PERLOS390(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PERLOS390(1)NAME
README.os390 - building and installing Perl for OS/390.
SYNOPSIS
This document will help you Configure, build, test and
install Perl on OS/390 Unix System Services.
DESCRIPTION
This is a fully ported Perl for OS/390 Version 2 Release
3, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. It may work on other versions or
releases, but those are the ones we've tested it on.
You may need to carry out some system configuration tasks
before running the Configure script for Perl.
Unpacking
Gunzip/gzip for OS/390 is discussed at:
http://www.s390.ibm.com/products/oe/bpxqp1.html
to extract an ASCII tar archive on OS/390, try this:
pax -o to=IBM-1047,from=ISO8859-1 -r < latest.tar
Setup and utilities
Be sure that your yacc installation is in place including
any necessary parser template files. If you have not
already done so then be sure to:
cp /samples/yyparse.c /etc
This may also be a good time to ensure that your /etc/pro
tocol file and either your /etc/resolv.conf or /etc/hosts
files are in place. The IBM document that described such
USS system setup issues was SC28-1890-07 "OS/390 UNIX Sys
tem Services Planning", in particular Chapter 6 on cus
tomizing the OE shell.
GNU make for OS/390, which is recommended for the build of
perl (as well as building CPAN modules and extensions), is
available from:
http://www.mks.com/s390/gnu/index.htm
Some people have reported encountering "Out of memory!"
errors while trying to build Perl using GNU make binaries.
If you encounter such trouble then try to download the
source code kit and build GNU make from source to elimi
nate any such trouble. You might also find GNU make (as
well as Perl and Apache) in the red-piece/book "Open
Source Software for OS/390 UNIX", SG24-5944-00 from IBM.
If instead of the recommended GNU make you would like to
use the system supplied make program then be sure to
install the default rules file properly via the shell com
mand:
cp /samples/startup.mk /etc
and be sure to also set the environment variable
_C89_CCMODE=1 (exporting _C89_CCMODE=1 is also a good idea
for users of GNU make).
You might also want to have GNU groff for OS/390 installed
before running the `make install` step for Perl.
There is a syntax error in the /usr/include/sys/socket.h
header file that IBM supplies with USS V2R7, V2R8, and
possibly V2R9. The problem with the header file is that
near the definition of the SO_REUSEPORT constant there is
a spurious extra '/' character outside of a comment like
so:
#define SO_REUSEPORT 0x0200 /* allow local address & port
reuse */ /
You could edit that header yourself to remove that last
'/', or you might note that Language Environment (LE) APAR
PQ39997 describes the problem and PTF's UQ46272 and
UQ46271 are the (R8 at least) fixes and apply them. If
left unattended that syntax error will turn up as an
inability for Perl to build its "Socket" extension.
For successful testing you may need to turn on the sticky
bit for your world readable /tmp directory if you have not
already done so (see man chmod).
Configure
Once you've unpacked the distribution, run "sh Configure"
(see INSTALL for a full discussion of the Configure
options). There is a "hints" file for os390 that speci
fies the correct values for most things. Some things to
watch out for include:
A message of the form:
(I see you are using the Korn shell. Some ksh's blow up on Configure,
mainly on older exotic systems. If yours does, try the Bourne shell instead.)
is nothing to worry about at all.
Some of the parser default template files in /samples
are needed in /etc. In particular be sure that you at
least copy /samples/yyparse.c to /etc before running
Perl's Configure. This step ensures successful
extraction of EBCDIC versions of parser files such as
perly.c, perly.h, and x2p/a2p.c. This has to be done
before running Configure the first time. If you
failed to do so then the easiest way to re-Configure
Perl is to delete your misconfigured build root and
re-extract the source from the tar ball. Then you
must ensure that /etc/yyparse.c is properly in place
before attempting to re-run Configure.
This port will support dynamic loading, but it is not
selected by default. If you would like to experiment
with dynamic loading then be sure to specify -Dusedl
in the arguments to the Configure script. See the
comments in hints/os390.sh for more information on
dynamic loading. If you build with dynamic loading
then you will need to add the $archlibexp/CORE direc
tory to your LIBPATH environment variable in order for
perl to work. See the config.sh file for the value of
$archlibexp. If in trying to use Perl you see an
error message similar to:
CEE3501S The module libperl.dll was not found.
