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PERLWIN32(1pm)          Perl Programmers Reference Guide          PERLWIN32(1pm)





NAME

       perlwin32 - Perl under Windows


SYNOPSIS

       These are instructions for building Perl under Windows 2000 and later.


DESCRIPTION

       Before you start, you should glance through the README file found in the
       top-level directory to which the Perl distribution was extracted.  Make
       sure you read and understand the terms under which this software is being
       distributed.

       Also make sure you read "BUGS AND CAVEATS" below for the known
       limitations of this port.

       The INSTALL file in the perl top-level has much information that is only
       relevant to people building Perl on Unix-like systems.  In particular,
       you can safely ignore any information that talks about "Configure".

       You may also want to look at one other option for building a perl that
       will work on Windows: the README.cygwin file, which give a different set
       of rules to build a perl for Windows.  This method will probably enable
       you to build a more Unix-compatible perl, but you will also need to
       download and use various other build-time and run-time support software
       described in that file.

       This set of instructions is meant to describe a so-called "native" port
       of Perl to the Windows platform.  This includes both 32-bit and 64-bit
       Windows operating systems.  The resulting Perl requires no additional
       software to run (other than what came with your operating system).
       Currently, this port is capable of using one of the following compilers
       on the Intel x86 architecture:

             Microsoft Visual C++    version 6.0 or later
             Intel C++ Compiler      (experimental)
             Gcc by mingw.org        gcc version 3.4.5-5.3.0
             Gcc by mingw-w64.org    gcc version 4.4.3 or later

       Note that the last two of these are actually competing projects both
       delivering complete gcc toolchain for MS Windows:

       <http://mingw.org>
           Delivers gcc toolchain targeting 32-bit Windows platform.

       <http://mingw-w64.org>
           Delivers gcc toolchain targeting both 64-bit Windows and 32-bit
           Windows platforms (despite the project name "mingw-w64" they are not
           only 64-bit oriented). They deliver the native gcc compilers and
           cross-compilers that are also supported by perl's makefile.

       The Microsoft Visual C++ compilers are also now being given away free.
       They are available as "Visual C++ Toolkit 2003" or "Visual C++ 2005-2022
       Express [or Community, from 2017] Edition" (and also as part of the ".NET
       Framework SDK") and are the same compilers that ship with "Visual C++
       .NET 2003 Professional" or "Visual C++ 2005-2022 Professional"
       respectively.

       This port can also be built on IA64/AMD64 using:

             Microsoft Platform SDK    Nov 2001 (64-bit compiler and tools)
             MinGW64 compiler (gcc version 4.4.3 or later)

       The Windows SDK can be downloaded from
       <https://developer.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/sdk-archive>.  The
       MinGW64 compiler is available at <http://mingw-w64.org>.  The latter is
       actually a cross-compiler targeting Win64. There's also a trimmed down
       compiler (no java, or gfortran) suitable for building perl available at:
       <http://strawberryperl.com/package/kmx/64_gcctoolchain/>

       NOTE: If you're using a 32-bit compiler to build perl on a 64-bit Windows
       operating system, then you should set the WIN64 environment variable to
       "undef".  Also, the trimmed down compiler only passes tests when
       USE_ITHREADS *= define (as opposed to undef) and when the CFG *= Debug
       line is commented out.

       This port fully supports MakeMaker (the set of modules that is used to
       build extensions to perl).  Therefore, you should be able to build and
       install most extensions found in the CPAN sites.  See "Usage Hints for
       Perl on Windows" below for general hints about this.

   Setting Up Perl on Windows
       Make
           You need a "make" program to build the sources.  If you are using
           Visual C++ or the Windows SDK tools, you can use nmake supplied with
           Visual C++ or Windows SDK. You may also use gmake instead of nmake.
           Builds using gcc need gmake. nmake is not supported for gcc builds.
           Parallel building is only supported with gmake, not nmake.

       Command Shell
           Use the default "cmd" shell that comes with Windows.  Some versions
           of the popular 4DOS/NT shell have incompatibilities that may cause
           you trouble.  If the build fails under that shell, try building again
           with the cmd shell.

           Make sure the path to the build directory does not contain spaces.
           The build usually works in this circumstance, but some tests will
           fail.

