1 | If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the funny characters you see.
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2 | It is written in the POD format (see pod/perlpod.pod) which is specially
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3 | designed to be readable as is.
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4 |
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5 | =head1 NAME
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6 |
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7 | perlplan9 - Plan 9-specific documentation for Perl
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8 |
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9 | =head1 DESCRIPTION
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10 |
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11 | These are a few notes describing features peculiar to
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12 | Plan 9 Perl. As such, it is not intended to be a replacement
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13 | for the rest of the Perl 5 documentation (which is both
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14 | copious and excellent). If you have any questions to
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15 | which you can't find answers in these man pages, contact
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16 | Luther Huffman at [email protected] and we'll try to
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17 | answer them.
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18 |
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19 | =head2 Invoking Perl
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20 |
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21 | Perl is invoked from the command line as described in
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22 | L<perl>. Most perl scripts, however, do have a first line
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23 | such as "#!/usr/local/bin/perl". This is known as a shebang
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24 | (shell-bang) statement and tells the OS shell where to find
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25 | the perl interpreter. In Plan 9 Perl this statement should be
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26 | "#!/bin/perl" if you wish to be able to directly invoke the
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27 | script by its name.
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28 | Alternatively, you may invoke perl with the command "Perl"
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29 | instead of "perl". This will produce Acme-friendly error
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30 | messages of the form "filename:18".
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31 |
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32 | Some scripts, usually identified with a *.PL extension, are
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33 | self-configuring and are able to correctly create their own
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34 | shebang path from config information located in Plan 9
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35 | Perl. These you won't need to be worried about.
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36 |
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37 | =head2 What's in Plan 9 Perl
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38 |
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39 | Although Plan 9 Perl currently only provides static
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40 | loading, it is built with a number of useful extensions.
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41 | These include Opcode, FileHandle, Fcntl, and POSIX. Expect
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42 | to see others (and DynaLoading!) in the future.
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43 |
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44 | =head2 What's not in Plan 9 Perl
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45 |
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46 | As mentioned previously, dynamic loading isn't currently
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47 | available nor is MakeMaker. Both are high-priority items.
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48 |
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49 | =head2 Perl5 Functions not currently supported in Plan 9 Perl
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50 |
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51 | Some, such as C<chown> and C<umask> aren't provided
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52 | because the concept does not exist within Plan 9. Others,
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53 | such as some of the socket-related functions, simply
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54 | haven't been written yet. Many in the latter category
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55 | may be supported in the future.
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56 |
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57 | The functions not currently implemented include:
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58 |
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59 | chown, chroot, dbmclose, dbmopen, getsockopt,
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60 | setsockopt, recvmsg, sendmsg, getnetbyname,
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61 | getnetbyaddr, getnetent, getprotoent, getservent,
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62 | sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent,
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63 | endservent, endnetent, endprotoent, umask
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64 |
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65 | There may be several other functions that have undefined
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66 | behavior so this list shouldn't be considered complete.
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67 |
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68 | =head2 Signals in Plan 9 Perl
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69 |
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70 | For compatibility with perl scripts written for the Unix
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71 | environment, Plan 9 Perl uses the POSIX signal emulation
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72 | provided in Plan 9's ANSI POSIX Environment (APE). Signal stacking
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73 | isn't supported. The signals provided are:
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74 |
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75 | SIGHUP, SIGINT, SIGQUIT, SIGILL, SIGABRT,
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76 | SIGFPE, SIGKILL, SIGSEGV, SIGPIPE, SIGPIPE, SIGALRM,
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77 | SIGTERM, SIGUSR1, SIGUSR2, SIGCHLD, SIGCONT,
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78 | SIGSTOP, SIGTSTP, SIGTTIN, SIGTTOU
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79 |
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80 | =head1 COMPILING AND INSTALLING PERL ON PLAN 9
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81 |
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82 | WELCOME to Plan 9 Perl, brave soul!
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83 |
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84 | This is a preliminary alpha version of Plan 9 Perl. Still to be
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85 | implemented are MakeMaker and DynaLoader. Many perl commands are
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86 | missing or currently behave in an inscrutable manner. These gaps will,
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87 | with perseverance and a modicum of luck, be remedied in the near
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88 | future.To install this software:
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89 |
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90 | 1. Create the source directories and libraries for perl by running the
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91 | plan9/setup.rc command (i.e., located in the plan9 subdirectory).
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92 | Note: the setup routine assumes that you haven't dearchived these
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93 | files into /sys/src/cmd/perl. After running setup.rc you may delete
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94 | the copy of the source you originally detarred, as source code has now
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95 | been installed in /sys/src/cmd/perl. If you plan on installing perl
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96 | binaries for all architectures, run "setup.rc -a".
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97 |
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98 | 2. After making sure that you have adequate privileges to build system
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99 | software, from /sys/src/cmd/perl/5.00301 (adjust version
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100 | appropriately) run:
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101 |
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102 | mk install
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103 |
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104 | If you wish to install perl versions for all architectures (68020,
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105 | mips, sparc and 386) run:
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106 |
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107 | mk installall
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108 |
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109 | 3. Wait. The build process will take a *long* time because perl
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110 | bootstraps itself. A 75MHz Pentium, 16MB RAM machine takes roughly 30
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111 | minutes to build the distribution from scratch.
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112 |
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113 | =head2 Installing Perl Documentation on Plan 9
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114 |
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115 | This perl distribution comes with a tremendous amount of
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116 | documentation. To add these to the built-in manuals that come with
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117 | Plan 9, from /sys/src/cmd/perl/5.00301 (adjust version appropriately)
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118 | run:
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119 |
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120 | mk man
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121 |
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122 | To begin your reading, start with:
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123 |
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124 | man perl
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125 |
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126 | This is a good introduction and will direct you towards other man
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127 | pages that may interest you.
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128 |
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129 | (Note: "mk man" may produce some extraneous noise. Fear not.)
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130 |
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131 | =head1 BUGS
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132 |
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133 | "As many as there are grains of sand on all the beaches of the
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134 | world . . ." - Carl Sagan
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135 |
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136 | =head1 Revision date
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137 |
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138 | This document was revised 09-October-1996 for Perl 5.003_7.
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139 |
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140 | =head1 AUTHOR
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141 |
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142 | Direct questions, comments, and the unlikely bug report (ahem) direct
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143 | comments toward:
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144 |
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145 | Luther Huffman, [email protected],
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146 | Strategic Computer Solutions, Inc.
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