1Devel::CheckOS(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Devel::CheckOS(3)
2
6 Devel::CheckOS - check what OS we're running on
7
9 A learned sage once wrote on IRC:
10 $^O is stupid and ugly, it wears its pants as a hat
12 Devel::CheckOS provides a more friendly interface to $^O, and also lets
14 you check for various OS "families" such as "Unix", which includes
15 things like Linux, Solaris, AIX etc.
16 It spares perl the embarrassment of wearing its pants on its head by
18 covering them with a splendid Fedora.
19
21 use Devel::CheckOS qw(os_is);
22 print "Hey, I know this, it's a Unix system\n" if(os_is('Unix'));
23 print "You've got Linux 2.6\n" if(os_is('Linux::v2_6'));
25
27 If you want to use this from Makefile.PL or Build.PL, do not simply
28 copy the module into your distribution as this may cause problems when
29 PAUSE and search.cpan.org index the distro. Instead, use the use-
30 devel-assertos script.
31
33 Devel::CheckOS implements the following functions, which load
34 subsidiary OS-specific modules on demand to do the real work. They can
35 be exported by listing their names after "use Devel::CheckOS". You can
36 also export groups of functions thus:
37 use Devel::CheckOS qw(:booleans); # export the boolean functions
39 # and 'die_unsupported'
40 use Devel::CheckOS qw(:fatal); # export those that die on no match
42 use Devel::CheckOS qw(:all); # export everything
44 Boolean functions
46 os_is
47 Takes a list of OS names. If the current platform matches any of them,
49 it returns true, otherwise it returns false. The names can be a
50 mixture of OSes and OS families, eg ...
51 os_is(qw(Unix VMS)); # Unix is a family, VMS is an OS
53 os_isnt
55 If the current platform matches any of the parameters it returns false,
57 otherwise it returns true.
58 Fatal functions
60 die_if_os_isnt
61 As "os_is()", except that it dies instead of returning false. The
63 die() message matches what the CPAN-testers look for to determine if a
64 module doesn't support a particular platform.
65 die_if_os_is
67 As "os_isnt()", except that it dies instead of returning false.
69 And some utility functions ...
71 die_unsupported
72 This function simply dies with the message "OS unsupported", which is
74 what the CPAN testers look for to figure out whether a platform is
75 supported or not.
76 list_platforms
78 When called in list context, return a list of all the platforms for
80 which the corresponding Devel::AssertOS::* module is available. This
81 includes both OSes and OS families, and both those bundled with this
82 module and any third-party add-ons you have installed.
83 In scalar context, returns a hashref keyed by platform with the
85 filename of the most recent version of the supporting module that is
86 available to you. This is to make sure that the use-devel-assertos
87 script Does The Right Thing in the case where you have installed the
88 module in one version of perl, then upgraded perl, and installed it
89 again in the new version. Sometimes the old version of perl and all
90 its modules will still be hanging around and perl "helpfully" includes
91 the old perl's search path in its own.
92 Unfortunately, on some platforms this list may have file case broken.
94 eg, some platforms might return 'freebsd' instead of 'FreeBSD'. This
95 is because they have case-insensitive filesystems so things should Just
96 Work anyway.
97 list_family_members
99 Takes the name of an OS 'family' and returns a list of all its members.
101 In list context, you get a list, in scalar context you get an arrayref.
102 If called on something that isn't a family, you get an empty list (or a
104 ref to an empty array).
105
107 To see the list of platforms for which information is available, run
108 this:
109 perl -MDevel::CheckOS -e 'print join(", ", Devel::CheckOS::list_platforms())'
111 Note that capitalisation is important. These are the names of the
113 underlying Devel::AssertOS::* modules which do the actual platform
114 detection, so they have to be 'legal' filenames and module names, which
115 unfortunately precludes funny characters, so platforms like OS/2 are
116 mis-spelt deliberately. Sorry.
117 Also be aware that not all of them have been properly tested. I don't
119 have access to most of them and have had to work from information
120 gleaned from perlport and a few other places. For a complete list of
121 OS families, see Devel::CheckOS::Families.
122 If you want to add your own OSes or families, see
124 Devel::AssertOS::Extending and please feel free to upload the results
125 to the CPAN.
126
128 I welcome feedback about my code, including constructive criticism.
129 Bug reports should be made using
130 <https://github.com/DrHyde/perl-modules-Devel-CheckOS/issues>.
131 You will need to include in your bug report the exact value of $^O,
133 what the OS is called (eg Windows Vista 64 bit Ultimate Home Edition),
134 and, if relevant, what "OS family" it should be in and who wrote it.
135 If you are feeling particularly generous you can encourage me in my
137 open source endeavours by buying me something from my wishlist:
138 <http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/wishlist/>
139
141 $^O in perlvar
142 perlport
144 Devel::AssertOS
146 Devel::AssertOS::Extending
148 Probe::Perl
150 The use-devel-assertos script
152 Module::Install::AssertOS
154
156 David Cantrell <david@cantrell.org.uk>
157 Thanks to David Golden for the name and ideas about the interface, and
159 to the cpan-testers-discuss mailing list for prompting me to write it
160 in the first place.
161 Thanks to Ken Williams, from whose Module::Build I lifted some of the
163 information about what should be in the Unix family.
164 Thanks to Billy Abbott for finding some bugs for me on VMS.
166 Thanks to Matt Kraai for information about QNX.
168 Thanks to Kenichi Ishigaki and Gabor Szabo for reporting a bug on
170 Windows, and to the former for providing a patch.
171 Thanks to Paul Green for some information about VOS.
173 Thanks to Yanick Champoux for a patch to let Devel::AssertOS support
175 negative assertions.
176 Thanks to Brian Fraser for adding Android support.
178 Thanks to Dale Evans for Debian detection, a bunch of Mac OS X specific
180 version detection modules, and perl 5.6 support.
181 Thanks to Graham Knop for fixing a build bug on perl 5.8.
183
185 <git://github.com/DrHyde/perl-modules-Devel-CheckOS.git>
186
188 Copyright 2007-2020 David Cantrell
189 This software is free-as-in-speech software, and may be used,
191 distributed, and modified under the terms of either the GNU General
192 Public Licence version 2 or the Artistic Licence. It's up to you which
193 one you use. The full text of the licences can be found in the files
194 GPL2.txt and ARTISTIC.txt, respectively.
195
197 I recommend buying a Fedora from <http://hatsdirect.com/>.
198
200 This module is also free-as-in-mason software.
201perl v5.34.0 2021-07-22 Devel::CheckOS(3)