README.cygwin - Perl for Cygwin


NAME

README.cygwin - Perl for Cygwin


SYNOPSIS

This document will help you configure, make, test and install Perl on Cygwin. This document also describes features of Cygwin that will affect how Perl behaves at runtime.

NOTE: There are pre-built Perl packages available for Cygwin and a version of Perl is provided in the normal Cygwin install. If you do not need to customize the configuration, consider using one of those packages.


PREREQUISITES FOR COMPILING PERL ON CYGWIN

Cygwin = GNU+Cygnus+Windows (Don't leave UNIX without it)

The Cygwin tools are ports of the popular GNU development tools for Win32 platforms. They run thanks to the Cygwin library which provides the UNIX system calls and environment these programs expect. More information about this project can be found at:

  F<http://www.cygwin.com/>;

A recent net or commercial release of Cygwin is required.

At the time this document was last updated, Cygwin 1.5.24 was current.

Cygwin Configuration

While building Perl some changes may be necessary to your Cygwin setup so that Perl builds cleanly. These changes are not required for normal Perl usage.

NOTE: The binaries that are built will run on all Win32 versions. They do not depend on your host system (Win9x/WinME, WinNT/Win2K) or your Cygwin configuration (ntea, ntsec, binary/text mounts). The only dependencies come from hard-coded pathnames like /usr/local. However, your host system and Cygwin configuration will affect Perl's runtime behavior (see TEST).


CONFIGURE PERL ON CYGWIN

The default options gathered by Configure with the assistance of hints/cygwin.sh will build a Perl that supports dynamic loading (which requires a shared libperl.dll).

This will run Configure and keep a record:

  ./Configure 2>&1 | tee log.configure

If you are willing to accept all the defaults run Configure with -de. However, several useful customizations are available.

Stripping Perl Binaries on Cygwin

It is possible to strip the EXEs and DLLs created by the build process. The resulting binaries will be significantly smaller. If you want the binaries to be stripped, you can either add a -s option when Configure prompts you,

  Any additional ld flags (NOT including libraries)? [none] -s
  Any special flags to pass to g++ to create a dynamically loaded library?
  [none] -s
  Any special flags to pass to gcc to use dynamic linking? [none] -s

or you can edit hints/cygwin.sh and uncomment the relevant variables near the end of the file.

Optional Libraries for Perl on Cygwin

Several Perl functions and modules depend on the existence of some optional libraries. Configure will find them if they are installed in one of the directories listed as being used for library searches. Pre-built packages for most of these are available from the Cygwin installer.

Configure-time Options for Perl on Cygwin

The INSTALL document describes several Configure-time options. Some of these will work with Cygwin, others are not yet possible. Also, some of these are experimental. You can either select an option when Configure prompts you or you can define (undefine) symbols on the command line.

Suspicious Warnings on Cygwin

You may see some messages during Configure that seem suspicious.


MAKE ON CYGWIN

Simply run make and wait:

  make 2>&1 | tee log.make


TEST ON CYGWIN

There are two steps to running the test suite:

  make test 2>&1 | tee log.make-test
  cd t; ./perl harness 2>&1 | tee ../log.harness

The same tests are run both times, but more information is provided when running as ./perl harness.

Test results vary depending on your host system and your Cygwin configuration. If a test can pass in some Cygwin setup, it is always attempted and explainable test failures are documented. It is possible for Perl to pass all the tests, but it is more likely that some tests will fail for one of the reasons listed below.

