1PERLWIN32(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PERLWIN32(1)
2
6 perlwin32 - Perl under Windows
7
9 These are instructions for building Perl under Windows 7 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 and x86_64 architectures:
38 Microsoft Visual C++ version 12.0 or later
40 Intel C++ Compiler (experimental)
41 Gcc by mingw.org gcc version 3.4.5-5.3.0
42 Gcc by mingw-w64.org gcc version 4.4.3 or later
43 Note that the last two of these are actually competing projects both
45 delivering complete gcc toolchain for MS Windows:
46 <https://osdn.net/projects/mingw/>
48 Delivers gcc toolchain building 32-bit executables (which can be
49 used both 32 and 64 bit Windows platforms)
50 <https://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++ 2013-2022 Community Edition" and are
59 the same compilers that ship with "Visual C++ 2013-2022 Professional".
60 Visual C++ 2013 is capable of targeting XP and Windows Server 2003 but
62 the build host requirement is Windows 7/Windows Server 2012. For more
63 details see
64 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/productinfo/vs2013-compatibility-vs
65 and
66 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/productinfo/vs2013-sysrequirements-vs
67 The MinGW64 compiler is available at <https://mingw-w64.org>. The
69 latter is actually a cross-compiler targeting Win64. There's also a
70 trimmed down compiler (no java, or gfortran) suitable for building perl
71 available at: <https://strawberryperl.com/package/kmx/64_gcctoolchain/>
72 NOTE: If you're using a 32-bit compiler to build perl on a 64-bit
74 Windows operating system, then you should set the WIN64 environment
75 variable to "undef". Also, the trimmed down compiler only passes tests
76 when USE_ITHREADS *= define (as opposed to undef) and when the CFG *=
77 Debug line is commented out.
78 This port fully supports MakeMaker (the set of modules that is used to
80 build extensions to perl). Therefore, you should be able to build and
81 install most extensions found in the CPAN sites. See "Usage Hints for
82 Perl on Windows" below for general hints about this.
83 Setting Up Perl on Windows
85 Make
86 You need a "make" program to build the sources. If you are using
87 Visual C++, you can use nmake supplied with Visual C++. You may
88 also use gmake instead of nmake. Builds using gcc need gmake.
89 nmake is not supported for gcc builds. Parallel building is only
90 supported with gmake, not nmake.
91 Command Shell
93 Use the default "cmd" shell that comes with Windows. Some versions
94 of the popular 4DOS/NT shell have incompatibilities that may cause
95 you trouble. If the build fails under that shell, try building
96 again with the cmd shell.
97 Make sure the path to the build directory does not contain spaces.
99 The build usually works in this circumstance, but some tests will
100 fail.
101 Microsoft Visual C++
103 The nmake that comes with Visual C++ will suffice for building.
104 Visual C++ requires that certain things be set up in the console
105 before Visual C++ will successfully run. To make a console box be
106 able to run the C compiler, you will need to beforehand, run
107 "vcvarsall.bat x86" to compile for x86-32 and for x86-64
108 "vcvarsall.bat amd64". On a typical install of a Microsoft C++
109 compiler product, these batch files will already be in your "PATH"
110 environment variable so you may just type them without an absolute
111 path into your console. If you need to find the absolute path to
112 the batch file, it is usually found somewhere like C:\Program Files
113 (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC. With some newer Microsoft C
114 products (released after ~2004), the installer will put a shortcut
115 in the start menu to launch a new console window with the console
116 already set up for your target architecture (x86-32 or x86-64 or
117 IA64). With the newer compilers, you may also use the older batch
118 files if you choose so.
119 Microsoft Visual C++ 2013-2022 Community Edition
121 These free versions of Visual C++ 2013-2022 Professional contain
122 the same compilers and linkers that ship with the full versions,
123 and also contain everything necessary to build Perl.
124 These packages can be downloaded from
126 <https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/>.
127 Install Visual C++ 2013-2022 Community, then setup your environment
129 using, e.g.
130 C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio
132 12.0\Common7\Tools\vsvars32.bat
133 (assuming the default installation location was chosen).
