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PERLFAQ2(1)							   PERLFAQ2(1)


NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     perlfaq2 -	Obtaining and Learning about Perl ($Revision: 1.16 $, $Date:
     1997/04/23	18:04:09 $)

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     This section of the FAQ answers questions about where to find source and
     documentation for Perl, support and training, and related matters.

     What machines support Perl?  Where	do I get it?

     The standard release of Perl (the one maintained by the perl development
     team) is distributed only in source code form.  You can find this at
     http://www.perl.com/CPAN/src/latest.tar.gz, which is a gzipped archive in
     POSIX tar format.	This source builds with	no porting whatsoever on most
     Unix systems (Perl's native environment), as well as Plan 9, VMS, QNX,
     OS/2, and the Amiga.

     Although it's rumored that	the (imminent) 5.004 release may build on
     Windows NT, this is yet to	be proven.  Binary distributions for 32-bit
     Microsoft systems and for Apple systems can be found
     http://www.perl.com/CPAN/ports/ directory.	 Because these are not part of
     the standard distribution,	they may and in	fact do	differ from the	base
     Perl port in a variety of ways.  You'll have to check their respective
     release notes to see just what the	differences are.  These	differences
     can be either positive (e.g. extensions for the features of the
     particular	platform that are not supported	in the source release of perl)
     or	negative (e.g. might be	based upon a less current source release of
     perl).

     A useful FAQ for Win32 Perl users is
     http://www.endcontsw.com/people/evangelo/Perl_for_Win32_FAQ.html

     How can I get a binary version of Perl?

     If	you don't have a C compiler because for	whatever reasons your vendor
     did not include one with your system, the best thing to do	is grab	a
     binary version of gcc from	the net	and use	that to	compile	perl with.
     CPAN only has binaries for	systems	that are terribly hard to get free
     compilers for, not	for Unix systems.

     Your first	stop should be http://www.perl.com/CPAN/ports to see what
     information is already available.	A simple installation guide for	MS-DOS
     is	available at http://www.cs.ruu.nl/~piet/perl5dos.html ,	and similarly
     for Windows 3.1 at	http://www.cs.ruu.nl/~piet/perlwin3.html .

     I don't have a C compiler on my system.  How can I	compile	perl?

     Since you don't have a C compiler,	you're doomed and your vendor should
     be	sacrificed to the Sun gods.  But that doesn't help you.






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     What you need to do is get	a binary version of gcc	for your system	first.
     Consult the Usenet	FAQs for your operating	system for information on
     where to get such a binary	version.

     I copied the Perl binary from one machine to another, but scripts don't
     work.

     That's probably because you forgot	libraries, or library paths differ.
     You really	should build the whole distribution on the machine it will
     eventually	live on, and then type make install.  Most other approaches
     are doomed	to failure.

     One simple	way to check that things are in	the right place	is to print
     out the hard-coded	@INC which perl	is looking for.

	     perl -e 'print join("\n",@INC)'

     If	this command lists any paths which don't exist on your system, then
     you may need to move the appropriate libraries to these locations,	or
     create symlinks, aliases, or shortcuts appropriately.

     You might also want to check out the section on How do I keep my own
     module/library directory? in the perlfaq8 manpage.

     I grabbed the sources and tried to	compile	but gdbm/dynamic
     loading/malloc/linking/...	failed.	 How do	I make it work?

     Read the INSTALL file, which is part of the source	distribution.  It
     describes in detail how to	cope with most idiosyncracies that the
     Configure script can't work around	for any	given system or	architecture.

     What modules and extensions are available for Perl?  What is CPAN?	 What
     does CPAN/src/... mean?

     CPAN stands for Comprehensive Perl	Archive	Network, a huge	archive
     replicated	on dozens of machines all over the world.  CPAN	contains
     source code, non-native ports, documentation, scripts, and	many thirdparty
 modules and extensions, designed for	everything from	commercial
     database interfaces to keyboard/screen control to web walking and CGI
     scripts.  The master machine for CPAN is
     ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN/, but you can use the address
     http://www.perl.com/CPAN/CPAN.html	to fetch a copy	from a "site near
     you".  See	http://www.perl.com/CPAN (without a slash at the end) for how
     this process works.

     CPAN/path/... is a	naming convention for files available on CPAN sites.
     CPAN indicates the	base directory of a CPAN mirror, and the rest of the
     path is the path from that	directory to the file.	For instance, if
     you're using ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN as	your CPAN
     site, the file CPAN/misc/japh file	is downloadable	as
     ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN/misc/japh .




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PERLFAQ2(1)							   PERLFAQ2(1)



     Considering that there are	hundreds of existing modules in	the archive,
     one probably exists to do nearly anything you can think of.  Current
     categories	under CPAN/modules/by-category/	include	perl core modules;
     development support; operating system interfaces; networking, devices,
     and interprocess communication; data type utilities; database interfaces;
     user interfaces; interfaces to other languages; filenames,	file systems,
     and file locking; internationalization and	locale;	world wide web
     support; server and daemon	utilities; archiving and compression; image
     manipulation; mail	and news; control flow utilities; filehandle and I/O;
     Microsoft Windows modules;	and miscellaneous modules.

     Is	there an ISO or	ANSI certified version of Perl?

     Certainly not.  Larry expects that	he'll be certified before Perl is.

     Where can I get information on Perl?

     The complete Perl documentation is	available with the perl	distribution.
     If	you have perl installed	locally, you probably have the documentation
     installed as well:	type man perl if you're	on a system resembling Unix.
     This will lead you	to other important man pages.  If you're not on	a Unix
     system, access to the documentation will be different; for	example, it
     might be only in HTML format.  But	all proper perl	installations have
     fully-accessible documentation.

