versions of perl5"> for more details.
-NOTE: This flag is enabled automatically on some platforms if you just
-run Configure to accept all the defaults on those platforms.
+To disable this use of older perl modules, even completely valid pure perl
+modules, you can specify to not include the paths found:
-Perl's malloc family of functions are normally called Perl_malloc(),
-Perl_realloc(), Perl_calloc() and Perl_mfree().
-These names do not clash with the system versions of these functions.
+ sh Configure -Dinc_version_list=none ...
-If this flag is enabled, however, Perl's malloc family of functions
-will have the same names as the system versions. This may be required
-sometimes if you have libraries that like to free() data that may have
-been allocated by Perl_malloc() and vice versa.
+When using the newer perl, you can add these paths again in the
+$PERL5LIB environment variable or with perl's -I runtime option.
-Note that enabling this option may sometimes lead to duplicate symbols
-from the linker for malloc et al. In such cases, the system probably
-does not allow its malloc functions to be fully replaced with custom
-versions.
+=head2 Building Perl outside of the source directory
-=item -DPERL_DEBUGGING_MSTATS
+Sometimes it is desirable to build Perl in a directory different from
+where the sources are, for example if you want to keep your sources
+read-only, or if you want to share the sources between different binary
+architectures. You can do this (if your file system supports symbolic
+links) by
-This flag enables debugging mstats, which is required to use the
-Devel::Peek::mstat() function. You cannot enable this unless you are
-using Perl's malloc, so a typical Configure command would be
+ mkdir /tmp/perl/build/directory
+ cd /tmp/perl/build/directory
+ sh /path/to/perl/source/Configure -Dmksymlinks ...
- sh Configure -Accflags=-DPERL_DEBUGGING_MSTATS -Dusemymalloc='y'
+This will create in /tmp/perl/build/directory a tree of symbolic links
+pointing to files in /path/to/perl/source. The original files are left
+unaffected. After Configure has finished you can just say
-to enable this option.
+ make
-=back
+as usual, and Perl will be built in /tmp/perl/build/directory.
=head2 Building a debugging perl
to be supported. For example, Configure will offer to build GDBM_File
only if it is able to find the gdbm library. (See examples below.)
Configure does not contain code to test for POSIX compliance, so POSIX
-is always built by default as well. If you wish to skip POSIX, you can
-set the Configure variable useposix=false either in a hint file or from
-the Configure command line.
+is always built by default. If you wish to skip POSIX, you can
+set the Configure variable useposix=false from the Configure command line.
If you unpack any additional extensions in the ext/ directory before
running Configure, then Configure will offer to build those additional
Even if you do not have dynamic loading, you must still build the
DynaLoader extension; you should just build the stub dl_none.xs
-version. (Configure will suggest this as the default.)
-
-To disable certain extensions so that they are not built, use
-the -Dnoextensions=... and -Donlyextensions=... options. They both
-accept a space-separated list of extensions. The extensions listed
-in C<noextensions> are removed from the list of extensions to build,
-while the C<onlyextensions> is rather more severe and builds only
-the listed extensions. The latter should be used with extreme caution
-since certain extensions are used by many other extensions and modules:
-such modules include Fcntl and IO. The order of processing these
-options is first C<only> (if present), then C<no> (if present).
-
-Another, older way to turn off various extensions (which is still good
-to know if you have to work with older Perl) exists. Here are the
-Configure command-line variables you can set to turn off various
-extensions. All others are included by default.
-
- DB_File i_db
- DynaLoader (Must always be included as a static extension)
- GDBM_File i_gdbm
- NDBM_File i_ndbm
- ODBM_File i_dbm
- POSIX useposix
- Opcode useopcode
- Socket d_socket
- Threads use5005threads
-
-Thus to skip the NDBM_File extension, you can use
-
- sh Configure -Ui_ndbm
-
-Again, this is taken care of automatically if you don't have the ndbm
-library.
+version. Configure will suggest this as the default.
+
+To disable certain extensions so that they are not built, use the
+-Dnoextensions=... and -Donlyextensions=... options. They both accept
+a space-separated list of extensions. The extensions listed in
+C<noextensions> are removed from the list of extensions to build, while
+the C<onlyextensions> is rather more severe and builds only the listed
+extensions. The latter should be used with extreme caution since
+certain extensions are used by many other extensions and modules:
+examples of such modules include Fcntl and IO. The order of processing
+these options is first C<only> (if present), then C<no> (if present).
Of course, you may always run Configure interactively and select only
the extensions you want.
If your database header (.h) files are not in a directory normally
searched by your C compiler, then you will need to include the
appropriate -I/your/directory option when prompted by Configure. If
-your database library (.a) files are not in a directory normally
+your database libraries are not in a directory normally
searched by your C compiler and linker, then you will need to include
the appropriate -L/your/directory option when prompted by Configure.
