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1 | TOC |
2 | === | |
3 | ||
4 | - Notes on Perl | |
5 | - Notes on Perl on Windows | |
6 | - Notes on Perl modules we use | |
7 | - Notes on installing a perl module | |
8 | ||
9 | Notes on Perl | |
10 | ------------- | |
11 | ||
12 | For our scripts, we rely quite a bit on Perl, and increasingly on | |
13 | some core Perl modules. These Perl modules are part of the Perl | |
14 | source, so if you build Perl on your own, you should be set. | |
15 | ||
16 | However, if you install Perl as binary packages, the outcome might | |
17 | differ, and you may have to check that you do get the core modules | |
18 | installed properly. We do not claim to know them all, but experience | |
19 | has told us the following: | |
20 | ||
21 | - on Linux distributions based on Debian, the package 'perl' will | |
22 | install the core Perl modules as well, so you will be fine. | |
23 | - on Linux distributions based on RPMs, you will need to install | |
24 | 'perl-core' rather than just 'perl'. | |
25 | ||
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26 | You MUST have at least Perl version 5.10.0 installed. This minimum |
27 | requirement is due to our use of regexp backslash sequence \R among | |
28 | other features that didn't exist in core Perl before that version. | |
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29 | |
30 | Notes on Perl on Windows | |
31 | ------------------------ | |
32 | ||
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33 | There are a number of build targets that can be viewed as "Windows". |
34 | Indeed, there are VC-* configs targeting VisualStudio C, as well as | |
35 | MinGW and Cygwin. The key recommendation is to use "matching" Perl, | |
36 | one that matches build environment. For example, if you will build | |
37 | on Cygwin be sure to use the Cygwin package manager to install Perl. | |
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38 | For MSYS builds use the MSYS provided Perl. For VC-* builds we |
39 | recommend ActiveState Perl, available from | |
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40 | http://www.activestate.com/ActivePerl. |
41 | ||
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42 | Notes on Perl on VMS |
43 | -------------------- | |
44 | ||
45 | You will need to install Perl separately. One way to do so is to | |
46 | download the source from http://perl.org/, unpacking it, reading | |
073b1b72 | 47 | README.vms and follow the instructions. Another way is to download a |
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48 | .PCSI file from http://www.vmsperl.com/ and install it using the |
49 | POLYCENTER install tool. | |
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51 | Notes on Perl modules we use |
52 | ---------------------------- | |
53 | ||
54 | We make increasing use of Perl modules, and do our best to limit | |
55 | ourselves to core Perl modules to keep the requirements down. There | |
56 | are just a few exceptions: | |
57 | ||
58 | Test::More We require the minimum version to be 0.96, which | |
59 | appeared in Perl 5.13.4, because that version was | |
60 | the first to have all the features we're using. | |
61 | This module is required for testing only! If you | |
62 | don't plan on running the tests, you don't need to | |
63 | bother with this one. | |
64 | ||
65 | Text::Template This module is not part of the core Perl modules. | |
66 | As a matter of fact, the core Perl modules do not | |
67 | include any templating module to date. | |
68 | This module is absolutely needed, configuration | |
69 | depends on it. | |
70 | ||
71 | To avoid unnecessary initial hurdles, we have bundled a copy of the | |
72 | following modules in our source. They will work as fallbacks if | |
73 | these modules aren't already installed on the system. | |
74 | ||
75 | Text::Template | |
76 | ||
77 | Notes on installing a perl module | |
78 | --------------------------------- | |
79 | ||
80 | There are a number of ways to install a perl module. In all | |
3e4e43e6 | 81 | descriptions below, Text::Template will serve as an example. |
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82 | |
83 | 1. for Linux users, the easiest is to install with the use of your | |
84 | favorite package manager. Usually, all you need to do is search | |
85 | for the module name and to install the package that comes up. | |
86 | ||
87 | On Debian based Linux distributions, it would go like this: | |
88 | ||
89 | $ apt-cache search Text::Template | |
90 | ... | |
91 | libtext-template-perl - perl module to process text templates | |
92 | $ sudo apt-get install libtext-template-perl | |
93 | ||
94 | Perl modules in Debian based distributions use package names like | |
95 | the name of the module in question, with "lib" prepended and | |
96 | "-perl" appended. | |
97 | ||
98 | 2. Install using CPAN. This is very easy, but usually requires root | |
99 | access: | |
100 | ||
101 | $ cpan -i Text::Template | |
102 | ||
073b1b72 | 103 | Note that this runs all the tests that the module to be installed |
d36ab9ce | 104 | comes with. This is usually a smooth operation, but there are |
073b1b72 | 105 | platforms where a failure is indicated even though the actual tests |
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106 | were successful. Should that happen, you can force an |
107 | installation regardless (that should be safe since you've already | |
108 | seen the tests succeed!): | |
109 | ||
110 | $ cpan -f -i Text::Template | |
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111 | |
112 | Note: on VMS, you must quote any argument that contains upper case | |
113 | characters, so the lines above would be: | |
114 | ||
115 | $ cpan -i "Text::Template" | |
116 | ||
117 | and: | |
118 | ||
119 | $ cpan -f -i "Text::Template" |