135 Perl should now build using the win32/Makefile. You will need to
137 edit that file to set "CCTYPE" to one of "MSVC120"-"MSVC143" first.
138 Microsoft C++ Build Tools
140 There's also a standalone (IDE-less) version of the build tools
141 mentioned above containing the MSVC compiler available for download
142 from <https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/visual-cpp-build-tools/>.
143 This is also referred to as Build Tools for Visual Studio.
145 GCC Perl can be compiled with gcc from MinGW (version 3.4.5 or later)
147 or from MinGW64 (version 4.4.3 or later). It can be downloaded
148 here:
149 <https://osdn.net/projects/mingw/> <https://www.mingw-w64.org/>
151 You also need gmake. Usually it comes with MinGW but its executable
153 may have a different name, such as mingw32-make.exe.
154 Note that the MinGW build currently fails with version 6.3.0 or
156 later.
157 Note also that the C++ mode build currently fails with MinGW 3.4.5
159 and 4.7.2 or later, and with MinGW64 64-bit 6.3.0 or later.
160 Intel C++ Compiler
162 Experimental support for using Intel C++ Compiler has been added.
163 Edit win32/Makefile and pick the correct "CCTYPE" for the Visual C
164 that Intel C was installed into. Also uncomment "__ICC" to enable
165 Intel C on Visual C support. To set up the build environment, from
166 the Start Menu run IA-32 Visual Studio 20__ mode or Intel 64 Visual
167 Studio 20__ mode as appropriate. Then run "nmake" as usual in that
168 prompt box.
169 Only Intel C++ Compiler v12.1 has been tested. Other versions
171 probably will work. Using Intel C++ Compiler instead of Visual C
172 has the benefit of C99 compatibility which is needed by some CPAN
173 XS modules, while maintaining compatibility with Visual C object
174 code and Visual C debugging infrastructure unlike GCC.
175 Building
177 • Make sure you are in the win32 subdirectory under the perl
178 toplevel. This directory contains a Makefile that will work with
179 versions of "nmake" that come with Visual C++, and a GNU make
180 GNUmakefile that will work for all supported compilers. The
181 defaults in the "gmake" makefile are set up to build with
182 MinGW/gcc.
183 • Edit the GNUmakefile (or Makefile, if you're using nmake) and
185 change the values of INST_DRV and "INST_TOP". You can also enable
186 various build flags. These are explained in the makefiles.
187 Note that it is generally not a good idea to try to build a "perl"
189 with "INST_DRV" and "INST_TOP" set to a path that already exists
190 from a previous build. In particular, this may cause problems with
191 the lib/ExtUtils/t/Embed.t test, which attempts to build a test
192 program and may end up building against the installed "perl"'s
193 lib/CORE directory rather than the one being tested.
194 You will have to make sure that "CCTYPE" is set correctly and that
196 "CCHOME" points to wherever you installed your compiler. For GCC
197 this should be the directory that contains the bin, include and lib
198 directories.
199 If building with the cross-compiler provided by mingw-w64.org
201 you'll need to uncomment the line that sets "GCCCROSS" in the
202 GNUmakefile. Do this only if it's the cross-compiler, ie. only if
203 the bin folder doesn't contain a gcc.exe. (The cross-compiler does
204 not provide a gcc.exe, g++.exe, ar.exe, etc. Instead, all of these
205 executables are prefixed with "x86_64-w64-mingw32-".)
206 The default value for "CCHOME" in the makefiles for Visual C++ may
208 not be correct for some versions. Make sure the default exists and
209 is valid.
210 If you want build some core extensions statically into "perl"'s
212 DLL, specify them in the "STATIC_EXT" macro.
213 Be sure to read the instructions near the top of the makefiles
215 carefully.
216 • Type "gmake" (or "nmake" if you are using that version of "make").
218 This should build everything. Specifically, it will create
220 perl.exe, perl538.dll at the perl toplevel, and various other
221 extension DLL's under the lib\auto directory. If the build fails
222 for any reason, make sure you have done the previous steps
223 correctly.
224 To try "gmake"'s parallel mode, type "gmake -j2" where 2 is the
226 maximum number of parallel jobs you want to run. A number of things
227 in the build process will run in parallel, but there are
228 serialization points where you will see just 1 CPU maxed out. This
229 is normal.