       Microsoft Visual C++
           The nmake that comes with Visual C++ will suffice for building.
           Visual C++ requires that certain things be set up in the console
           before Visual C++ will successfully run. To make a console box be
           able to run the C compiler, you will need to beforehand, run
           "vcvarsall.bat x86" to compile for x86-32 and for x86-64
           "vcvarsall.bat amd64". On a typical install of a Microsoft C++
           compiler product, these batch files will already be in your "PATH"
           environment variable so you may just type them without an absolute
           path into your console. If you need to find the absolute path to the
           batch file, it is usually found somewhere like C:\Program Files
           (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC.  With some newer Microsoft C
           products (released after ~2004), the installer will put a shortcut in
           the start menu to launch a new console window with the console
           already set up for your target architecture (x86-32 or x86-64 or
           IA64).  With the newer compilers, you may also use the older batch
           files if you choose so.

       Microsoft Visual C++ 2008-2022 Express/Community Edition
           These free versions of Visual C++ 2008-2022 Professional contain the
           same compilers and linkers that ship with the full versions, and also
           contain everything necessary to build Perl, rather than requiring a
           separate download of the Windows SDK like previous versions did.

           These packages can be downloaded by searching in the Download Center
           at <https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en>.
           (Providing exact links to these packages has proven a pointless task
           because the links keep on changing so often.)

           Install Visual C++ 2008-2022 Express/Community, then setup your
           environment using, e.g.

            C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\Tools\vsvars32.bat

           (assuming the default installation location was chosen).

           Perl should now build using the win32/Makefile.  You will need to
           edit that file to set CCTYPE to one of MSVC90-MSVC142 first.

       Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition
           This free version of Visual C++ 2005 Professional contains the same
           compiler and linker that ship with the full version, but doesn't
           contain everything necessary to build Perl.

           You will also need to download the "Windows SDK" (the "Core SDK" and
           "MDAC SDK" components are required) for more header files and
           libraries.

           These packages can both be downloaded by searching in the Download
           Center at
           <http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en>.
           (Providing exact links to these packages has proven a pointless task
           because the links keep on changing so often.)

           Try to obtain the latest version of the Windows SDK.  Sometimes these
           packages contain a particular Windows OS version in their name, but
           actually work on other OS versions too.  For example, the "Windows
           Server 2003 R2 Platform SDK" also runs on Windows XP SP2 and Windows
           2000.

           Install Visual C++ 2005 first, then the Platform SDK.  Setup your
           environment as follows (assuming default installation locations were
           chosen):

            SET PlatformSDKDir=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK

            SET PATH=%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\BIN;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\Tools;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\bin;C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\VCPackages;%PlatformSDKDir%\Bin

            SET INCLUDE=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\INCLUDE;%PlatformSDKDir%\include

            SET LIB=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\LIB;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\lib;%PlatformSDKDir%\lib

            SET LIBPATH=C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727

           (The PlatformSDKDir might need to be set differently depending on
           which version you are using. Earlier versions installed into
           "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDK", while the latest versions install
           into version-specific locations such as "C:\Program Files\Microsoft
           Platform SDK for Windows Server 2003 R2".)

           Perl should now build using the win32/Makefile.  You will need to
           edit that file to set

            CCTYPE = MSVC80

           and to set CCHOME, CCINCDIR and CCLIBDIR as per the environment setup
           above.

       Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003
           This free toolkit contains the same compiler and linker that ship
           with Visual C++ .NET 2003 Professional, but doesn't contain
           everything necessary to build Perl.

           You will also need to download the "Platform SDK" (the "Core SDK" and
           "MDAC SDK" components are required) for header files, libraries and
           rc.exe, and ".NET Framework SDK" for more libraries and nmake.exe.
           Note that the latter (which also includes the free compiler and
           linker) requires the ".NET Framework Redistributable" to be installed
           first.  This can be downloaded and installed separately, but is
           included in the "Visual C++ Toolkit 2003" anyway.

           These packages can all be downloaded by searching in the Download
           Center at
           <https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en>.
           (Providing exact links to these packages has proven a pointless task
           because the links keep on changing so often.)

           Try to obtain the latest version of the Windows SDK.  Sometimes these
           packages contain a particular Windows OS version in their name, but
           actually work on other OS versions too.  For example, the "Windows
           Server 2003 R2 Platform SDK" also runs on Windows XP SP2 and Windows
           2000.

