1PERLWIN32(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PERLWIN32(1)
2
6 perlwin32 - Perl under Windows
7
9 These are instructions for building Perl under Windows 2000 and later.
10
12 Before you start, you should glance through the README file found in
13 the top-level directory to which the Perl distribution was extracted.
14 Make sure you read and understand the terms under which this software
15 is being distributed.
16 Also make sure you read "BUGS AND CAVEATS" below for the known
18 limitations of this port.
19 The INSTALL file in the perl top-level has much information that is
21 only relevant to people building Perl on Unix-like systems. In
22 particular, you can safely ignore any information that talks about
23 "Configure".
24 You may also want to look at one other option for building a perl that
26 will work on Windows: the README.cygwin file, which give a different
27 set of rules to build a perl for Windows. This method will probably
28 enable you to build a more Unix-compatible perl, but you will also need
29 to download and use various other build-time and run-time support
30 software described in that file.
31 This set of instructions is meant to describe a so-called "native" port
33 of Perl to the Windows platform. This includes both 32-bit and 64-bit
34 Windows operating systems. The resulting Perl requires no additional
35 software to run (other than what came with your operating system).
36 Currently, this port is capable of using one of the following compilers
37 on the Intel x86 architecture:
38 Microsoft Visual C++ version 6.0 or later
40 Intel C++ Compiler (experimental)
41 Gcc by mingw.org gcc version 3.4.5 or later
42 with runtime < 3.21
43 Gcc by mingw-w64.org gcc version 4.4.3 or later
44 Note that the last two of these are actually competing projects both
46 delivering complete gcc toolchain for MS Windows:
47 <http://mingw.org>
49 Delivers gcc toolchain targeting 32-bit Windows platform.
50 <http://mingw-w64.org>
52 Delivers gcc toolchain targeting both 64-bit Windows and 32-bit
53 Windows platforms (despite the project name "mingw-w64" they are
54 not only 64-bit oriented). They deliver the native gcc compilers
55 and cross-compilers that are also supported by perl's makefile.
56 The Microsoft Visual C++ compilers are also now being given away free.
58 They are available as "Visual C++ Toolkit 2003" or "Visual C++
59 2005-2017 Express [or Community, from 2017] Edition" (and also as part
60 of the ".NET Framework SDK") and are the same compilers that ship with
61 "Visual C++ .NET 2003 Professional" or "Visual C++ 2005-2017
62 Professional" respectively.
63 This port can also be built on IA64/AMD64 using:
65 Microsoft Platform SDK Nov 2001 (64-bit compiler and tools)
67 MinGW64 compiler (gcc version 4.4.3 or later)
68 The Windows SDK can be downloaded from <http://www.microsoft.com/>.
70 The MinGW64 compiler is available at <http://mingw-w64.org>. The
71 latter is actually a cross-compiler targeting Win64. There's also a
72 trimmed down compiler (no java, or gfortran) suitable for building perl
73 available at: <http://strawberryperl.com/package/kmx/64_gcctoolchain/>
74 NOTE: If you're using a 32-bit compiler to build perl on a 64-bit
76 Windows operating system, then you should set the WIN64 environment
77 variable to "undef". Also, the trimmed down compiler only passes tests
78 when USE_ITHREADS *= define (as opposed to undef) and when the CFG *=
79 Debug line is commented out.
80 This port fully supports MakeMaker (the set of modules that is used to
82 build extensions to perl). Therefore, you should be able to build and
83 install most extensions found in the CPAN sites. See "Usage Hints for
84 Perl on Windows" below for general hints about this.
85 Setting Up Perl on Windows
87 Make
88 You need a "make" program to build the sources. If you are using
89 Visual C++ or the Windows SDK tools, you can use nmake supplied
90 with Visual C++ or Windows SDK. You may also use, for Visual C++ or
91 Windows SDK, dmake or gmake instead of nmake. dmake is open source
92 software, but is not included with Visual C++ or Windows SDK.
93 Builds using gcc need dmake or gmake. nmake is not supported for
94 gcc builds. Parallel building is only supported with dmake and
95 gmake, not nmake. When using dmake it is recommended to use dmake
96 4.13 or newer for parallel building. Older dmakes, in parallel
97 mode, have very high CPU usage and pound the disk/filing system
98 with duplicate I/O calls in an aggressive polling loop.
99 A port of dmake for Windows is available from:
101 <http://search.cpan.org/dist/dmake/>
103 Fetch and install dmake somewhere on your path.
105 Command Shell
107 Use the default "cmd" shell that comes with Windows. Some versions
108 of the popular 4DOS/NT shell have incompatibilities that may cause
109 you trouble. If the build fails under that shell, try building
110 again with the cmd shell.
