1# vim: syntax=pod 2 3If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the funny characters you 4see. It is written in the POD format (see pod/perlpod.pod) which is 5specially designed to be readable as is. 6 7=head1 NAME 8 9perlvos - Perl for Stratus OpenVOS 10 11=head1 SYNOPSIS 12 13This file contains notes for building perl on the Stratus OpenVOS 14operating system. Perl is a scripting or macro language that is 15popular on many systems. See L<perlbook> for a number of good books 16on Perl. 17 18These are instructions for building Perl from source. This version of 19Perl requires the dynamic linking support that is found in OpenVOS 20Release 17.1 and thus is not supported on OpenVOS Release 17.0 or 21earlier releases. 22 23If you are running VOS Release 14.4.1 or later, you can obtain a 24pre-compiled, supported copy of perl by purchasing the GNU Tools 25product from Stratus Technologies. 26 27=head1 BUILDING PERL FOR OPENVOS 28 29To build perl from its source code on the Stratus V Series platform 30you must have OpenVOS Release 17.1.0 or later, GNU Tools Release 313.5 or later, and the C/POSIX Runtime Libraries. 32 33Follow the normal instructions for building perl; e.g, enter bash, run 34the Configure script, then use "gmake" to build perl. 35 36=head1 INSTALLING PERL IN OPENVOS 37 38=over 4 39 40=item 1 41 42After you have built perl using the Configure script, ensure that you 43have modify and default write permission to C<< >system>ported >> and 44all subdirectories. Then type 45 46 gmake install 47 48=item 2 49 50While there are currently no architecture-specific extensions or 51modules distributed with perl, the following directories can be 52used to hold such files (replace the string VERSION by the 53appropriate version number): 54 55 >system>ported>lib>perl5>VERSION>i786 56 57=item 3 58 59Site-specific perl extensions and modules can be installed in one of 60two places. Put architecture-independent files into: 61 62 >system>ported>lib>perl5>site_perl>VERSION 63 64Put site-specific architecture-dependent files into one of the 65following directories: 66 67 >system>ported>lib>perl5>site_perl>VERSION>i786 68 69=item 4 70 71You can examine the @INC variable from within a perl program 72to see the order in which Perl searches these directories. 73 74=back 75 76=head1 USING PERL IN OPENVOS 77 78=head2 Restrictions of Perl on OpenVOS 79 80This port of Perl version 5 prefers Unix-style, slash-separated 81pathnames over OpenVOS-style greater-than-separated pathnames. 82OpenVOS-style pathnames should work in most contexts, but if you have 83trouble, replace all greater-than characters by slash characters. 84Because the slash character is used as a pathname delimiter, Perl 85cannot process OpenVOS pathnames containing a slash character in a 86directory or file name; these must be renamed. 87 88This port of Perl also uses Unix-epoch date values internally. 89As long as you are dealing with ASCII character string 90representations of dates, this should not be an issue. The 91supported epoch is January 1, 1980 to January 17, 2038. 92 93See the file pod/perlport.pod for more information about the OpenVOS 94port of Perl. 95 96=head1 TEST STATUS 97 98A number of the perl self-tests fails for various reasons; generally 99these are minor and due to subtle differences between common 100POSIX-based environments and the OpenVOS POSIX environment. Ensure 101that you conduct sufficient testing of your code to guarantee that it 102works properly in the OpenVOS environment. 103 104=head1 SUPPORT STATUS 105 106I'm offering this port "as is". You can ask me questions, but I 107can't guarantee I'll be able to answer them. There are some 108excellent books available on the Perl language; consult a book 109seller. 110 111If you want a supported version of perl for OpenVOS, purchase the 112OpenVOS GNU Tools product from Stratus Technologies, along with a 113support contract (or from anyone else who will sell you support). 114 115=head1 AUTHOR 116 117Paul Green (Paul.Green@stratus.com) 118 119=head1 LAST UPDATE 120 121February 28, 2013 122 123=cut 124