           Install the Toolkit first, then the Platform SDK, then the .NET
           Framework SDK. Setup your environment as follows (assuming default
           installation locations were chosen):

            SET PlatformSDKDir=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK

            SET PATH=%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003\bin;%PlatformSDKDir%\Bin;C:\Program Files\Microsoft.NET\SDK\v1.1\Bin

            SET INCLUDE=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003\include;%PlatformSDKDir%\include;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Vc7\include

            SET LIB=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003\lib;%PlatformSDKDir%\lib;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Vc7\lib

           (The PlatformSDKDir might need to be set differently depending on
           which version you are using. Earlier versions installed into
           "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDK", while the latest versions install
           into version-specific locations such as "C:\Program Files\Microsoft
           Platform SDK for Windows Server 2003 R2".)

           Several required files will still be missing:

           o   cvtres.exe is required by link.exe when using a .res file.  It is
               actually installed by the .NET Framework SDK, but into a location
               such as the following:

                C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322

               Copy it from there to %PlatformSDKDir%\Bin

           o   lib.exe is normally used to build libraries, but link.exe with
               the /lib option also works, so change win32/config.vc to use it
               instead:

               Change the line reading:

                       ar='lib'

               to:

                       ar='link /lib'

               It may also be useful to create a batch file called lib.bat in
               C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003\bin
               containing:

                       @echo off
                       link /lib %*

               for the benefit of any naughty C extension modules that you might
               want to build later which explicitly reference "lib" rather than
               taking their value from $Config{ar}.

           o   setargv.obj is required to build perlglob.exe (and perl.exe if
               the USE_SETARGV option is enabled).  The Platform SDK supplies
               this object file in source form in %PlatformSDKDir%\src\crt.
               Copy setargv.c, cruntime.h and internal.h from there to some
               temporary location and build setargv.obj using

                       cl.exe /c /I. /D_CRTBLD setargv.c

               Then copy setargv.obj to %PlatformSDKDir%\lib

               Alternatively, if you don't need perlglob.exe and don't need to
               enable the USE_SETARGV option then you can safely just remove all
               mention of $(GLOBEXE) from win32/Makefile and setargv.obj won't
               be required anyway.

           Perl should now build using the win32/Makefile.  You will need to
           edit that file to set

                   CCTYPE = MSVC70FREE

           and to set CCHOME, CCINCDIR and CCLIBDIR as per the environment setup
           above.

       Microsoft Platform SDK 64-bit Compiler
           The nmake that comes with the Platform SDK will suffice for building
           Perl.  Make sure you are building within one of the "Build
           Environment" shells available after you install the Platform SDK from
           the Start Menu.

       GCC Perl can be compiled with gcc from MinGW (version 3.4.5 or later) or
           from MinGW64 (version 4.4.3 or later).  It can be downloaded here:

           <http://www.mingw.org/> <http://www.mingw-w64.org/>

           You also need gmake. Usually it comes with MinGW but its executable
           may have a different name, such as mingw32-make.exe.

           Note that the MinGW build currently fails with version 6.3.0 or
           later.

           Note also that the C++ mode build currently fails with MinGW 3.4.5
           and 4.7.2 or later, and with MinGW64 64-bit 6.3.0 or later.

       Intel C++ Compiler
           Experimental support for using Intel C++ Compiler has been added.
           Edit win32/Makefile and pick the correct CCTYPE for the Visual C that
           Intel C was installed into. Also uncomment __ICC to enable Intel C on
           Visual C support.  To set up the build environment, from the Start
           Menu run IA-32 Visual Studio 20__ mode or Intel 64 Visual Studio 20__
           mode as appropriate. Then run nmake as usually in that prompt box.

           Only Intel C++ Compiler v12.1 has been tested. Other versions
           probably will work. Using Intel C++ Compiler instead of Visual C has
           the benefit of C99 compatibility which is needed by some CPAN XS
           modules, while maintaining compatibility with Visual C object code
           and Visual C debugging infrastructure unlike GCC.

   Building
       o   Make sure you are in the "win32" subdirectory under the perl
           toplevel.  This directory contains a "Makefile" that will work with
           versions of nmake that come with Visual C++ or the Windows SDK, and a
           GNU make "GNUmakefile" that will work for all supported compilers.
           The defaults in the gmake makefile are setup to build using
           MinGW/gcc.

       o   Edit the GNUmakefile (or Makefile, if you're using nmake) and change
           the values of INST_DRV and INST_TOP. You can also enable various
           build flags. These are explained in the makefiles.

