1perlfaq2(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation perlfaq2(3)
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6 perlfaq2 - Obtaining and Learning about Perl
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9 version 5.20200125
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12 This section of the FAQ answers questions about where to find source
13 and documentation for Perl, support, and related matters.
14 What machines support Perl? Where do I get it?
16 The standard release of Perl (the one maintained by the Perl
17 development team) is distributed only in source code form. You can find
18 the latest releases at <http://www.cpan.org/src/>.
19 Perl builds and runs on a bewildering number of platforms. Virtually
21 all known and current Unix derivatives are supported (perl's native
22 platform), as are other systems like VMS, DOS, OS/2, Windows, QNX,
23 BeOS, OS X, MPE/iX and the Amiga.
24 Binary distributions for some proprietary platforms can be found
26 <http://www.cpan.org/ports/> directory. Because these are not part of
27 the standard distribution, they may and in fact do differ from the base
28 perl port in a variety of ways. You'll have to check their respective
29 release notes to see just what the differences are. These differences
30 can be either positive (e.g. extensions for the features of the
31 particular platform that are not supported in the source release of
32 perl) or negative (e.g. might be based upon a less current source
33 release of perl).
34 How can I get a binary version of Perl?
36 See CPAN Ports <http://www.cpan.org/ports/>
37 I don't have a C compiler. How can I build my own Perl interpreter?
39 For Windows, use a binary version of Perl, Strawberry Perl
40 <http://strawberryperl.com/> and ActivePerl
41 <http://www.activestate.com/activeperl> come with a bundled C compiler.
42 Otherwise if you really do want to build Perl, you need to get a binary
44 version of "gcc" for your system first. Use a search engine to find out
45 how to do this for your operating system.
46 I copied the Perl binary from one machine to another, but scripts don't
48 work.
49 That's probably because you forgot libraries, or library paths differ.
50 You really should build the whole distribution on the machine it will
51 eventually live on, and then type "make install". Most other approaches
52 are doomed to failure.
53 One simple way to check that things are in the right place is to print
55 out the hard-coded @INC that perl looks through for libraries:
56 % perl -le 'print for @INC'
58 If this command lists any paths that don't exist on your system, then
60 you may need to move the appropriate libraries to these locations, or
61 create symbolic links, aliases, or shortcuts appropriately. @INC is
62 also printed as part of the output of
63 % perl -V
65 You might also want to check out "How do I keep my own module/library
67 directory?" in perlfaq8.
68 I grabbed the sources and tried to compile but gdbm/dynamic
70 loading/malloc/linking/... failed. How do I make it work?
71 Read the INSTALL file, which is part of the source distribution. It
72 describes in detail how to cope with most idiosyncrasies that the
73 "Configure" script can't work around for any given system or
74 architecture.
75 What modules and extensions are available for Perl? What is CPAN?
77 CPAN stands for Comprehensive Perl Archive Network, a multi-gigabyte
78 archive replicated on hundreds of machines all over the world. CPAN
79 contains tens of thousands of modules and extensions, source code and
80 documentation, designed for everything from commercial database
81 interfaces to keyboard/screen control and running large web sites.
82 You can search CPAN on <http://metacpan.org>.
84 The master web site for CPAN is <http://www.cpan.org/>,
86 <http://www.cpan.org/SITES.html> lists all mirrors.
87 See the CPAN FAQ at <http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html> for
89 answers to the most frequently asked questions about CPAN.
90 The Task::Kensho module has a list of recommended modules which you
92 should review as a good starting point.
93 Where can I get information on Perl?
95 · <http://www.perl.org/>
96 · <http://perldoc.perl.org/>
98 · <http://learn.perl.org/>
100 The complete Perl documentation is available with the Perl
102 distribution. If you have Perl installed locally, you probably have
103 the documentation installed as well: type "perldoc perl" in a terminal
104 or view online <http://perldoc.perl.org/perl.html>.
105 (Some operating system distributions may ship the documentation in a
107 different package; for instance, on Debian, you need to install the
108 "perl-doc" package.)
109 Many good books have been written about Perl--see the section later in
111 perlfaq2 for more details.