File Permissions on Cygwin

UNIX file permissions are based on sets of mode bits for {read,write,execute} for each {user,group,other}. By default Cygwin only tracks the Win32 read-only attribute represented as the UNIX file user write bit (files are always readable, files are executable if they have a .{com,bat,exe} extension or begin with #!, directories are always readable and executable). On WinNT with the ntea CYGWIN setting, the additional mode bits are stored as extended file attributes. On WinNT with the default ntsec CYGWIN setting, permissions use the standard WinNT security descriptors and access control lists. Without one of these options, these tests will fail (listing not updated yet):

  Failed Test           List of failed
  ------------------------------------
  io/fs.t               5, 7, 9-10
  lib/anydbm.t          2
  lib/db-btree.t        20
  lib/db-hash.t         16
  lib/db-recno.t        18
  lib/gdbm.t            2
  lib/ndbm.t            2
  lib/odbm.t            2
  lib/sdbm.t            2
  op/stat.t             9, 20 (.tmp not an executable extension)

NDBM_File and ODBM_File do not work on FAT filesystems

Do not use NDBM_File or ODBM_File on FAT filesystem. They can be built on a FAT filesystem, but many tests will fail:

 ../ext/NDBM_File/ndbm.t       13  3328    71   59  83.10%  1-2 4 16-71
 ../ext/ODBM_File/odbm.t      255 65280    ??   ??       %  ??
 ../lib/AnyDBM_File.t           2   512    12    2  16.67%  1 4
 ../lib/Memoize/t/errors.t      0   139    11    5  45.45%  7-11
 ../lib/Memoize/t/tie_ndbm.t   13  3328     4    4 100.00%  1-4
 run/fresh_perl.t                          97    1   1.03%  91

If you intend to run only on FAT (or if using AnyDBM_File on FAT), run Configure with the -Ui_ndbm and -Ui_dbm options to prevent NDBM_File and ODBM_File being built.

With NTFS (and no CYGWIN=nontsec), there should be no problems even if perl was built on FAT.

fork() failures in io_* tests

A fork() failure may result in the following tests failing:

  ext/IO/lib/IO/t/io_multihomed.t
  ext/IO/lib/IO/t/io_sock.t
  ext/IO/lib/IO/t/io_unix.t

See comment on fork in Miscellaneous below.


Specific features of the Cygwin port

Script Portability on Cygwin

Cygwin does an outstanding job of providing UNIX-like semantics on top of Win32 systems. However, in addition to the items noted above, there are some differences that you should know about. This is a very brief guide to portability, more information can be found in the Cygwin documentation.

Prebuilt methods:

Cwd::cwd

Returns the current working directory.

Cygwin::pid_to_winpid

Translates a cygwin pid to the corresponding Windows pid (which may or may not be the same).

Cygwin::winpid_to_pid

Translates a Windows pid to the corresponding cygwin pid (if any).

Cygwin::win_to_posix_path

Translates a Windows path to the corresponding cygwin path respecting the current mount points. With a second non-null argument returns an absolute path. Double-byte characters will not be translated.

Cygwin::posix_to_win_path

Translates a cygwin path to the corresponding cygwin path respecting the current mount points. With a second non-null argument returns an absolute path. Double-byte characters will not be translated.

Cygwin::mount_table()

Returns an array of [mnt_dir, mnt_fsname, mnt_type, mnt_opts].

  perl -e 'for $i (Cygwin::mount_table) {print join(" ",@$i),"\n";}'
  /bin c:\cygwin\bin system binmode,cygexec
  /usr/bin c:\cygwin\bin system binmode
  /usr/lib c:\cygwin\lib system binmode
  / c:\cygwin system binmode
  /cygdrive/c c: system binmode,noumount
  /cygdrive/d d: system binmode,noumount
  /cygdrive/e e: system binmode,noumount
Cygwin::mount_flags

Returns the mount type and flags for a specified mount point. A comma-separated string of mntent->mnt_type (always "system" or "user"), then the mntent->mnt_opts, where the first is always "binmode" or "textmode".

  system|user,binmode|textmode,exec,cygexec,cygdrive,mixed,
  notexec,managed,nosuid,devfs,proc,noumount

If the argument is "/cygdrive", then just the volume mount settings, and the cygdrive mount prefix are returned.

User mounts override system mounts.

  $ perl -e 'print Cygwin::mount_flags "/usr/bin"'
  system,binmode,cygexec
  $ perl -e 'print Cygwin::mount_flags "/cygdrive"'
  binmode,cygdrive,/cygdrive
Cygwin::is_binmount

Returns true if the given cygwin path is binary mounted, false if the path is mounted in textmode.


