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diff --git a/Master/tlpkg/tlperl/lib/pods/perlmachten.pod b/Master/tlpkg/tlperl/lib/pods/perlmachten.pod new file mode 100755 index 00000000000..f2628fd00c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/Master/tlpkg/tlperl/lib/pods/perlmachten.pod @@ -0,0 +1,116 @@ +If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the funny characters you +see. It is written in the POD format (see pod/perlpod.pod) which is +specially designed to be readable as is. + +=head1 NAME + +README.machten - Perl version 5 on Power MachTen systems + +=head1 DESCRIPTION + +This document describes how to build Perl 5 on Power MachTen systems, +and discusses a few wrinkles in the implementation. + +=head2 Perl version 5.8.x and greater not supported + +B<Power MachTen is not supported by versions of Perl later than +5.6.x.> +If you wish to build a version from the 5.6 track, please +obtain a source distribution from the archive at +L<http://cpan.org/src/5.0/> and follow the instructions in its +README.machten file. + +MachTen is no longer supported by its developers, Tenon Intersystems. +A UNIX environment hosted on Mac OS Classic, MachTen has been +superseded by Mac OS X and by BSD and Linux implementations for Macintosh +hardware. +The final version of Power MachTen, 4.1.4, lacks many features found in +modern implementations of UNIX, and has a number of bugs. +These shortcomings prevent recent versions of Perl from being able to use +extensions on MachTen, and cause numerous test suite failures in the +perl core. + +In September 2003, a discussion on the MachTen mailing list determined +that there was no interest in making a later version of Perl build +successfully on MachTen. +Consequently, support for building Perl under MachTen has been suppressed +in Perl distributions published after February 2004. +The hints file, F<hints/machten.sh>, remains a part of the +distributions for reference purposes. + +=head2 Compiling Perl 5.6.x on MachTen + +To compile perl 5.6.x under MachTen 4.1.4 (and probably earlier versions): + + ./Configure -de + make + make test + make install + +This builds and installs a statically-linked perl; MachTen's dynamic +linking facilities are not adequate to support Perl's use of +dynamically linked libraries. (See F<hints/machten.sh> for more +information.) + +You should have at least 32 megabytes of free memory on your +system before running the C<make> command. + +For much more information on building perl -- for example, on how to +change the default installation directory -- see F<INSTALL>. + +=head2 Failures during C<make test> on MachTen + +=over 4 + +=item op/lexassign.t + +This test may fail when first run after building perl. It does not +fail subsequently. The cause is unknown. + +=item pragma/warnings.t + +Test 257 fails due to a failure to warn about attempts to read from a +filehandle which is a duplicate of stdout when stdout is attached to a +pipe. The output of the test contains a block comment which discusses +a different failure, not applicable to MachTen. + +The root of the problem is that Machten does not assign a file type to +either end of a pipe (see L<stat>), resulting, among other things +in Perl's C<-p> test failing on file descriptors belonging to pipes. +As a result, perl becomes confused, and the test for reading from a +write-only file fails. I am reluctant to patch perl to get around +this, as it's clearly an OS bug (about which Tenon has been informed), +and limited in its effect on practical Perl programs. + +=back + +=head2 Building external modules on MachTen + +To add an external module to perl, build in the normal way, which +is documented in L<ExtUtils::MakeMaker>, or which can be driven +automatically by the CPAN module (see L<CPAN>), which is part of the +standard distribution. If you want to install a module which +contains XS code (C or C++ source which compiles to object code +for linking with perl), you will have to replace your perl binary with +a new version containing the new statically-linked object module. The +build process tells you how to do this. + +There is a gotcha, however, which users usually encounter immediately +they respond to CPAN's invitation to C<install Bundle::CPAN>. When +installing a I<bundle> -- a group of modules which together achieve +some particular purpose, the installation process for later modules in +the bundle tends to assume that earlier modules have been fully +installed and are available for use. This is not true on a +statically-linked system for earlier modules which contain XS code. +As a result the installation of the bundle fails. The work-around is +not to install the bundle as a one-shot operation, but instead to see +what modules it contains, and install these one-at-a-time by hand in +the order given. + +=head1 AUTHOR + +Dominic Dunlop <domo@computer.org> + +=head1 DATE + +Version 1.1.0 2004-02-13 |