Internet Info 1994 March/Internet Info CD-ROM (Walnut Creek) (March 1994).iso/answers/news/perl-faq/part1

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From: Tom Christiansen <[e-mail]>
Subject: Perl Frequently Asked Questions, part 1 of 4
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Archive-name: perl-faq/part1
Version: $Id: perl-info1,v 1.1 93/10/02 00:27:05 tchrist Exp Locker: tchrist $

This posting contains answers to general information questions,
mostly of a non-technical nature.  The following questions are
answered in this posting:

1.1) What is Perl?
1.2) Is Perl hard to learn?
1.3) Should I program everything in Perl?
1.4) Where can I get Perl over the Internet?
1.5) Where can I get Perl via Email?
1.6) How can I get Perl via UUCP?
1.7) Where can I get more information on Perl?
1.8) Can people who aren't on USENET receive comp.lang.perl as a digest?
1.9) Are archives of comp.lang.perl available?
1.10) Is there a WAIS server for Perl?
1.11) Is there a Perl port to machine FOO?
1.12) How do I get Perl to compile on Solaris?
1.13) How do I get Perl to compile on a Next?
1.14) Where can I get (info|inter|ora|sql|syb)perl?
1.15) Where can I get an SNMP-aware Perl?
1.16) There's an a2p and an s2p; why isn't there a p2c (perl-to-C)?
1.17) Where can I get undump for my machine?
1.18) Where can I get a perl-mode for emacs?
1.19) How can I use Perl interactively?
1.20) Is there a Perl shell?


1.1) What is Perl?

    A programming language, by Larry Wall <[e-mail]>.

    Here's the beginning of the description from the man page:

    Perl is an interpreted language optimized for scanning arbitrary text
    files, extracting information from those text files, and printing reports
    based on that information.  It's also a good language for many system
    management tasks.  The language is intended to be practical (easy to use,
    efficient, complete) rather than beautiful (tiny, elegant, minimal).  It
    combines (in the author's opinion, anyway) some of the best features of C,
    sed, awk, and sh, so people familiar with those languages should have
    little difficulty with it.  (Language historians will also note some
    vestiges of csh, Pascal, and even BASIC-PLUS.)  Expression syntax
    corresponds quite closely to C expression syntax.  Unlike most Unix
    utilities, Perl does not arbitrarily limit the size of your data--if
    you've got the memory, Perl can slurp in your whole file as a single
    string.  Recursion is of unlimited depth.  And the hash tables used by
    associative arrays grow as necessary to prevent degraded performance.
    Perl uses sophisticated pattern matching techniques to scan large amounts
    of data very quickly.  Although optimized for scanning text, Perl can also
    deal with binary data, and can make dbm files look like associative arrays
    (where dbm is available).  Setuid Perl scripts are safer than C programs
    through a dataflow tracing mechanism which prevents many stupid security
    holes.  If you have a problem that would ordinarily use sed or awk or sh,
    but it exceeds their capabilities or must run a little faster, and you
    don't want to write the silly thing in C, then Perl may be for you.  There
    are also translators to turn your sed and awk scripts into Perl scripts.


1.2) Is Perl hard to learn?

    No, Perl is easy to learn for two reasons.

    The first reason is that most of Perl is derived from existing tools
    and languages, ones that many people who turn to Perl already have
    some familiarity with.  These include the C programming language, the
    UNIX C library, the UNIX shell, sed, and awk.  If you already know
    these somewhat, Perl should be very easy for you.

    The second reason that Perl is easy to learn is that you don't have to
    know every thing there is to know about it in order to get good use
    out of it.  In fact, just a very small subset, mostly borrowed from C,
    the shell, and sed, will be enough for most tasks.  As you feel the
    need or desire to use more sophisticated features (such as C
    structures or networking), you can learn these as you go.  The
    learning curve for Perl is not a steep one, especially if you have
    the headstart of having a background in UNIX.  Rather, its learning
    curve is gentle and gradual, but it *is* admittedly rather long.

    If you don't know C or UNIX at all, it'll be a steeper learning curve,
    but what you then learn from Perl will carry over into other areas,
    like using the C library, UNIX system call, regular expressions, and
    associative arrays, just to name a few.  To know Perl is to know
    UNIX, and vice versa.


1.3) Should I program everything in Perl?

