ActivePerl Install Notes

 

Contents

System Requirements

Hardware

Intel 80486 processor; Alpha or Pentium recommended 16MB RAM minimum for Windows NT, 32 MB recommended 8MB RAM minimum for Windows 95, 16MB recommended 20MB hard disk space for typical install

Operating System

Windows NT 4.0 (service pack 3 recommended), Windows 98 or Windows 95. DCOM for Windows 95 is required if using Windows95 (available from http://www.microsoft.com/com/resources/downloads.asp

Perl for ISAPI

ISAPI compatible Web server such as IIS 2.0 or later.

PerlScript

ActiveX scripting host such as IE 4.0, IIS 3.0 or 4.0, or Windows Scripting Host.

Online Help

3.0 or later Microsoft or Netscape Web browser.

Installing ActivePerl

Run the self extracting, self installing ActivePerl package to start the installation. The familiar InstallShield setup wizard will guide you through the setup, and give you options on what and where to install stuff.

What happens during install?

Perl is installed by default in C:\Perl. The drive "C" will be the same drive that the operating system is installed on.

A supporting DLL, PerlCRT.dll is placed in: %SystemRoot%\System32 (system on win95/98).

The following keys are created in the system registry; no values are set by default under either of these keys:

  • \\HKLM\Software\ActiveState\ActivePerl\<build #>
  • \\HKLM\Software\Perl

The following value will be set under \\HKLM\Software\Perl

Name Type Default
<Default> REG_SZ $Config{prefix}
bindir REG_SZ $Config{installbin}

If PerlScript is selected as an installation option, the following keys are created when PerlSE.dll performs self registration

  • \\HKLM\Software\ActiveState\PerlScript\1.0
  • \\HKCR\.pls
  • \\HKCR\PerlScript
  • \\HKCR\PerlScript\CLSID
  • \\HKCR\PerlScript\OLEScript
  • \\HKCR\PerlScriptFile
  • \\HKCR\PerlScriptFile\DefaultIcon
  • \\HKCR\PerlScriptFile\ScriptEngine
  • \\HKCR\PerlScriptFile\Shell
  • \\HKCR\PerlScriptFile\Shell\Open
  • \\HKCR\PerlScriptFile\Shell\Open\Command
  • \\HKCR\PerlScriptFile\Shell\Open2
  • \\HKCR\PerlScriptFile\Shell\Open2\Command
  • \\HKCR\PerlScriptFile\ShellEx
  • \\HKCR\PerlScriptFile\ShellEx\PropertySheetHandlers
  • \\HKCR\PerlScriptFile\ShellEx\PropertySheetHandlers\WSHProps

The following values are set under \\HKCR\PerlScript\CLSID

Name Type Default
<Default> REG_SZ {F8D77580-0F09-11d0-AA61-3C284E000000}

The following values are set under \\HKCR\.pls

Name Type Default
<Default> REG_SZ PerlScriptFile

The following values are set under \\HKCR\PerlScriptFile\DefaultIcon

Name Type Default
<Default> REG_SZ $Config{installbin}\perlse.dll,0

The following values are set under \\HKCR\PerlScriptFile\ScriptEngine

Name Type Default
<Default> REG_SZ PerlScript

The following values are set under \\HKCR\PerlScriptFile\Shell\Open\Command

Name Type Default
<Default> REG_SZ %System_Root%\System32\WScript.exe "%1" %*

The following values are set under \\HKCR\PerlScriptFile\Shell\Open2\Command

Name Type Default
<Default> REG_SZ %System_Root%\System32\CScript.exe "%1" %*

The following values are set under \\HKCR\PerlScriptFile\ShellEx\PropertySheetHandlers\WSHProps

Name Type Default
<Default> REG_SZ {60254CA5-953B-11CF-8C96-00AA00B8708C}

If the options are selected, .pl is associated with Perl, and the directory in which you have installed ActivePerl in is added to the PATH environment variable.

If IIS3 or IIS4 is installed and you selected the option to create a script map association between Perl and the '.pl' file extension, all supported web servers will be configured thus.