           Note that it is generally not a good idea to try to build a perl with
           INST_DRV and INST_TOP set to a path that already exists from a
           previous build.  In particular, this may cause problems with the
           lib/ExtUtils/t/Embed.t test, which attempts to build a test program
           and may end up building against the installed perl's lib/CORE
           directory rather than the one being tested.

           You will have to make sure that CCTYPE is set correctly and that
           CCHOME points to wherever you installed your compiler.  For GCC this
           should be the directory that contains the bin, include and lib
           directories.

           If building with the cross-compiler provided by mingw-w64.org you'll
           need to uncomment the line that sets GCCCROSS in the GNUmakefile. Do
           this only if it's the cross-compiler - ie only if the bin folder
           doesn't contain a gcc.exe. (The cross-compiler does not provide a
           gcc.exe, g++.exe, ar.exe, etc. Instead, all of these executables are
           prefixed with 'x86_64-w64-mingw32-'.)

           The default value for CCHOME in the makefiles for Visual C++ may not
           be correct for some versions.  Make sure the default exists and is
           valid.

           If you want build some core extensions statically into perl's dll,
           specify them in the STATIC_EXT macro.

           Be sure to read the instructions near the top of the makefiles
           carefully.

       o   Type "gmake" (or "nmake" if you are using that make).

           This should build everything.  Specifically, it will create perl.exe,
           perl534.dll at the perl toplevel, and various other extension dll's
           under the lib\auto directory.  If the build fails for any reason,
           make sure you have done the previous steps correctly.

           To try gmake's parallel mode, type "gmake -j2", where 2, is the
           maximum number of parallel jobs you want to run. A number of things
           in the build process will run in parallel, but there are
           serialization points where you will see just 1 CPU maxed out. This is
           normal.

           If you are advanced enough with building C code, here is a suggestion
           to speed up building perl, and the later "make test". Try to keep
           your PATH environmental variable with the least number of folders
           possible (remember to keep your C compiler's folders there).
           "C:\WINDOWS\system32" or "C:\WINNT\system32" depending on your OS
           version should be first folder in PATH, since "cmd.exe" is the most
           commonly launched program during the build and later testing.

   Testing Perl on Windows
       Type "gmake test" (or "nmake test").  This will run most of the tests
       from the testsuite (many tests will be skipped).

       There should be no test failures.

       If you build with Visual C++ 2013 then three tests currently may fail
       with Daylight Saving Time related problems: t/io/fs.t,
       cpan/HTTP-Tiny/t/110_mirror.t and lib/File/Copy.t. The failures are
       caused by bugs in the CRT in VC++ 2013 which are fixed in VC++2015 and
       later, as explained by Microsoft here:
       <https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/811534/utime-sometimes-fails-to-set-the-correct-file-times-in-visual-c-2013>.
       In the meantime, if you need fixed "stat" and "utime" functions then have
       a look at the CPAN distribution Win32::UTCFileTime.

       If you build with Visual C++ 2015 or later then ext/XS-APItest/t/locale.t
       may crash (after all its tests have passed). This is due to a regression
       in the Universal CRT introduced in the Windows 10 April 2018 Update, and
       will be fixed in the May 2019 Update, as explained here:
       <https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/519486/setlocalelc-numeric-iso-latin-16-fails-then-succee.html>.

       If you build with certain versions (e.g. 4.8.1) of gcc from www.mingw.org
       then ext/POSIX/t/time.t may fail test 17 due to a known bug in those gcc
       builds: see <https://sourceforge.net/p/mingw/bugs/2152/>.

       Some test failures may occur if you use a command shell other than the
       native "cmd.exe", or if you are building from a path that contains
       spaces.  So don't do that.

       If you are running the tests from a emacs shell window, you may see
       failures in op/stat.t.  Run "gmake test-notty" in that case.

       Furthermore, you should make sure that during "make test" you do not have
       any GNU tool packages in your path: some toolkits like Unixutils include
       some tools ("type" for instance) which override the Windows ones and
       makes tests fail. Remove them from your path while testing to avoid these
       errors.

       To see the output of specific failing tests run the harness from the t
       directory:

         # assuming you're starting from the win32 directory
         cd ..\win32
         .\perl harness <list of tests>

       Please report any other failures as described under "BUGS AND CAVEATS".