230 If you are advanced enough with building C code, here is a
232 suggestion to speed up building "perl", and the later "make test".
233 Try to keep your "PATH" environment variable with the least number
234 of folders possible (remember to keep your C compiler's folders
235 there). C:\WINDOWS\system32 or C:\WINNT\system32 depending on your
236 OS version should be first folder in "PATH", since "cmd.exe" is the
237 most commonly launched program during the build and later testing.
238 Testing Perl on Windows
240 Type "gmake test" (or "nmake test"). This will run most of the tests
241 from the testsuite (many tests will be skipped).
242 There should be no test failures.
244 If you build with Visual C++ 2013 then three tests currently may fail
246 with Daylight Saving Time related problems: t/io/fs.t,
247 cpan/HTTP-Tiny/t/110_mirror.t and lib/File/Copy.t. The failures are
248 caused by bugs in the CRT in VC++ 2013 which are fixed in VC++2015 and
249 later, as explained by Microsoft here:
250 <https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/811534/utime-sometimes-fails-to-set-the-correct-file-times-in-visual-c-2013>.
251 In the meantime, if you need fixed "stat" and "utime" functions then
252 have a look at the CPAN distribution Win32::UTCFileTime.
253 If you build with Visual C++ 2015 or later then
255 ext/XS-APItest/t/locale.t may crash (after all its tests have passed).
256 This is due to a regression in the Universal CRT introduced in the
257 Windows 10 April 2018 Update, and will be fixed in the May 2019 Update,
258 as explained here:
259 <https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/519486/setlocalelc-numeric-iso-latin-16-fails-then-succee.html>.
260 If you build with certain versions (e.g. 4.8.1) of gcc from mingw then
262 ext/POSIX/t/time.t may fail test 17 due to a known bug in those gcc
263 builds: see <https://sourceforge.net/p/mingw/bugs/2152/>.
264 Some test failures may occur if you use a command shell other than the
266 native "cmd.exe", or if you are building from a path that contains
267 spaces. So don't do that.
268 If you are running the tests from a emacs shell window, you may see
270 failures in op/stat.t. Run "gmake test-notty" in that case.
271 Furthermore, you should make sure that during "make test" you do not
273 have any GNU tool packages in your path: some toolkits like Unixutils
274 include some tools ("type" for instance) which override the Windows
275 ones and makes tests fail. Remove them from your path while testing to
276 avoid these errors.
277 To see the output of specific failing tests run the harness from the t
279 directory:
280 # assuming you're starting from the win32 directory
282 cd ..\win32
283 .\perl harness <list of tests>
284 Please report any other failures as described under "BUGS AND CAVEATS".
286 Installation of Perl on Windows
288 Type "gmake install" ("nmake install"). This will put the newly built
289 perl and the libraries under whatever "INST_TOP" points to in the
290 Makefile. It will also install the pod documentation under
291 "$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\lib\pod" and HTML versions of the same under
292 "$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\lib\pod\html".
293 To use the Perl you just installed you will need to add a new entry to
295 your PATH environment variable: "$INST_TOP\bin", e.g.
296 set PATH=c:\perl\bin;%PATH%
298 If you opted to uncomment "INST_VER" and "INST_ARCH" in the makefile
300 then the installation structure is a little more complicated and you
301 will need to add two new PATH components instead:
302 "$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\bin" and "$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\bin\$ARCHNAME", e.g.
303 set PATH=c:\perl\5.6.0\bin;c:\perl\5.6.0\bin\MSWin32-x86;%PATH%
305 Usage Hints for Perl on Windows
307 Environment Variables
308 The installation paths that you set during the build get compiled
309 into perl, so you don't have to do anything additional to start
310 using that perl (except add its location to your PATH variable).
311 If you put extensions in unusual places, you can set PERL5LIB to a
313 list of paths separated by semicolons where you want perl to look
314 for libraries. Look for descriptions of other environment
315 variables you can set in perlrun.
316 You can also control the shell that perl uses to run system() and
318 backtick commands via PERL5SHELL. See perlrun.