If IIS3 or IIS4 is installed and you selected the option to create a script map association between Perl for ISAPI and the '.plx' file extension, all supported web servers will be configured thus.

Installation Log

An installation log file, `c:\APInstall.log', is appended to each time ActivePerl is installed.

Installing multiple versions of Perl on the same machine

Multiple versions of Perl can easily be installed with this release of ActivePerl. For example the following configuration is supported for three installations with varying version and/or architecture.

Installation 1:

c:\perl\5.005

bin ... all perl binaries and util scripts

lib ... core modules

Installation 2:

c:\perl\5.00501

bin ... all perl binaries and util scripts

lib ... core modules

Installation 3:

c:\perl\5.00501-thread

bin ... all perl binaries and util scripts

lib ... core modules

Shared site:

c:\perl\site

lib ... global site modules location

The ActivePerl installer recognizes if you are installing in a <version>.<sub-version>* specific directory, such as 5.005 or 5.00502, and automatically moves your site directory up a level. This way multiple installations can easily share the same site libraries. Alternatively, you can use the environment or system registry variable(see below) to configure the location of a common site library.

If you run Perl at the command prompt, the script will be executed by the first Perl.exe it encounters in the list of paths in the PATH environment variable. To ensure the script is executed by the Perl build you want it to be executed by, you can specify the complete path to the Perl.exe you want to use. (typing perl -v at the command prompt will tell you which version of Perl is currently first in your PATH)

Installing ActivePerl will change your Path environment variable and may change registry settings, such as file associations, which may affect your Web server. If you want to use a previously installed copy of Perl, you will need to modify these settings.

Changing the default location of your Perl modules

@INC can be configured by adding semi-colon separated directory names to the following variables. See belowfor precedence:

PERLLIB environment variable

PERL5LIB environment variable

\\HKLM\Software\Perl\lib-{$]}

\\HKLM\Software\Perl\sitelib-{$]}

\\HKLM\Software\Perl\lib

\\HKLM\Software\Perl\sitelib

** {$]} is the Perl variable containing Perl's version, sub-version and patch level

The following values are defined in the algorithm for building @INC:

$Reg_Lib_Version = the actual value of \\HKLM\Software\Perl\lib-{$]}

$Reg_Site_Version = the actual value of \\HKLM\Software\Perl\sitelib-{$]}

$Reg_Lib = the actual value of \\HKLM\Software\Perl\lib

$Reg_Site = the actual value of \\HKLM\Software\Perl\sitelib

$Perl_Dir = the directory into which Perl was installed and contains 'bin' and 'lib' directories

$Arch = Perl architecture ex. 'MSWin32-x86-object', 'MSWin32-ALPHA-object'

$Perl_Version = Complete Perl <version>.<sub-version> with no patch level ex. $Perl_Version == 5.005 for Perl 5.005_02

The algorithm for building @INC is as follows:

# This gets rid of a version in the path if one exists

($Perl_Site) = ($Perl_Dir =~ /(.*?)(?:[\/\\]$Perl_Version.*)?$/);

$Perl_Site .= '/site';

push @INC, split /;/, ($ENV{PERL5LIB} || $ENV{PERLLIB});

push @INC, split /;/, ($Reg_Lib_Version || $Reg_Lib);

push @INC, ("$Perl_Dir/lib/$Arch", "$Perl_Dir/lib);

push @INC, ("$Perl_Site/$]/lib/$Arch", "$Perl_Site/$]/lib");

push @INC, split /;/, ($Reg_Site_Version || $Reg_Site);

push @INC, ("$Perl_Site/lib/$Arch", "$Perl_Site/lib");

push @INC, '.';

Running Perl scripts on your Web server

Perl for Win32, PerlScript and Perl for ISAPI are all useful additions to your Web server. However, they do have specific requirements, see above, and may require some additional configuration to work properly. For more information on compatibility, installation, configuration and other useful information, have a look at the Web server section of the Perl for Win32 FAQ included with the ActivePerl package.

Further Information

See the ActivePerl Readme for more information.

 
   ActivePer Install Notes