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authorJarkko Hietaniemi <jhi@iki.fi>2005-04-18 16:18:30 +0300
committerRafael Garcia-Suarez <rgarciasuarez@gmail.com>2005-04-21 15:38:30 +0000
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Symbian port of Perl
Message-ID: <B356D8F434D20B40A8CEDAEC305A1F2453D653@esebe105.NOE.Nokia.com> p4raw-id: //depot/perl@24271
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+If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the funny characters you see.
+It is written in the POD format (see pod/perlpod.pod) which is specially
+designed to be readable as is.
+
+=head1 NAME
+
+README.symbian - Perl version 5 on Symbian OS
+
+=head1 DESCRIPTION
+
+This document describes various features of the Symbian operating
+system that will affect how Perl version 5 (hereafter just Perl)
+is compiled and/or runs.
+
+B<NOTE: this port (as of 0.1.0) does not compile into a Symbian
+OS GUI application, but instead it results in a Symbian DLL.>
+The DLL includes a C++ class called CPerlBase, which one can then
+(derive from and) use to embed Perl into applications, see F<symbian/README>.
+
+The base port of Perl to Symbian only implements the basic POSIX-like
+functionality; it does not implement any further Symbian or Series 60
+bindings for Perl.
+
+It is also possible to generate Symbian executables for "miniperl"
+and "perl", but since there is no standard command line interface
+for Symbian (nor full keyboards in the devices), these are useful
+mainly as demonstrations.
+
+=head2 Compiling Perl on Symbian
+
+(0) You need to have the Symbian SDK installed.
+
+ These instructions have been tested under various Nokia Series 60
+ Symbian SDKs (1.2 to 2.6). You can get the SDKs from
+ Forum Nokia (http://www.forum.nokia.com/).
+
+ A prerequisite for any of the SDKs is to install ActivePerl
+ from ActiveState, http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePerl/
+
+ Having the SDK installed also means that you need to have either
+ the Metrowerks CodeWarrior installed (2.8 and 3.0 were used in testing)
+ or the Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 installed (SP3 minimum, SP5 recommended).
+
+ Note that for example the Serie s60 2.0 VC SDK installation talks
+ about ActivePerl build 518, which does no more (as of mid-2004) exist
+ at the ActiveState website. The ActivePerl 5.8.4 build 810 was
+ used successfully for compiling Perl on Symbian. The 5.6.x ActivePerls
+ do not work.
+
+ Other SDKs or compilers like Visual.NET, command-line-only
+ Visual.NET, Borland, GnuPoc, or sdk2unix have not been tried.
+
+ These instructions almost certainly won't work with older Symbian
+ releases or other SDKs. Patches to get this port running in other
+ releases, SDKs, compilers, platforms, or devices are naturally welcome.
+
+(1) Get a Perl source code distribution (for example the file
+ perl-5.9.2.tar.gz is fine) from http://www.cpan.org/src/
+ and unpack it in your the C:/Symbian directory of your Windows
+ system.
+
+(2) Change to the perl source directory.
+
+ cd c:\Symbian\perl-5.x.x
+
+(3) Run the following script using the perl coming with the SDK
+
+ perl symbian\config.pl
+
+ You must use the cmd.exe, the Cygwin shell will not work
+ (the PATH must include the SDK tools, including a Perl,
+ which should be the case under cmd.exe)
+
+(4) Build the project, either by
+
+ make all
+
+ in cmd.exe or by using either the Metrowerks CodeWarrior
+ or the Visual C++ 6.0.
+
+ If you use the VC IDE, you will have to run F<symbian\config.pl>
+ first using the cmd.exe, and then run 'make win.mf vc6.mf' to generate
+ the VC6 makefiles and workspaces.
+
+ The following Series 60 SDK and compiler configurations and Nokia
+ phones that were tested (+ = compiled and PerlApp run, - = not),
+ both for Perl 5.8.x and 5.9.x:
+
+ SDK | VC | CW |
+ ----+----+----+---
+ 1.2 | + | + | 3650 (*)
+ 2.0 | + | + | 6600
+ 2.1 | - | + | 6670
+ 2.6 | + | + | 6630
+
+ If you are using the 'make' directly, it is the GNU make from the SDKs,
+ and it will invoke the right make commands for the Windows emulator
+ build and the Arm target builds ('thumb' by default) as necessary.
+ (*) Compiles but does not work, unfortunately.
+
+ The build scripts assume the 'absolute style' SDK installs under C:,
+ the 'subst style' will not work.
+
+ If using the VC IDE, to build use for example the File->Open Workspace->
+ C:\Symbian\8.as\S60_2nd_FP2\epoc32\build\symbian\perl\perl\wins\perl.dsw
+ The emulator binaries will appear in the same directory.