INSTALL PERL ON CYGWIN

This will install Perl, including man pages.

  make install 2>&1 | tee log.make-install

NOTE: If STDERR is redirected make install will not prompt you to install perl into /usr/bin.

You may need to be Administrator to run make install. If you are not, you must have write access to the directories in question.

Information on installing the Perl documentation in HTML format can be found in the INSTALL document.


MANIFEST ON CYGWIN

These are the files in the Perl release that contain references to Cygwin. These very brief notes attempt to explain the reason for all conditional code. Hopefully, keeping this up to date will allow the Cygwin port to be kept as clean as possible.

Documentation
  INSTALL README.cygwin README.win32 MANIFEST
  Changes Changes5.004 Changes5.005 Changes5.6 Changes5.8
  pod/perl.pod pod/perlport.pod pod/perlfaq3.pod
  pod/perldelta.pod pod/perl5004delta.pod pod/perl56delta.pod
  pod/perl561delta.pod pod/perl570delta.pod pod/perl572delta.pod
  pod/perl573delta.pod pod/perl58delta.pod pod/perl581delta.pod
  pod/perl590delta.pod pod/perlhist.pod pod/perlmodlib.pod
  pod/perltoc.pod pod.lst Porting/Glossary Porting/repository.pod
  Porting/checkAUTHORS.pl
  ext/Compress/Raw/Zlib/Changes ext/Compress/Raw/Zlib/README
  ext/Compress/Zlib/Changes ext/Cwd/Changes ext/DB_File/Changes
  ext/Encode/Changes ext/Sys/Syslog/Changes ext/Time/HiRes/Changes
  ext/Win32API/File/Changes lib/CGI/Changes lib/ExtUtils/CBuilder/Changes
  lib/ExtUtils/Changes lib/ExtUtils/NOTES lib/ExtUtils/PATCHING
  lib/ExtUtils/README lib/Module/Build/Changes lib/Net/Ping/Changes
  lib/Test/Harness/Changes
  lib/Term/ANSIColor/ChangeLog lib/Term/ANSIColor/README
  README.symbian symbian/TODO
Build, Configure, Make, Install
  cygwin/Makefile.SHs
  ext/IPC/SysV/hints/cygwin.pl
  ext/NDBM_File/hints/cygwin.pl
  ext/ODBM_File/hints/cygwin.pl
  hints/cygwin.sh
  Configure             - help finding hints from uname,
                          shared libperl required for dynamic loading
  Makefile.SH Cross/Makefile-cross-SH
                        - linklibperl
  Porting/patchls       - cygwin in port list
  installman            - man pages with :: translated to .
  installperl           - install dll, install to 'pods'
  makedepend.SH         - uwinfix
  regen_lib.pl          - file permissions
  NetWare/Makefile
  plan9/mkfile
  symbian/sanity.pl symbian/sisify.pl
  hints/uwin.sh
  vms/descrip_mms.template
  win32/Makefile win32/makefile.mk
Tests
  t/io/fs.t             - no file mode checks if not ntsec
                          skip rename() check when not check_case:relaxed
  t/io/tell.t           - binmode
  t/lib/cygwin.t        - builtin cygwin function tests
  t/op/groups.t         - basegroup has ID = 0
  t/op/magic.t          - $^X/symlink WORKAROUND, s/.exe//
  t/op/stat.t           - no /dev, skip Win32 ftCreationTime quirk
                          (cache manager sometimes preserves ctime of file
                          previously created and deleted), no -u (setuid)
  t/op/taint.t          - can't use empty path under Cygwin Perl
  t/op/time.t           - no tzset()
Compiled Perl Source
  EXTERN.h              - __declspec(dllimport)
