1PERLOS400(1)           Perl Programmers Reference Guide           PERLOS400(1)
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NAME

6       README.os400 - Perl version 5 on OS/400
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DESCRIPTION

9       This document describes various features of IBM's OS/400 operating
10       system that will affect how Perl version 5 (hereafter just Perl) is
11       compiled and/or runs.
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13       By far the easiest way to build Perl for OS/400 is to use the PASE
14       (Portable Application Solutions Environment), for more information see
15       http://www.iseries.ibm.com/developer/factory/pase/index.html This
16       environment allows one to use AIX APIs while programming, and it
17       provides a runtime that allows AIX binaries to execute directly on the
18       PowerPC iSeries.
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20   Compiling Perl for OS/400 PASE
21       The recommended way to build Perl for the OS/400 PASE is to build the
22       Perl 5 source code (release 5.8.1 or later) under AIX.
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24       The trick is to give a special parameter to the Configure shell script
25       when running it on AIX:
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27         sh Configure -DPASE ...
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29       The default installation directory of Perl under PASE is
30       /QOpenSys/perl.  This can be modified if needed with Configure
31       parameter -Dprefix=/some/dir.
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33       Starting from OS/400 V5R2 the IBM Visual Age compiler is supported on
34       OS/400 PASE, so it is possible to build Perl natively on OS/400.  The
35       easier way, however, is to compile in AIX, as just described.
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37       If you don't want to install the compiled Perl in AIX into /QOpenSys
38       (for packaging it before copying it to PASE), you can use a Configure
39       parameter: -Dinstallprefix=/tmp/QOpenSys/perl.  This will cause the
40       "make install" to install everything into that directory, while the
41       installed files still think they are (will be) in /QOpenSys/perl.
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43       If building natively on PASE, please do the build under the /QOpenSys
44       directory, since Perl is happier when built on a case sensitive
45       filesystem.
46
47   Installing Perl in OS/400 PASE
48       If you are compiling on AIX, simply do a "make install" on the AIX box.
49       Once the install finishes, tar up the /QOpenSys/perl directory.
50       Transfer the tarball to the OS/400 using FTP with the following
51       commands:
52
53         > binary
54         > site namefmt 1
55         > put perl.tar /QOpenSys
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57       Once you have it on, simply bring up a PASE shell and extract the
58       tarball.
59
60       If you are compiling in PASE, then "make install" is the only thing you
61       will need to do.
62
63       The default path for perl binary is /QOpenSys/perl/bin/perl.  You'll
64       want to symlink /QOpenSys/usr/bin/perl to this file so you don't have
65       to modify your path.
66
67   Using Perl in OS/400 PASE
68       Perl in PASE may be used in the same manner as you would use Perl on
69       AIX.
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71       Scripts starting with #!/usr/bin/perl should work if you have
72       /QOpenSys/usr/bin/perl symlinked to your perl binary.  This will not
73       work if you've done a setuid/setgid or have environment variable
74       PASE_EXEC_QOPENSYS="N".  If you have V5R1, you'll need to get the
75       latest PTFs to have this feature.  Scripts starting with
76       #!/QOpenSys/perl/bin/perl should always work.
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78   Known Problems
79       When compiling in PASE, there is no "oslevel" command.  Therefore, you
80       may want to create a script called "oslevel" that echoes the level of
81       AIX that your version of PASE runtime supports.  If you're unsure,
82       consult your documentation or use "4.3.3.0".
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84       If you have test cases that fail, check for the existence of spool
85       files.  The test case may be trying to use a syscall that is not
86       implemented in PASE.  To avoid the SIGILL, try setting the
87       PASE_SYSCALL_NOSIGILL environment variable or have a handler for the
88       SIGILL.  If you can compile programs for PASE, run the config script
89       and edit config.sh when it gives you the option.  If you want to remove
90       fchdir(), which isn't implement in V5R1, simply change the line that
91       says:
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93       d_fchdir='define'
94
95       to
96
97       d_fchdir='undef'
98
99       and then compile Perl.  The places where fchdir() is used have
100       alternatives for systems that do not have fchdir() available.
101
102   Perl on ILE
103       There exists a port of Perl to the ILE environment.  This port,
104       however, is based quite an old release of Perl, Perl 5.00502 (August
105       1998).  (As of July 2002 the latest release of Perl is 5.8.0, and even
106       5.6.1 has been out since April 2001.)  If you need to run Perl on ILE,
107       though, you may need this older port: http://www.cpan.org/ports/#os400
108       Note that any Perl release later than 5.00502 has not been ported to
109       ILE.
110
111       If you need to use Perl in the ILE environment, you may want to
112       consider using Qp2RunPase() to call the PASE version of Perl.
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AUTHORS

115       Jarkko Hietaniemi <jhi@iki.fi> Bryan Logan <bryanlog@us.ibm.com> David
116       Larson <larson1@us.ibm.com>
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120perl v5.10.1                      2009-02-12                      PERLOS400(1)
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