+
+ If using the VC IDE, you will a lot of warnings in the beginning of
+ the build because a lot of headers mentioned by the source cannot
+ be found, but this is not serious since those headers are not used.
+
+ The Metrowerks will give a lot of warnings about unused variables and
+ empty declarations, you can ignore those.
+
+ When the Windows and Arm DLLs are built do not be scared by a very long
+ messages whizzing by: it is the "export freeze" phase where the whole
+ (rather large) API of Perl is listed.
+
+ Once the build is completed you need to create the DLL SIS file by
+
+ make perldll.sis
+
+ which will create the file perlXYZ.sis (the XYZ being the Perl version)
+ which you can then install into your Symbian device: an easy way
+ to do this is to send them via Bluetooth or infrared and just open
+ the messages.
+
+ Since the total size of all Perl SIS files once installed is
+ over 1.9 MB, it is recommended to do the installation into a
+ memory card (drive E:) instead of the C: drive.
+
+ The size of the perlXYZ.SIS is about 370 kB but once it is in the
+ device it is about one 750 kB (according to the application manager).
+
+ The perlXYZ.sis includes only the Perl DLL: to create an additional
+ SIS file which includes some of the standard (pure) Perl libraries,
+ issue the command
+
+ make perllib.sis
+
+ Some of the standard Perl libraries are included, but not all:
+ see L</HISTORY> or F<symbian\install.cfg> for more details
+ (250 kB -> 700 kB).
+
+ Some of the standard Perl XS extensions (see L</HISTORY> are
+ also available:
+
+ make perlext.sis
+
+ which will create perlXYZext.sis (210 kB -> 470 kB).
+
+ To compile the demonstration application PerlApp you need first to
+ install the Perl headers under the SDK.
+
+ To install the Perl headers and the class CPerlBase documentation
+ so that you no more need the Perl sources around to compile Perl
+ applications using the SDK:
+
+ make sdkinstall
+
+ The destination directory is C:\Symbian\perl\X.Y.Z. For more
+ details, see F<symbian\PerlBase.pod>.
+
+ Once the headers have been installed, you can create a SIS for
+ the PerlApp:
+
+ make perlapp.sis
+
+ The perlapp.sis (11 kB -> 16 kB) will be built in the symbian
+ subdirectory, but a copy will also be made to the main directory.
+
+ If you want to package the Perl DLLs (one for WINS, one for ARMI),
+ the headers, and the documentation:
+
+ make perlsdk.zip
+
+ which will create perlXYZsdk.zip that can be used in another
+ Windows system with the SDK, without having to compile Perl in
+ that system.
+
+ If you want to package the PerlApp sources:
+
+ make perlapp.zip
+
+ If you want to package the perl.exe and miniperl.exe, you
+ can use the perlexe.sis and miniperlexe.sis make targets.
+ You also probably want the perllib.sis for the libraries
+ and maybe even the perlapp.sis for the recognizer.
+
+ The make target 'allsis' combines all the above SIS targets.
+
+ To clean up after compilation you can use either of
+
+ make clean
+ make distclean
+
+ depending on how clean you want to be.
+
+=head2 Compilation problems
+
+If you see right after "make" this
+
+ cat makefile.sh >makefile
+ 'cat' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
+ operable program or batch file.
+
+it means you need to (re)run the symbian\config.pl.
+
+If you get the error
+
+ 'perl' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
+ operable program or batch file.
+
+you may need to reinstall the ActivePerl.
+
+If you see this
+
+ ren makedef.pl nomakedef.pl
+ The system cannot find the file specified.
+ C:\Symbian\...\make.exe: [rename_makedef] Error 1 (ignored)
+
+please ignore it since it is nothing serious (the build process of
+renames the Perl makedef.pl as nomakedef.pl to avoid confusing it
+with a makedef.pl of the SDK).
+
+=head2 PerlApp
+
+The PerlApp application demonstrates how to embed Perl interpreters
+to a Symbian application. The "Time" menu item runs the following
+Perl code: C<print "Running in ", $^O, "\n", scalar localtime>,
+the "Oneliner" allows one to type in Perl code, and the "Run"
+opens a file chooser for selecting a Perl file to run.
+
+The PerlApp also is started when the "Perl recognizer" (also included
+and installed) detects a Perl file being activated througg the GUI,
+and offers either to install it under \Perl (if the Perl file is in
+the inbox of the messaging application) or to run it (if the Perl file
+is under \Perl).
+
+=head2 Using Perl in Symbian
+
+First of all note that you have full access to the Symbian device
+when using Perl: you can do a lot of damage to your device (like
+removing system files) unless you are careful. Please do take
+backups before doing anything.