111 Make sure the path to the build directory does not contain spaces.
113 The build usually works in this circumstance, but some tests will
114 fail.
115 Microsoft Visual C++
117 The nmake that comes with Visual C++ will suffice for building.
118 Visual C requires that certain things be set up in the console
119 before Visual C will sucessfully run. To make a console box be able
120 to run the C compiler, you will need to beforehand, run the
121 "vcvars32.bat" file to compile for x86-32 and for x86-64
122 "vcvarsall.bat x64" or "vcvarsamd64.bat". On a typical install of a
123 Microsoft C compiler product, these batch files will already be in
124 your "PATH" environment variable so you may just type them without
125 an absolute path into your console. If you need to find the
126 absolute path to the batch file, it is usually found somewhere like
127 C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\Bin. With some newer
128 Micrsoft C products (released after ~2004), the installer will put
129 a shortcut in the start menu to launch a new console window with
130 the console already set up for your target architecture (x86-32 or
131 x86-64 or IA64). With the newer compilers, you may also use the
132 older batch files if you choose so.
133 Microsoft Visual C++ 2008-2017 Express/Community Edition
135 These free versions of Visual C++ 2008-2017 Professional contain
136 the same compilers and linkers that ship with the full versions,
137 and also contain everything necessary to build Perl, rather than
138 requiring a separate download of the Windows SDK like previous
139 versions did.
140 These packages can be downloaded by searching in the Download
142 Center at
143 <http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en>.
144 (Providing exact links to these packages has proven a pointless
145 task because the links keep on changing so often.)
146 Install Visual C++ 2008-2017 Express/Community, then setup your
148 environment using, e.g.
149 C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\Tools\vsvars32.bat
151 (assuming the default installation location was chosen).
153 Perl should now build using the win32/Makefile. You will need to
155 edit that file to set CCTYPE to one of MSVC90-MSVC141 first.
156 Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition
158 This free version of Visual C++ 2005 Professional contains the same
159 compiler and linker that ship with the full version, but doesn't
160 contain everything necessary to build Perl.
161 You will also need to download the "Windows SDK" (the "Core SDK"
163 and "MDAC SDK" components are required) for more header files and
164 libraries.
165 These packages can both be downloaded by searching in the Download
167 Center at
168 <http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en>.
169 (Providing exact links to these packages has proven a pointless
170 task because the links keep on changing so often.)
171 Try to obtain the latest version of the Windows SDK. Sometimes
173 these packages contain a particular Windows OS version in their
174 name, but actually work on other OS versions too. For example, the
175 "Windows Server 2003 R2 Platform SDK" also runs on Windows XP SP2
176 and Windows 2000.
177 Install Visual C++ 2005 first, then the Platform SDK. Setup your
179 environment as follows (assuming default installation locations
180 were chosen):
181 SET PlatformSDKDir=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK
183 SET PATH=%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\BIN;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\Tools;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\bin;C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\VCPackages;%PlatformSDKDir%\Bin
185 SET INCLUDE=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\INCLUDE;%PlatformSDKDir%\include
187 SET LIB=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\LIB;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\lib;%PlatformSDKDir%\lib
189 SET LIBPATH=C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727
191 (The PlatformSDKDir might need to be set differently depending on
193 which version you are using. Earlier versions installed into
194 "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDK", while the latest versions install
195 into version-specific locations such as "C:\Program Files\Microsoft
196 Platform SDK for Windows Server 2003 R2".)
197 Perl should now build using the win32/Makefile. You will need to
199 edit that file to set
200 CCTYPE = MSVC80
202 and to set CCHOME, CCINCDIR and CCLIBDIR as per the environment
204 setup above.
205 Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003
207 This free toolkit contains the same compiler and linker that ship
208 with Visual C++ .NET 2003 Professional, but doesn't contain
209 everything necessary to build Perl.
210 You will also need to download the "Platform SDK" (the "Core SDK"
212 and "MDAC SDK" components are required) for header files, libraries
213 and rc.exe, and ".NET Framework SDK" for more libraries and
214 nmake.exe. Note that the latter (which also includes the free
215 compiler and linker) requires the ".NET Framework Redistributable"
216 to be installed first. This can be downloaded and installed
217 separately, but is included in the "Visual C++ Toolkit 2003"
218 anyway.
219 These packages can all be downloaded by searching in the Download
221 Center at
222 <http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en>.
223 (Providing exact links to these packages has proven a pointless
224 task because the links keep on changing so often.)