  XSUB.h                - __declspec(dllexport)
  cygwin/cygwin.c       - os_extras (getcwd, spawn, and several Cygwin:: functions)
  perl.c                - os_extras, -i.bak
  perl.h                - binmode
  doio.c                - win9x can not rename a file when it is open
  pp_sys.c              - do not define h_errno, init _pwent_struct.pw_comment
  util.c                - use setenv
  util.h                - PERL_FILE_IS_ABSOLUTE macro
  pp.c                  - Comment about Posix vs IEEE math under Cygwin
  perlio.c              - CR/LF mode
  perliol.c             - Comment about EXTCONST under Cygwin
Compiled Module Source
  ext/Compress/Raw/Zlib/Makefile.PL
                        - Can't install via CPAN shell under Cygwin
  ext/Compress/Raw/Zlib/zlib-src/zutil.h
                        - Cygwin is Unix-like and has vsnprintf
  ext/Errno/Errno_pm.PL - Special handling for Win32 Perl under Cygwin
  ext/POSIX/POSIX.xs    - tzname defined externally
  ext/SDBM_File/sdbm/pair.c
                        - EXTCONST needs to be redefined from EXTERN.h
  ext/SDBM_File/sdbm/sdbm.c
                        - binary open
  ext/Sys/Syslog/Syslog.xs
                        - Cygwin has syslog.h
  ext/Sys/Syslog/win32/compile.pl
                        - Convert paths to Windows paths
  ext/Time/HiRes/HiRes.xs
                        - Various timers not available
  ext/Time/HiRes/Makefile.PL
                        - Find w32api/windows.h
  ext/Win32/Makefile.PL - Use various libraries under Cygwin
  ext/Win32/Win32.xs    - Child dir and child env under Cygwin
  ext/Win32API/File/File.xs
                        - _open_osfhandle not implemented under Cygwin
  ext/Win32CORE/Win32CORE.c
                        - __declspec(dllexport)
Perl Modules/Scripts
  ext/B/t/OptreeCheck.pm - Comment about stderr/stdout order under Cygwin
  ext/Digest/SHA/bin/shasum
                        - Use binary mode under Cygwin
  ext/Sys/Syslog/win32/Win32.pm
                        - Convert paths to Windows paths
  ext/Time/HiRes/HiRes.pm
                        - Comment about various timers not available
  ext/Win32API/File/File.pm
                        - _open_osfhandle not implemented under Cygwin
  ext/Win32CORE/Win32CORE.pm
                        - History of Win32CORE under Cygwin
  lib/CGI.pm            - binmode and path separator
  lib/CPANPLUS/Dist/MM.pm - Commented out code that fails under Win32/Cygwin
  lib/CPANPLUS/Internals/Constants/Report.pm
                        - OS classifications
  lib/CPANPLUS/Internals/Constants.pm
                        - Contants for Cygwin
  lib/CPANPLUS/Internals/Report.pm
                        - Example of Cygwin report
  lib/CPANPLUS/Module.pm
                        - Abort if running on old Cygwin version
  lib/Cwd.pm            - hook to internal Cwd::cwd
  lib/ExtUtils/CBuilder/Platform/cygwin.pm
                        - use gcc for ld, and link to libperl.dll.a
  lib/ExtUtils/CBuilder.pm
                        - Cygwin is Unix-like
  lib/ExtUtils/Install.pm - Install and rename issues under Cygwin
  lib/ExtUtils/MM.pm    - OS classifications
  lib/ExtUtils/MM_Any.pm - Example for Cygwin
  lib/ExtUtils/MakeMaker.pm