See the examples below.
-=head2 Examples
+=head3 Examples
=over 4
=head2 Building DB, NDBM, and ODBM interfaces with Berkeley DB 3
-Perl interface for DB3 is part of Berkeley DB, but if you want to
-compile standard Perl DB/ODBM/NDBM interfaces, you must follow
+A Perl interface for DB3 is part of Berkeley DB, but if you want to
+compile the standard Perl DB/ODBM/NDBM interfaces, you must follow
following instructions.
Berkeley DB3 from Sleepycat Software is by default installed without
-DB1 compatibility code (needed for DB_File interface) and without
+DB1 compatibility code (needed for the DB_File interface) and without
links to compatibility files. So if you want to use packages written
-for DB/ODBM/NDBM interfaces, you need to configure DB3 with
+for the DB/ODBM/NDBM interfaces, you need to configure DB3 with
--enable-compat185 (and optionally with --enable-dump185) and create
additional references (suppose you are installing DB3 with
--prefix=/usr):
lib/odbm.............FAILED at test 9
Failed 1/64 tests, 98.44% okay
+=head2 Overriding an old config.sh
+
+If you want to use your old config.sh but override some of the items
+with command line options, you need to use B<Configure -O>.
+
+=head2 GNU-style configure
+
+If you prefer the GNU-style configure command line interface, you can
+use the supplied configure.gnu command, e.g.
+
+ CC=gcc ./configure.gnu
+
+The configure.gnu script emulates a few of the more common configure
+options. Try
+
+ ./configure.gnu --help
+
+for a listing.
+
+(The file is called configure.gnu to avoid problems on systems
+that would not distinguish the files "Configure" and "configure".)
+
+See L<Cross-compilation> below for information on cross-compiling.
+
+=head2 Malloc Issues
+
+Perl relies heavily on malloc(3) to grow data structures as needed,
+so perl's performance can be noticeably affected by the performance of
+the malloc function on your system. The perl source is shipped with a
+version of malloc that has been optimized for the typical requests from
+perl, so there's a chance that it may be both faster and use less memory
+than your system malloc.
+
+However, if your system already has an excellent malloc, or if you are
+experiencing difficulties with extensions that use third-party libraries
+that call malloc, then you should probably use your system's malloc.
+(Or, you might wish to explore the malloc flags discussed below.)
+
+=over 4
+
+=item Using the system malloc
+
+To build without perl's malloc, you can use the Configure command
+
+ sh Configure -Uusemymalloc
+
+or you can answer 'n' at the appropriate interactive Configure prompt.
+
+=item -DPERL_POLLUTE_MALLOC
+
+NOTE: This flag is enabled automatically on some platforms if you just
+run Configure to accept all the defaults on those platforms.
+
+Perl's malloc family of functions are normally called Perl_malloc(),
+Perl_realloc(), Perl_calloc() and Perl_mfree().
+These names do not clash with the system versions of these functions.
+
+If this flag is enabled, however, Perl's malloc family of functions
+will have the same names as the system versions. This may be required
+sometimes if you have libraries that like to free() data that may have
+been allocated by Perl_malloc() and vice versa.
+
+Note that enabling this option may sometimes lead to duplicate symbols
+from the linker for malloc et al. In such cases, the system probably
+does not allow its malloc functions to be fully replaced with custom
+versions.
+
+=item -DPERL_DEBUGGING_MSTATS
+
+This flag enables debugging mstats, which is required to use the
+Devel::Peek::mstat() function. You cannot enable this unless you are
+using Perl's malloc, so a typical Configure command would be
+
+ sh Configure -Accflags=-DPERL_DEBUGGING_MSTATS -Dusemymalloc='y'
+
+to enable this option.
+
+=back
+
=head2 What if it doesn't work?
If you run into problems, try some of the following ideas.
Specific information for the OS/2, Plan 9, VMS and Win32 ports is in the
corresponding README files and subdirectories. Additional information,
including a glossary of all those config.sh variables, is in the Porting
-subdirectory. Especially Porting/Glossary should come in handy.
+subdirectory. Porting/Glossary should especially come in handy.
Ports for other systems may also be available. You should check out
http://www.cpan.org/ports for current information on ports to
various other operating systems.
-If you plan to port Perl to a new architecture study carefully the
+If you plan to port Perl to a new architecture, study carefully the
section titled "Philosophical Issues in Patching and Porting Perl"
in the file Porting/pumpkin.pod and the file Porting/patching.pod.
Study also how other non-UNIX ports have solved problems.
