PERLTRU64(1)     Perl Programmers Reference Guide    PERLTRU64(1)



NAME
       README.tru64 - Perl version 5 on Tru64 (formerly known as
       Digital UNIX formerly known as DEC OSF/1) systems

DESCRIPTION
       This document describes various features of HP's (formerly
       Compaq's, formerly Digital's) Unix operating system
       (Tru64) that will affect how Perl version 5 (hereafter
       just Perl) is configured, compiled and/or runs.

       Compiling Perl 5 on Tru64

       The recommended compiler to use in Tru64 is the native C
       compiler.  The native compiler produces much faster code
       (the speed difference is noticeable: several dozen per-
       centages) and also more correct code: if you are consider-
       ing using the GNU C compiler you should use at the very
       least the release of 2.95.3 since all older gcc releases
       are known to produce broken code when compiling Perl.  One
       manifestation of this brokenness is the lib/sdbm test
       dumping core; another is many of the op/regexp and op/pat,
       or ext/Storable tests dumping core (the exact pattern of
       failures depending on the GCC release and optimization
       flags).

       gcc 3.2.1 is known to work okay with Perl 5.8.0.  However,
       when optimizing the toke.c gcc likes to have a lot of mem-
       ory, 256 megabytes seems to be enough.  The default set-
       ting of the process data section in Tru64 should be one
       gigabyte, but some sites/setups might have lowered that.
       The configuration process of Perl checks for too low pro-
       cess limits, and lowers the optimization for the toke.c if
       necessary, and also gives advice on how to raise the pro-
       cess limits.

       Using Large Files with Perl on Tru64

       In Tru64 Perl is automatically able to use large files,
       that is, files larger than 2 gigabytes, there is no need
       to use the Configure -Duselargefiles option as described
       in INSTALL (though using the option is harmless).

       Threaded Perl on Tru64

       If you want to use threads, you should primarily use the
       new Perl 5.8.0 threads model by running Configure with
       -Duseithreads.

       The old Perl 5.005 threads is obsolete, unmaintained, and
       its use is discouraged.  If you really want it, run Con-
       figure with the -Dusethreads -Duse5005threads options as
       described in INSTALL.

       Either thread model is going to work only in Tru64 4.0 and
       newer releases, older operating releases like 3.2 aren't
       probably going to work properly with threads.

       In Tru64 V5 (at least V5.1A, V5.1B) you cannot build
       threaded Perl with gcc because the system header
        explicitly checks for supported C compilers,
       gcc (at least 3.2.2) not being one of them.  But the sys-
       tem C compiler should work just fine.

       Long Doubles on Tru64

       You cannot Configure Perl to use long doubles unless you
       have at least Tru64 V5.0, the long double support simply
       wasn't functional enough before that.  Perl's Configure
       will override attempts to use the long doubles (you can
       notice this by Configure finding out that the modfl()
       function does not work as it should).

       At the time of this writing (June 2002), there is a known
       bug in the Tru64 libc printing of long doubles when not
       using "e" notation.  The values are correct and usable,
       but you only get a limited number of digits displayed
       unless you force the issue by using "printf "%.33e",$num"
       or the like.  For Tru64 versions V5.0A through V5.1A, a
       patch is expected sometime after perl 5.8.0 is released.
       If your libc has not yet been patched, you'll get a warn-
       ing from Configure when selecting long doubles.

       DB_File tests failing on Tru64

       The DB_File tests (db-btree.t, db-hash.t, db-recno.t) may
       fail you have installed a newer version of Berkeley DB
       into the system and the -I and -L compiler and linker
       flags introduce version conflicts with the DB 1.85 headers
       and libraries that came with the Tru64.  For example, mix-
       ing a DB v2 library with the DB v1 headers is a bad idea.
       Watch out for Configure options -Dlocincpth and -Dlo-
       clibpth, and check your /usr/local/include and
       /usr/local/lib since they are included by default.

       The second option is to explicitly instruct Configure to
       detect the newer Berkeley DB installation, by supplying
       the right directories with "-Dlocincpth=/some/include" and
       "-Dloclibpth=/some/lib" and before running "make test"
       setting your LD_LIBRARY_PATH to /some/lib.

       The third option is to work around the problem by dis-
       abling the DB_File completely when build Perl by specify-
       ing -Ui_db to Configure, and then using the BerkeleyDB
       module from CPAN instead of DB_File.  The BerkeleyDB works
       with Berkeley DB versions 2.* or greater.

       The Berkeley DB 4.1.25 has been tested with Tru64 V5.1A
       and found to work.  The latest Berkeley DB can be found
       from http://www.sleepycat.com.

       64-bit Perl on Tru64

       In Tru64 Perl's integers are automatically 64-bit wide,
       there is no need to use the Configure -Duse64bitint option
       as described in INSTALL.  Similarly, there is no need for
       -Duse64bitall since pointers are automatically 64-bit
       wide.

       Warnings about floating-point overflow when compiling Perl
       on Tru64

       When compiling Perl in Tru64 you may (depending on the
       compiler release) see two warnings like this

           cc: Warning: numeric.c, line 104: In this statement, floating-point overflow occurs in evaluating the expression "1.8e308". (floatoverfl)
               return HUGE_VAL;
           -----------^

       and when compiling the POSIX extension

           cc: Warning: const-c.inc, line 2007: In this statement, floating-point overflow occurs in evaluating the expression "1.8e308". (floatoverfl)
                       return HUGE_VAL;
           -------------------^

       The exact line numbers may vary between Perl releases.
       The warnings are benign and can be ignored: in later C
       compiler releases the warnings should be gone.

       When the file pp_sys.c is being compiled you may (depend-
       ing on the operating system release) see an additional
       compiler flag being used: "-DNO_EFF_ONLY_OK".  This is
       normal and refers to a feature that is relevant only if
       you use the "filetest" pragma.  In older releases of the
       operating system the feature was broken and the
       NO_EFF_ONLY_OK instructs Perl not to use the feature.

Testing Perl on Tru64
       During "make test" the "comp/cpp" will be skipped because
       on Tru64 it cannot be tested before Perl has been
       installed.  The test refers to the use of the "-P" option
       of Perl.

ext/ODBM_File/odbm Test Failing With Static Builds
       The ext/ODBM_File/odbm is known to fail with static builds
       (Configure -Uusedl) due to a known bug in Tru64's static
       libdbm library.  The good news is that you very probably
       don't need to ever use the ODBM_File extension since more
       advanced NDBM_File works fine, not to mention the even
       more advanced DB_File.

Perl Fails Because Of Unresolved Symbol sockatmark
       If you get an error like

           Can't load '.../OSF1/lib/perl5/5.8.0/alpha-dec_osf/auto/IO/IO.so' for module IO: Unresolved symbol in .../lib/perl5/5.8.0/alpha-dec_osf/auto/IO/IO.so: sockatmark at .../lib/perl5/5.8.0/alpha-dec_osf/XSLoader.pm line 75.

       you need to either recompile your Perl in Tru64 4.0D or
       upgrade your Tru64 4.0D to at least 4.0F: the sockatmark()
       system call was added in Tru64 4.0F, and the IO extension
       refers that symbol.

AUTHOR
       Jarkko Hietaniemi 



perl v5.8.8                 2006-01-07               PERLTRU64(1)