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diff --git a/README.vms b/README.vms new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..dbf6251311 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.vms @@ -0,0 +1,232 @@ +Last revised: 09-Oct-1994 by Charles Bailey bailey@genetics.upenn.edu + +The VMS port of perl5 is still under development. At this time, the perl +binaries built under VMS handle internal operations properly, for the most +part, as well as most of the system calls which have close equivalents under +VMS. There are still some incompatibilities in process handling (e.g the +fork/exec model for creating subprocesses doesn't do what you might expect +under Unix), and there remain some file handling differences from Unix. There +is a VMS implementation of the DynaLoader, but it hasn't been tested much, so +it may still have some bugs in it. Over the longer term, we'll try to get many +of the useful VMS system services integrated as well, depending on time and +people available. Of course, if you'd like to add something yourself, or join +the porting team, we'd love to have you! + +The current sources and build procedures have been tested on a VAX using VAXC +and on an AXP using DECC. IF you run into problems with other compilers, +please let us know. + + +* Other software required + +At the moment, in addition to basic VMS, you'll need two things: + - a C compiler: VAXC, DECC, or gcc for the VAX; DECC for the AXP + - a make tool: DEC's MMS or the free analog MMK (available from ftp.spc.edu) + or a standard make utility (e.g. GNU make, also available from + ftp.spc.edu). +In addition, you may include socket support if you have a IP stack running +on your system. See the topic "Socket support" for more information. + +* Socket support + +Perl5 includes a number of IP socket routines among its builtin functions, +which are available if you choose to compile perl with socket support. Since +IP networking is an optional addition to VMS, there are several different IP +stacks available, it's difficult to automate the process of building perl5 with +socket support in a way which will work on all systems. + +By default, perl5 is built without IP socket support. If you define the macro +SOCKET when invoking MMS, however, socket support will be included. As +distributed, perl5 for VMS includes support for the SOCKETSHR socket library, +which is layered on MadGoat software's vendor-independent NETLIB interface. +This provides support for all socket calls used by perl5 except the +[g|s]et*ent() routines, which are replaced for the moment by stubs which +generate a fatal error if a perl script attempts to call one of these routines. +If you'd like to link perl directly to your IP stack to take advantage of these +routines or to eliminate the intermediate NETLIB, then make the following +changes: + - In Descrip.MMS, locate the section beginning with .ifdef SOCKET, and + change the SOCKLIB macro so that it translates to the filespec of your + IP stack's socket library. This will be added to the RTL options file. + - Edit the file SockAdapt.H in the [.VMS] subdirectory so that it + includes the In.H, NetDb.H, and, if necessary, Errno.H header files + for your IP stack, or so that it declares the standard TCP/IP data + structures appropriately (see the distributed copy of SockAdapt.H + for a collection of the structures needed by perl.) You should also + define any logical names necessary to find these files before invoking + MMS to build perl. + - Edit the file SockAdapt.C in the [.VMS] subdirectory so that it + contains routines which substitute for any IP library routines + required by perl which your IP stack does not provide. This may + require a little trial and error; we'll try to compile a complete + list soon of socket routines required by perl5. + +* Building perl under VMS + +Since you're reading this, presumable you've unpacked the perl distribution +into its directory tree, in which you will find a [.vms] subdirectory below +the directory in which this file is found. If this isn't the case, then you'll +need to unpack the distribution properly, or manually edit Descrip.MMS or +the VMS Makefile. to alter directory paths as necessary. (I'd advise using the +`normal' directory tree, at least for the first time through.) This +subdirectory contains several files, among which are the following: + Config.VMS - A template C header file set up for VMS. + Descrip.MMS - The MMS/MMK dependency file for building perl + GenConfig.Pl - A perl script to generate Config.SH retrospectively + from Config.VMS, since the Configure shell script which + normally generates Config.SH doesn't run under VMS. + GenOpt.Com - A little DCL procedure used to write some linker options + files, since not all make utilities can do this easily. + Gen_ShrFls.Pl - A perl script which generates linker options files and + MACRO declarations for PerlShr.Exe. + Makefile. - The make dependency file for building perl + MMS2Make.Pl - A perl script used to generate Makefile. from Descrip.MMS + VMSish.H - C header file containing VMS-specific definitions + VMS.C - C source code for VMS-specific routines + WriteMain.Pl - A perl script used to generate perlmain.c during the build. +There may also be other files pertaining to features under development; for the +most part, you can ignore them. + +Config.VMS and Decrip.MMS/Makefile. are set up to build a version of perl which +includes all features known to work when this release was assembled. If you +have code at your site which would support additional features (e.g. emulation +of Unix system calls), feel free to make the appropriate changes to these +files. (Note: Do not use or edit config.h in the main perl source directory; +it is superseded by the current Config.VMS during the build.) You may also +wish to make site-specific changes to Descrip.MMS or Makefile. to reflect local +conventions for naming of files, etc. + +At the moment, system-specific information which becomes part of the perl5 +Config extension is hard-coded into the file genconfig.pl in the vms +subdirectory. Before you build perl, you should make any changes to the list +at the end of this file necessary to reflect your system (e.g your hostname and +VMS version). + +Examine the information at the beginning of Descrip.MMS for information about +specifying alternate C compilers or building a version of perl with debugging +support. For instance, if you want to use DECC, you'll need to include the +/macro="decc=1" qualifier to MMS (If you're using make, these options are not +supported.) If you're on an AXP system, define the macro __AXP__ (MMK does +this for you), and DECC will automatically be selected. + +To start the build, set default to the main source directory. +Then, if you are using MMS or MMK, issue the command +$ MMS/Descrip=[.VMS] ! or MMK +If you are using make, issue the command +$ Make -f [.VMS]Makefile. +Note that the Makefile. doesn't support conditional compilation, and is +set up to use VAXC on a VAX, and does not include socket support. You can +either edit the Makefile. by hand, using Descrip.MMS as a guide, or use the +Makefile. to build Miniperl.Exe, and then run the Perl script MMS@Make.pl, +found in the [.VMS] subdirectory, to generate a new Makefile with the options +appropriate to your site. + +Note for sites using early versions of DECC: A bug in some versions of the +DECC RTL causes newlines to be lost when writing to a pipe. This causes +Gen_ShrFls.pl to fail, since it can't read the preprocessor output to identify +global variables and routines. You can work around this problem by defining +the macro DECC_PIPES_BROKEN when you invoke MMS or MMK. + +This will build the following files: + Miniperl.Exe - a stand-alone version of without any extensions. + Miniperl has all the intrinsic capabilities of perl, + but cannot make use of the DynaLoader or any + extensions which use XS code. + PerlShr.Exe - a shareable image containing most of perl's internal + routines and global variables. Perl.Exe is linked to + this image, as are all dynamic extensions, so everyone's + using the same set of global variables and routines. + Perl.Exe - the main perl executable image. It's contains the + main() routine, plus code for any statically linked + extensions. + PerlShr_Attr.Opt - A linker options file which specifies psect attributes + matching those in PerlShr.Exe. It should be used when + linking images against PerlShr.Exe + [.Lib]Config.pm - the perl extension which saves configuration information + about perl and your system. + [.lib]DynaLoader.pm - The perl extension which performs dynamic linking of + shareable images for extensions. +There are, of course, a number of other files created for use during the build. +Once you've got the binaries built, you may wish to `build' the `tidy' or +`clean' targets to remove extra files. + + +* Installing perl once it's built + +Once the build is complete, you'll need to do the following: + - Put PerlShr.Exe in a common directory, and make it world-readable. + If you place it in a location other than Sys$Share, you'll need to + define the logical name PerlShr to point to the image. + - Put Perl.Exe in a common directory, and make it world executable + - Define a foreign command to invoke perl, using a statement like + $ Perl == "$dev:[dir]Perl.Exe" + - Create a world-readable directory tree for perl library modules, + scripts, and what-have-you, and define PERL_ROOT as a rooted logical + name pointing to the top of this tree (i.e. if your perl files were + going to live in DKA1:[Perl5...], then you should + $ Define/Translation=Concealed Perl_Root DKA1:[Perl5.] + - Define the logical name PERLSHR as the full file specification of + PERLSHR.EXE, so executable images linked to it can find it. Alternatively, + you can justput PERLSHR.EXE int SYS$SHARE. + - Place the files from the [.lib] subdirectory in the distribution package + into a [.lib] subdirectory off the root directory described above. + - Most of the perl5 documentation lives in the [.pod] subdirectory, and + is written in a simple markup format which can be easily read. In this + directory as well are pod2man and pod2html translators to reformat the + docs for common display engines; a pod2hlp translator is under development. + Information on perl5 can also be gleaned from the files in the [.doc] + subdirectory (internals documents and summaries of changes), and from + the test scripts in the [.t...] subdirectories. +For now, that's it. + + +* For more information + +If you're interested in more information on perl in general, consult the Usenet +newsgroup comp.lang.perl. The FAQ for that group provides pointers to other +online sources of information, as well as books describing perl in depth. + +If you're interested in up-to-date information on perl5 development and +internals, you might want to subscribe to the perl5-porters mailing list. You +can do this by sending a message to perl5-porters-request@isi.edu, containing +the single line +subscribe perl5-porters Your Name Here +This is a moderately high-volume list at the moment (25-50 messages/day). + +Finally, if you're interested in ongoing information about the VMS port, you +can subscribe to the VMSperl mailing list by sending a request to +bailey@genetics.upenn.edu (it's to a human, not a list server - this is a small +operation at the moment). And, as always, we welcome any help or code you'd +like to offer - you can send mail to bailey@genetics.upenn.edu or directly to +the VMSperl list at vmsperl@genetics.upenn.edu. + +Good luck using perl. Please let us know how it works for you - we can't +guarantee that we'll be able to fix bugs quickly, but we'll try, and we'd +certainly like to know they're out there. + + +* Acknowledgements + +There are, of course, far too many people involved in the porting and testing +of perl5 to mention everyone who deserves it, so please forgive us if we've +missed someone. That said, special thanks are due to the following: + David Denholm <denholm@conmat.phys.soton.ac.uk> + for extensive testing and provision of pipe and SocketShr code, + Mark Pizzolato <mark@infocomm.com> + for the getredirection() code + Rich Salz <rsalz@bbn.com> + for readdir() and related routines + Denis Haskin <DWH@epub.ziff.com> + for work on a pod-to-hlp translator for the perl5 documentation + Richard Dyson <dyson@blaze.physics.uiowa.edu> and + Kent Covert <kacovert@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu> + for additional testing on the AXP. +and to the entire VMSperl group for useful advice and suggestions. In addition +the perl5-porters, especially Andy Dougherty <doughera@lafcol.lafayette.edu> +and Tim Bunce <Tim.Bunce@ig.co.uk>, deserve credit for their creativity and +willingness to work with the VMS newcomers. Finally, the greatest debt of +gratitude is due to Larry Wall <lwall@netlabs.com>, for having the ideas which +have made our sleepless nights possible. + +Thanks, +The VMSperl group |