    Of course not.  You should choose the appropriate tool for the task at
    hand.  While it's true that the answer to the question "Can I do (some
    arbitrary task) in Perl?" is almost always "yes", that doesn't mean
    this is necessarily a good thing to do.  For many people, Perl serves
    as a great replacement for shell programming.  For a few people, it
    also serves as a replacement for most of what they'd do in C.  But
    for some things, Perl just isn't the optimal choice, such as tasks
    requiring very complex data structures.


1.4) Where can I get Perl over the Internet?

    From any comp.sources.misc archive.   Initial sources  were posted to
    Volume 18, Issues 19-54 at patchlevel 3.  The Patches 4-10 were posted
    to Volume 20, Issues 56-62.  You can use the archie server
    (see the alt.sources FAQ in news.answers) for ways to find these.

    These machines, at the very least, definitely have it available for
    anonymous FTP:

    ftp.uu.net                137.39.1.2
    ftp.netlabs.com         192.94.48.152
    coombs.anu.edu.au        150.203.76.2
    archive.cis.ohio-state.edu      128.146.8.52
    jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov         128.149.1.143
    prep.ai.mit.edu            18.71.0.38
    ftp.cs.ruu.nl            131.211.80.17  (Europe)

    Larry's machine is the netlabs one, and the biggest Perl archive
    is on coombs.


1.5) Where can I get Perl via Email?

    If you are in Europe, you might using the following site.  (I'm still
    looking for a domestic site.) This information thanks to "Henk P.
    Penning" <[e-mail]>:  One automated fashion is as follows:

    Email: Send a message to '[e-mail]' containing:
     begin
     path your_email_address
     send help
     send PERL/INDEX
     end
    The path-line may be omitted if your message contains a normal From:-line.
    You will receive a help-file and an index of the directory that contains
    the Perl stuff.

    If all else fails, mail to Larry usually suffices.


1.6) How can I get Perl via UUCP?

    You can get it from the site osu-cis; here is the appropriate info,
    thanks to J Greely <[e-mail]> or <osu-cis!jgreely>.

    E-mail contact:
        osu-cis!uucp
    Get these two files first:
        osu-cis!~/GNU.how-to-get.
        osu-cis!~/ls-lR.Z
    Current Perl distribution:
        osu-cis!~/perl/4.0/kits@10/perl.kitXX.Z (XX=01-37)
    How to reach osu-cis via uucp(L.sys/Systems file lines):
    #
    # Direct Trailblazer
    #
    osu-cis Any ACU 19200 1-614-292-5112 in:--in:--in: Uanon
    #
    # Direct V.32 (MNP 4)
    # dead, dead, dead...sigh.
    #
    #osu-cis Any ACU 9600 1-614-292-1153 in:--in:--in: Uanon
    #
    # Micom port selector, at 1200, 2400, or 9600 bps.
    # Replace ##'s below with 12, 24, or 96 (both speed and phone number).
    #
    osu-cis Any ACU ##00 1-614-292-31## "" \r\c Name? osu-cis nected \c GO \d\r\d\r\d\r in:--in:--in:
     Uanon

    Modify as appropriate for your site, of course, to deal with your
    local telephone system.  There are no limitations concerning the hours
    of the day you may call.

    Another possibility is to use UUNET, although they charge you
    for it.  You have been duly warned.  Here's the advert:

           Anonymous Access to UUNET's Source Archives

                 1-900-GOT-SRCS

     UUNET now provides access to its extensive collection of UNIX
    related sources to non- subscribers.  By  calling  1-900-468-7727
    and  using the login "uucp" with no password, anyone may uucp any
    of UUNET's on line source collection.  Callers will be charged 40
    cents  per  minute.   The charges will appear on their next tele-
    phone bill.

     The  file  uunet!/info/help  contains  instructions.   The  file
    uunet!/index//ls-lR.Z contains a complete list of the files available
    and is updated daily.  Files ending in Z need to be uncompressed
    before being used.   The file uunet!~/compress.tar is a tar
    archive containing the C sources for the uncompress program.

