README.mpeix

PERLMPEIX(X) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PERLMPEIX(X)

NAME
README.mpeix - Perl/iX for HP e3000 MPE

SYNOPSIS
http://www.bixby.org/mark/perlix.html
Perl language for MPE
Last updated June 2, 2000 @ 0400 UTC

NOTE
This is a podified version of the above-mentioned web
page, podified by Jarkko Hietaniemi 2001-Jan-01.

What's New
June 1, 2000

o Rebuilt to be compatible with mod_perl. If you plan
on using mod_perl, you MUST download and install this
version of Perl/iX!

o bincompat5005="undef": sorry, but you will have to
recompile any binary 5.005 extensions that you may be
using (if any; there is no 5.005 code in what you
download from bixby.org) uselargefiles="undef": not
available in MPE for POSIX files yet.

o Now bundled with various add-on packages:

o libnet (http://www.gbarr.demon.co.uk/lib-
net/FAQ.html)

o libwww-perl (LWP) which lets Perl programs
behave like web browsers:

1. #!/PERL/PUB/perl
2. use LWP::Simple;
3. $doc = get('http://www.bixby.org/mark/perlix.html'); # reads the
web page into variable $doc

(http://www.bixby.org/mark/perlix.html)

o mod_perl (just the perl portion; the actual
DSO will be released soon with Apache/iX
1.3.12 from bixby.org). This module allows
you to write high performance persistent Perl
CGI scripts and all sorts of cool things.
(http://perl.apache.org/)

and much much more hiding under
/PERL/PUB/.cpan/

o The CPAN module now works for automatic down-
loading and installing of add-on packages:

1. export FTP_PASSIVE=1
2. perl -MCPAN -e shell
3. Ignore any terminal I/O related complaints!

(http://theoryx5.uwin-
nipeg.ca/CPAN/data/perl/CPAN.html)

May 20, 2000

o Updated to version 5.6.0. Builds straight out of the
box on MPE/iX.

o Perl's getpwnam() function which had regressed to
being unimplemented on MPE is now implemented once
again.

September 17, 1999

o Migrated from cccd.edu to bixby.org.

Welcome
This is the official home page for the HP e3000 MPE/iX
(http://www.businessservers.hp.com/) port of the Perl
scripting language (http://www.perl.com/) which gives you
all of the power of C, awk, sed, and sh in a single lan-
guage. Check here for the latest news, implemented func-
tionality, known bugs, to-do list, etc. Status reports
about major milestones will also be posted to the HP3000-L
mailing list
(http://www.lsoft.com/scripts/wl.exe?SL1=HP3000-L&H=RAVEN.UTC.EDU)
and its associated gatewayed newsgroup comp.sys.hp.mpe.

I'm doing this port because I can't live without Perl on
the Unix machines that I administer, and I want to have
the same power available to me on MPE.

Please send your comments, questions, and bug reports
directly to me, Mark Bixby (http://www.bixby.org/mark/),
by e-mailing to mark@bixby.org. Or just post them to
HP3000-L.

The platform I'm using to do this port is an HP 3000 957RX
running MPE/iX 6.0 and using the GNU gcc C compiler
(http://jazz.external.hp.com/src/gnu/gnuframe.html).

The combined porting wisdom from all of my ports can be
found in my MPE/iX Porting Guide
(http://www.bixby.org/mark/porting.html).

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Yes, I do work for the HP CSY R&D lab,
but ALL of the software you download from bixby.org is my
personal freeware that is NOT supported by HP.

System Requirements
o MPE/iX 5.5 or later. This version of Perl/iX does NOT
run on MPE/iX 5.0 or earlier, nor does it run on
"classic" MPE/V machines.

o If you wish to recompile Perl, you must install both
GNUCORE and GNUGCC from jazz (http://jazz.exter-
nal.hp.com/src/gnu/gnuframe.html).

o Perl/iX will be happier on MPE/iX 5.5 if you install
the MPEKX40B extended POSIX filename characters patch,
but this is optional.

o Patch LBCJXT6A is required on MPE/iX 5.5 machines in
order to prevent Perl/iX from dying with an unresolved
external reference to _getenv_libc.

o If you will be compiling Perl/iX yourself, you will
also need Syslog/iX (http://www.bixby.org/mark/sys-
logix.html) and the /BIND/PUB/include and
/BIND/PUB/lib portions of BIND/iX
(http://www.bixby.org/mark/bindix.html).

