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authorJarkko Hietaniemi <jhi@iki.fi>2003-08-16 10:11:30 +0000
committerJarkko Hietaniemi <jhi@iki.fi>2003-08-16 10:11:30 +0000
commitf7451e23cd0a6c87b8243628ababd423bbc680cf (patch)
tree43be9df475bf308cf4dff71d5ded59ab2d339e9c /README.macosx
parent930fff27e24d6b209cf6b0f66265a70201327b5f (diff)
downloadperl-f7451e23cd0a6c87b8243628ababd423bbc680cf.tar.gz
README.macosx updates about known problems.
p4raw-id: //depot/perl@20729
Diffstat (limited to 'README.macosx')
-rw-r--r--README.macosx51
1 files changed, 40 insertions, 11 deletions
diff --git a/README.macosx b/README.macosx
index 27921e03be..1c1e2d9e6a 100644
--- a/README.macosx
+++ b/README.macosx
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ somewhat buggy libdb, so some of the DB_File tests are known to fail on
those releases.
-=head1 INSTALLATION PREFIX
+=head2 Installation Prefix
The default installation location for this release uses the traditional
UNIX directory layout under /usr/local. This is the recommended location
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ that mirrors that of Apple's default Perl, with core modules stored in
on a file server and used by many Macs.
-=head1 LIBPERL AND PREBINDING
+=head2 libperl and Prebinding
Mac OS X ships with a dynamically-loaded libperl, but the default for
this release is to compile a static libperl. The reason for this is
@@ -50,12 +50,13 @@ thus has easy access to it when building Perl, but ordinary users would
need to go to a great deal of effort to obtain the information needed
for pre-binding.
-You can override the default and build a shared libperl if you wish, but
-the load time will be significantly greater than either the static
-library, or Apple's pre-bound dynamic library.
+You can override the default and build a shared libperl if you wish
+(S<Configure ... -Duseshrlib>), but the load time will be
+significantly greater than either the static library, or Apple's
+pre-bound dynamic library.
-=head1 UPDATING PANTHER
+=head2 Updating Panther
As of this writing, the latest Perl release that has been tested and
approved for inclusion in the 10.3 "Panther" release of Mac OS X is
@@ -67,7 +68,8 @@ with Panther, it is recommended that you wait for an official Apple
update to the OS, rather than attempting to update it yourself. In most
cases, if you need a newer Perl, it is preferable to install it in some
other location, such as /usr/local or /opt, rather than overwriting the
-system Perl.
+system Perl. The default location (no -Dprefix=... specified when running
+Configure) is /usr/local.
If you find that you do need to update the system Perl, there is one
potential issue. If you upgrade using the default static libperl, you
@@ -83,7 +85,34 @@ same Perl version. If you're updating from (for example) 5.8.1 to 5.8.2,
this issue won't affect you.
-=head1 MACPERL
+=head2 Known problems
+
+If you have installed extra libraries such as GDBM through Fink
+(in other words, you have libraries under F</sw/lib>), or libdlcompat
+to F</usr/local/lib>, you may need to be extra careful when running
+Configure to not to confuse Configure and Perl about which libraries
+to use. Being confused will show up for example as "dyld" errors about
+symbol problems, for example during "make test". The safest bet is to run
+Configure as
+
+ Configure ... -Uloclibpth -Dlibpth=/usr/lib
+
+to make Configure look only into the system libraries. If you have some
+extra library directories that you really want to use (such as newer
+Berkeley DB libraries in pre-Panther systems), add those to the libpth:
+
+ Configure ... -Uloclibpth -Dlibpth='/usr/lib /opt/lib'
+
+The default of building Perl statically may cause problems with complex
+applications like Tk: in that case consider building shared Perl
+
+ Configure ... -Duseshrplib
+
+but remember that there's a startup cost to pay in that case (see above
+"libperl and Prebinding").
+
+
+=head2 MacPerl
Quite a bit has been written about MacPerl, the Perl distribution for
"Classic MacOS" - that is, versions 9 and earlier of MacOS. Because it
@@ -101,7 +130,7 @@ that case, the correct procedure on Mac OS X is usually to follow the
UNIX instructions, rather than the MacPerl instructions.
-=head1 CARBON
+=head2 Carbon
MacPerl ships with a number of modules that are used to access the
classic MacOS toolbox. Many of these modules have been updated to use
@@ -109,7 +138,7 @@ Mac OS X's newer "Carbon" toolbox, and are available from CPAN in the
"Mac::Carbon" module.
-=head1 COCOA
+=head2 Cocoa
There are two ways to use Cocoa from Perl. Apple's PerlObjCBridge
module, included with Mac OS X, can be used by standalone scripts to
@@ -127,4 +156,4 @@ This README was written by Sherm Pendley E<lt>sherm@dot-app.orgE<gt>.
=head1 DATE
-Last modified 2003.07.31.
+Last modified 2003-08-16.