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diff --git a/README.mint b/README.mint deleted file mode 100644 index a2372c0d66..0000000000 --- a/README.mint +++ /dev/null @@ -1,229 +0,0 @@ -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.mint - Perl version 5 on Atari MiNT - -=head1 DESCRIPTION - -There is a binary version of perl available from the FreeMiNT project -http://freemint.de/ You may wish to use this instead of trying to -compile yourself. - -B<The following advice is from perl 5.004_02 and is probably rather -out of date.> - -If you want to build perl yourself on MiNT (or maybe on an Atari without -MiNT) you may want to accept some advice from somebody who already did it... - -There was a perl port for Atari ST done by ++jrb bammi@cadence.com. -This port tried very hard to build on non-MiNT-systems. For the -sake of efficiency I've left this way. Yet, I haven't removed bammi's -patches but left them intact. Unfortunately some of the files that -bammi contributed to the perl distribution seem to have vanished? - -So, how can you distinguish my patches from bammi's patches? All of -bammi's stuff is embedded in "#ifdef atarist" preprocessor macros. -My MiNT port uses "#ifdef __MINT__" instead (and unconditionally -undefines "atarist". If you want to continue on bammi's port, all -you have to do is to swap the "-D" and "-U" switches for "__MINT__" -and "atarist" in the variable ccflags. - -However, I think that my version will still run on non-MiNT-systems -provided that the user has a Eunuchs-like environment (i.e. the -standard envariables like $PATH, $HOME, ... are set, there is a -POSIX compliant shell in /bin/sh, and...) - -=head1 Known problems with Perl on MiNT - -The problems you may encounter when building perl on your machine -are most probably due to deficiencies in MiNT resp. the Atari -platform in general. - -First of all, if you have less than 8 MB of RAM you shouldn't -even try to build Perl yourself. Better grab a binary pre-compiled -version somewhere. Even if you have more memory you should take -some care. Try to run in a fresh environment (without memory -fragmented too much) with as few daemons, accessories, xcontrol -modules etc. as possible. If you run some AES you should -consider to start a console based environment instead. - -A problem has been reported with sed. Sed is used to create -some configuration files based on the answers you have given -to the Configure script. Unfortunately the Perl Configure script -shows sed on MiNT its limits. I have sed 2.05 with a stacksize -of 64k and I have encountered no problems. If sed crashes -during your configuration process you should first try to -augment sed's stacksize: - - fixstk 64k /usr/bin/sed - -(or similar). If it still doesn't help you may have a look -which other versions of sed are installed on your system. -If you have a KGMD 1.0 installation you will find three -in /usr/bin. Have a look there. - -Perl has some "mammut" C files. If gcc reports "internal -compiler error: program cc1 got fatal signal 10" this is very -likely due to a stack overflow in program cc1. Find cc1 -and fix its stack. I have made good experiences with - - fixstk 2 cc1 - -This doesn't establish a stack of 2 Bytes only as you might -think. It really reserves one half of the available memory -for cc1's stack. A setting of 1 would reserve the entire -memory for cc1, 3 would reserve three fourths. You will have -to find out the value that suits to your system yourself. - -To find out the location of the program "cc1" simply type -`gcc --print-prog-name cc1' at your shell prompt. - -Now run make (maybe "make -k"). If you get a fatal signal 10 -increase cc1's stacksize, if you run out of memory you should -either decrease the stacksize or follow some more hints: - -Perl's building process is very handy on machines with a lot -of virtual memory but may result in a disaster if you are short -of memory. If gcc fails to compile many source files you should -reduce the optimization. Grep for "optimize" in the file -config.sh and change the flags. - -If only several huge files cause problems (actually it is not a -matter of the file size resp. the amount of code but depends on -the size of the individual functions) it is useful to bypass -the make program and compile these files directly from the -command line. For example if you got something like the -following from make: - - CCCMD = gcc -DPERL_CORE .... - ... - ...: virtual memory exhausted - -you should hack into the shell: - - gcc -DPERL_CORE ... toke.c - -Please note that you have to add the name of the source file -(here toke.c) at the end. - -If none of this helps, you're helpless. Wait for a binary -release. If you have succeeded you may encounter another problem -at the linking process. If gcc complains that it can't find -some libraries within the perl distribution you probably have -an old linker. If it complains for example about "file not -found for xxx.olb" you should cd into the directory in -question and - - ln -s libxxx.a xxx.olb - -This will fix the problem. - -This version (5.00402) of perl has passed most of the tests on my system: - - Failed Test Status Wstat Total Fail Failed List of failed - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - io/pipe.t 10 2 20.00% 7, 9 - io/tell.t 13 1 7.69% 12 - lib/complex.t 762 13 1.71% 84-85, 248-251, 257, 272-273, - 371, 380, 419-420 - lib/io_pipe.t 10 1 10.00% 9 - lib/io_tell.t 13 1 7.69% 12 - op/magic.t 30 2 6.67% 29-30 - Failed 6/152 test scripts, 96.05% okay. 20/4359 subtests failed, 99.54% okay. - -Pipes always cause problems with MiNT, it's actually a surprise that -most of the tests did work. I've got no idea why the "tell" test failed, -this shouldn't mean too big a problem however. - -Most of the failures of lib/complex seem to be harmless, actually errors -far right to the decimal point... Two failures seem to be serious: -The sign of the results is reversed. I would say that this is due -to minor bugs in the portable math lib that I compiled perl with. - -I haven't bothered very much to find the reason for the failures -with op/magic.t and op/stat.t. Maybe you'll find it out. - -########################################################################## - -Another possible problem may arise from the implementation of the "pwd" -command. It happened to add a carriage return and newline to its output -no matter what the setting of $UNIXMODE is. This is quite annoying since many -library modules for perl take the output of pwd, chop off the -trailing newline character and then expect to see a valid path in -that. But the carriage return (last but second character!) isn't -chopped off. You can either try to patch all library modules (at -the price of performance for the extra transformation) or you can -use my version of pwd that doesn't suffer from this deficiency. - -The fixed implementation is in the mint subdirectory. Running -"Configure" will attempt to build and install it if necessary -(hints/mint.sh will do this work) but you can build and install it -explicitly by: - - cd mint - make install - -This is the fastest solution. - -Just in case you want to go the hard way: perl won't even build with a -broken pwd! You will have to fix the library modules -(ext/POSIX/POSIX.pm, lib/Cwd.pm, lib/pwd.pl) at last after building -miniperl. - -A major nuisance of current MiNTLib versions is the implementation -of system() which is far from being POSIX compliant. A real system() -should fork and then exec /bin/sh with its argument as a command -line to the shell. The MiNTLib system() however doesn't expect -that every user has a POSIX shell in /bin/sh. It tries to work -around the problem by forking and exec'ing the first token in its argument -string. To get a little bit of compliance to POSIX system() it -tries to handle at least redirection ("<" or ">") on its own -behalf. - -This isn't a good idea since many programs expect that they can -pass a command line to system() that exploits all features of a -POSIX shell. If you use the MiNTLib version of system() with -perl the Perl function system() will suffer from the same deficiencies. - -You will find a fixed version of system() in the mint subdirectory. -You can easily insert this version into your system libc: - - cd mint - make system.o - ar r /usr/lib/libc.a - ranlib /usr/lib/libc.a - -If you are suspicious you should either back up your libc before -or extract the original system.o from your libc with -"ar x /usr/lib/libc.a system.o". You can then backup the system.o -module somewhere before you succeed. - -Anything missing? Yep, I've almost forgotten... -No file in this distribution without a fine saying. Take this one: - - "From a thief you should learn: (1) to work at night; - (2) if one cannot gain what one wants in one night to - try again the next night; (3) to love one's coworkers - just as thieves love each other; (4) to be willing to - risk one's life even for a little thing; (5) not to - attach too much value to things even though one has - risked one's life for them - just as a thief will resell - a stolen article for a fraction of its real value; - (6) to withstand all kinds of beatings and tortures - but to remain what you are; and (7) to believe your - work is worthwhile and not be willing to change it." - - -- Rabbi Dov Baer, Maggid of Mezeritch - -OK, this was my motto while working on Perl for MiNT, especially rule (1)... - -Have fun with Perl! - -=head1 AUTHOR - -Guido Flohr - - mailto:guido@FreeMiNT.de |