225 Try to obtain the latest version of the Windows SDK. Sometimes
227 these packages contain a particular Windows OS version in their
228 name, but actually work on other OS versions too. For example, the
229 "Windows Server 2003 R2 Platform SDK" also runs on Windows XP SP2
230 and Windows 2000.
231 Install the Toolkit first, then the Platform SDK, then the .NET
233 Framework SDK. Setup your environment as follows (assuming default
234 installation locations were chosen):
235 SET PlatformSDKDir=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK
237 SET PATH=%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003\bin;%PlatformSDKDir%\Bin;C:\Program Files\Microsoft.NET\SDK\v1.1\Bin
239 SET INCLUDE=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003\include;%PlatformSDKDir%\include;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Vc7\include
241 SET LIB=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003\lib;%PlatformSDKDir%\lib;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Vc7\lib
243 (The PlatformSDKDir might need to be set differently depending on
245 which version you are using. Earlier versions installed into
246 "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDK", while the latest versions install
247 into version-specific locations such as "C:\Program Files\Microsoft
248 Platform SDK for Windows Server 2003 R2".)
249 Several required files will still be missing:
251 · cvtres.exe is required by link.exe when using a .res file. It
253 is actually installed by the .NET Framework SDK, but into a
254 location such as the following:
255 C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322
257 Copy it from there to %PlatformSDKDir%\Bin
259 · lib.exe is normally used to build libraries, but link.exe with
261 the /lib option also works, so change win32/config.vc to use it
262 instead:
263 Change the line reading:
265 ar='lib'
267 to:
269 ar='link /lib'
271 It may also be useful to create a batch file called lib.bat in
273 C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003\bin
274 containing:
275 @echo off
277 link /lib %*
278 for the benefit of any naughty C extension modules that you
280 might want to build later which explicitly reference "lib"
281 rather than taking their value from $Config{ar}.
282 · setargv.obj is required to build perlglob.exe (and perl.exe if
284 the USE_SETARGV option is enabled). The Platform SDK supplies
285 this object file in source form in %PlatformSDKDir%\src\crt.
286 Copy setargv.c, cruntime.h and internal.h from there to some
287 temporary location and build setargv.obj using
288 cl.exe /c /I. /D_CRTBLD setargv.c
290 Then copy setargv.obj to %PlatformSDKDir%\lib
292 Alternatively, if you don't need perlglob.exe and don't need to
294 enable the USE_SETARGV option then you can safely just remove
295 all mention of $(GLOBEXE) from win32/Makefile and setargv.obj
296 won't be required anyway.
297 Perl should now build using the win32/Makefile. You will need to
299 edit that file to set
300 CCTYPE = MSVC70FREE
302 and to set CCHOME, CCINCDIR and CCLIBDIR as per the environment
304 setup above.
305 Microsoft Platform SDK 64-bit Compiler
307 The nmake that comes with the Platform SDK will suffice for
308 building Perl. Make sure you are building within one of the "Build
309 Environment" shells available after you install the Platform SDK
310 from the Start Menu.
311 GCC Perl can be compiled with gcc from MinGW (version 3.4.5 or later)
313 or from MinGW64 (version 4.4.3 or later). It can be downloaded
314 here:
315 <http://www.mingw.org/> <http://www.mingw-w64.org/>
317 You also need dmake. See "Make" above on how to get it.
319 Note that the MinGW build currently requires a MinGW runtime
321 version earlier than 3.21 (check __MINGW32_MAJOR_VERSION and
322 __MINGW32_MINOR_VERSION).
323 Note also that the C++ mode build currently fails with MinGW 3.4.5
325 and 4.7.2 or later, and with MinGW64 64-bit 6.3.0 or later.
326 Intel C++ Compiler
328 Experimental support for using Intel C++ Compiler has been added.
329 Edit win32/Makefile and pick the correct CCTYPE for the Visual C
330 that Intel C was installed into. Also uncomment __ICC to enable
331 Intel C on Visual C support. To set up the build enviroment, from
332 the Start Menu run IA-32 Visual Studio 20__ mode or Intel 64 Visual
333 Studio 20__ mode as appropriate. Then run nmake as usually in that
334 prompt box.
335 Only Intel C++ Compiler v12.1 has been tested. Other versions
337 probably will work. Using Intel C++ Compiler instead of Visual C
338 has the benefit of C99 compatibility which is needed by some CPAN
339 XS modules, while maintaining compatibility with Visual C object
340 code and Visual C debugging infrastructure unlike GCC.
341 Building
343 · Make sure you are in the "win32" subdirectory under the perl
344 toplevel. This directory contains a "Makefile" that will work with
345 versions of nmake that come with Visual C++ or the Windows SDK, and
346 a dmake "makefile.mk" that will work for all supported compilers.
