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PERLVOS(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PERLVOS(1)
NAME
README.vos - Perl for Stratus VOS
SYNOPSIS
This file contains notes for building perl on the Stratus
VOS operating system. Perl is a scripting or macro lan-
guage that is popular on many systems. See perlbook for a
number of good books on Perl.
These are instructions for building Perl from source.
Most people can simply download a pre-compiled distribu-
tion from the VOS anonymous FTP site. If you are running
VOS Release 14.2.0 or earlier, download Perl from
ftp://ftp.stratus.com/pub/vos/posix/alpha/alpha.html If
you are running VOS Release 14.3.0 or later, download Perl
from ftp://ftp.stratus.com/pub/vos/posix/ga/ga.html
Instructions for unbundling the Perl distribution file are
at ftp://ftp.stratus.com/pub/vos/utility/utility.html
If you are running VOS Release 14.4.1 or later, you can
obtain a pre-compiled, supported copy of perl by purchas-
ing Release 2.0.1 (or later) of the VOS GNU C++ and GNU
Tools product from Stratus Technologies.
Multiple methods to build perl for VOS
If you elect to build perl from its source code, you have
several different ways that you can build perl. The
method that you use depends on the version of VOS that you
are using and on the architecture of your Stratus hardware
platform.
1 If you have a Stratus XA2000 (Motorola 68k-based)
platform, you must build perl using the alpha version
of VOS POSIX support and using the VOS Standard C
Cross-compiler. You must build perl on VOS Release
14.1.0 (or later) on an XA/R or Continuum platform.
This version of perl is properly called "miniperl"
because it does not contain the complete perl func-
tionality.
You must build perl with the compile_perl.cm command
macro found in the vos subdirectory.
2 If you have a Stratus XA/R (Intel i860-based) plat-
form, you must build perl using the alpha version of
VOS POSIX support and using the VOS Standard C com-
piler or cross-compiler. You must build perl on VOS
Release 14.1.0 (or later) on an XA/R or Continuum
platform.
This version of perl is properly called "miniperl"
because it does not contain the complete perl func-
tionality.
You must build perl with the compile_perl.cm command
macro found in the vos subdirectory.
3 If you have a Stratus Continuum (PA-RISC-based) plat-
form that is running a version of VOS earlier than
VOS 14.3.0, you must build perl using the alpha
version of VOS POSIX support and using the VOS Stan-
dard C compiler or cross-compiler. You must build
perl on VOS Release 14.1.0 (or later) on an XA/R or
Continuum platform.
This version of perl is properly called "miniperl"
because it does not contain the complete perl func-
tionality.
You must build perl with the compile_perl.cm command
macro found in the vos subdirectory.
4 If you have a Stratus Continuum (PA-RISC-based) plat-
form that is running VOS Release 14.3.0 through VOS
Release 14.4.1, you must build perl using the gener-
ally-available version of VOS POSIX support, and
using either the VOS Standard C compiler or the VOS
GNU C compiler. You must build perl on VOS Release
14.3.0 (or later) on a Continuum platform.
This version of perl is properly called "miniperl"
because it does not contain the complete perl func-
tionality.
You must build perl with the compile_perl.cm command
macro found in the vos subdirectory.
5 If you have a Stratus Continuum (PA-RISC-based) plat-
form that is running VOS Release 14.5.0 or later, you
can either use the previous method to build
"miniperl" or you can build "full perl", which con-
tains the complete functionality of perl. I strongly
recommend that you build full perl. To build full
perl, you must use the generally-available version of
VOS POSIX support. You must use the VOS GNU C com-
piler and the VOS GNU C/C++ and GNU Tools Release
2.0.1 (or later) product. You must build full perl
on VOS Release 14.5.0 (or later) on a Continuum plat-
form.
You must build full perl with the com-
pile_full_perl.cm command macro found in the vos sub-
directory.
Stratus POSIX Support
Note that there are two different implementations of
POSIX.1 support on VOS. There is an alpha version of
POSIX that is available from the Stratus anonymous ftp
site ( ftp://ftp.stra-
tus.com/pub/vos/posix/alpha/alpha.html ). There is a gen-
erally-available version of POSIX that comes with VOS
Release 14.3.0 or higher. This port of POSIX will compile
and bind with either version of POSIX.