   Installation of Perl on Windows
       Type "gmake install" ("nmake install").  This will put the newly built
       perl and the libraries under whatever "INST_TOP" points to in the
       Makefile.  It will also install the pod documentation under
       "$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\lib\pod" and HTML versions of the same under
       "$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\lib\pod\html".

       To use the Perl you just installed you will need to add a new entry to
       your PATH environment variable: "$INST_TOP\bin", e.g.

           set PATH=c:\perl\bin;%PATH%

       If you opted to uncomment "INST_VER" and "INST_ARCH" in the makefile then
       the installation structure is a little more complicated and you will need
       to add two new PATH components instead: "$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\bin" and
       "$INST_TOP\$INST_VER\bin\$ARCHNAME", e.g.

           set PATH=c:\perl\5.6.0\bin;c:\perl\5.6.0\bin\MSWin32-x86;%PATH%

   Usage Hints for Perl on Windows
       Environment Variables
           The installation paths that you set during the build get compiled
           into perl, so you don't have to do anything additional to start using
           that perl (except add its location to your PATH variable).

           If you put extensions in unusual places, you can set PERL5LIB to a
           list of paths separated by semicolons where you want perl to look for
           libraries.  Look for descriptions of other environment variables you
           can set in perlrun.

           You can also control the shell that perl uses to run system() and
           backtick commands via PERL5SHELL.  See perlrun.

           Perl does not depend on the registry, but it can look up certain
           default values if you choose to put them there unless disabled at
           build time with USE_NO_REGISTRY.  On Perl process start Perl checks
           if "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Perl" and
           "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Perl" exist.  If the keys exists, they
           will be checked for remainder of the Perl process's run life for
           certain entries.  Entries in "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Perl"
           override entries in "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Perl".  One or more
           of the following entries (of type REG_SZ or REG_EXPAND_SZ) may be set
           in the keys:

            lib-$]        version-specific standard library path to add to @INC
            lib           standard library path to add to @INC
            sitelib-$]    version-specific site library path to add to @INC
            sitelib       site library path to add to @INC
            vendorlib-$]  version-specific vendor library path to add to @INC
            vendorlib     vendor library path to add to @INC
            PERL*         fallback for all %ENV lookups that begin with "PERL"

           Note the $] in the above is not literal.  Substitute whatever version
           of perl you want to honor that entry, e.g. 5.6.0.  Paths must be
           separated with semicolons, as usual on Windows.

       File Globbing
           By default, perl handles file globbing using the File::Glob
           extension, which provides portable globbing.

           If you want perl to use globbing that emulates the quirks of DOS
           filename conventions, you might want to consider using File::DosGlob
           to override the internal glob() implementation.  See File::DosGlob
           for details.

       Using perl from the command line
           If you are accustomed to using perl from various command-line shells
           found in UNIX environments, you will be less than pleased with what
           Windows offers by way of a command shell.

           The crucial thing to understand about the Windows environment is that
           the command line you type in is processed twice before Perl sees it.
           First, your command shell (usually CMD.EXE) preprocesses the command
           line, to handle redirection, environment variable expansion, and
           location of the executable to run. Then, the perl executable splits
           the remaining command line into individual arguments, using the C
           runtime library upon which Perl was built.

           It is particularly important to note that neither the shell nor the C
           runtime do any wildcard expansions of command-line arguments (so
           wildcards need not be quoted).  Also, the quoting behaviours of the
           shell and the C runtime are rudimentary at best (and may, if you are
           using a non-standard shell, be inconsistent).  The only (useful)
           quote character is the double quote (").  It can be used to protect
           spaces and other special characters in arguments.

           The Windows documentation describes the shell parsing rules here:
           <https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/cmd>
           and the C runtime parsing rules here:
           <https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/17w5ykft%28v=VS.100%29.aspx>.

           Here are some further observations based on experiments: The C
           runtime breaks arguments at spaces and passes them to programs in
           argc/argv.  Double quotes can be used to prevent arguments with
           spaces in them from being split up.  You can put a double quote in an
           argument by escaping it with a backslash and enclosing the whole
           argument within double quotes.  The backslash and the pair of double
           quotes surrounding the argument will be stripped by the C runtime.

           The file redirection characters "<", ">", and "|" can be quoted by
           double quotes (although there are suggestions that this may not
           always be true).  Single quotes are not treated as quotes by the
           shell or the C runtime, they don't get stripped by the shell (just to
           make this type of quoting completely useless).  The caret "^" has
           also been observed to behave as a quoting character, but this appears
           to be a shell feature, and the caret is not stripped from the command
           line, so Perl still sees it (and the C runtime phase does not treat
           the caret as a quote character).