347 The defaults in the dmake makefile are setup to build using
348 MinGW/gcc.
349 · Edit the makefile.mk (or Makefile, if you're using nmake) and
351 change the values of INST_DRV and INST_TOP. You can also enable
352 various build flags. These are explained in the makefiles.
353 Note that it is generally not a good idea to try to build a perl
355 with INST_DRV and INST_TOP set to a path that already exists from a
356 previous build. In particular, this may cause problems with the
357 lib/ExtUtils/t/Embed.t test, which attempts to build a test program
358 and may end up building against the installed perl's lib/CORE
359 directory rather than the one being tested.
360 You will have to make sure that CCTYPE is set correctly and that
362 CCHOME points to wherever you installed your compiler.
363 If building with the cross-compiler provided by mingw-w64.org
365 you'll need to uncomment the line that sets GCCCROSS in the
366 makefile.mk. Do this only if it's the cross-compiler - ie only if
367 the bin folder doesn't contain a gcc.exe. (The cross-compiler does
368 not provide a gcc.exe, g++.exe, ar.exe, etc. Instead, all of these
369 executables are prefixed with 'x86_64-w64-mingw32-'.)
370 The default value for CCHOME in the makefiles for Visual C++ may
372 not be correct for some versions. Make sure the default exists and
373 is valid.
374 You may also need to comment out the "DELAYLOAD = ..." line in the
376 Makefile if you're using VC++ 6.0 without the latest service pack
377 and the linker reports an internal error.
378 If you want build some core extensions statically into perl's dll,
380 specify them in the STATIC_EXT macro.
381 NOTE: The USE_64_BIT_INT build option is not supported with the
383 32-bit Visual C++ 6.0 compiler.
384 Be sure to read the instructions near the top of the makefiles
386 carefully.
387 · Type "dmake" (or "nmake" if you are using that make).
389 This should build everything. Specifically, it will create
391 perl.exe, perl528.dll at the perl toplevel, and various other
392 extension dll's under the lib\auto directory. If the build fails
393 for any reason, make sure you have done the previous steps
394 correctly.
395 To try dmake's parallel mode, type "dmake -P2", where 2, is the
397 maximum number of parallel jobs you want to run. A number of things
398 in the build process will run in parallel, but there are
399 serialization points where you will see just 1 CPU maxed out. This
400 is normal.
401 If you are advanced enough with building C code, here is a
403 suggestion to speed up building perl, and the later "make test".
404 Try to keep your PATH enviromental variable with the least number
405 of folders possible (remember to keep your C compiler's folders
406 there). "C:\WINDOWS\system32" or "C:\WINNT\system32" depending on
407 your OS version should be first folder in PATH, since "cmd.exe" is
408 the most commonly launched program during the build and later
409 testing.
410 Testing Perl on Windows
412 Type "dmake test" (or "nmake test"). This will run most of the tests
413 from the testsuite (many tests will be skipped).
414 There should be no test failures.
416 If you build with Visual C++ 2013 then three tests currently may fail
418 with Daylight Saving Time related problems: t/io/fs.t,
419 cpan/HTTP-Tiny/t/110_mirror.t and lib/File/Copy.t. The failures are
420 caused by bugs in the CRT in VC++ 2013 which are fixed in VC++2015 and
421 later, as explained by Microsoft here:
422 <https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/811534/utime-sometimes-fails-to-set-the-correct-file-times-in-visual-c-2013>.
423 In the meantime, if you need fixed "stat" and "utime" functions then
424 have a look at the CPAN distribution Win32::UTCFileTime.
425 If you build with certain versions (e.g. 4.8.1) of gcc from
427 www.mingw.org then ext/POSIX/t/time.t may fail test 17 due to a known
428 bug in those gcc builds: see
429 <http://sourceforge.net/p/mingw/bugs/2152/>.
430 Some test failures may occur if you use a command shell other than the
432 native "cmd.exe", or if you are building from a path that contains
433 spaces. So don't do that.
434 If you are running the tests from a emacs shell window, you may see
436 failures in op/stat.t. Run "dmake test-notty" in that case.
437 Furthermore, you should make sure that during "make test" you do not
439 have any GNU tool packages in your path: some toolkits like Unixutils
440 include some tools ("type" for instance) which override the Windows
441 ones and makes tests fail. Remove them from your path while testing to
442 avoid these errors.
