PERLVOS(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PERLVOS(1)NAME
README.vos - Perl for Stratus VOS
SYNOPSIS
This is a port of Perl version 5 to VOS. Perl is a
scripting or macro language that is popular on many sys
tems. See your local computer bookstore for a number of
good books on Perl.
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 the VOS
Standard C compiler and C runtime in 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 pretty much 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 and Runtime, or the VOS
Standard C Cross-Compiler. This is a standard Stra
tus product.
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/alpha/posix.save.evf.gz from your web
browser. Instructions for unbundling this file are
at ftp://ftp.stratus.com/pub/vos/utility/util
ity.html. This is not a standard Stratus product.
The generally-available version of POSIX.1 support is
bundled with the VOS Standard C compiler and Runtime
(or Cross-Compiler) in VOS Release 14.3.0 or higher.
This is a standard Stratus product.
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.
To build perl 5, 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 support is not available for the mc68020 or i80860
processors.
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.
Installing Perl 5 on VOS
1 Create the directory >system>ported>command_library.
2 Copy the appropriate version of the perl program mod
ule to this directory. For example, with your current
directory set to the top-level directory of Perl 5, to
install the executable program module for the Motorola
68K architecture, enter:
!copy_file vos>obj>perl.pm >system>ported>command_library>*
(If you wish to use both Perl version 4 and Perl ver
sion 5, you must give them different names; for exam
ple, perl.pm and perl5.pm).
3 Create the directory >system>ported>perl>lib.
4 Copy all of the files and subdirectories from the lib
subdirectory into this new directory. For example,
with the current directory set to the top-level direc
tory of the perl distribution, enter:
!copy_dir lib >system>ported>perl>lib>5.6
5 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>perl>lib>5.6.68k
>system>ported>perl>lib>5.6.860
>system>ported>perl>lib>5.6.7100
>system>ported>perl>lib>5.6.8000
6 Site-specific perl extensions and modules can be
installed in one of two places. Put architecture-
independent files into:
>system>ported>perl>lib>site>5.6
Put architecture-dependent files into one of the fol
lowing directories:
>system>ported>perl>lib>site>5.6.68k
>system>ported>perl>lib>site>5.6.860
>system>ported>perl>lib>site>5.6.7100
>system>ported>perl>lib>site>5.6.8000
7 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
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
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.
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.
AUTHOR
Paul Green (Paul_Green@stratus.com)
LAST UPDATE
February 13, 2001
2001-03-03 perl v5.6.1 PERLVOS(1)