=back
-=head1 Adding extra modules to the build
+=head2 Adding extra modules to the build
You can specify extra modules or module bundles to be fetched from the
CPAN and installed as part of the Perl build. Either use the -Dextras=...
headers and libraries installed for the DBD::Foo module. The Configure
process or the Perl build process will not help you with these.
-=head1 suidperl
+=head2 suidperl
-suidperl is an optional component, which is built or installed by default.
-From perlfaq1:
+suidperl is an optional component, which is normally neither built
+nor installed by default. From perlfaq1:
On some systems, setuid and setgid scripts (scripts written
in the C shell, Bourne shell, or Perl, for example, with the
of properly security auditing as large and complex piece of
software as Perl, we cannot recommend using suidperl and the feature
should be considered deprecated.
-Instead use for example 'sudo': http://www.courtesan.com/sudo/
+Instead, use a tool specifically designed to handle changes in
+privileges, such as B<sudo>, http://www.courtesan.com/sudo/ .
=head1 make depend
This will look for all the includes. The output is stored in makefile.
The only difference between Makefile and makefile is the dependencies at
the bottom of makefile. If you have to make any changes, you should edit
-makefile, not Makefile since the Unix make command reads makefile first.
+makefile, not Makefile, since the Unix make command reads makefile first.
(On non-Unix systems, the output may be stored in a different file.
Check the value of $firstmakefile in your config.sh if in doubt.)
=item extensions
If you can successfully build miniperl, but the process crashes
-during the building of extensions, you should run
+during the building of extensions, run
make minitest
If you get varargs problems with gcc, be sure that gcc is installed
correctly and that you are not passing -I/usr/include to gcc. When using
gcc, you should probably have i_stdarg='define' and i_varargs='undef'
-in config.sh. The problem is usually solved by running fixincludes
+in config.sh. The problem is usually solved by installing gcc
correctly. If you do change config.sh, don't forget to propagate
your changes (see L<"Propagating your changes to config.sh"> below).
See also the L<"vsprintf"> item below.
=item invalid token: ##
-You are using a non-ANSI-compliant C compiler. See L<WARNING: This
-version requires a compiler that supports ANSI C.>
+You are using a non-ANSI-compliant C compiler. To compile Perl, you
+need to use a compiler that supports ANSI C. If there is a README
+file for your system, it may have further details on your compiler
+options.
=item Miscellaneous
FreeBSD can fail the ext/IPC/SysV/t/sem.t test if SysV IPC has not been
configured in the kernel. Perl tries to detect this, though, and
-you will get a message telling what to do.
+you will get a message telling you what to do.
HP-UX 11 Y2K patch "Y2K-1100 B.11.00.B0125 HP-UX Core OS Year 2000
Patch Bundle" has been reported to break the io/fs test #18 which
=head2 Cross-compilation
-Starting from Perl 5.8 Perl has the beginnings of cross-compilation
+Starting from version 5.8, Perl has the beginnings of cross-compilation
support. What is known to work is running Configure in a
cross-compilation environment and building the miniperl executable.
What is known not to work is building the perl executable because
Configure; by default this is /usr/local/bin. It will also try
to put the man pages in a reasonable place. It will not nroff the man
pages, however. You may need to be root to run B<make install>. If you
-are not root, you must own the directories in question and you should
-ignore any messages about chown not working.
+are not root, you must still have permission to install into the directories
+in question and you should ignore any messages about chown not working.
+
+If "make install" just says "`install' is up to date" or something
+similar, you may be on a case-insensitive filesystems such as Mac's HFS+,
+and you should say "make install-all". (This confusion is brought to you
+by the Perl distribution having a file called INSTALL.)
=head2 Installing perl under different names
avoid conflicts with an ancient version in /usr/bin supplied by your vendor).
Without this the versioned binary would be called "perl55.005".
+=head2 Installing perl under a different directory
+
+You can install perl under a different destination directory by using
+the DESTDIR variable during C<make install>, with a command like
+
+ make install DESTDIR=/tmp/perl5
+
+DESTDIR is automatically prepended to all the installation paths. See
+the example in L<"Creating an installable tar archive"> above.
+
+
=head2 Installed files
If you want to see exactly what will happen without installing
top of the script with the particular version you want to run, e.g.
#!/usr/local/bin/perl5.8.2.
-Usually, most extensions will probably not need to be recompiled to
-use with a newer version of Perl (the Perl 5.6 to Perl 5.8 transition
-being an exception). Here is how it is supposed to work. (These
-examples assume you accept all the Configure defaults.)
+Usually, most extensions will probably not need to be recompiled to use
+with a newer version of Perl Here is how it is supposed to work.
+(These examples assume you accept all the Configure defaults.)
Suppose you already have version 5.005_03 installed. The directories
searched by 5.005_03 are
projects / p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git / commitdiff