443 Please report any other failures as described under "BUGS AND CAVEATS".
445 Installation of Perl on Windows
447 Type "dmake install" (or "nmake install"). This will put the newly
448 built perl and the libraries under whatever "INST_TOP" points to in the
449 Makefile. It will also install the pod documentation under
450 "$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\lib\pod" and HTML versions of the same under
451 "$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\lib\pod\html".
452 To use the Perl you just installed you will need to add a new entry to
454 your PATH environment variable: "$INST_TOP\bin", e.g.
455 set PATH=c:\perl\bin;%PATH%
457 If you opted to uncomment "INST_VER" and "INST_ARCH" in the makefile
459 then the installation structure is a little more complicated and you
460 will need to add two new PATH components instead:
461 "$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\bin" and "$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\bin\$ARCHNAME", e.g.
462 set PATH=c:\perl\5.6.0\bin;c:\perl\5.6.0\bin\MSWin32-x86;%PATH%
464 Usage Hints for Perl on Windows
466 Environment Variables
467 The installation paths that you set during the build get compiled
468 into perl, so you don't have to do anything additional to start
469 using that perl (except add its location to your PATH variable).
470 If you put extensions in unusual places, you can set PERL5LIB to a
472 list of paths separated by semicolons where you want perl to look
473 for libraries. Look for descriptions of other environment
474 variables you can set in perlrun.
475 You can also control the shell that perl uses to run system() and
477 backtick commands via PERL5SHELL. See perlrun.
478 Perl does not depend on the registry, but it can look up certain
480 default values if you choose to put them there unless disabled at
481 build time with USE_NO_REGISTRY. On Perl process start Perl checks
482 if "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Perl" and
483 "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Perl" exist. If the keys exists, they
484 will be checked for remainder of the Perl process's run life for
485 certain entries. Entries in "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Perl"
486 override entries in "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Perl". One or
487 more of the following entries (of type REG_SZ or REG_EXPAND_SZ) may
488 be set in the keys:
489 lib-$] version-specific standard library path to add to @INC
491 lib standard library path to add to @INC
492 sitelib-$] version-specific site library path to add to @INC
493 sitelib site library path to add to @INC
494 vendorlib-$] version-specific vendor library path to add to @INC
495 vendorlib vendor library path to add to @INC
496 PERL* fallback for all %ENV lookups that begin with "PERL"
497 Note the $] in the above is not literal. Substitute whatever
499 version of perl you want to honor that entry, e.g. 5.6.0. Paths
500 must be separated with semicolons, as usual on Windows.
501 File Globbing
503 By default, perl handles file globbing using the File::Glob
504 extension, which provides portable globbing.
505 If you want perl to use globbing that emulates the quirks of DOS
507 filename conventions, you might want to consider using
508 File::DosGlob to override the internal glob() implementation. See
509 File::DosGlob for details.
510 Using perl from the command line
512 If you are accustomed to using perl from various command-line
513 shells found in UNIX environments, you will be less than pleased
514 with what Windows offers by way of a command shell.
515 The crucial thing to understand about the Windows environment is
517 that the command line you type in is processed twice before Perl
518 sees it. First, your command shell (usually CMD.EXE) preprocesses
519 the command line, to handle redirection, environment variable
520 expansion, and location of the executable to run. Then, the perl
521 executable splits the remaining command line into individual
522 arguments, using the C runtime library upon which Perl was built.
523 It is particularly important to note that neither the shell nor the
525 C runtime do any wildcard expansions of command-line arguments (so
526 wildcards need not be quoted). Also, the quoting behaviours of the
527 shell and the C runtime are rudimentary at best (and may, if you
528 are using a non-standard shell, be inconsistent). The only
529 (useful) quote character is the double quote ("). It can be used
530 to protect spaces and other special characters in arguments.
531 The Windows documentation describes the shell parsing rules here:
533 <http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/cmd.mspx?mfr=true>
534 and the C runtime parsing rules here:
535 <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/17w5ykft%28v=VS.100%29.aspx>.
536 Here are some further observations based on experiments: The C
538 runtime breaks arguments at spaces and passes them to programs in
539 argc/argv. Double quotes can be used to prevent arguments with
540 spaces in them from being split up. You can put a double quote in
541 an argument by escaping it with a backslash and enclosing the whole
542 argument within double quotes. The backslash and the pair of
543 double quotes surrounding the argument will be stripped by the C
544 runtime.
545 The file redirection characters "<", ">", and "|" can be quoted by
547 double quotes (although there are suggestions that this may not
548 always be true). Single quotes are not treated as quotes by the
549 shell or the C runtime, they don't get stripped by the shell (just
550 to make this type of quoting completely useless). The caret "^"
551 has also been observed to behave as a quoting character, but this
552 appears to be a shell feature, and the caret is not stripped from
553 the command line, so Perl still sees it (and the C runtime phase
554 does not treat the caret as a quote character).