     This service provides a  cost  effective  way  of  obtaining
    current  releases  of sources without having to maintain accounts
    with UUNET or some other service.  All modems  connected  to  the
    900  number  are  Telebit T2500 modems.  These modems support all
    standard modem speeds including PEP, V.32 (9600), V.22bis (2400),
    Bell  212a  (1200), and Bell 103 (300).  Using PEP or V.32, a 1.5
    megabyte file such as the GNU C compiler would cost $10  in  con-
    nect  charges.   The  entire  55  megabyte X Window system V11 R4
    would cost only $370 in connect time.  These costs are less  than
    the  official  tape  distribution fees and they are available now
    via modem.

              UUNET Communications Services
           3110 Fairview Park Drive, Suite 570
             Falls Church, VA 22042
             [phone] (voice)
              [phone] (fax)
                [e-mail]



1.7) Where can I get more information on Perl?

    We'll cover five areas here: USENET (where you're probably reading
    this), publications, the reference guide, examples on the Internet,
    and Perl instructional courses.

    A.  USENET

    You should definitely read the USENET comp.lang.perl newsgroup or
    mailing list for all sorts of discussions regarding the language,
    bugs, features, history, humor, and trivia.  In this respect, it
    functions both as a comp.lang.* style newsgroup and also as a user
    group for the language; in fact, there's a mailing list called
    ``perl-users'' that is bidirectionally gatewayed to the newsgroup; see
    question #38 for details.  Larry Wall is a very frequent poster here,
    as well as many (if not most) of the other seasoned Perl programmers.
    It's the best place for the very latest information on Perl.

    B.  PUBLICATIONS

    If you've been dismayed by the ~80-page troffed Perl man page (or is
    that man treatise?) you should look to ``the Camel Book'', written by
    Larry and Randal Schwartz <[e-mail]>, published as a Nutshell
    Handbook by O'Reilly & Associates and entitled _Programming Perl_.
    Besides serving as a reference guide for Perl, it also contains
    tutorial material and is a great source of examples and cookbook
    procedures, as well as wit and wisdom, tricks and traps, pranks and
    pitfalls.  The code examples contained therein are available via
    anonymous FTP from ftp.uu.net in
    /published/oreilly/nutshell/perl/perl.tar.Z for your retrieval.
    Corrections and additions to the book can be found in the Perl man
    page right before the BUGS section under the heading ERRATA AND
    ADDENDA.

    If you can't find the book in your local technical bookstore, the book
    may be ordered directly from O'Reilly by calling 1-800-998-9938 if in
    North America and 1-707-829-0515.  The book's ISBN is 0-937175-64-1.

    Autographed copies are *NO LONGER* available from TECHbooks --
    you'll have to nab the authors in person if you want one.  Larry
    routinely carries around a camel stamp for just such an occasion.

    Reasonably substantiated rumor has it that there will be another Perl
    book out pretty soon, this one aimed more at beginners.  Look for it
    from ORA towards the beginning of 93.

    Another ORA book by Randal Schwartz is scheduled for imminent
    release.  It is entitled _Learning Perl_ (``The LLama Book'') and
    covers the basics of Perl in a tutorial fashion.

    Larry Wall has published a 3-part article on perl in Unix World
    (August through October of 1991), and Rob Kolstad also had a 3-parter
    in Unix Review (May through July of 1990).  Tom Christiansen also has
    a brief overview article in the trade newsletter Unix Technology
    Advisor from November of 1989.  You might also investigate "The Wisdom
    of Perl" by Gordon Galligher from SunExpert magazine;  April 1991
    Volume 2 Number 4.  The Dec 92 Computer Language magazine also
    contains a cover article on Perl, "Perl: the Programmers Toolbox".

    Many other articles on Perl have been recently published.  If you
    have references, especially on-line copies, please mail them to
    the FAQ maintainer for inclusion is this notice.

    The USENIX LISA (Large Installations Systems Administration) Conference
    have for several years now included many papers of tools written in
    Perl.  Old proceedings of these conferences are available; look in
    your current issue of ";login:" or send mail to [e-mail]
    for further information.

    C.  INTERNET

    For other examples of Perl scripts, look in the Perl source directory in
    the eg subdirectory.

    The site with the biggest repository of Perl scripts right now
    seems to be coombs.anu.edu.au [150.203.76.2].  That directory
    has an INDEX with over 300 lines in it, each describing what
    the script does.  This is maintained by [e-mail] .

    Note:  European users please use the mirror site on
    src.doc.ic.ac.uk[149.169.2.1 in
        /pub/computing/programming/languages/perl/coombs-scripts
    The link speed would be a lot better for all.  Contact
    [e-mail] for more information. It is updated daily.