Most of the Perl features should work on VOS regardless of
which version of POSIX that you are using. However, the
alpha version of POSIX is missing a number of key func-
tions, and therefore any attempt by perl.pm to call the
following unimplemented POSIX functions will result in an
error message and an immediate and fatal call to the VOS
debugger. They are "dup", "fork", and "waitpid". The
lack of these functions prevents you from starting VOS
commands and grabbing their output in perl. The
workaround is to run the commands outside of perl, then
have perl process the output file. These functions are
all available in the generally-available version of POSIX.
INSTALLING PERL IN VOS
Compiling Perl 5 on VOS
Before you can build Perl 5 on VOS, you need to have or
acquire the following additional items.
1 The VOS Standard C Compiler (or the VOS Standard C
Cross-Compiler) and the VOS C Runtime. If you are
using the generally-available version of POSIX sup-
port, you may instead use the VOS GNU C/C++ Compiler.
These are standard Stratus products.
2 Either the VOS OS TCP/IP or STCP product set. If you
are building with the alpha version of POSIX you need
the OS TCP/IP product set. If you are building with
the generally-available version of POSIX you need the
STCP product set. These are standard Stratus prod-
ucts.
3 Either the alpha or generally-available version of
the VOS POSIX.1 environment.
The alpha version of POSIX.1 support is available on
the Stratus FTP site. Login anonymously to ftp.stra-
tus.com and get the file
/pub/vos/posix/alpha/posix.save.evf.gz in binary
file-transfer mode. Or use the Uniform Resource
Locator (URL) ftp://ftp.stra-
tus.com/pub/vos/posix/alpha/posix.save.evf.gz from
your web browser. Instructions for unbundling this
file are at ftp://ftp.stratus.com/pub/vos/util-
ity/utility.html This is NOT a standard Stratus prod-
uct.
In VOS Release 14.3.0, the generally-available ver-
sion of POSIX.1 support is bundled with the VOS Stan-
dard C compiler (or Standard C Cross-Compiler). In
VOS Release 14.4.0 or higher, it is also bundled with
the VOS C Runtime. These are standard Stratus prod-
ucts.
4 You must compile this version of Perl 5 on VOS
Release 14.1.0 or higher because some of the perl
source files contain more than 32,767 source lines.
Due to VOS release-compatibility rules, this port of
perl may not execute on VOS Release 12 or earlier.
5 If you are using the generally-available version of
VOS POSIX support, then you should also acquire the
VOS GNU C/C++ Compiler and GNU Tools product. When
perl is built with this version of POSIX support, it
assumes that it can find "bash", "sed" and other
POSIX-compatible commands in the directory /sys-
tem/gnu_library/bin.
To build perl using the supplied VOS command macros,
change to the "vos" subdirectory and type the command
"compile_perl -processor X", where X is the processor type
(mc68020, i80860, pa7100, pa8000) that you wish to use.
Note that the generally-available version of POSIX.1 sup-
port is not available for the mc68020 or i80860 proces-
sors.
Use the "-version alpha" control argument to build perl
with the alpha version of POSIX support, and use the
"-version ga" control argument to build it with the gener-
ally-available version of POSIX. The default is "ga".
Use the "-compiler cc" control argument to build perl with
the VOS Standard C compiler. Use the "-compiler gcc" con-
trol argument to build it with the GNU GCC compiler. The
default is "cc".
You must have purchased the VOS Standard C Cross Compiler
in order to compile perl for a processor type that is dif-
ferent from the processor type of the module.
Note that code compiled for the pa7100 processor type can
execute on the PA7100, PA8000, PA8500 and PA8600 proces-
sors, and that code compiled for the pa8000 processor type
can execute on the PA8000, PA8500 and PA8600 processors.
To build full perl using the supplied Configure script and
makefiles, change to the "vos" subdirectory and type the
command "compile_full_perl" or "start_process com-
pile_full_perl". This will configure, build, and test
perl.