From entry point __dllstaticinit at compile unit offset +00000194 at
then your LIBPATH does not have the location of
libperl.x and either libperl.dll or libperl.so in it.
Add that directory to your LIBPATH and proceed.
Do not turn on the compiler optimization flag "-O".
There is a bug in either the optimizer or perl that
causes perl to not work correctly when the optimizer
is on.
Some of the configuration files in /etc used by the
networking APIs are either missing or have the wrong
names. In particular, make sure that there's either
an /etc/resolv.conf or an /etc/hosts, so that gethost_
byname() works, and make sure that the file /etc/proto
has been renamed to /etc/protocol (NOT /etc/protocols,
as used by other Unix systems). You may have to look
for things like HOSTNAME and DOMAINORIGIN in the
"//'SYS1.TCPPARMS(TCPDATA)'" PDS member in order to
properly set up your /etc networking files.
Build, test, install
Simply put:
sh Configure
make
make test
if everything looks ok (see the next section for test/IVP
diagnosis) then:
make install
this last step may or may not require UID=0 privileges
depending on how you answered the questions that Configure
asked and whether or not you have write access to the
directories you specified.
build anomalies
"Out of memory!" messages during the build of Perl are
most often fixed by re building the GNU make utility for
OS/390 from a source code kit.
Another memory limiting item to check is your MAXASSIZE
parameter in your 'SYS1.PARMLIB(BPXPRMxx)' data set (note
too that as of V2R8 address space limits can be set on a
per user ID basis in the USS segment of a RACF profile).
People have reported successful builds of Perl with MAXAS
SIZE parameters as small as 503316480 (and it may be pos
sible to build Perl with a MAXASSIZE smaller than that).
Within USS your /etc/profile or $HOME/.profile may limit
your ulimit settings. Check that the following command
returns reasonable values:
ulimit -a
To conserve memory you should have your compiler modules
loaded into the Link Pack Area (LPA/ELPA) rather than in a
link list or step lib.
If the c89 compiler complains of syntax errors during the
build of the Socket extension then be sure to fix the syn
tax error in the system header /usr/include/sys/socket.h.
testing anomalies
The `make test` step runs a Perl Verification Procedure,
usually before installation. You might encounter STDERR
messages even during a successful run of `make test`.
Here is a guide to some of the more commonly seen anoma
lies:
A message of the form:
comp/cpp.............ERROR CBC3191 ./.301989890.c:1 The character $ is not a
valid C source character.
FSUM3065 The COMPILE step ended with return code 12.
FSUM3017 Could not compile .301989890.c. Correct the errors and try again.
ok
indicates that the t/comp/cpp.t test of Perl's -P com
mand line switch has passed but that the particular
invocation of c89 -E in the cpp script does not sup
press the C compiler check of source code validity.
A message of the form:
io/openpid...........CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.
CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.
CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.
ok
indicates that the t/io/openpid.t test of Perl has
passed but done so with extraneous messages on stderr
from CEE.
A message of the form:
lib/ftmp-security....File::Temp::_gettemp: Parent directory (/tmp/) is not safe
(sticky bit not set when world writable?) at lib/ftmp-security.t line 100
File::Temp::_gettemp: Parent directory (/tmp/) is not safe (sticky bit not
set when world writable?) at lib/ftmp-security.t line 100
ok
indicates a problem with the permissions on your /tmp
directory within the HFS. To correct that problem
issue the command:
chmod a+t /tmp
from an account with write access to the directory
entry for /tmp.
installation anomalies
The installman script will try to run on OS/390. There
will be fewer errors if you have a roff utility installed.
You can obtain GNU groff from the Redbook SG24-5944-00 ftp
site.
Usage Hints
When using perl on OS/390 please keep in mind that the
EBCDIC and ASCII character sets are different. See per
lebcdic.pod for more on such character set issues. Perl
builtin functions that may behave differently under EBCDIC
are also mentioned in the perlport.pod document.
