path: root/README.dos

If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the funny characters you
see. It is written in the POD format (see perlpod manpage) which is
specially designed to be readable as is.

=head1 NAME

perldos - Perl under DOS, W31, W95.

=head1 SYNOPSIS

These are instructions for building Perl under DOS (or w??), using
DJGPP v2.03 or later.  Under w95 long filenames are supported.

=head1 DESCRIPTION

Before you start, you should glance through the README file
found in the top-level directory where the Perl distribution
was extracted.  Make sure you read and understand the terms under
which this software is being distributed.

This port currently supports MakeMaker (the set of modules that
is used to build extensions to perl).  Therefore, you should be
able to build and install most extensions found in the CPAN sites.

Detailed instructions on how to build and install perl extension
modules, including XS-type modules, is included.  See 'BUILDING AND
INSTALLING MODULES'.

=head2 Prerequisites for Compiling Perl on DOS

=over 4

=item DJGPP

DJGPP is a port of GNU C/C++ compiler and development tools to 32-bit,
protected-mode environment on Intel 32-bit CPUs running MS-DOS and compatible
operating systems, by DJ Delorie <dj@delorie.com> and friends.

For more details (FAQ), check out the home of DJGPP at:

        http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/

If you have questions about DJGPP, try posting to the DJGPP newsgroup:
comp.os.msdos.djgpp, or use the email gateway djgpp@delorie.com.

You can find the full DJGPP distribution on any of the mirrors listed here:

        http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/getting.html

You need the following files to build perl (or add new modules):

        v2/djdev203.zip
        v2gnu/bnu2112b.zip
        v2gnu/gcc2953b.zip
        v2gnu/bsh204b.zip
        v2gnu/mak3791b.zip
        v2gnu/fil40b.zip
        v2gnu/sed3028b.zip
        v2gnu/txt20b.zip
        v2gnu/dif272b.zip
        v2gnu/grep24b.zip
        v2gnu/shl20jb.zip
        v2gnu/gwk306b.zip
        v2misc/csdpmi5b.zip

or possibly any newer version.

=item Pthreads

Thread support is not tested in this version of the djgpp perl.

=back

=head2 Shortcomings of Perl under DOS

Perl under DOS lacks some features of perl under UNIX because of
deficiencies in the UNIX-emulation, most notably:

=over 4

=item *

fork() and pipe()

=item *

some features of the UNIX filesystem regarding link count and file dates

=item *

in-place operation is a little bit broken with short filenames

=item *

sockets

=back

=head2 Building Perl on DOS

=over 4

=item *

Unpack the source package F<perl5.8*.tar.gz> with djtarx. If you want
to use long file names under w95 and also to get Perl to pass all its
tests, don't forget to use

        set LFN=y
        set FNCASE=y

before unpacking the archive.

=item *

Create a "symlink" or copy your bash.exe to sh.exe in your C<($DJDIR)/bin>
directory.

        ln -s bash.exe sh.exe

[If you have the recommended version of bash for DJGPP, this is already
done for you.]

And make the C<SHELL> environment variable point to this F<sh.exe>:

        set SHELL=c:/djgpp/bin/sh.exe (use full path name!)

You can do this in F<djgpp.env> too. Add this line BEFORE any section
definition:

        +SHELL=%DJDIR%/bin/sh.exe

=item *

If you have F<split.exe> and F<gsplit.exe> in your path, then rename 
F<split.exe> to F<djsplit.exe>, and F<gsplit.exe> to F<split.exe>.
Copy or link F<gecho.exe> to F<echo.exe> if you don't have F<echo.exe>.
Copy or link F<gawk.exe> to F<awk.exe> if you don't have F<awk.exe>.

[If you have the recommended versions of djdev, shell utilities and
gawk, all these are already done for you, and you will not need to do
anything.]

=item *

Chdir to the djgpp subdirectory of perl toplevel and type the following
commands:

        set FNCASE=y
        configure.bat

This will do some preprocessing then run the Configure script for you.
The Configure script is interactive, but in most cases you just need to
press ENTER.  The "set" command ensures that DJGPP preserves the letter
case of file names when reading directories.  If you already issued this
set command when unpacking the archive, and you are in the same DOS
session as when you unpacked the archive, you don't have to issue the
set command again.  This command is necessary *before* you start to 
(re)configure or (re)build perl in order to ensure both that perl builds 
correctly and that building XS-type modules can succeed.  See the DJGPP 
info entry for "_preserve_fncase" for more information:

        info libc alphabetical _preserve_fncase

If the script says that your package is incomplete, and asks whether
to continue, just answer with Y (this can only happen if you don't use
long filenames or forget to issue "set FNCASE=y" first).

When Configure asks about the extensions, I suggest IO and Fcntl,
and if you want database handling then SDBM_File or GDBM_File
(you need to install gdbm for this one). If you want to use the
POSIX extension (this is the default), make sure that the stack
size of your F<cc1.exe> is at least 512kbyte (you can check this
with: C<stubedit cc1.exe>).