    Another source for examples, currently only for anonymous FTP, is on
    convex.com [130.168.1.1].  This contains, amongst other things,
    a copy of the newsgroup up through Aug 91, a text retrieval database
    for the newsgroup, a rather old and short troff version of Tom Christiansen's
    perl tutorial (this was the version presented at Washington DC USENIX),
    and quite a few of Tom's scripts.  You can look at the INDEX file
    in /pub/perl/INDEX for a list of what's in that directory.

    The Convex and Ohio State archives are mirrored on uunet
    in /languages/perl/scripts-{convex,osu}.

    There's also a #Perl channel on IRC (Internet Relay Chat) where
    Tom and Randal have been known to hang out.  That's real-time,
    free Perl support.  What more can you ask? :-)

    D.  REFERENCE GUIDE

    A nice reference guide by Johan Vromans <[e-mail]> is also available;
    It is distributed in LaTeX (source) and PostScript (ready to
    print) forms. Obsolete versions may still be available in TeX and troff
    forms, although these don't print as nicely. The official kit
    includes both LaTeX and PostScript forms, and can be FTP'd from
    ftp.cs.ruu.nl [131.211.80.17], file /pub/DOC/perlref-4.035.tar.Z.
    The reference guide comes with the O'Reilly book in a nice, glossy
    card format.

    E.  PERL COURSES

    Various technical conferences, including USENIX, LISA, SUG, WCSAS, AUUG,
    FedUnix, and Europen have been sponsoring tutorials of varying lengths
    on Perl at their system administration and general conferences.  You
    might consider attending one of these.  These public classes are
    typically taught by Tom Christiansen <[e-mail]>.  Both Tom
    and Randal Schwartz <[e-mail]> also teach Perl at customer
    sites.  Classes can run from one day up to a week ranging over a wide
    range of subject matter (most are two or three days), and can include
    lab time if you want; having lab time with exercises is generally of
    great benefit.  Send us mail if your organization is interested in
    having a Perl class taught at your site, or if you'd like to know when
    the next public appearances are.


1.8) Can people who aren't on USENET receive comp.lang.perl as a digest?

    "Perl-Users" is the mailing list version of the comp.lang.perl
    newsgroup.  If you're not lucky enough to be on USENET you can post to
    comp.lang.perl by sending to one of the following addresses.  Which one
    will work best for you depends on which nets your site is hooked into.
    Ask your local network guru if you're not certain.

    Internet: [e-mail]
              [e-mail]

    BitNet: Perl@Virginia

    uucp: ...!uunet!virginia!perl-users

    The Perl-Users list is bidirectionally gatewayed with the USENET
    newsgroup comp.lang.perl.  This means that VIRGINIA functions as a
    reflector.  All traffic coming in from the non-USENET side is
    immediately posted to the newsgroup.  Postings from the USENET side are
    periodically digested and mailed out to the Perl-Users mailing list.  A
    digest is created and distributed at least once per day, more often if
    traffic warrants.

    All requests to be added to or deleted from this list, problems,
    questions, etc., should be sent to:

    Internet: [e-mail]
              [e-mail]

    BitNet: Perl-Req@Virginia

    uucp: ...!uunet!virginia!perl-users-request

    Coordinator: Marc Rouleau <[e-mail]>

1.9) Are archives of comp.lang.perl available?

    Yes, although they're poorly organized.  You can get them from the
    host ftp.ugcs.caltech.edu (131.215.128.204) to the file
    /pub/comp.lang.perl.tar.Z; this file was last modified on February 15,
    1992, and is 8.9 megabytes long.  Obviously, it's considerably out of
    date.

    These are currently stored in news- or MH-style format; there are
    subdirectories named things like "arrays", "programs", "taint", and
    "emacs".  Unfortunately, only the first ~1600 or so messages have been
    so categorized, and we're now up to almost 15000.  Furthermore, even
    this categorization was haphazardly done and contains errors.

    Both Larry and I have maintained archives of the nearly 19,000
    messages the newsgroup has seen since its inception.  I'm currently
    looking for a home for them.  It'll take about 100 megabytes, although
    I'm on a 16k/2k filesystem, and that might be reduced somewhat by one
    with smaller frags.  Or perhaps I'll just get myself a new disk.