Open Edition (UNIX System Services) from V2R8 onward does
support #!/path/to/perl script invocation. There is a PTF
available from IBM for V2R7 that will allow shell/kernel
support for #!. USS releases prior to V2R7 did not sup
port the #! means of script invocation. If you are run
ning V2R6 or earlier then see:
head `whence perldoc`
for an example of how to use the "eval exec" trick to ask
the shell to have Perl run your scripts on those older
releases of Unix System Services.
If you are having trouble with square brackets then con
sider switching your rlogin or telnet client. Try to
avoid older 3270 emulators and ISHELL for working with
Perl on USS.
Floating point anomalies
There appears to be a bug in the floating point implemen
tation on S/390 systems such that calling int() on the
product of a number and a small magnitude number is not
the same as calling int() on the quotient of that number
and a large magnitude number. For example, in the follow
ing Perl code:
my $x = 100000.0;
my $y = int($x * 1e-5) * 1e5; # '0'
my $z = int($x / 1e+5) * 1e5; # '100000'
print "\$y is $y and \$z is $z\n"; # $y is 0 and $z is 100000
Although one would expect the quantities $y and $z to be
the same and equal to 100000 they will differ and instead
will be 0 and 100000 respectively.
The problem can be further examined in a roughly equiva
lent C program:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>
main()
{
double r1,r2;
double x = 100000.0;
double y = 0.0;
double z = 0.0;
x = 100000.0 * 1e-5;
r1 = modf (x,&y);
x = 100000.0 / 1e+5;
r2 = modf (x,&z);
printf("y is %e and z is %e\n",y*1e5,z*1e5);
/* y is 0.000000e+00 and z is 1.000000e+05 (with c89) */
}
Modules and Extensions
Pure pure (that is non xs) modules may be installed via
the usual:
perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install
If you built perl with dynamic loading capability then
that would also be the way to build xs based extensions.
However, if you built perl with the default static linking
you can still build xs based extensions for OS/390 but you
will need to follow the instructions in ExtUtils::Make
Maker for building statically linked perl binaries. In
the simplest configurations building a static perl + xs
extension boils down to:
perl Makefile.PL
make
make perl
make test
make install
make -f Makefile.aperl inst_perl MAP_TARGET=perl
In most cases people have reported better results with GNU
make rather than the system's /bin/make program, whether
for plain modules or for xs based extensions.
If the make process encounters trouble with either compi
lation or linking then try setting the _C89_CCMODE to 1.
Assuming sh is your login shell then run:
export _C89_CCMODE=1
If tcsh is your login shell then use the setenv command.
AUTHORS
David Fiander and Peter Prymmer with thanks to Dennis
Longnecker and William Raffloer for valuable reports, LPAR
and PTF feedback. Thanks to Mike MacIsaac and Egon Terwe
dow for SG24-5944-00. Thanks to Ignasi Roca for pointing
out the floating point problems. Thanks to John Goodyear
for dynamic loading help.
SEE ALSO
the INSTALL manpage, the perlport manpage, the perlebcdic
manpage, the ExtUtils::MakeMaker manpage.
http://www.mks.com/s390/gnu/index.htm
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg245944.html
http://www.s390.ibm.com/products/oe/bpxa1ty1.html#opensrc
http://www.s390.ibm.com/products/oe/portbk/bpxacenv.html
http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl-mvs/
Mailing list
The Perl Institute (http://www.perl.org/) maintains a
perl-mvs mailing list of interest to all folks building
and/or using perl on all EBCDIC platforms (not just
OS/390). To subscribe, send a message of:
subscribe perl-mvs
to majordomo@perl.org. See also:
http://lists.perl.org/showlist.cgi?name=perl-mvs
There are web archives of the mailing list at:
http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl-mvs/
http://archive.develooper.com/perl-mvs@perl.org/
HISTORY
This document was originally written by David Fiander for
the 5.005 release of Perl.
This document was podified for the 5.005_03 release of
Perl 11 March 1999.
Updated 12 November 2000 for the 5.7.1 release of Perl.
Updated 15 January 2001 for the 5.7.1 release of Perl.
Updated 24 January 2001 to mention dynamic loading.
Updated 12 March 2001 to mention //'SYS1.TCPPARMS(TCP
DATA)'.
2001-03-03 perl v5.6.1 PERLOS390(1)