           Here are some examples of usage of the "cmd" shell:

           This prints two doublequotes:

               perl -e "print '\"\"' "

           This does the same:

               perl -e "print \"\\\"\\\"\" "

           This prints "bar" and writes "foo" to the file "blurch":

               perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" > blurch

           This prints "foo" ("bar" disappears into nowhereland):

               perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2> nul

           This prints "bar" and writes "foo" into the file "blurch":

               perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 1> blurch

           This pipes "foo" to the "less" pager and prints "bar" on the console:

               perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" | less

           This pipes "foo\nbar\n" to the less pager:

               perl -le "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2>&1 | less

           This pipes "foo" to the pager and writes "bar" in the file "blurch":

               perl -e "print 'foo'; print STDERR 'bar'" 2> blurch | less

           Discovering the usefulness of the "command.com" shell on Windows 9x
           is left as an exercise to the reader :)

           One particularly pernicious problem with the 4NT command shell for
           Windows is that it (nearly) always treats a % character as indicating
           that environment variable expansion is needed.  Under this shell, it
           is therefore important to always double any % characters which you
           want Perl to see (for example, for hash variables), even when they
           are quoted.

       Building Extensions
           The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) offers a wealth of
           extensions, some of which require a C compiler to build.  Look in
           <https://www.cpan.org/> for more information on CPAN.

           Note that not all of the extensions available from CPAN may work in
           the Windows environment; you should check the information at
           <https://www.cpantesters.org/> before investing too much effort into
           porting modules that don't readily build.

           Most extensions (whether they require a C compiler or not) can be
           built, tested and installed with the standard mantra:

               perl Makefile.PL
               $MAKE
               $MAKE test
               $MAKE install

           where $MAKE is whatever 'make' program you have configured perl to
           use.  Use "perl -V:make" to find out what this is.  Some extensions
           may not provide a testsuite (so "$MAKE test" may not do anything or
           fail), but most serious ones do.

           It is important that you use a supported 'make' program, and ensure
           Config.pm knows about it.

           Note that MakeMaker actually emits makefiles with different syntax
           depending on what 'make' it thinks you are using.  Therefore, it is
           important that one of the following values appears in Config.pm:

               make='nmake'        # MakeMaker emits nmake syntax
               any other value     # MakeMaker emits generic make syntax
                                       (e.g GNU make, or Perl make)

           If the value doesn't match the 'make' program you want to use, edit
           Config.pm to fix it.

           If a module implements XSUBs, you will need one of the supported C
           compilers.  You must make sure you have set up the environment for
           the compiler for command-line compilation before running "perl
           Makefile.PL" or any invocation of make.

           If a module does not build for some reason, look carefully for why it
           failed, and report problems to the module author.  If it looks like
           the extension building support is at fault, report that with full
           details of how the build failed using the GitHub issue tracker at
           <https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues>.

       Command-line Wildcard Expansion
           The default command shells on DOS descendant operating systems (such
           as they are) usually do not expand wildcard arguments supplied to
           programs.  They consider it the application's job to handle that.
           This is commonly achieved by linking the application (in our case,
           perl) with startup code that the C runtime libraries usually provide.
           However, doing that results in incompatible perl versions (since the
           behavior of the argv expansion code differs depending on the
           compiler, and it is even buggy on some compilers).  Besides, it may
           be a source of frustration if you use such a perl binary with an
           alternate shell that *does* expand wildcards.

           Instead, the following solution works rather well. The nice things
           about it are 1) you can start using it right away; 2) it is more
           powerful, because it will do the right thing with a pattern like
           */*/*.c; 3) you can decide whether you do/don't want to use it; and
           4) you can extend the method to add any customizations (or even
           entirely different kinds of wildcard expansion).