319 Perl does not depend on the registry, but it can look up certain
321 default values if you choose to put them there unless disabled at
322 build time with USE_NO_REGISTRY. On Perl process start Perl checks
323 if "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Perl" and
324 "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Perl" exist. If the keys exists, they
325 will be checked for remainder of the Perl process's run life for
326 certain entries. Entries in "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Perl"
327 override entries in "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Perl". One or
328 more of the following entries (of type REG_SZ or REG_EXPAND_SZ) may
329 be set in the keys:
330 lib-$] version-specific standard library path to add to @INC
332 lib standard library path to add to @INC
333 sitelib-$] version-specific site library path to add to @INC
334 sitelib site library path to add to @INC
335 vendorlib-$] version-specific vendor library path to add to @INC
336 vendorlib vendor library path to add to @INC
337 PERL* fallback for all %ENV lookups that begin with "PERL"
338 Note the $] in the above is not literal. Substitute whatever
340 version of perl you want to honor that entry, e.g. 5.6.0. Paths
341 must be separated with semicolons, as usual on Windows.
342 File Globbing
344 By default, perl handles file globbing using the File::Glob
345 extension, which provides portable globbing.
346 If you want perl to use globbing that emulates the quirks of DOS
348 filename conventions, you might want to consider using
349 File::DosGlob to override the internal glob() implementation. See
350 File::DosGlob for details.
351 Using perl from the command line
353 If you are accustomed to using perl from various command-line
354 shells found in UNIX environments, you will be less than pleased
355 with what Windows offers by way of a command shell.
356 The crucial thing to understand about the Windows environment is
358 that the command line you type in is processed twice before Perl
359 sees it. First, your command shell (usually CMD.EXE) preprocesses
360 the command line, to handle redirection, environment variable
361 expansion, and location of the executable to run. Then, the perl
362 executable splits the remaining command line into individual
363 arguments, using the C runtime library upon which Perl was built.
364 It is particularly important to note that neither the shell nor the
366 C runtime do any wildcard expansions of command-line arguments (so
367 wildcards need not be quoted). Also, the quoting behaviours of the
368 shell and the C runtime are rudimentary at best (and may, if you
369 are using a non-standard shell, be inconsistent). The only
370 (useful) quote character is the double quote ("). It can be used
371 to protect spaces and other special characters in arguments.
372 The Windows documentation describes the shell parsing rules here:
374 <https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/cmd>
375 and the C runtime parsing rules here:
376 <https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/17w5ykft%28v=VS.100%29.aspx>.
377 Here are some further observations based on experiments: The C
379 runtime breaks arguments at spaces and passes them to programs in
380 argc/argv. Double quotes can be used to prevent arguments with
381 spaces in them from being split up. You can put a double quote in
382 an argument by escaping it with a backslash and enclosing the whole
383 argument within double quotes. The backslash and the pair of
384 double quotes surrounding the argument will be stripped by the C
385 runtime.
386 The file redirection characters "<", ">", and "|" can be quoted by
388 double quotes (although there are suggestions that this may not
389 always be true). Single quotes are not treated as quotes by the
390 shell or the C runtime, they don't get stripped by the shell (just
391 to make this type of quoting completely useless). The caret "^"
392 has also been observed to behave as a quoting character, but this
393 appears to be a shell feature, and the caret is not stripped from
394 the command line, so Perl still sees it (and the C runtime phase
395 does not treat the caret as a quote character).
396 Here are some examples of usage of the "cmd" shell:
398 This prints two doublequotes:
400 perl -e "print '\"\"' "
402 This does the same:
404 perl -e "print \"\\\"\\\"\" "
406 This prints "bar" and writes "foo" to the file "blurch":
408 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" > blurch
410 This prints "foo" ("bar" disappears into nowhereland):
412 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2> nul
414 This prints "bar" and writes "foo" into the file "blurch":
416 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 1> blurch
418 This pipes "foo" to the "less" pager and prints "bar" on the
420 console:
421 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" | less
423 This pipes "foo\nbar\n" to the less pager:
425 perl -le "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2>&1 | less
427 This pipes "foo" to the pager and writes "bar" in the file
429 "blurch":
430 perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2> blurch | less
432 Discovering the usefulness of the "command.com" shell on Windows 9x
434 is left as an exercise to the reader :)
435 One particularly pernicious problem with the 4NT command shell for
437 Windows is that it (nearly) always treats a % character as
438 indicating that environment variable expansion is needed. Under
439 this shell, it is therefore important to always double any %
440 characters which you want Perl to see (for example, for hash
441 variables), even when they are quoted.