You can use the Configure script in non-interactive mode too.
When I built my F<perl.exe>, I used something like this:

        configure.bat -des

You can find more info about Configure's command line switches in
the F<INSTALL> file.

When the script ends, and you want to change some values in the
generated F<config.sh> file, then run

        sh Configure -S

after you made your modifications.

IMPORTANT: if you use this C<-S> switch, be sure to delete the CONFIG
environment variable before running the script:

        set CONFIG=

=item *

Now you can compile Perl. Type:

        make

=back

=head2 Testing Perl on DOS

Type:

        make test

If you're lucky you should see "All tests successful". But there can be
a few failed subtests (less than 5 hopefully) depending on some external
conditions (e.g. some subtests fail under linux/dosemu or plain dos
with short filenames only).

=head2 Installation of Perl on DOS

Type:

        make install

This will copy the newly compiled perl and libraries into your DJGPP
directory structure. Perl.exe and the utilities go into C<($DJDIR)/bin>,
and the library goes under C<($DJDIR)/lib/perl5>. The pod documentation
goes under C<($DJDIR)/lib/perl5/pod>.

=head1 BUILDING AND INSTALLING MODULES ON DOS

=head2 Building Prerequisites for Perl on DOS

For building and installing non-XS modules, all you need is a working
perl under DJGPP.  Non-XS modules do not require re-linking the perl
binary, and so are simpler to build and install.

XS-type modules do require re-linking the perl binary, because part of
an XS module is written in "C", and has to be linked together with the
perl binary to be executed.  This is required because perl under DJGPP
is built with the "static link" option, due to the lack of "dynamic
linking" in the DJGPP environment.

Because XS modules require re-linking of the perl binary, you need both
the perl binary distribution and the perl source distribution to build
an XS extension module.  In addition, you will have to have built your
perl binary from the source distribution so that all of the components
of the perl binary are available for the required link step.

=head2 Unpacking CPAN Modules on DOS

First, download the module package from CPAN (e.g., the "Comma Separated
Value" text package, Text-CSV-0.01.tar.gz).  Then expand the contents of
the package into some location on your disk.  Most CPAN modules are
built with an internal directory structure, so it is usually safe to
expand it in the root of your DJGPP installation.  Some people prefer to
locate source trees under /usr/src (i.e., C<($DJDIR)/usr/src>), but you may
put it wherever seems most logical to you, *EXCEPT* under the same
directory as your perl source code.  There are special rules that apply
to modules which live in the perl source tree that do not apply to most
of the modules in CPAN.

Unlike other DJGPP packages, which are normal "zip" files, most CPAN
module packages are "gzipped tarballs".  Recent versions of WinZip will
safely unpack and expand them, *UNLESS* they have zero-length files.  It
is a known WinZip bug (as of v7.0) that it will not extract zero-length
files.

From the command line, you can use the djtar utility provided with DJGPP
to unpack and expand these files.  For example:

        C:\djgpp>djtarx -v Text-CSV-0.01.tar.gz

This will create the new directory C<($DJDIR)/Text-CSV-0.01>, filling
it with the source for this module.

=head2 Building Non-XS Modules on DOS

To build a non-XS module, you can use the standard module-building
instructions distributed with perl modules.

    perl Makefile.PL
    make
    make test
    make install

This is sufficient because non-XS modules install only ".pm" files and
(sometimes) pod and/or man documentation.  No re-linking of the perl
binary is needed to build, install or use non-XS modules.

=head2 Building XS Modules on DOS

To build an XS module, you must use the standard module-building
instructions distributed with perl modules *PLUS* three extra
instructions specific to the DJGPP "static link" build environment.

    set FNCASE=y
    perl Makefile.PL
    make
    make perl
    make test
    make -f Makefile.aperl inst_perl MAP_TARGET=perl.exe
    make install

The first extra instruction sets DJGPP's FNCASE environment variable so
that the new perl binary which you must build for an XS-type module will
build correctly.  The second extra instruction re-builds the perl binary
in your module directory before you run "make test", so that you are
testing with the new module code you built with "make".  The third extra
instruction installs the perl binary from your module directory into the
standard DJGPP binary directory, C<($DJDIR)/bin>, replacing your
previous perl binary.

Note that the MAP_TARGET value *must* have the ".exe" extension or you
will not create a "perl.exe" to replace the one in C<($DJDIR)/bin>.

When you are done, the XS-module install process will have added information
to your "perllocal" information telling that the perl binary has been replaced,
and what module was installed.  You can view this information at any time
by using the command:

        perl -S perldoc perllocal

=head1 AUTHOR

Laszlo Molnar, F<laszlo.molnar@eth.ericsson.se> [Installing/building perl]

Peter J. Farley III F<pjfarley@banet.net> [Building/installing modules]

=head1 SEE ALSO

perl(1).

=cut