How to Obtain Perl/iX
1. Download Perl using either FTP.ARPA.SYS or some other
client

2. Extract the installation script

3. Edit the installation script

4. Run the installation script

5. Convert your *.a system archive libraries to *.sl
shared libraries

Download Perl using FTP.ARPA.SYS from your HP 3000 (the
preferred method).....

:HELLO MANAGER.SYS
:XEQ FTP.ARPA.SYS
open ftp.bixby.org
anonymous
your@email.address
bytestream
cd /pub/mpe
get perl-5.6.0-mpe.tar.Z /tmp/perl.tar.Z;disc=2147483647
exit

.....Or download using some other generic web or ftp
client (the alternate method)

Download the following files (make sure that you use
"binary mode" or whatever client feature that is 8-bit
clean):

o Perl from

http://www.bixby.org/ftp/pub/mpe/perl-5.6.0-mpe.tar.Z

ftp://ftp.bixby.org/pub/mpe/perl-5.6.0-mpe.tar.Z

o Upload those files to your HP 3000 in an 8-bit clean
bytestream manner to:

/tmp/perl.tar.Z

o Then extract the installation script (after both down-
load methods)

:CHDIR /tmp
:XEQ TAR.HPBIN.SYS 'xvfopz /tmp/perl.tar.Z INSTALL'

o Edit the installation script

Examine the accounting structure creation commands and
modify if necessary (adding additional capabilities,
choosing a non-system volume set, etc).

:XEQ VI.HPBIN.SYS /tmp/INSTALL

o Run the installation script.

The accounting structure will be created and then all
files will be extracted from the archive.

:XEQ SH.HPBIN.SYS /tmp/INSTALL

o Convert your *.a system archive libraries to *.sl
shared libraries

You only have to do this ONCE on your MPE/iX 5.5
machine in order to convert /lib/lib*.a and
/usr/lib/lib*.a libraries to their *.sl equivalents.
This step should not be necessary on MPE/iX 6.0 or
later machines because the 6.0 or later update process
does it for you.

:XEQ SH.HPBIN.SYS /PERL/PUB/LIBSHP3K

Distribution Contents Highlights
README
The file you're reading now.

INSTALL
Perl/iX Installation script.

LIBSHP3K
Script to convert *.a system archive libraries to *.sl
shared libraries.

PERL
Perl NMPRG executable. A version-numbered backup copy
also exists. You might wish to "ln -s /PERL/PUB/PERL
/usr/local/bin/perl".

.cpan/
Much add-on source code downloaded with the CPAN mod-
ule.

lib/
Perl libraries, both core and add-on.

man/
Perl man page documentation.

public_html/feedback.cgi
Sample feedback CGI form written in Perl.

src/perl-5.6.0-mpe
Source code.

How to Compile Perl/iX
1. cd src/perl-5.6.0-mpe

2. Read the INSTALL file for the official instructions

3. ./Configure -d

4. make

5. ./mpeix/relink

6. make test (expect approximately 15 out of 11306 sub-
tests to fail, mostly due to MPE not supporting hard
links, UDP socket problems, and handling exit() return
codes improperly)

7. make install

8. Optionally create symbolic links that point to the
Perl executable, i.e. ln -s /PERL/PUB/PERL
/usr/local/bin/perl

The summary test results from "cd t; ./perl -I../lib har-
ness":

Failed Test Status Wstat Total Fail Failed List of failed
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
io/fs.t 29 8 27.59% 2-5, 7-9, 11
io/openpid.t 10 1 10.00% 7
lib/io_sock.t 14 1 7.14% 13
lib/io_udp.t 7 2 28.57% 3, 5
lib/posix.t 27 1 3.70% 12
op/lex_assign.t 187 1 0.53% 13
op/stat.t 58 1 1.72% 3
15 tests and 94 subtests skipped.
Failed 7/236 test scripts, 97.03% okay. 15/11306 subtests failed, 99.87% okay.

Getting Started with Perl/iX
Create your Perl script files with "#!/PERL/PUB/perl" (or
an equivalent symbolic link) as the first line. Use the
chmod command to make sure that your script has execute
permission. Run your script!

Be sure to take a look at the CPAN module list
(http://www.cpan.org/CPAN.html). A wide variety of free
Perl software is available. You can automatically down-
load these packages by using the CPAN module (http://theo-
ryx5.uwinnipeg.ca/CPAN/data/perl/CPAN.html).