442 Building Extensions
444 The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) offers a wealth of
445 extensions, some of which require a C compiler to build. Look in
446 <https://www.cpan.org/> for more information on CPAN.
447 Note that not all of the extensions available from CPAN may work in
449 the Windows environment; you should check the information at
450 <https://www.cpantesters.org/> before investing too much effort
451 into porting modules that don't readily build.
452 Most extensions (whether they require a C compiler or not) can be
454 built, tested and installed with the standard mantra:
455 perl Makefile.PL
457 $MAKE
458 $MAKE test
459 $MAKE install
460 where $MAKE is whatever 'make' program you have configured perl to
462 use. Use "perl -V:make" to find out what this is. Some extensions
463 may not provide a testsuite (so "$MAKE test" may not do anything or
464 fail), but most serious ones do.
465 It is important that you use a supported 'make' program, and ensure
467 Config.pm knows about it.
468 Note that MakeMaker actually emits makefiles with different syntax
470 depending on what 'make' it thinks you are using. Therefore, it is
471 important that one of the following values appears in Config.pm:
472 make='nmake' # MakeMaker emits nmake syntax
474 any other value # MakeMaker emits generic make syntax
475 (e.g GNU make, or Perl make)
476 If the value doesn't match the 'make' program you want to use, edit
478 Config.pm to fix it.
479 If a module implements XSUBs, you will need one of the supported C
481 compilers. You must make sure you have set up the environment for
482 the compiler for command-line compilation before running "perl
483 Makefile.PL" or any invocation of make.
484 If a module does not build for some reason, look carefully for why
486 it failed, and report problems to the module author. If it looks
487 like the extension building support is at fault, report that with
488 full details of how the build failed using the GitHub issue tracker
489 at <https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues>.
490 Command-line Wildcard Expansion
492 The default command shells on DOS descendant operating systems
493 (such as they are) usually do not expand wildcard arguments
494 supplied to programs. They consider it the application's job to
495 handle that. This is commonly achieved by linking the application
496 (in our case, perl) with startup code that the C runtime libraries
497 usually provide. However, doing that results in incompatible perl
498 versions (since the behavior of the argv expansion code differs
499 depending on the compiler, and it is even buggy on some compilers).
500 Besides, it may be a source of frustration if you use such a perl
501 binary with an alternate shell that *does* expand wildcards.
502 Instead, the following solution works rather well. The nice things
504 about it are 1) you can start using it right away; 2) it is more
505 powerful, because it will do the right thing with a pattern like
506 */*/*.c; 3) you can decide whether you do/don't want to use it; and
507 4) you can extend the method to add any customizations (or even
508 entirely different kinds of wildcard expansion).
509 C:\> copy con c:\perl\lib\Wild.pm
511 # Wild.pm - emulate shell @ARGV expansion on shells that don't
512 use File::DosGlob;
513 @ARGV = map {
514 my @g = File::DosGlob::glob($_) if /[*?]/;
515 @g ? @g : $_;
516 } @ARGV;
517 1;
518 ^Z
519 C:\> set PERL5OPT=-MWild
520 C:\> perl -le "for (@ARGV) { print }" */*/perl*.c
521 p4view/perl/perl.c
522 p4view/perl/perlio.c
523 p4view/perl/perly.c
524 perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c
525 perl5.005/win32/perllib.c
526 perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c
527 perl5.005/win32/perllib.c
528 perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c
529 perl5.005/win32/perllib.c
530 Note there are two distinct steps there: 1) You'll have to create
532 Wild.pm and put it in your perl lib directory. 2) You'll need to
533 set the PERL5OPT environment variable. If you want argv expansion
534 to be the default, just set PERL5OPT in your default startup
535 environment.