            C:\> copy con c:\perl\lib\Wild.pm
            # Wild.pm - emulate shell @ARGV expansion on shells that don't
            use File::DosGlob;
            @ARGV = map {
                         my @g = File::DosGlob::glob($_) if /[*?]/;
                         @g ? @g : $_;
                       } @ARGV;
            1;
            ^Z
            C:\> set PERL5OPT=-MWild
            C:\> perl -le "for (@ARGV) { print }" */*/perl*.c
            p4view/perl/perl.c
            p4view/perl/perlio.c
            p4view/perl/perly.c
            perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c
            perl5.005/win32/perllib.c
            perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c
            perl5.005/win32/perllib.c
            perl5.005/win32/perlglob.c
            perl5.005/win32/perllib.c

           Note there are two distinct steps there: 1) You'll have to create
           Wild.pm and put it in your perl lib directory. 2) You'll need to set
           the PERL5OPT environment variable.  If you want argv expansion to be
           the default, just set PERL5OPT in your default startup environment.

           If you are using the Visual C compiler, you can get the C runtime's
           command line wildcard expansion built into perl binary.  The
           resulting binary will always expand unquoted command lines, which may
           not be what you want if you use a shell that does that for you.  The
           expansion done is also somewhat less powerful than the approach
           suggested above.

       Notes on 64-bit Windows
           Windows .NET Server supports the LLP64 data model on the Intel
           Itanium architecture.

           The LLP64 data model is different from the LP64 data model that is
           the norm on 64-bit Unix platforms.  In the former, "int" and "long"
           are both 32-bit data types, while pointers are 64 bits wide.  In
           addition, there is a separate 64-bit wide integral type, "__int64".
           In contrast, the LP64 data model that is pervasive on Unix platforms
           provides "int" as the 32-bit type, while both the "long" type and
           pointers are of 64-bit precision.  Note that both models provide for
           64-bits of addressability.

           64-bit Windows running on Itanium is capable of running 32-bit x86
           binaries transparently.  This means that you could use a 32-bit build
           of Perl on a 64-bit system.  Given this, why would one want to build
           a 64-bit build of Perl?  Here are some reasons why you would bother:

           o   A 64-bit native application will run much more efficiently on
               Itanium hardware.

           o   There is no 2GB limit on process size.

           o   Perl automatically provides large file support when built under
               64-bit Windows.

           o   Embedding Perl inside a 64-bit application.

   Running Perl Scripts
       Perl scripts on UNIX use the "#!" (a.k.a "shebang") line to indicate to
       the OS that it should execute the file using perl.  Windows has no
       comparable means to indicate arbitrary files are executables.

       Instead, all available methods to execute plain text files on Windows
       rely on the file "extension".  There are three methods to use this to
       execute perl scripts:

       1.      There is a facility called "file extension associations".  This
               can be manipulated via the two commands "assoc" and "ftype" that
               come standard with Windows.  Type "ftype /?" for a complete
               example of how to set this up for perl scripts (Say what?  You
               thought Windows wasn't perl-ready? :).

       2.      Since file associations don't work everywhere, and there are
               reportedly bugs with file associations where it does work, the
               old method of wrapping the perl script to make it look like a
               regular batch file to the OS, may be used.  The install process
               makes available the "pl2bat.bat" script which can be used to wrap
               perl scripts into batch files.  For example:

                       pl2bat foo.pl

               will create the file "FOO.BAT".  Note "pl2bat" strips any .pl
               suffix and adds a .bat suffix to the generated file.

               If you use the 4DOS/NT or similar command shell, note that
               "pl2bat" uses the "%*" variable in the generated batch file to
               refer to all the command line arguments, so you may need to make
               sure that construct works in batch files.  As of this writing,
               4DOS/NT users will need a "ParameterChar = *" statement in their
               4NT.INI file or will need to execute "setdos /p*" in the 4DOS/NT
               startup file to enable this to work.

       3.      Using "pl2bat" has a few problems:  the file name gets changed,
               so scripts that rely on $0 to find what they must do may not run
               properly; running "pl2bat" replicates the contents of the
               original script, and so this process can be maintenance intensive
               if the originals get updated often.  A different approach that
               avoids both problems is possible.

               A script called "runperl.bat" is available that can be copied to
               any filename (along with the .bat suffix).  For example, if you
               call it "foo.bat", it will run the file "foo" when it is
               executed.  Since you can run batch files on Windows platforms
               simply by typing the name (without the extension), this
               effectively runs the file "foo", when you type either "foo" or
               "foo.bat".  With this method, "foo.bat" can even be in a
               different location than the file "foo", as long as "foo" is
               available somewhere on the PATH.  If your scripts are on a
               filesystem that allows symbolic links, you can even avoid copying
               "runperl.bat".