                        - require MM_Cygwin.pm
  lib/ExtUtils/MM_Cygwin.pm
                        - canonpath, cflags, manifypods, perl_archive
  lib/File/Fetch.pm     - Comment about quotes using a Cygwin example
  lib/File/Find.pm      - on remote drives stat() always sets st_nlink to 1
  lib/File/Spec/Cygwin.pm - case_tolerant
  lib/File/Spec/Unix.pm - preserve //unc
  lib/File/Spec/Win32.pm - References a message on cygwin.com
  lib/File/Spec.pm      - Pulls in lib/File/Spec/Cygwin.pm
  lib/File/Temp.pm      - no directory sticky bit
  lib/Module/Build/Compat.pm - Comment references 'make' under Cygwin
  lib/Module/Build/Platform/cygwin.pm
                        - Use '.' for man page separator
  lib/Module/Build.pm   - Cygwin is Unix-like
  lib/Module/CoreList.pm - List of all module files and versions
  lib/Net/Domain.pm     - No domainname command under Cygwin
  lib/Net/Netrc.pm      - Bypass using stat() under Cygwin
  lib/Net/Ping.pm       - ECONREFUSED is EAGAIN under Cygwin
  lib/Pod/Find.pm       - Set 'pods' dir
  lib/Pod/Perldoc/ToMan.pm - '-c' switch for pod2man
  lib/Pod/Perldoc.pm    - Use 'less' pager, and use .exe extension
  lib/Term/ANSIColor.pm - Cygwin terminal info
  lib/perl5db.pl        - use stdin not /dev/tty
  utils/perlbug.PL      - Add CYGWIN environment variable to report
Perl Module Tests
  ext/Compress/Zlib/t/14gzopen.t
  ext/Cwd/t/cwd.t
  ext/DB_File/t/db-btree.t
  ext/DB_File/t/db-hash.t
  ext/DB_File/t/db-recno.t
  ext/DynaLoader/t/DynaLoader.t
  ext/File/Glob/t/basic.t
  ext/GDBM_File/t/gdbm.t
  ext/POSIX/t/sysconf.t
  ext/POSIX/t/time.t
  ext/SDBM_File/t/sdbm.t
  ext/Sys/Syslog/t/syslog.t
  ext/Time/HiRes/t/HiRes.t
  ext/Win32/t/Unicode.t
  ext/Win32API/File/t/file.t
  ext/Win32CORE/t/win32core.t
  lib/AnyDBM_File.t
  lib/Archive/Extract/t/01_Archive-Extract.t
  lib/Archive/Tar/t/02_methods.t
  lib/CPANPLUS/t/05_CPANPLUS-Internals-Fetch.t
  lib/CPANPLUS/t/20_CPANPLUS-Dist-MM.t
  lib/ExtUtils/t/Embed.t
  lib/ExtUtils/t/eu_command.t
  lib/ExtUtils/t/MM_Cygwin.t
  lib/ExtUtils/t/MM_Unix.t
  lib/File/Compare.t
  lib/File/Copy.t
  lib/File/Find/t/find.t
  lib/File/Path.t
  lib/File/Spec/t/crossplatform.t
  lib/File/Spec/t/Spec.t
  lib/Module/Build/t/destinations.t
  lib/Net/hostent.t
  lib/Net/Ping/t/110_icmp_inst.t
  lib/Net/Ping/t/500_ping_icmp.t
  lib/Net/t/netrc.t
  lib/Pod/Simple/t/perlcyg.pod
  lib/Pod/Simple/t/perlcygo.txt
  lib/Pod/Simple/t/perlfaq.pod
  lib/Pod/Simple/t/perlfaqo.txt
  lib/User/grent.t
  lib/User/pwent.t


BUGS ON CYGWIN

Support for swapping real and effective user and group IDs is incomplete. On WinNT Cygwin provides setuid(), seteuid(), setgid() and setegid(). However, additional Cygwin calls for manipulating WinNT access tokens and security contexts are required.


AUTHORS

Charles Wilson <cwilson@ece.gatech.edu>, Eric Fifer <egf7@columbia.edu>, alexander smishlajev <als@turnhere.com>, Steven Morlock <newspost@morlock.net>, Sebastien Barre <Sebastien.Barre@utc.fr>, Teun Burgers <burgers@ecn.nl>, Gerrit P. Haase <gp@familiehaase.de>, Reini Urban <rurban@cpan.org>, Jan Dubois <jand@activestate.com>, Jerry D. Hedden <jdhedden@cpan.org>.


HISTORY

Last updated: 2007-09-25

 README.cygwin - Perl for Cygwin