Installing Perl 5 on VOS
1 If you have built perl using the Configure script,
ensure that you have modify permission to ">sys-
tem>ported" and type
gmake install
2 If you have built perl using any of the other methods,
type
install_perl -processor PROCESSOR -name NAME
where PROCESSOR is mc68020, i80860, pa7100, or pa8000,
as appropriate, and NAME is perl or perl5, according
to which name you wish to use.
This command macro will install perl and all of its
related files in the proper directories.
3 While there are currently no architecture-specific
extensions or modules distributed with perl, the fol-
lowing directories can be used to hold such files:
>system>ported>lib>perl5>5.8.0>68k
>system>ported>lib>perl5>5.8.0>860
>system>ported>lib>perl5>5.8.0>7100
>system>ported>lib>perl5>5.8.0>8000
4 Site-specific perl extensions and modules can be
installed in one of two places. Put architecture-
independent files into:
>system>ported>lib>perl5>site_perl>5.8.0
Put site-specific architecture-dependent files into
one of the following directories:
>system>ported>lib>perl5>site_perl>5.8.0>68k
>system>ported>lib>perl5>site_perl>5.8.0>860
>system>ported>lib>perl5>site_perl>5.8.0>7100
>system>ported>lib>perl5>site_perl>5.8.0>8000
5 You can examine the @INC variable from within a perl
program to see the order in which Perl searches these
directories.
USING PERL IN VOS
Unimplemented Features of Perl on VOS
If perl is built with the alpha version of VOS POSIX.1
support and if it attempts to call an unimplemented VOS
POSIX.1 function, it will print a fatal error message and
enter the VOS debugger. This error is not recoverable.
See vos_dummies.c for a list of the unimplemented POSIX.1
functions. To see what functions are unimplemented and
what the error message looks like, compile and execute
"test_vos_dummies.c".
Restrictions of Perl on VOS
This port of Perl version 5 to VOS prefers Unix-style,
slash-separated pathnames over VOS-style greater-than-sep-
arated pathnames. VOS-style pathnames should work in most
contexts, but if you have trouble, replace all greater-
than characters by slash characters. Because the slash
character is used as a pathname delimiter, Perl cannot
process VOS pathnames containing a slash character in a
directory or file name; these must be renamed.
This port of Perl also uses Unix-epoch date values inter-
nally. As long as you are dealing with ASCII character
string representations of dates, this should not be an
issue. The supported epoch is January 1, 1980 to January
17, 2038.
See the file pod/perlport.pod for more information about
the VOS port of Perl.
Handling of underflow and overflow
Prior to VOS Release 14.7.0, VOS does not support automat-
ically mapping overflowed floating-point values to +infin-
ity, nor automatically mapping underflowed floating-point
values to zero, unlike many other platforms. The Perl
pack function has been modified to perform such mapping in
software on VOS. Performing other floating-point computa-
tions that underflow or overflow will probably result in
SIGFPE. Don't push your luck.
As of VOS Release 14.7.0, the VOS POSIX runtime sets up
the PA-RISC hardware floating-point status register so
that the overflow and underflow exceptions do not trap,
but instead automatically convert the result to infinity
or zero, as appropriate. As of this writing, there are
still floating-point operations that can trap, for exam-
ple, subtracting two infinite values. This is recorded as
suggestion posix-1022, which is not yet fixed.
TEST STATUS
When Perl 5.8.3 is built using the native build process on
VOS Release 14.7.0 and GNU C++/GNU Tools 2.0.2a, all but
three attempted tests either pass or result in TODO
(ignored) failures. The tests that fail are:
t/io/tell.t, test 28 t/op/pack.t, test 39
lib/Net/ing/t/450_service.t, test 8
SUPPORT STATUS
I'm offering this port "as is". You can ask me questions,
but I can't guarantee I'll be able to answer them. There
are some excellent books available on the Perl language;
consult a book seller.
If you want a supported version of perl for VOS, purchase
the VOS GNU C++ and GNU Tools Release 2.0.1 (or later)
product from Stratus Technologies, along with a support
contract (or from anyone else who will sell you support).
AUTHOR
Paul Green (Paul.Green@stratus.com)
LAST UPDATE
January 15, 2004
perl v5.8.8 2006-01-07 PERLVOS(1)