555 Here are some examples of usage of the "cmd" shell:
557 This prints two doublequotes:
559 perl -e "print '\"\"' "
561 This does the same:
563 perl -e "print \"\\\"\\\"\" "
565 This prints "bar" and writes "foo" to the file "blurch":
567 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" > blurch
569 This prints "foo" ("bar" disappears into nowhereland):
571 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2> nul
573 This prints "bar" and writes "foo" into the file "blurch":
575 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 1> blurch
577 This pipes "foo" to the "less" pager and prints "bar" on the
579 console:
580 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" | less
582 This pipes "foo\nbar\n" to the less pager:
584 perl -le "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2>&1 | less
586 This pipes "foo" to the pager and writes "bar" in the file
588 "blurch":
589 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2> blurch | less
591 Discovering the usefulness of the "command.com" shell on Windows 9x
593 is left as an exercise to the reader :)
594 One particularly pernicious problem with the 4NT command shell for
596 Windows is that it (nearly) always treats a % character as
597 indicating that environment variable expansion is needed. Under
598 this shell, it is therefore important to always double any %
599 characters which you want Perl to see (for example, for hash
600 variables), even when they are quoted.
601 Building Extensions
603 The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) offers a wealth of
604 extensions, some of which require a C compiler to build. Look in
605 <http://www.cpan.org/> for more information on CPAN.
606 Note that not all of the extensions available from CPAN may work in
608 the Windows environment; you should check the information at
609 <http://www.cpantesters.org/> before investing too much effort into
610 porting modules that don't readily build.
611 Most extensions (whether they require a C compiler or not) can be
613 built, tested and installed with the standard mantra:
614 perl Makefile.PL
616 $MAKE
617 $MAKE test
618 $MAKE install
619 where $MAKE is whatever 'make' program you have configured perl to
621 use. Use "perl -V:make" to find out what this is. Some extensions
622 may not provide a testsuite (so "$MAKE test" may not do anything or
623 fail), but most serious ones do.
624 It is important that you use a supported 'make' program, and ensure
626 Config.pm knows about it. If you don't have nmake, you can either
627 get dmake from the location mentioned earlier or get an old version
628 of nmake reportedly available from:
629 <http://download.microsoft.com/download/vc15/Patch/1.52/W95/EN-US/nmake15.exe>
631 Another option is to use the make written in Perl, available from
633 CPAN.
634 <http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-module/Make/>
636 You may also use dmake. See "Make" above on how to get it.
638 Note that MakeMaker actually emits makefiles with different syntax
640 depending on what 'make' it thinks you are using. Therefore, it is
641 important that one of the following values appears in Config.pm:
642 make='nmake' # MakeMaker emits nmake syntax
644 make='dmake' # MakeMaker emits dmake syntax
645 any other value # MakeMaker emits generic make syntax
646 (e.g GNU make, or Perl make)
647 If the value doesn't match the 'make' program you want to use, edit
649 Config.pm to fix it.
650 If a module implements XSUBs, you will need one of the supported C
652 compilers. You must make sure you have set up the environment for
653 the compiler for command-line compilation before running "perl
654 Makefile.PL" or any invocation of make.
655 If a module does not build for some reason, look carefully for why
657 it failed, and report problems to the module author. If it looks
658 like the extension building support is at fault, report that with
659 full details of how the build failed using the perlbug utility.
660 Command-line Wildcard Expansion
662 The default command shells on DOS descendant operating systems
663 (such as they are) usually do not expand wildcard arguments
664 supplied to programs. They consider it the application's job to
665 handle that. This is commonly achieved by linking the application
666 (in our case, perl) with startup code that the C runtime libraries
667 usually provide. However, doing that results in incompatible perl
668 versions (since the behavior of the argv expansion code differs
669 depending on the compiler, and it is even buggy on some compilers).
670 Besides, it may be a source of frustration if you use such a perl
671 binary with an alternate shell that *does* expand wildcards.
672 Instead, the following solution works rather well. The nice things
674 about it are 1) you can start using it right away; 2) it is more
675 powerful, because it will do the right thing with a pattern like
676 */*/*.c; 3) you can decide whether you do/don't want to use it; and
677 4) you can extend the method to add any customizations (or even
678 entirely different kinds of wildcard expansion).