    They're just stored as regular files the way news does, so it's
    somewhat unmanageable.

    A more sophisticated query and retrieval mechanism is desirable.
    Preferably one that allows you to retrieve article using a fast-access
    indices, keyed on at least author, date, subject, thread (as in "trn")
    and probably keywords.  Right now, the MH pick command works for this,
    but it is very slow to select on 18000 articles.

    If you're serious about this, your best bet is probably to retrieve
    the compressed tarchive and play with what you get.  Any suggestions
    how to better sort this all out are extremely welcome.

    If you have a special request for a query on the old newsgroup
    postings, and make nice noises in my direction, I can run the query
    and send them to you.  Algebraic queries are like "find me anything
    about this and that and the other thing but not this or whozits".  I
    hope to put this in the form of a mailserver.  Donated software would
    be fine. :-)

    The fast text-retrieval query system for this I'm currently using is
    Liam Quin's excellent lqtext system, available from ftp.cs.toronto.edu
    in /pub/lq-text* .


1.10) Is there a WAIS server for Perl?

    Rumor has it that there are WAIS servers out there for comp.lang.perl
    these days, but I haven't used them.  Kevin Gardner <[e-mail]>
    offers the following: For WAIS server info, check on the gopher hole
    at mudhoney.micro.umn.edu, port 70.  They've got a rather extensive
    list of WAIS servers at this gopher->WAIS gateway, including a c.l.p.
    archive server.  I don't know how up to date the server actually is,
    as the articles I pulled up from there were all dated from '91.

    Bill Middleton <[e-mail]> offers this:

    "I have setup a perl script retrieval service and WaisSearch here at
    feenix.  To check it out, just point your gopher at us, and select the
    appropriate menu option.  The WaisSearch is of the iubio type, which
    means you can do boolean searching.  Thus you might try something
    like:

    caller
    ioctl and fcntl
    grep and socket not curses

    and other things to see examples of how other folks have done this
    or that.  This service is still under construction, but I'd like to
    get feedback, if you have some time.

    There's also a WaisSearch into all the RFC's and some other fairly
    nifty stuff."


1.11) Is there a Perl port to machine FOO?

    Probably.  Perl already runs on virtually all UNIX machines as well as
    quite a few non-UNIX ones.  Chances are that if you're running a UNIX
    box, you simply need to run Configure and everything will be taken
    care of for you.   For most UNIX machines, no porting is required.

    Perl comes with an elaborate auto-configuration script that allows Perl
    to be painlessly ported to a wide variety of platforms, including many
    non-UNIX ones.  Amiga and MS-DOS binaries are available on
    jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov [128.149.1.143] for anonymous FTP.  Try to bring
    Perl up on your machine, and if you have problems, examine the README
    file carefully, and if all else fails, post to comp.lang.perl with
    a cross-posting to comp.sys.whatever; probably someone out there has
    run into your problem and will be able to help you.

    In the perl archive on coombs.anu.edu.au, you can consult the file
    /pub/perl/misc/perl.code.sources for information not contained below.
    It may also be more up-to-date as well.

    In particular, since they're so often asked about, here's some information
    for the MacIntosh from Matthias Ulrich Neeracher <[e-mail]>:

        The most recent version of Perl for the Apple Macintosh using the
        MPW C compiler is available in:

            nic.switch.ch [130.59.1.40]    software/mac/src/mpw_c
            ftp.eunet.ch  [146.228.10.15]  software/mac/perl

        The current version is 4.0.7 (despite the "7", it corresponds to
        patchlevel 36 in the Unix version) and is available in the above
        directories as

           Mac_Perl_407_src.sit.bin       Sources
           Mac_Perl_407_tool.sit.bin      MPW Tool
           Mac_Perl_407_appl.sit.bin      Standalone Application (See below)

        There is a mailing list for discussing Macintosh Perl which can be
        reached at [e-mail]

    Here's more, from Timothy Murphy <[e-mail] >

    I ported perl to the Mac, using Think C, a while ago.  I've
    used it quite a lot since without problems.

    It is available from ftp.maths.tcd.ie in pub/Mac/perl.hqx .
    The source (as diffs from the standard source) is in the
    subdirectory pub/Mac/perl-4.035 .