MPE/iX Implementation Considerations
There some minor functionality issues to be aware of when
comparing Perl for Unix (Perl/UX) to Perl/iX:

o MPE gcc/ld doesn't properly support linking NMPRG exe-
cutables against NMXL dynamic libraries, so you must
manually run mpeix/relink after each re-build of Perl.

o Perl/iX File::Copy will use MPE's /bin/cp command to
copy files by name in order to preserve file
attributes like file code.

o MPE (and thus Perl/iX) lacks support for setgrent(),
endgrent(), setpwent(), endpwent().

o MPE (and thus Perl/iX) lacks support for hard links.

o MPE requires GETPRIVMODE() in order to bind() to ports
less than 1024. Perl/iX will call GETPRIVMODE() auto-
matically on your behalf if you attempt to bind() to
these low-numbered ports. Note that the Perl/iX exe-
cutable and the PERL account do not normally have
CAP=PM, so if you will be bind()-ing to these privi-
leged ports, you will manually need to add PM capabil-
ity as appropriate.

o MPE requires that you bind() to an IP address of zero.
Perl/iX automatically replaces the IP address that you
pass to bind() with a zero.

o If you use Perl/iX fcntl() against a socket it will
fail, because MPE requires that you use sfcntl()
instead. Perl/iX does not presently support sfcntl().

o MPE requires GETPRIVMODE() in order to setuid().
There are too many calls to setuid() within Perl/iX,
so I have not attempted an automatic GETPRIVMODE()
solution similar to bind().

Known Bugs Under Investigation
None.

To-Do List
o Make setuid()/setgid() support work.

o Make sure that fcntl() against a socket descriptor is
redirected to sfcntl().

o Add support for Berkeley DB once I've finished porting
Berkeley DB.

o Write an MPE XS extension library containing miscella-
neous important MPE functions like GETPRIVMODE(),
GETUSERMODE(), and sfcntl().

Change History
May 6, 1999

o Patch LBCJXT6A is required on MPE/iX 5.5 machines in
order to prevent Perl/iX from dying with an unresolved
external reference to _getenv_libc.

April 7, 1999

o Updated to version 5.005_03.

o The official source distribution once again compiles
"straight out of the box" for MPE.

o The current incarnation of the 5.5 POSIX filename
extended characters patch is now MPEKX40B.

o The LIBSHP3K *.a -> *.sl library conversion script is
now included as /PERL/PUB/LIBSHP3K.

November 20, 1998

o Updated to version 5.005_02.

o Fixed a DynaLoader bug that was unable to load symbols
from relative path name libraries.

o Fixed a .xs compilation bug where the mpeixish.sh
include file wasn't being installed into the proper
directory.

o All bugfixes will be submitted back to the official
Perl developers.

o The current incarnation of the POSIX filename extended
characters patch is now MPEKXJ3A.

August 14, 1998

o The previous POSIX filename extended characters patch
MPEKX44C has been superseded by MPEKXB5A.

August 7, 1998

o The previous POSIX filename extended characters patch
MPEKX76A has been superseded by MPEKX44C.

July 28, 1998

o Updated to version 5.005_01.

July 23, 1998

o Updated to version 5.005 (production release). The
public freeware sources are now 100% MPE-ready
"straight out of the box".

July 17, 1998

o Updated to version 5.005b1 (public beta release). The
public freeware sources are now 99.9% MPE-ready. By
installing and testing this beta on your own HP3000,
you will be helping to insure that the final release
of 5.005 will be 100% MPE-ready and 100% bug free.

o My MPE binary release is now extracted using my stan-
dard INSTALL script.

July 15, 1998

o Changed startperl to #!/PERL/PUB/perl so that Perl
will recognize scripts more easily and efficiently.

July 8, 1998

o Updated to version 5.004_70 (internal developer
release) which is now MPE-ready. The next public
freeware release of Perl should compile "straight out
of the box" on MPE. Note that this version of Perl/iX
was strictly internal to me and never publicly
released. Note that [21]BIND/iX is now required
(well, the include files and libbind.a) if you wish to
compile Perl/iX.

November 6, 1997

o Updated to version 5.004_04. No changes in MPE-spe-
cific functionality.

October 16, 1997

o Added Demos section to the Perl/iX home page so you
can see some sample Perl applications running on my
3000.

October 3, 1997

o Added System Requirements section to the Perl/iX home
page just so the prerequisites stand out more. Various
other home page tweaks.

October 2, 1997

o Initial public release.

September 1997

o Porting begins.

Author
Mark Bixby, mark@bixby.org

perl v5.6.1 2001-03-03 PERLMPEIX(X)

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