679 C:\> copy con c:\perl\lib\Wild.pm
681 # Wild.pm - emulate shell @ARGV expansion on shells that don't
682 use File::DosGlob;
683 @ARGV = map {
684 my @g = File::DosGlob::glob($_) if /[*?]/;
685 @g ? @g : $_;
686 } @ARGV;
687 1;
688 ^Z
689 C:\> set PERL5OPT=-MWild
690 C:\> perl -le "for (@ARGV) { print }" */*/perl*.c
691 p4view/perl/perl.c
692 p4view/perl/perlio.c
693 p4view/perl/perly.c
694 perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c
695 perl5.005/win32/perllib.c
696 perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c
697 perl5.005/win32/perllib.c
698 perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c
699 perl5.005/win32/perllib.c
700 Note there are two distinct steps there: 1) You'll have to create
702 Wild.pm and put it in your perl lib directory. 2) You'll need to
703 set the PERL5OPT environment variable. If you want argv expansion
704 to be the default, just set PERL5OPT in your default startup
705 environment.
706 If you are using the Visual C compiler, you can get the C runtime's
708 command line wildcard expansion built into perl binary. The
709 resulting binary will always expand unquoted command lines, which
710 may not be what you want if you use a shell that does that for you.
711 The expansion done is also somewhat less powerful than the approach
712 suggested above.
713 Notes on 64-bit Windows
715 Windows .NET Server supports the LLP64 data model on the Intel
716 Itanium architecture.
717 The LLP64 data model is different from the LP64 data model that is
719 the norm on 64-bit Unix platforms. In the former, "int" and "long"
720 are both 32-bit data types, while pointers are 64 bits wide. In
721 addition, there is a separate 64-bit wide integral type, "__int64".
722 In contrast, the LP64 data model that is pervasive on Unix
723 platforms provides "int" as the 32-bit type, while both the "long"
724 type and pointers are of 64-bit precision. Note that both models
725 provide for 64-bits of addressability.
726 64-bit Windows running on Itanium is capable of running 32-bit x86
728 binaries transparently. This means that you could use a 32-bit
729 build of Perl on a 64-bit system. Given this, why would one want
730 to build a 64-bit build of Perl? Here are some reasons why you
731 would bother:
732 · A 64-bit native application will run much more efficiently on
734 Itanium hardware.
735 · There is no 2GB limit on process size.
737 · Perl automatically provides large file support when built under
739 64-bit Windows.
740 · Embedding Perl inside a 64-bit application.
742 Running Perl Scripts
744 Perl scripts on UNIX use the "#!" (a.k.a "shebang") line to indicate to
745 the OS that it should execute the file using perl. Windows has no
746 comparable means to indicate arbitrary files are executables.
747 Instead, all available methods to execute plain text files on Windows
749 rely on the file "extension". There are three methods to use this to
750 execute perl scripts:
751 1. There is a facility called "file extension associations". This
753 can be manipulated via the two commands "assoc" and "ftype"
754 that come standard with Windows. Type "ftype /?" for a
755 complete example of how to set this up for perl scripts (Say
756 what? You thought Windows wasn't perl-ready? :).
757 2. Since file associations don't work everywhere, and there are
759 reportedly bugs with file associations where it does work, the
760 old method of wrapping the perl script to make it look like a
761 regular batch file to the OS, may be used. The install process
762 makes available the "pl2bat.bat" script which can be used to
763 wrap perl scripts into batch files. For example:
764 pl2bat foo.pl
766 will create the file "FOO.BAT". Note "pl2bat" strips any .pl
768 suffix and adds a .bat suffix to the generated file.
769 If you use the 4DOS/NT or similar command shell, note that
771 "pl2bat" uses the "%*" variable in the generated batch file to
772 refer to all the command line arguments, so you may need to
773 make sure that construct works in batch files. As of this
774 writing, 4DOS/NT users will need a "ParameterChar = *"
775 statement in their 4NT.INI file or will need to execute "setdos
776 /p*" in the 4DOS/NT startup file to enable this to work.
777 3. Using "pl2bat" has a few problems: the file name gets changed,
779 so scripts that rely on $0 to find what they must do may not
780 run properly; running "pl2bat" replicates the contents of the
781 original script, and so this process can be maintenance
782 intensive if the originals get updated often. A different
783 approach that avoids both problems is possible.
784 A script called "runperl.bat" is available that can be copied
786 to any filename (along with the .bat suffix). For example, if
787 you call it "foo.bat", it will run the file "foo" when it is
788 executed. Since you can run batch files on Windows platforms
789 simply by typing the name (without the extension), this
790 effectively runs the file "foo", when you type either "foo" or
791 "foo.bat". With this method, "foo.bat" can even be in a
792 different location than the file "foo", as long as "foo" is
793 available somewhere on the PATH. If your scripts are on a
794 filesystem that allows symbolic links, you can even avoid
795 copying "runperl.bat".