               Here's a diversion:  copy "runperl.bat" to "runperl", and type
               "runperl".  Explain the observed behavior, or lack thereof. :)
               Hint: .gnidnats llits er'uoy fi ,"lrepnur" eteled :tniH

   Miscellaneous Things
       A full set of HTML documentation is installed, so you should be able to
       use it if you have a web browser installed on your system.

       "perldoc" is also a useful tool for browsing information contained in the
       documentation, especially in conjunction with a pager like "less" (recent
       versions of which have Windows support).  You may have to set the PAGER
       environment variable to use a specific pager.  "perldoc -f foo" will
       print information about the perl operator "foo".

       One common mistake when using this port with a GUI library like "Tk" is
       assuming that Perl's normal behavior of opening a command-line window
       will go away.  This isn't the case.  If you want to start a copy of
       "perl" without opening a command-line window, use the "wperl" executable
       built during the installation process.  Usage is exactly the same as
       normal "perl" on Windows, except that options like "-h" don't work (since
       they need a command-line window to print to).

       If you find bugs in perl, you can report them to
       <https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues>.


BUGS AND CAVEATS

       Norton AntiVirus interferes with the build process, particularly if set
       to "AutoProtect, All Files, when Opened". Unlike large applications the
       perl build process opens and modifies a lot of files. Having the
       AntiVirus scan each and every one slows build the process significantly.
       Worse, with PERLIO=stdio the build process fails with peculiar messages
       as the virus checker interacts badly with miniperl.exe writing configure
       files (it seems to either catch file part written and treat it as
       suspicious, or virus checker may have it "locked" in a way which inhibits
       miniperl updating it). The build does complete with

          set PERLIO=perlio

       but that may be just luck. Other AntiVirus software may have similar
       issues.

       A git GUI shell extension for Windows such as TortoiseGit will cause the
       build and later "make test" to run much slower since every file is
       checked for its git status as soon as it is created and/or modified.
       TortoiseGit doesn't cause any test failures or build problems unlike the
       antivirus software described above, but it does cause similar slowness.
       It is suggested to use Task Manager to look for background processes
       which use high CPU amounts during the building process.

       Some of the built-in functions do not act exactly as documented in
       perlfunc, and a few are not implemented at all.  To avoid surprises,
       particularly if you have had prior exposure to Perl in other operating
       environments or if you intend to write code that will be portable to
       other environments, see perlport for a reasonably definitive list of
       these differences.

       Not all extensions available from CPAN may build or work properly in the
       Windows environment.  See "Building Extensions".

       Most "socket()" related calls are supported, but they may not behave as
       on Unix platforms.  See perlport for the full list.

       Signal handling may not behave as on Unix platforms (where it doesn't
       exactly "behave", either :).  For instance, calling "die()" or "exit()"
       from signal handlers will cause an exception, since most implementations
       of "signal()" on Windows are severely crippled.  Thus, signals may work
       only for simple things like setting a flag variable in the handler.
       Using signals under this port should currently be considered unsupported.

       Please report detailed descriptions of any problems and solutions that
       you may find at <<https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues>>, along with the
       output produced by "perl -V".


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

       The use of a camel with the topic of Perl is a trademark of O'Reilly and
       Associates, Inc. Used with permission.


AUTHORS

       Gary Ng <71564.1743@CompuServe.COM>
       Gurusamy Sarathy <gsar@activestate.com>
       Nick Ing-Simmons <nick@ing-simmons.net>
       Jan Dubois <jand@activestate.com>
       Steve Hay <steve.m.hay@googlemail.com>

       This document is maintained by Jan Dubois.


SEE ALSO

       perl(1)


HISTORY

       This port was originally contributed by Gary Ng around 5.003_24, and
       borrowed from the Hip Communications port that was available at the time.
       Various people have made numerous and sundry hacks since then.

       GCC/mingw32 support was added in 5.005 (Nick Ing-Simmons).

       Support for PERL_OBJECT was added in 5.005 (ActiveState Tool Corp).

       Support for fork() emulation was added in 5.6 (ActiveState Tool Corp).

       Win9x support was added in 5.6 (Benjamin Stuhl).

       Support for 64-bit Windows added in 5.8 (ActiveState Corp).

       Last updated: 26 January 2020



perl v5.34.1                       2022-02-26                     PERLWIN32(1pm)

perl 5.34.1 - Generated Thu Aug 25 19:03:04 CDT 2022
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