    A Mac version of patch is also available in pub/Mac/patch.hqx
    with source in pub/Mac/patch-2.0 .  Various other Mac ports of
    GNU programs can be found in the same place.

    They all use a small "ThinkCPosix" library containing various
    Unix-like functions, which again can be found in the same
    place.

    And here's some VMS information from Rao V. Akella
    <[e-mail]>:  (this appears to be an old port)

    You can pick up Perl for VMS (version 3.0.1.1 patchlevel 4) via
    anonymous ftp from ftp.pitt.edu [130.49.253.1] in the
    software/vms/perl subdirectory (there are two files there:
    perl-pl18.bck and perl-pl4.bck).

    There is also a v3.018 on info.rz.uni-ulm.de [134.60.1.125] or
    vms.huji.ac.il [128.139.4.3] in /pub/VMS/misc (information courtesy
    of Anders Rolff <[e-mail]>).

    And here is a recent version for MS-DOS from Budi Rahardjo
    <[e-mail]>, who says:

    I am collecting MS-DOS Perl(s) in ftp.ee.umanitoba.ca directory
    /pub/msdos/perl.  Currently I received three versions of Perl v4.019
    and one of 4.010.  (Tommy Thorn <[e-mail]> and Len Reed
    <holos0![e-mail]>)

    There is now a 4.035 for 386 [DOS], Hitoshi Doi <[e-mail]>
    port, is available ftp.ee.umanitoba.ca as /pub/msdos/perl/perl386.zoo .

    Please contact the porters directly in case of questions about
    these ports.


    A new version of "bigperl4" has been uploaded to Simtel20 and mirror
    sites:

        pd1:<msdos.perl>
        BPERL2X.ZIP        32-bit Perl 4.0pl36 w/VM & Win 3.1 supt. (exe)
        BPERL2S1.ZIP       32-bit Perl 4.0pl36 w/VM & Win supt. (src 1/2)
        BPERL2S2.ZIP       32-bit Perl 4.0pl36 w/VM & Win supt. (src 2/2)

     For those of you who don't know what "bigperl4" is, here's the
    short description:

    BIGPERL4 is Perl 4.0pl36 that has been compiled using the Watcom C/386
    compiler (a 32-bit, flat-memory model C compiler), which gives this
    version the following features:

      * Up to 32MB of memory can be used.
      * Supports virtual memory.
      * Works under Windows 3.1 (however, a second copy of perl cannot
        be spawned under Windows).
      * The perl debugger can be used.
      * Contains GDBM support.

    A 386/486 with at least 4MB RAM is required, and a third-party memory
    manager such as QEMM is strongly recommended.

    BIGPERL4 also passes those perl tests that do not depend on Unix-isms.
    Full sources are included (including GDBM 1.5).  Freeware and copylefted
    (in the case of GDBM 1.5).

    For a version that works on NT, FTP to rhino.microsoft.com
    (131.107.1.121) the port of Perl there purportedly works well and
    includes support for sockets from perl. The source builds out of the
    box and contains some NT specific tests.


1.12) How do I get Perl to compile on Solaris?

    John Lees <[e-mail]> reports:

    I have built perl on Solaris 2.1, 2.2 beta, and 2.2 FCS. Take /usr/ucb
    out of your path and do not use any BSD/UCB libraries.  Only -lsocket,
    -lnsl, and -lm are needed. You can use the hint for Solaris 2.0, but
    the one for 2.1 is wrong. Do not use vfork. Do not use
    -I/usr/ucbinclude.  The result works fine for me, but of couse does
    not support a couple of BSDism's.

    Casper H.S. Dik <[e-mail]> reports

    You must remove all the references to /usr/ucblib AND
    /usr/ucbinclude.  And ignore the Solaris_2.1 hints. They are wrong.
    The undefining of vfork() probably ahs to do with the confusion it
    gives to the compilers.  If you use cc, you mustn't compile
    util.c/tutil.c  with -O.  I only used the following libs: -lsocket
    -lnsl -lm (there is a problem with -lmalloc)

    Michael D'Errico <[e-mail]> reports:

    If you are using Solaris 2.x, the signal handling is broken.  If you set
    up a signal handler such as 'ripper' it will be forgotten after the first
    time the signal is caught.  To fix this, you need to recompile Perl.  Just
    add '#define signal(x,y) sigset((x),(y))' after the '#include <signal.h>'
    directive in each file that it occurs, then make it again.


