214 lines
6.7 KiB
Plaintext
214 lines
6.7 KiB
Plaintext
=head1 NAME
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README.hints
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=head1 DESCRIPTION
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These files are used by Configure to set things which Configure either
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can't or doesn't guess properly. Most of these hint files have been
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tested with at least some version of perl5, but some are still left
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over from perl4.
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Please send any problems or suggested changes to perlbug@perl.com.
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Hint file naming convention: Each hint file name should have only
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one '.'. (This is for portability to non-unix file systems.) Names
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should also fit in <= 14 characters, for portability to older SVR3
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systems. File names are of the form $osname_$osvers.sh, with all '.'
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changed to '_', and all characters (such as '/') that don't belong in
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Unix filenames omitted.
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For example, consider Sun OS 4.1.3. Configure determines $osname=sunos
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(all names are converted to lower case) and $osvers=4.1.3. Configure
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will search for an appropriate hint file in the following order:
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sunos_4_1_3.sh
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sunos_4_1.sh
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sunos_4.sh
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sunos.sh
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If you need to create a hint file, please try to use as general a name
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as possible and include minor version differences inside case or test
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statements. For example, for IRIX 6.X, we have the following hints
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files:
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irix_6_0.sh
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irix_6_1.sh
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irix_6.sh
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That is, 6.0 and 6.1 have their own special hints, but 6.2, 6.3, and
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up are all handled by the same irix_6.sh. That way, we don't have to
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make a new hint file every time the IRIX O/S is upgraded.
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If you need to test for specific minor version differences in your
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hints file, be sure to include a default choice. (See aix.sh for one
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example.) That way, if you write a hint file for foonix 3.2, it might
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still work without any changes when foonix 3.3 is released.
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Please also comment carefully on why the different hints are needed.
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That way, a future version of Configure may be able to automatically
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detect what is needed.
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A glossary of config.sh variables is in the file Porting/Glossary.
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=head1 Hint file tricks
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=head2 Printing critical messages
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[This is still experimental]
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If you have a *REALLY* important message that the user ought to see at
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the end of the Configure run, you can store it in the file
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'config.msg'. At the end of the Configure run, Configure will display
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the contents of this file. Currently, the only place this is used is
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in Configure itself to warn about the need to set LD_LIBRARY_PATH if
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you are building a shared libperl.so.
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To use this feature, just do something like the following
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$cat <<EOM | $tee -a ../config.msg >&4
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This is a really important message. Be sure to read it
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before you type 'make'.
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EOM
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This message will appear on the screen as the hint file is being
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processed and again at the end of Configure.
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Please use this sparingly.
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=head2 Propagating variables to config.sh
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Sometimes, you want an extra variable to appear in config.sh. For
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example, if your system can't compile toke.c with the optimizer on,
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you can put
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toke_cflags='optimize=""'
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at the beginning of a line in your hints file. Configure will then
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extract that variable and place it in your config.sh file. Later,
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while compiling toke.c, the cflags shell script will eval $toke_cflags
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and hence compile toke.c without optimization.
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Note that for this to work, the variable you want to propagate must
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appear in the first column of the hint file. It is extracted by
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Configure with a simple sed script, so beware that surrounding case
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statements aren't any help.
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By contrast, if you don't want Configure to propagate your temporary
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variable, simply indent it by a leading tab in your hint file.
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For example, prior to 5.002, a bug in scope.c led to perl crashing
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when compiled with -O in AIX 4.1.1. The following "obvious"
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workaround in hints/aix.sh wouldn't work as expected:
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case "$osvers" in
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4.1.1)
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scope_cflags='optimize=""'
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;;
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esac
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because Configure doesn't parse the surrounding 'case' statement, it
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just blindly propagates any variable that starts in the first column.
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For this particular case, that's probably harmless anyway.
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Three possible fixes are:
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=over
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=item 1
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Create an aix_4_1_1.sh hint file that contains the scope_cflags
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line and then sources the regular aix hints file for the rest of
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the information.
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=item 2
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Do the following trick:
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scope_cflags='case "$osvers" in 4.1*) optimize=" ";; esac'
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Now when $scope_cflags is eval'd by the cflags shell script, the
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case statement is executed. Of course writing scripts to be eval'd is
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tricky, especially if there is complex quoting. Or,
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=item 3
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Write directly to Configure's temporary file UU/config.sh.
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You can do this with
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case "$osvers" in
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4.1.1)
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echo "scope_cflags='optimize=\"\"'" >> UU/config.sh
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scope_cflags='optimize=""'
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;;
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esac
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Note you have to both write the definition to the temporary
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UU/config.sh file and set the variable to the appropriate value.
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This is sneaky, but it works. Still, if you need anything this
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complex, perhaps you should create the separate hint file for
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aix 4.1.1.
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=back
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=head2 Call-backs
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=over 4
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=item Warning
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All of the following is experimental and subject to change. But it
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probably won't change much. :-)
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=item Compiler-related flags
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The settings of some things, such as optimization flags, may depend on
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the particular compiler used. For example, for ISC we have the
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following:
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case "$cc" in
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*gcc*) ccflags="$ccflags -posix"
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ldflags="$ldflags -posix"
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;;
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*) ccflags="$ccflags -Xp -D_POSIX_SOURCE"
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ldflags="$ldflags -Xp"
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;;
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esac
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However, the hints file is processed before the user is asked which
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compiler should be used. Thus in order for these hints to be useful,
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the user must specify sh Configure -Dcc=gcc on the command line, as
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advised by the INSTALL file.
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For versions of perl later than 5.004_61, this problem can
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be circumvented by the use of "call-back units". That is, the hints
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file can tuck this information away into a file UU/cc.cbu. Then,
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after Configure prompts the user for the C compiler, it will load in
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and run the UU/cc.cbu "call-back" unit. See hints/solaris_2.sh for an
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example.
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=item Threading-related flags
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Similarly, after Configure prompts the user about whether or not to
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compile Perl with threads, it will look for a "call-back" unit
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usethreads.cbu. See hints/linux.sh for an example.
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=item Future status
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I hope this "call-back" scheme is simple enough to use but powerful
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enough to deal with most situations. Still, there are certainly cases
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where it's not enough. For example, for aix we actually change
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compilers if we are using threads.
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I'd appreciate feedback on whether this is sufficiently general to be
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helpful, or whether we ought to simply continue to require folks to
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say things like "sh Configure -Dcc=gcc -Dusethreads" on the command line.
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=back
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Have the appropriate amount of fun :-)
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Andy Dougherty doughera@lafcol.lafayette.edu
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