+
+The Perl port has been done for the most part using the Symbian
+standard POSIX-ish STDLIB library. It is a reasonably complete
+library, but certain corners of such emulation libraries that tend
+to be left unimplemented on non-UNIX platforms have been left
+unimplemented also this time: fork(), signals(), user/group ids,
+select() working for sockets, non-blocking sockets, and so forth.
+See the file symbian/config.sh and look for 'undef' to find the
+unsupported APIs (or from Perl use Config).
+
+The filesystem of Symbian devices uses DOSish syntax, "drives"
+separated from paths by a colon, and backslashes for the path.
+The exact assignment of the drives probably varies between platforms,
+but you might for example see C: as the flash main memory, D: as the
+RAM drive, E: as the memory card (MMC), Z: as the ROM. As far the
+devices go the NUL: is the bit bucket, the COMx: are the serial lines,
+IRCOMx: are the IR ports, TMP: might be C:\System\Temp. Remember to
+double those backslashes in doublequoted strings.
+
+The Perl DLL is installed in \System\Libs\. The Perl libraries and
+extension DLLs are installed in \System\Libs\Perl\X.Y.Z\. The PerlApp
+is installed in \System\Apps\, and the SIS also installs a couple of
+demo scripts in \Perl\.
+
+Note that the Symbian filesystem is very picky: it strongly prefers
+the \ instead of the /.
+
+When doing XS / Symbian C++ programming include first the Symbian
+headers, then any standard C/POSIX headers, then Perl headers, and finally
+any application headers.
+
+New() and Copy() are unfortunately used by both Symbian and Perl code
+so you'll have to play cpp games if you need them. PerlBase.h undefines
+the Perl definitions and redefines them as PerlNew() and PerlCopy().
+
+=head1 TO DO
+
+Lots. See F<symbian\TODO>.
+
+=head1 WARNING
+
+As of Perl Symbian port version 0.1.0 any part of Perl's standard
+regression test suite has not been run on a real Symbian device using
+the ported Perl, so innumerable bugs may lie in wait. Therefore there
+is absolutely no warranty.
+
+=head1 NOTE
+
+When creating and extending application programming interfaces (APIs)
+for Symbian or Series 60 it is suggested that trademarks, registered
+trademarks, or trade names are not used in the API names. Instead,
+developers should consider basing the API naming in the existing (C++)
+public component and API naming, modified as appropriate by the rules
+of the programming language the new APIs are for.
+
+Nokia is a registered trademark of Nokia Corporation. Nokia's product
+names are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nokia. Other product
+and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks or trade names of
+their respective owners.
+
+=head1 AUTHOR
+
+Jarkko Hietaniemi
+
+=head1 COPYRIGHT
+
+Copyright (c) 2004-2005 Nokia. All rights reserved.
+
+=head1 LICENSE
+
+The Symbian port is licensed under the same terms as Perl itself.
+
+=head1 HISTORY
+
+Perl Symbian Port version 0.1.0: April 2005
+(This will show as "0.01" in the Symbian Installer.)
+
+ - The console window is a very simple console indeed: one can
+ get the newline with "000" and the "C" button is a backspace.
+ Do not expect a terminal capable of vt100 or ANSI sequences.
+ The console is also "ASCII", you cannot input e.g. any accented
+ letters. Because of obvious physical constraints the console is
+ also very small: (in Nokia 6600) 22 columns, 17 rows.
+ - The following libraries are available:
+ AnyDBM_File AutoLoader base Carp Config Cwd constant
+ DynaLoader Exporter File::Spec integer lib strict Symbol
+ vars warnings XSLoader
+ - The following extensions are available:
+ attrs Cwd Data::Dumper Devel::Peek Digest::MD5 DynaLoader
+ Fcntl File::Glob Filter::Util::Call IO List::Util MIME::Base64
+ PerlIO::scalar PerlIO::via SDBM_File Socket Storable Time::HiRes
+ - The following extensions are missing for various technical reasons:
+ B ByteLoader Devel::DProf Devel::PPPort Encode GDBM_File
+ I18N::Langinfo IPC::SysV NDBM_File Opcode PerlIO::encoding POSIX
+ re Safe Sys::Hostname Sys::Syslog
+ threads threads::shared Unicode::Normalize
+ - Using MakeMaker or the Module::* to build and install modules
+ is not supported. A future solution might use the native
+ SIS packaging format (see symbian\TODO).
+ - Building XS other than the ones in the core is not supported.
+
+Since this is 0.1.0, any future releases are almost guaranteed to be
+binary incompatible. As a sign of this the Symbian symbol exports are
+kept unfrozen and the .def files rebuilt every time.
+
+=cut
+