1.13) How do I get Perl to compile on a Next?

    Bill Eldridge <[e-mail]> reports:

    To get perl to compile on Nexts, you need to combine the
    ansi and bsd headers:

        cd /usr/include
        mkdir ansibsd
        cd ansibsd
        ln -s ../ansi
        ln -s ../bsd

    Then follow the configuration instructions for Nexts, *replacing*
    all mention of -I/usr/include/ansi or -I/usr/include/bsd with
    -I/usr/include/ansibsd.

    (There might be more elegant solutions, but this is how I
    did it, and it's quick and so far painless).



1.14) Where can I get (info|inter|ora|sql|syb)perl?

    Numerous database-oriented extensions to Perl have been written.
    These amount to using the usub mechanism (see the usub/ subdirectory
    in the distribution tree) to link in a database library, allowing
    embedded calls to Informix, Interbase, Oracle, Ingres, and Sybase.
    There is currently a project underway, organized by Buzz Moschetti
    <[e-mail]>, to create a higher level interface
    (DBperl) that will allow you to write your queries in a
    database-independent fashion.  If you're interested, send
    mail to <[e-mail]> and ask to be placed on the
    [e-mail] mailing list.

    Meanwhile, here are the authors of the various extensions:

    What            Target DB       Who
    --------        -----------     ----------------------------------------
    Infoperl        Informix        Kurt Andersen ([e-mail])
    Interperl       Interbase       Buzz Moschetti ([e-mail])
    Oraperl         Oracle          Kevin Stock ([e-mail])
    Sqlperl         Ingres          Ted Lemon ([e-mail])
    Sybperl         Sybase          Michael Peppler ([e-mail])

    Here's a bit of advertising from Buzz:

    Perl is an interpreted language with powerful string, scalar, and array
    processing features developed by Larry Wall that "nicely bridges the
    functionality gap between sh(1) and C."  Since relational DB operations
    are typically textually oriented, perl is particularly well-suited to
    manage the data flows.  The C source code, which is available free of
    charge and runs on many platforms, contains a user-defined function entry
    point that permits a developer to extend the basic function set of the
    language.  The DBperl Group seeks to exploit this capability by creating a
    standardized set of perl function extensions (e.g. db_fetch(), db_attach())
    based the SQL model for manipulating a relational DB, thus providing a
    portable perl interface to a variety of popular RDMS engines including
    Sybase, Oracle, Ingres, Informix, and Interbase.  In theory, any DB engine
    that implements a dynamic SQL interpreter in its HLI can be bolted onto
    the perl front end with predicatable results, although at this time
    backends exist only for the aforementioned five DB engines.

    A copy of the latest sybperl (patch level 6) can be found in the DBperl
    archives on ftp.demon.co.uk:/pub/perl/db/sybperl

    This archive also contains ports for Ingres, Oracle, Sybase, Informix,
    Unify, Postgres, and Interbase, as well as rdb and shql; it's the home
    of the evolving DBperl API Specification.


1.15) Where can I get an SNMP-aware Perl?

    snmperl was written by Guy Streeter ([e-mail]), and was
    posted in late February 1993 to comp.protocols.snmp.  The author has
    not made it available for anonymous ftp, archie only reported one site:

    Host liasun3.epfl.ch

    Location: /pub/net/snmp
           FILE -rw-rw-r--       3407  Aug 11 1992  snmperl.README
           FILE -rw-r--r--      17678  Aug 11 1992  snmperl.tar.Z

    Here is the gist of the README:

    README  $Revision: 1.1 $

    This directory contains the source code to add callable C subroutines
    to perl.  The subroutines implement the SNMP functions "get",
    "getnext", and "set".  They use the freely-distributable SNMP package
    (version 1.1b) from CMU.