112 What is perl.com? Perl Mongers? pm.org? perl.org? cpan.org?
114 Perl.com <http://www.perl.com/> used to be part of the O'Reilly
115 Network, a subsidiary of O'Reilly Media. Although it retains most of
116 the original content from its O'Reilly Network, it is now hosted by The
117 Perl Foundation <http://www.perlfoundation.org/>.
118 The Perl Foundation is an advocacy organization for the Perl language
120 which maintains the web site <http://www.perl.org/> as a general
121 advocacy site for the Perl language. It uses the domain to provide
122 general support services to the Perl community, including the hosting
123 of mailing lists, web sites, and other services. There are also many
124 other sub-domains for special topics like learning Perl and jobs in
125 Perl, such as:
126 · <http://www.perl.org/>
128 · <http://learn.perl.org/>
130 · <http://jobs.perl.org/>
132 · <http://lists.perl.org/>
134 Perl Mongers <http://www.pm.org/> uses the pm.org domain for services
136 related to local Perl user groups, including the hosting of mailing
137 lists and web sites. See the Perl Mongers web site <http://www.pm.org/>
138 for more information about joining, starting, or requesting services
139 for a Perl user group.
140 CPAN, or the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network <http://www.cpan.org/>,
142 is a replicated, worldwide repository of Perl software. See What is
143 CPAN?.
144 Where can I post questions?
146 There are many Perl mailing lists for various topics, specifically the
147 beginners list <http://lists.perl.org/list/beginners.html> may be of
148 use.
149 Other places to ask questions are on the PerlMonks site
151 <http://www.perlmonks.org/> or stackoverflow
152 <http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/perl>.
153 Perl Books
155 There are many good books on Perl
156 <http://www.perl.org/books/library.html>.
157 Which magazines have Perl content?
159 There's also $foo Magazin, a German magazine dedicated to Perl, at (
160 <http://www.foo-magazin.de> ). The Perl-Zeitung is another German-
161 speaking magazine for Perl beginners (see <http://perl-zeitung.at.tf>
162 ).
163 Several Unix/Linux related magazines frequently include articles on
165 Perl.
166 Which Perl blogs should I read?
168 Perl News <http://perlnews.org/> covers some of the major events in the
169 Perl world, Perl Weekly <http://perlweekly.com/> is a weekly e-mail
170 (and RSS feed) of hand-picked Perl articles.
171 <http://blogs.perl.org/> hosts many Perl blogs, there are also several
173 blog aggregators: Perlsphere <http://perlsphere.net/> and IronMan
174 <http://ironman.enlightenedperl.org/> are two of them.
175 What mailing lists are there for Perl?
177 A comprehensive list of Perl-related mailing lists can be found at
178 <http://lists.perl.org/>
179 Where can I buy a commercial version of Perl?
181 Perl already is commercial software: it has a license that you can grab
182 and carefully read to your manager. It is distributed in releases and
183 comes in well-defined packages. There is a very large and supportive
184 user community and an extensive literature.
185 If you still need commercial support ActiveState
187 <http://www.activestate.com/activeperl> offers this.
188 Where do I send bug reports?
190 (contributed by brian d foy)
191 First, ensure that you've found an actual bug. Second, ensure you've
193 found an actual bug.
194 If you've found a bug with the perl interpreter or one of the modules
196 in the standard library (those that come with Perl), you can use the
197 perlbug utility that comes with Perl (>= 5.004). It collects
198 information about your installation to include with your message, then
199 sends the message to the right place.
200 To determine if a module came with your version of Perl, you can
202 install and use the Module::CoreList module. It has the information
203 about the modules (with their versions) included with each release of
204 Perl.
205 Every CPAN module has a bug tracker set up in RT, <http://rt.cpan.org>.
207 You can submit bugs to RT either through its web interface or by email.
208 To email a bug report, send it to bug-<distribution-name>@rt.cpan.org .
209 For example, if you wanted to report a bug in Business::ISBN, you could
210 send a message to bug-Business-ISBN@rt.cpan.org .
211 Some modules might have special reporting requirements, such as a
213 Github or Google Code tracking system, so you should check the module
214 documentation too.
215
217 Copyright (c) 1997-2010 Tom Christiansen, Nathan Torkington, and other
218 authors as noted. All rights reserved.
219 This documentation is free; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
221 under the same terms as Perl itself.
222 Irrespective of its distribution, all code examples here are in the
224 public domain. You are permitted and encouraged to use this code and
225 any derivatives thereof in your own programs for fun or for profit as
226 you see fit. A simple comment in the code giving credit to the FAQ
227 would be courteous but is not required.
228perl v5.30.1 2020-01-30 perlfaq2(3)