536 If you are using the Visual C compiler, you can get the C runtime's
538 command line wildcard expansion built into perl binary. The
539 resulting binary will always expand unquoted command lines, which
540 may not be what you want if you use a shell that does that for you.
541 The expansion done is also somewhat less powerful than the approach
542 suggested above.
543 Notes on 64-bit Windows
545 Windows .NET Server supports the LLP64 data model on the Intel
546 Itanium architecture.
547 The LLP64 data model is different from the LP64 data model that is
549 the norm on 64-bit Unix platforms. In the former, "int" and "long"
550 are both 32-bit data types, while pointers are 64 bits wide. In
551 addition, there is a separate 64-bit wide integral type, "__int64".
552 In contrast, the LP64 data model that is pervasive on Unix
553 platforms provides "int" as the 32-bit type, while both the "long"
554 type and pointers are of 64-bit precision. Note that both models
555 provide for 64-bits of addressability.
556 64-bit Windows running on Itanium is capable of running 32-bit x86
558 binaries transparently. This means that you could use a 32-bit
559 build of Perl on a 64-bit system. Given this, why would one want
560 to build a 64-bit build of Perl? Here are some reasons why you
561 would bother:
562 • A 64-bit native application will run much more efficiently on
564 Itanium hardware.
565 • There is no 2GB limit on process size.
567 • Perl automatically provides large file support when built under
569 64-bit Windows.
570 • Embedding Perl inside a 64-bit application.
572 Running Perl Scripts
574 Perl scripts on UNIX use the "#!" (a.k.a "shebang") line to indicate to
575 the OS that it should execute the file using perl. Windows has no
576 comparable means to indicate arbitrary files are executables.
577 Instead, all available methods to execute plain text files on Windows
579 rely on the file "extension". There are three methods to use this to
580 execute perl scripts:
581 1. There is a facility called "file extension associations". This
583 can be manipulated via the two commands "assoc" and "ftype"
584 that come standard with Windows. Type "ftype /?" for a
585 complete example of how to set this up for perl scripts (Say
586 what? You thought Windows wasn't perl-ready? :).
587 2. Since file associations don't work everywhere, and there are
589 reportedly bugs with file associations where it does work, the
590 old method of wrapping the perl script to make it look like a
591 regular batch file to the OS, may be used. The install process
592 makes available the "pl2bat.bat" script which can be used to
593 wrap perl scripts into batch files. For example:
594 pl2bat foo.pl
596 will create the file "FOO.BAT". Note "pl2bat" strips any .pl
598 suffix and adds a .bat suffix to the generated file.
599 If you use the 4DOS/NT or similar command shell, note that
601 "pl2bat" uses the "%*" variable in the generated batch file to
602 refer to all the command line arguments, so you may need to
603 make sure that construct works in batch files. As of this
604 writing, 4DOS/NT users will need a "ParameterChar = *"
605 statement in their 4NT.INI file or will need to execute "setdos
606 /p*" in the 4DOS/NT startup file to enable this to work.
607 3. Using "pl2bat" has a few problems: the file name gets changed,
609 so scripts that rely on $0 to find what they must do may not
610 run properly; running "pl2bat" replicates the contents of the
611 original script, and so this process can be maintenance
612 intensive if the originals get updated often. A different
613 approach that avoids both problems is possible.
614 A script called "runperl.bat" is available that can be copied
616 to any filename (along with the .bat suffix). For example, if
617 you call it "foo.bat", it will run the file "foo" when it is
618 executed. Since you can run batch files on Windows platforms
619 simply by typing the name (without the extension), this
620 effectively runs the file "foo", when you type either "foo" or
621 "foo.bat". With this method, "foo.bat" can even be in a
622 different location than the file "foo", as long as "foo" is
623 available somewhere on the PATH. If your scripts are on a
624 filesystem that allows symbolic links, you can even avoid
625 copying "runperl.bat".
626 Here's a diversion: copy "runperl.bat" to "runperl", and type
628 "runperl". Explain the observed behavior, or lack thereof. :)
629 Hint: .gnidnats llits er'uoy fi ,"lrepnur" eteled :tniH
630 Miscellaneous Things
632 A full set of HTML documentation is installed, so you should be able to
633 use it if you have a web browser installed on your system.