    USE:
      There are four subroutines defined in the callable interface:
    snmp_get, snmp_next, snmp_set, and snmp_error.

      snmp_get and snmp_next implement the GET and GETNEXT operations,
    respectively.  The first two calling arguments are the hostname and
    Community string.  The IP address of the host, as a dotted-quad ASCII
    string, may be used as the hostname.  The rest of the calling
    arguments are a list of variables.  See the CMU package documentation
    for how variables may be specified.
      snmp_set also takes hostname and Community string as arguments.  The
    remaining arguments are a list of triples consisting of variable name,
    variable type, and value.  The variable type is a string, such as
    "INTEGER" or "IpAddress".
      snmp_get, snmp_next, and snmp_set return a list containing
    alternating variables and values.  snmp_get and snmp_next will simply
    omit non-existent variables on return.  snmp_set will fail completely
    if one of the specified variables does not exist (or is read-only).
      snmp_error will return a text string containing some error
    information about the most recent snmp_get|next|set call, if it had an
    error.

    OTHER NOTES:
      I didn't find all the places where the CMU library writes to stderr
    or calls exit() directly.
      The changes I made to mib.c involve the formatting of variable values
    for return to the caller.  I took out the descriptive prefix so the
    string contains only the value.
      Enumerated types are returned as a string containing the symbolic
    representation followed in parentheses by the numeric.

    DISTRIBUTION and OWNERSHIP
      perl and the CMU SNMP package have their own statements.  Read them.
    The work I've done is free and clear.  Just don't say you wrote it if
    you didn't, and don't say I wrote it if you change it.

    Guy Streeter
    [e-mail]
    April 1, 1992 (not a joke!)


1.16) There's an a2p and an s2p; why isn't there a p2c (perl-to-C)?

    Because the Pascal people would be upset that we stole their name. :-)

    The dynamic nature of Perl's do and eval operators (and remember that
    constructs like s/$mac_donald/$mac_gregor/eieio count as an eval) would
    make this very difficult.  To fully support them, you would have to put
    the whole Perl interpreter into each compiled version for those scripts
    using them.  This is what undump does right now, if your machine has it.
    If what you're doing will be faster in C than in Perl, maybe it should
    have been written in C in the first place.  For things that ought to be
    written in Perl, the interpreter will be just about as fast, because the
    pattern matching routines won't work any faster linked into a C program.
    Even in the case of simple Perl programs that don't do any fancy evals, the
    major gain would be in compiling the control flow tests, with the rest
    still being a maze of twisty, turny subroutine calls.  Since these are not
    usually the major bottleneck in the program, there's not as much to be
    gained via compilation as one might think.


1.17) Where can I get undump for my machine?

    The undump program comes from the TeX distribution.  If you have TeX, then
    you may have a working undump.  If you don't, and you can't get one,
    *AND* you have a GNU emacs working on your machine that can clone itself,
    then you might try taking its unexec() function and compiling Perl with
    -DUNEXEC, which will make Perl call unexec() instead of abort().  You'll
    have to add unexec.o to the objects line in the Makefile.  If you succeed,
    post to comp.lang.perl about your experience so others can benefit from it.

    If you have a version of undump that works with Perl, please submit
    its anon-FTP whereabouts to the FAQ maintainer.


1.18) Where can I get a perl-mode for emacs?

    In the perl4.0 source directory, you'll find a directory called
    "emacs", which contains several files that should help you.


1.19) How can I use Perl interactively?

    The easiest way to do this is to run Perl under its debugger.
    If you have no program to debug, you can invoke the debugger
    on an `empty' program like this:

        perl -de 0

    (The more positive amongst us prefer "perl -de 1". :-)

    Now you can type in any legal Perl code, and it will be immediately
    evaluated.  You can also examine the symbol table, get stack
    backtraces, check variable Values, and if you want to, set
    breakpoints and do the other things you can do in a symbolic debugger.


1.20) Is there a Perl shell?

   Not really.  Perl is a programming language, not a command
   interpreter.  There is a very simple one called "perlsh"
   included in the Perl source distribution.  It just does this:

    $/ = '';        # set paragraph mode
    $SHlinesep = "\n";
    while ($SHcmd = <>) {
        $/ = $SHlinesep;
        eval $SHcmd; print $@ || "\n";
        $SHlinesep = $/; $/ = '';
    }

   Not very interesting, eh?

   Daniel Smith <[e-mail]> is working on an interactive Perl
   shell called SoftList.  It's currently at version 3.0beta.  SoftList
   3.0 has tcsh-like command line editing, can let you define a file of
   aliases so that you can run chunks of perl or UNIX commands, and so
   on.  You can send mail to him for further information and availability.
--
    Tom Christiansen      [e-mail]
            Consultant
    Boulder Colorado  303-444-3212