796 Here's a diversion: copy "runperl.bat" to "runperl", and type
798 "runperl". Explain the observed behavior, or lack thereof. :)
799 Hint: .gnidnats llits er'uoy fi ,"lrepnur" eteled :tniH
800 Miscellaneous Things
802 A full set of HTML documentation is installed, so you should be able to
803 use it if you have a web browser installed on your system.
804 "perldoc" is also a useful tool for browsing information contained in
806 the documentation, especially in conjunction with a pager like "less"
807 (recent versions of which have Windows support). You may have to set
808 the PAGER environment variable to use a specific pager. "perldoc -f
809 foo" will print information about the perl operator "foo".
810 One common mistake when using this port with a GUI library like "Tk" is
812 assuming that Perl's normal behavior of opening a command-line window
813 will go away. This isn't the case. If you want to start a copy of
814 "perl" without opening a command-line window, use the "wperl"
815 executable built during the installation process. Usage is exactly the
816 same as normal "perl" on Windows, except that options like "-h" don't
817 work (since they need a command-line window to print to).
818 If you find bugs in perl, you can run "perlbug" to create a bug report
820 (you may have to send it manually if "perlbug" cannot find a mailer on
821 your system).
822
824 Norton AntiVirus interferes with the build process, particularly if set
825 to "AutoProtect, All Files, when Opened". Unlike large applications the
826 perl build process opens and modifies a lot of files. Having the the
827 AntiVirus scan each and every one slows build the process
828 significantly. Worse, with PERLIO=stdio the build process fails with
829 peculiar messages as the virus checker interacts badly with
830 miniperl.exe writing configure files (it seems to either catch file
831 part written and treat it as suspicious, or virus checker may have it
832 "locked" in a way which inhibits miniperl updating it). The build does
833 complete with
834 set PERLIO=perlio
836 but that may be just luck. Other AntiVirus software may have similar
838 issues.
839 A git GUI shell extension for Windows such as TortoiseGit will cause
841 the build and later "make test" to run much slower since every file is
842 checked for its git status as soon as it is created and/or modified.
843 TortoiseGit doesn't cause any test failures or build problems unlike
844 the antivirus software described above, but it does cause similar
845 slowness. It is suggested to use Task Manager to look for background
846 processes which use high CPU amounts during the building process.
847 Some of the built-in functions do not act exactly as documented in
849 perlfunc, and a few are not implemented at all. To avoid surprises,
850 particularly if you have had prior exposure to Perl in other operating
851 environments or if you intend to write code that will be portable to
852 other environments, see perlport for a reasonably definitive list of
853 these differences.
854 Not all extensions available from CPAN may build or work properly in
856 the Windows environment. See "Building Extensions".
857 Most "socket()" related calls are supported, but they may not behave as
859 on Unix platforms. See perlport for the full list.
860 Signal handling may not behave as on Unix platforms (where it doesn't
862 exactly "behave", either :). For instance, calling "die()" or "exit()"
863 from signal handlers will cause an exception, since most
864 implementations of "signal()" on Windows are severely crippled. Thus,
865 signals may work only for simple things like setting a flag variable in
866 the handler. Using signals under this port should currently be
867 considered unsupported.
868 Please send detailed descriptions of any problems and solutions that
870 you may find to <perlbug@perl.org>, along with the output produced by
871 "perl -V".
872
874 The use of a camel with the topic of Perl is a trademark of O'Reilly
875 and Associates, Inc. Used with permission.
876
878 Gary Ng <71564.1743@CompuServe.COM>
879 Gurusamy Sarathy <gsar@activestate.com>
880 Nick Ing-Simmons <nick@ing-simmons.net>
881 Jan Dubois <jand@activestate.com>
882 Steve Hay <steve.m.hay@googlemail.com>
883 This document is maintained by Jan Dubois.
885
887 perl
888
890 This port was originally contributed by Gary Ng around 5.003_24, and
891 borrowed from the Hip Communications port that was available at the
892 time. Various people have made numerous and sundry hacks since then.
893 GCC/mingw32 support was added in 5.005 (Nick Ing-Simmons).
895 Support for PERL_OBJECT was added in 5.005 (ActiveState Tool Corp).
897 Support for fork() emulation was added in 5.6 (ActiveState Tool Corp).
899 Win9x support was added in 5.6 (Benjamin Stuhl).
901 Support for 64-bit Windows added in 5.8 (ActiveState Corp).
903 Last updated: 23 May 2018
905perl v5.28.2 2018-11-01 PERLWIN32(1)