NOTES.PERL

   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
  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.
  29
  30  Notes on Perl on Windows
  31  ------------------------
  32
  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.
  38  For MSYS builds use the MSYS provided Perl.
  39  For VC-* builds we recommend Strawberry Perl, from http://strawberryperl.com.
  40  An alternative is ActiveState Perl, from http://www.activestate.com/ActivePerl
  41  for which you may need to explicitly select the Perl module Win32/Console.pm
  42  available via https://platform.activestate.com/ActiveState.
  43
  44  Notes on Perl on VMS
  45  --------------------
  46
  47  You will need to install Perl separately.  One way to do so is to
  48  download the source from http://perl.org/, unpacking it, reading
  49  README.vms and follow the instructions.  Another way is to download a
  50  .PCSI file from http://www.vmsperl.com/ and install it using the
  51  POLYCENTER install tool.
  52
  53  Notes on Perl modules we use
  54  ----------------------------
  55
  56  We make increasing use of Perl modules, and do our best to limit
  57  ourselves to core Perl modules to keep the requirements down.  There
  58  are just a few exceptions:
  59
  60  Test::More         We require the minimum version to be 0.96, which
  61                     appeared in Perl 5.13.4, because that version was
  62                     the first to have all the features we're using.
  63                     This module is required for testing only!  If you
  64                     don't plan on running the tests, you don't need to
  65                     bother with this one.
  66
  67  Text::Template     This module is not part of the core Perl modules.
  68                     As a matter of fact, the core Perl modules do not
  69                     include any templating module to date.
  70                     This module is absolutely needed, configuration
  71                     depends on it.
  72
  73  To avoid unnecessary initial hurdles, we have bundled a copy of the
  74  following modules in our source.  They will work as fallbacks if
  75  these modules aren't already installed on the system.
  76
  77     Text::Template
  78
  79  Notes on installing a perl module
  80  ---------------------------------
  81
  82  There are a number of ways to install a perl module.  In all
  83  descriptions below, Text::Template will serve as an example.
  84
  85  1. for Linux users, the easiest is to install with the use of your
  86     favorite package manager.  Usually, all you need to do is search
  87     for the module name and to install the package that comes up.
  88
  89     On Debian based Linux distributions, it would go like this:
  90
  91         $ apt-cache search Text::Template
  92         ...
  93         libtext-template-perl - perl module to process text templates
  94         $ sudo apt-get install libtext-template-perl
  95
  96     Perl modules in Debian based distributions use package names like
  97     the name of the module in question, with "lib" prepended and
  98     "-perl" appended.
  99
 100  2. Install using CPAN.  This is very easy, but usually requires root
 101     access:
 102
 103         $ cpan -i Text::Template
 104
 105     Note that this runs all the tests that the module to be installed
 106     comes with.  This is usually a smooth operation, but there are
 107     platforms where a failure is indicated even though the actual tests
 108     were successful.  Should that happen, you can force an
 109     installation regardless (that should be safe since you've already
 110     seen the tests succeed!):
 111
 112         $ cpan -f -i Text::Template
 113
 114     Note: on VMS, you must quote any argument that contains upper case
 115     characters, so the lines above would be:
 116
 117         $ cpan -i "Text::Template"
 118
 119     and:
 120
 121         $ cpan -f -i "Text::Template"