Platform SpecificPerl version 5 on Tru64 (formerly known as Digital UNIX formerly known as DEC OSF/Daftar Isi NAMEperltru64 - Perl version 5 on Tru64 (formerly known as Digital UNIX formerly known as DEC OSF/1) systems DESCRIPTIONThis document describes various features of HP's (formerly Compaq's,formerly Digital's) Unix operating system (Tru64) that will affecthow Perl version 5 (hereafter just Perl) is configured, compiledand/or runs. Compiling Perl 5 on Tru64The recommended compiler to use in Tru64 is the native C compiler.The native compiler produces much faster code (the speed difference isnoticeable: several dozen percentages) and also more correct code: ifyou are considering using the GNU C compiler you should use at thevery least the release of 2.95.3 since all older gcc releases areknown to produce broken code when compiling Perl. One manifestationof this brokenness is the lib/sdbm test dumping core; another is manyof the op/regexp and op/pat, or ext/Storable tests dumping core(the exact pattern of failures depending on the GCC release andoptimization flags). gcc 3.2.1 is known to work okay with Perl 5.8.0. However, whenoptimizing the toke.c gcc likes to have a lot of memory, 256 megabytesseems to be enough. The default setting of the process data sectionin Tru64 should be one gigabyte, but some sites/setups might havelowered that. The configuration process of Perl checks for too lowprocess limits, and lowers the optimization for the toke.c ifnecessary, and also gives advice on how to raise the process limits. Also, Configure might abort with - Build a threading Perl? [n]
- Configure[2437]: Syntax error at line 1 : 'config.sh' is not expected.
This indicates that Configure is being run with a broken Korn shell(even though you think you are using a Bourne shell by using"sh Configure" or "./Configure"). The Korn shell bug has been reportedto Compaq as of February 1999 but in the meanwhile, the reason ksh isbeing used is that you have the environment variable BIN_SH set to'xpg4'. This causes /bin/sh to delegate its duties to /bin/posix/sh(a ksh). Unset the environment variable and rerun Configure. Using Large Files with Perl on Tru64In Tru64 Perl is automatically able to use large files, that is,files larger than 2 gigabytes, there is no need to use the Configure-Duselargefiles option as described in INSTALL (though using the optionis harmless). Threaded Perl on Tru64If you want to use threads, you should primarily use the Perl5.8.0 threads model by running Configure with -Duseithreads. Perl threading is going to work only in Tru64 4.0 and newer releases,older operating releases like 3.2 aren't probably going to workproperly with threads. In Tru64 V5 (at least V5.1A, V5.1B) you cannot build threaded Perl with gccbecause the system header <pthread.h> explicitly checks for supportedC compilers, gcc (at least 3.2.2) not being one of them. But thesystem C compiler should work just fine. Long Doubles on Tru64You cannot Configure Perl to use long doubles unless you have at leastTru64 V5.0, the long double support simply wasn't functional enoughbefore that. Perl's Configure will override attempts to use the longdoubles (you can notice this by Configure finding out that the modfl()function does not work as it should). At the time of this writing (June 2002), there is a known bug in theTru64 libc printing of long doubles when not using "e" notation.The values are correct and usable, but you only get a limited numberof digits displayed unless you force the issue by using printf"%.33e",$num or the like. For Tru64 versions V5.0A through V5.1A, apatch is expected sometime after perl 5.8.0 is released. If your libchas not yet been patched, you'll get a warning from Configure whenselecting long doubles. DB_File tests failing on Tru64The DB_File tests (db-btree.t, db-hash.t, db-recno.t) may fail youhave installed a newer version of Berkeley DB into the system and the-I and -L compiler and linker flags introduce version conflicts withthe DB 1.85 headers and libraries that came with the Tru64. For example, mixing a DB v2 library with the DB v1 headers is a bad idea. Watchout for Configure options -Dlocincpth and -Dloclibpth, and check your/usr/local/include and /usr/local/lib since they are included by default. The second option is to explicitly instruct Configure to detect thenewer Berkeley DB installation, by supplying the right directories with-Dlocincpth=/some/include and -Dloclibpth=/some/lib and beforerunning "make test" setting your LD_LIBRARY_PATH to /some/lib. The third option is to work around the problem by disabling theDB_File completely when build Perl by specifying -Ui_db to Configure,and then using the BerkeleyDB module from CPAN instead of DB_File.The BerkeleyDB works with Berkeley DB versions 2.* or greater. The Berkeley DB 4.1.25 has been tested with Tru64 V5.1A and foundto work. The latest Berkeley DB can be found from http://www.sleepycat.com. 64-bit Perl on Tru64In Tru64 Perl's integers are automatically 64-bit wide, there isno need to use the Configure -Duse64bitint option as describedin INSTALL. Similarly, there is no need for -Duse64bitallsince pointers are automatically 64-bit wide. Warnings about floating-point overflow when compiling Perl on Tru64When compiling Perl in Tru64 you may (depending on the compilerrelease) see two warnings like this - cc: Warning: numeric.c, line 104: In this statement, floating-point overflow occurs in evaluating the expression "1.8e308". (floatoverfl)
- return HUGE_VAL;
- -----------^
and when compiling the POSIX extension - cc: Warning: const-c.inc, line 2007: In this statement, floating-point overflow occurs in evaluating the expression "1.8e308". (floatoverfl)
- return HUGE_VAL;
- -------------------^
The exact line numbers may vary between Perl releases. The warningsare benign and can be ignored: in later C compiler releases the warningsshould be gone. When the file pp_sys.c is being compiled you may (depending on theoperating system release) see an additional compiler flag being used:-DNO_EFF_ONLY_OK. This is normal and refers to a feature that isrelevant only if you use the filetest pragma. In older releases ofthe operating system the feature was broken and the NO_EFF_ONLY_OKinstructs Perl not to use the feature. Testing Perl on Tru64During "make test" the comp/cpp will be skipped because on Tru64 itcannot be tested before Perl has been installed. The test refers tothe use of the -P option of Perl. ext/ODBM_File/odbm Test Failing With Static BuildsThe ext/ODBM_File/odbm is known to fail with static builds(Configure -Uusedl) due to a known bug in Tru64's static libdbmlibrary. The good news is that you very probably don't need to everuse the ODBM_File extension since more advanced NDBM_File works fine,not to mention the even more advanced DB_File. Perl Fails Because Of Unresolved Symbol sockatmarkIf you get an error like - Can't load '.../OSF1/lib/perl5/5.8.0/alpha-dec_osf/auto/IO/IO.so' for module IO: Unresolved symbol in .../lib/perl5/5.8.0/alpha-dec_osf/auto/IO/IO.so: sockatmark at .../lib/perl5/5.8.0/alpha-dec_osf/XSLoader.pm line 75.
you need to either recompile your Perl in Tru64 4.0D or upgrade yourTru64 4.0D to at least 4.0F: the sockatmark() system call wasadded in Tru64 4.0F, and the IO extension refers that symbol. AUTHORJarkko Hietaniemi <[email protected]> | 