634 "perldoc" is also a useful tool for browsing information contained in
636 the documentation, especially in conjunction with a pager like "less"
637 (recent versions of which have Windows support). You may have to set
638 the PAGER environment variable to use a specific pager. "perldoc -f
639 foo" will print information about the perl operator "foo".
640 One common mistake when using this port with a GUI library like "Tk" is
642 assuming that Perl's normal behavior of opening a command-line window
643 will go away. This isn't the case. If you want to start a copy of
644 "perl" without opening a command-line window, use the "wperl"
645 executable built during the installation process. Usage is exactly the
646 same as normal "perl" on Windows, except that options like "-h" don't
647 work (since they need a command-line window to print to).
648 If you find bugs in perl, you can report them to
650 <https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues>.
651
653 Norton AntiVirus interferes with the build process, particularly if set
654 to "AutoProtect, All Files, when Opened". Unlike large applications the
655 perl build process opens and modifies a lot of files. Having the
656 AntiVirus scan each and every one slows build the process
657 significantly. Worse, with PERLIO=stdio the build process fails with
658 peculiar messages as the virus checker interacts badly with
659 miniperl.exe writing configure files (it seems to either catch file
660 part written and treat it as suspicious, or virus checker may have it
661 "locked" in a way which inhibits miniperl updating it). The build does
662 complete with
663 set PERLIO=perlio
665 but that may be just luck. Other AntiVirus software may have similar
667 issues.
668 A git GUI shell extension for Windows such as TortoiseGit will cause
670 the build and later "make test" to run much slower since every file is
671 checked for its git status as soon as it is created and/or modified.
672 TortoiseGit doesn't cause any test failures or build problems unlike
673 the antivirus software described above, but it does cause similar
674 slowness. It is suggested to use Task Manager to look for background
675 processes which use high CPU amounts during the building process.
676 Some of the built-in functions do not act exactly as documented in
678 perlfunc, and a few are not implemented at all. To avoid surprises,
679 particularly if you have had prior exposure to Perl in other operating
680 environments or if you intend to write code that will be portable to
681 other environments, see perlport for a reasonably definitive list of
682 these differences.
683 Not all extensions available from CPAN may build or work properly in
685 the Windows environment. See "Building Extensions".
686 Most socket() related calls are supported, but they may not behave as
688 on Unix platforms. See perlport for the full list.
689 Signal handling may not behave as on Unix platforms (where it doesn't
691 exactly "behave", either :). For instance, calling die() or exit()
692 from signal handlers will cause an exception, since most
693 implementations of signal() on Windows are severely crippled. Thus,
694 signals may work only for simple things like setting a flag variable in
695 the handler. Using signals under this port should currently be
696 considered unsupported.
697 Please report detailed descriptions of any problems and solutions that
699 you may find at <<https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues>>, along with
700 the output produced by "perl -V".
701
703 The use of a camel with the topic of Perl is a trademark of O'Reilly
704 and Associates, Inc. Used with permission.
705
707 Gary Ng <71564.1743@CompuServe.COM>
708 Gurusamy Sarathy <gsar@activestate.com>
709 Nick Ing-Simmons <nick@ing-simmons.net>
710 Jan Dubois <jand@activestate.com>
711 Steve Hay <steve.m.hay@googlemail.com>
712 This document is maintained by Jan Dubois.
714
716 perl
717
719 This port was originally contributed by Gary Ng around 5.003_24, and
720 borrowed from the Hip Communications port that was available at the
721 time. Various people have made numerous and sundry hacks since then.
722 GCC/mingw32 support was added in 5.005 (Nick Ing-Simmons).
724 Support for PERL_OBJECT was added in 5.005 (ActiveState Tool Corp).
726 Support for fork() emulation was added in 5.6 (ActiveState Tool Corp).
728 Win9x support was added in 5.6 (Benjamin Stuhl).
730 Support for 64-bit Windows added in 5.8 (ActiveState Corp).
732 Last updated: 06 October 2021
734perl v5.38.2 2023-11-30 PERLWIN32(1)