1Devel::CheckOS(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Devel::CheckOS(3)
2
6 Devel::CheckOS - check what OS we're running on
7
9 Devel::CheckOS provides a more friendly interface to $^O, and also lets
10 you check for various OS "families" such as "Unix", which includes
11 things like Linux, Solaris, AIX etc.
12
14 use Devel::CheckOS qw(os_is);
15 print "Hey, I know this, it's a Unix system\n" if(os_is('Unix'));
16 print "You've got Linux 2.6\n" if(os_is('Linux::v2_6'));
18
20 If you want to use this from Makefile.PL or Build.PL, do not simply
21 copy the module into your distribution as this may cause problems when
22 PAUSE and search.cpan.org index the distro. Instead, use the use-
23 devel-assertos script.
24
26 Devel::CheckOS implements the following functions, which load
27 subsidiary OS-specific modules on demand to do the real work. They can
28 be exported by listing their names after "use Devel::CheckOS". You can
29 also export groups of functions thus:
30 use Devel::CheckOS qw(:booleans); # export the boolean functions
32 # and 'die_unsupported'
33 use Devel::CheckOS qw(:fatal); # export those that die on no match
35 use Devel::CheckOS qw(:all); # export everything
37 Boolean functions
39 os_is
40 Takes a list of OS names. If the current platform matches any of them,
42 it returns true, otherwise it returns false. The names can be a
43 mixture of OSes and OS families, eg ...
44 os_is(qw(Unix VMS)); # Unix is a family, VMS is an OS
46 os_isnt
48 If the current platform matches any of the parameters it returns false,
50 otherwise it returns true.
51 Fatal functions
53 die_if_os_isnt
54 As "os_is()", except that it dies instead of returning false. The
56 die() message matches what the CPAN-testers look for to determine if a
57 module doesn't support a particular platform.
58 die_if_os_is
60 As "os_isnt()", except that it dies instead of returning false.
62 And some utility functions ...
64 die_unsupported
65 This function simply dies with the message "OS unsupported", which is
67 what the CPAN testers look for to figure out whether a platform is
68 supported or not.
69 list_platforms
71 When called in list context, return a list of all the platforms for
73 which the corresponding Devel::AssertOS::* module is available. This
74 includes both OSes and OS families, and both those bundled with this
75 module and any third-party add-ons you have installed.
76 In scalar context, returns a hashref keyed by platform with the
78 filename of the most recent version of the supporting module that is
79 available to you. This is to make sure that the use-devel-assertos
80 script Does The Right Thing in the case where you have installed the
81 module in one version of perl, then upgraded perl, and installed it
82 again in the new version. Sometimes the old version of perl and all
83 its modules will still be hanging around and perl "helpfully" includes
84 the old perl's search path in its own.
85 Unfortunately, on some platforms this list may have file case broken.
87 eg, some platforms might return 'freebsd' instead of 'FreeBSD'. This
88 is because they have case-insensitive filesystems so things should Just
89 Work anyway.
90
92 To see the list of platforms for which information is available, run
93 this:
94 perl -MDevel::CheckOS -e 'print join(", ", Devel::CheckOS::list_platforms())'
96 Note that capitalisation is important. These are the names of the
98 underlying Devel::AssertOS::* modules which do the actual platform
99 detection, so they have to be 'legal' filenames and module names, which
100 unfortunately precludes funny characters, so platforms like OS/2 are
101 mis-spelt deliberately. Sorry.
102 Also be aware that not all of them have been properly tested. I don't
104 have access to most of them and have had to work from information
105 gleaned from perlport and a few other places. For a complete list of
106 OS families, see Devel::CheckOS::Families.
107 If you want to add your own OSes or families, see
109 Devel::AssertOS::Extending and please feel free to upload the results
110 to the CPAN.
111
113 I welcome feedback about my code, including constructive criticism.
114 Bug reports should be made using <http://rt.cpan.org/> or by email.
115 You will need to include in your bug report the exact value of $^O,
117 what the OS is called (eg Windows Vista 64 bit Ultimate Home Edition),
118 and, if relevant, what "OS family" it should be in and who wrote it.
119 If you are feeling particularly generous you can encourage me in my
121 open source endeavours by buying me something from my wishlist:
122 <http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/wishlist/>
123
125 $^O in perlvar
126 perlport
128 Devel::AssertOS
130 Devel::AssertOS::Extending
132 Probe::Perl
134 The use-devel-assertos script
136
138 David Cantrell <david@cantrell.org.uk>
139 Thanks to David Golden for the name and ideas about the interface, and
141 to the cpan-testers-discuss mailing list for prompting me to write it
142 in the first place.
143 Thanks to Ken Williams, from whose Module::Build I lifted some of the
145 information about what should be in the Unix family.
146 Thanks to Billy Abbott for finding some bugs for me on VMS.
148 Thanks to Matt Kraai for information about QNX.
150 Thanks to Kenichi Ishigaki and Gabor Szabo for reporting a bug on
152 Windows, and to the former for providing a patch.
153
155 http://drhyde.cvs.sourceforge.net/drhyde/perlmodules/Devel-CheckOS/
156 <http://drhyde.cvs.sourceforge.net/drhyde/perlmodules/Devel-CheckOS/>
157
159 Copyright 2007 David Cantrell
160 This software is free-as-in-speech software, and may be used,
162 distributed, and modified under the terms of either the GNU General
163 Public Licence version 2 or the Artistic Licence. It's up to you which
164 one you use. The full text of the licences can be found in the files
165 GPL2.txt and ARTISTIC.txt, respectively.
166
168 This module is also free-as-in-mason software.
169perl v5.12.0 2008-11-11 Devel::CheckOS(3)