[104078] | 1 | Notes on Perl
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| 2 | =============
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| 3 |
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| 4 | - [General Notes](#general-notes)
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| 5 | - [Perl on Windows](#perl-on-windows)
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| 6 | - [Perl on VMS](#perl-on-vms)
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| 7 | - [Perl on NonStop](#perl-on-nonstop)
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| 8 | - [Required Perl modules](#required-perl-modules)
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| 9 | - [Notes on installing a Perl module](#notes-on-installing-a-perl-module])
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| 10 |
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| 11 | General Notes
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| 12 | -------------
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| 13 |
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| 14 | For our scripts, we rely quite a bit on Perl, and increasingly on
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| 15 | some core Perl modules. These Perl modules are part of the Perl
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| 16 | source, so if you build Perl on your own, you should be set.
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| 17 |
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| 18 | However, if you install Perl as binary packages, the outcome might
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| 19 | differ, and you may have to check that you do get the core modules
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| 20 | installed properly. We do not claim to know them all, but experience
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| 21 | has told us the following:
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| 22 |
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| 23 | - on Linux distributions based on Debian, the package `perl` will
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| 24 | install the core Perl modules as well, so you will be fine.
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| 25 | - on Linux distributions based on RPMs, you will need to install
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| 26 | `perl-core` rather than just `perl`.
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| 27 |
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| 28 | You MUST have at least Perl version 5.10.0 installed. This minimum
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| 29 | requirement is due to our use of regexp backslash sequence \R among
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| 30 | other features that didn't exist in core Perl before that version.
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| 31 |
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| 32 | Perl on Windows
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| 33 | ---------------
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| 34 |
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| 35 | There are a number of build targets that can be viewed as "Windows".
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| 36 | Indeed, there are `VC-*` configs targeting Visual Studio C, as well as
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| 37 | MinGW and Cygwin. The key recommendation is to use a Perl installation
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| 38 | that matches the build environment. For example, if you will build
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| 39 | on Cygwin be sure to use the Cygwin package manager to install Perl.
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| 40 | For MSYS builds use the MSYS provided Perl.
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| 41 | For VC-* builds, we recommend Strawberry Perl, from <http://strawberryperl.com>.
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| 42 | An alternative is ActiveState Perl, from <http://www.activestate.com/ActivePerl>
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| 43 | for which you may need to explicitly select the Perl module Win32/Console.pm
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| 44 | available via <https://platform.activestate.com/ActiveState>.
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| 45 |
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| 46 | Perl on VMS
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| 47 | -----------
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| 48 |
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| 49 | You will need to install Perl separately. One way to do so is to
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| 50 | download the source from <http://perl.org/>, unpacking it, reading
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| 51 | `README-VMS.md` and follow the instructions. Another way is to download a
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| 52 | `.PCSI` file from <http://www.vmsperl.com/> and install it using the
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| 53 | POLYCENTER install tool.
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| 54 |
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| 55 | Perl on NonStop
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| 56 | ---------------
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| 57 |
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| 58 | Perl is installed on HPE NonStop platforms as part of the Scripting Languages
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| 59 | package T1203PAX file. The package is shipped as part of a NonStop RVU
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| 60 | (Release Version Updates) package. Individual SPRs (Software Product Release)
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| 61 | representing fixes can be obtained from the Scout website at
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| 62 | <https://h22204.www2.hpe.com/NEP>. Follow the appropriate set of installation
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| 63 | instructions for your operating system release as described in the
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| 64 | Script Language User Guide available from the NonStop Technical Library.
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| 65 |
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| 66 | Required Perl modules
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| 67 | ---------------------
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| 68 |
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| 69 | We do our best to limit ourselves to core Perl modules to keep the
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| 70 | requirements down. There are just a few exceptions.
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| 71 |
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| 72 | * Text::Template this is required *for building*
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| 73 |
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| 74 | To avoid unnecessary initial hurdles, we include a copy of this module
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| 75 | in the source. It will work as a fallback if the module isn't already
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| 76 | installed.
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| 77 |
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| 78 | * `Test::More` this is required *for testing*
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| 79 |
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| 80 | We require the minimum version to be 0.96, which appeared in Perl 5.13.4,
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| 81 | because that version was the first to have all the features we're using.
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| 82 | This module is required for testing only! If you don't plan on running
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| 83 | the tests, you don't need to bother with this one.
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| 84 |
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| 85 | Notes on installing a Perl module
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| 86 | ---------------------------------
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| 87 |
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| 88 | There are a number of ways to install a perl module. In all
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| 89 | descriptions below, `Text::Template` will serve as an example.
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| 90 |
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| 91 | 1. for Linux users, the easiest is to install with the use of your
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| 92 | favorite package manager. Usually, all you need to do is search
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| 93 | for the module name and to install the package that comes up.
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| 94 |
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| 95 | On Debian based Linux distributions, it would go like this:
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| 96 |
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| 97 | $ apt-cache search Text::Template
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| 98 | ...
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| 99 | libtext-template-perl - perl module to process text templates
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| 100 | $ sudo apt-get install libtext-template-perl
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| 101 |
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| 102 | Perl modules in Debian based distributions use package names like
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| 103 | the name of the module in question, with "lib" prepended and
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| 104 | "-perl" appended.
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| 105 |
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| 106 | 2. Install using CPAN. This is very easy, but usually requires root
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| 107 | access:
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| 108 |
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| 109 | $ cpan -i Text::Template
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| 110 |
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| 111 | Note that this runs all the tests that the module to be installed
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| 112 | comes with. This is usually a smooth operation, but there are
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| 113 | platforms where a failure is indicated even though the actual tests
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| 114 | were successful. Should that happen, you can force an
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| 115 | installation regardless (that should be safe since you've already
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| 116 | seen the tests succeed!):
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| 117 |
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| 118 | $ cpan -f -i Text::Template
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| 119 |
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| 120 | Note: on VMS, you must quote any argument that contains uppercase
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| 121 | characters, so the lines above would be:
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| 122 |
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| 123 | $ cpan -i "Text::Template"
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| 124 |
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| 125 | and:
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| 126 |
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| 127 | $ cpan -f -i "Text::Template"
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