     You might also try	perldoc	perl in	case your system doesn't have a	proper
     man command, or it's been misinstalled.  If that doesn't work, try
     looking in	/usr/local/lib/perl5/pod for documentation.

     If	all else fails,	consult	the CPAN/doc directory,	which contains the
     complete documentation in various formats,	including native pod, troff,
     html, and plain text.  There's also a web page at
     http://www.perl.com/perl/info/documentation.html that might help.

     It's also worth noting that there's a PDF version of the complete
     documentation for perl available in the CPAN/authors/id/BMIDD directory.

     Many good books have been written about Perl -- see the section below for
     more details.

     What are the Perl newsgroups on USENET?  Where do I post questions?

     The now defunct comp.lang.perl newsgroup has been superseded by the
     following groups:

	 comp.lang.perl.announce	     Moderated announcement group
	 comp.lang.perl.misc		     Very busy group about Perl	in general
	 comp.lang.perl.modules		     Use and development of Perl modules
	 comp.lang.perl.tk		     Using Tk (and X) from Perl

	 comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi  Writing CGI scripts for the Web.




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PERLFAQ2(1)							   PERLFAQ2(1)



     There is also USENET gateway to the mailing list used by the crack	Perl
     development team (perl5-porters) at
     news://genetics.upenn.edu/perl.porters-gw/	.

     Where should I post source	code?

     You should	post source code to whichever group is most appropriate, but
     feel free to cross-post to	comp.lang.perl.misc.  If you want to crosspost
 to alt.sources, please make sure it follows their posting standards,
     including setting the Followup-To header line to NOT include alt.sources;
     see their FAQ for details.

     Perl Books    [Toc]    [Back]

     A number books on Perl and/or CGI programming are available.  A few of
     these are good, some are ok, but many aren't worth	your money.  Tom
     Christiansen maintains a list of these books, some	with extensive
     reviews, at http://www.perl.com/perl/critiques/index.html.

     The incontestably definitive reference book on Perl, written by the
     creator of	Perl and his apostles, is now in its second edition and	fourth
     printing.

	 Programming Perl (the "Camel Book"):
	     Authors: Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen, and	Randal Schwartz
	     ISBN 1-56592-149-6	     (English)
	     ISBN 4-89052-384-7	     (Japanese)
	     (French and German	translations in	progress)

     Note that O'Reilly	books are color-coded: turquoise (some would call it
     teal) covers indicate perl5 coverage, while magenta (some would call it
     pink) covers indicate perl4 only.	Check the cover	color before you buy!

     What follows is a list of the books that the FAQ authors found personally
     useful.  Your mileage may (but, we	hope, probably won't) vary.

     If	you're already a hard-core systems programmer, then the	Camel Book
     just might	suffice	for you	to learn Perl from.  But if you're not,	check
     out the "Llama Book".  It currently doesn't cover perl5, but the 2nd
     edition is	nearly done and	should be out by summer	97:

	 Learning Perl (the Llama Book):
	     Author: Randal Schwartz, with intro by Larry Wall
	     ISBN 1-56592-042-2	     (English)
	     ISBN 4-89502-678-1	     (Japanese)
	     ISBN 2-84177-005-2	     (French)
	     ISBN 3-930673-08-8	     (German)

     Another stand-out book in the turquoise O'Reilly Perl line	is the "Hip
     Owls" book.  It covers regular expressions	inside and out,	with quite a
     bit devoted exclusively to	Perl:




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PERLFAQ2(1)							   PERLFAQ2(1)



	 Mastering Regular Expressions (the Cute Owls Book):
	     Author: Jeffrey Friedl
	     ISBN 1-56592-257-3

     You can order any of these	books from O'Reilly & Associates, 1-800-998-
     9938.  Local/overseas is 1-707-829-0515.  If you can locate an O'Reilly
     order form, you can also fax to 1-707-829-0104.  See http://www.ora.com/
     on	the Web.

     Recommended Perl books that are not from O'Reilly are the following:

	Cross-Platform Perl, (for Unix and Windows NT)
	    Author: Eric F. Johnson
	    ISBN: 1-55851-483-X

	How to Set up and Maintain a World Wide	Web Site, (2nd edition)
	     Author: Lincoln Stein, M.D., Ph.D.
	     ISBN: 0-201-63462-7

	CGI Programming	in C & Perl,
	     Author: Thomas Boutell
	     ISBN: 0-201-42219-0

     Note that some of these address specific application areas	(e.g. the Web)
     and are not general-purpose programming books.

     Perl in Magazines    [Toc]    [Back]

     The Perl Journal is the first and only magazine dedicated to Perl.	 It is
     published (on paper, not online) quarterly	by Jon Orwant
     (orwant@tpj.com), editor.	Subscription information is at http://tpj.com
     or	via email to subscriptions@tpj.com.

     Beyond this, two other magazines that frequently carry high-quality
     articles on Perl are Web Techniques (see http://www.webtechniques.com/)
     and Unix Review (http://www.unixreview.com/).  Randal Schwartz's Web
     Technique's columns are available on the web at
     http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/WebTechniques/ .

     Perl on the Net: FTP and WWW Access

     To	get the	best (and possibly cheapest) performance, pick a site from the
     list below	and use	it to grab the complete	list of	mirror sites.  From
     there you can find	the quickest site for you.  Remember, the following
     list is not the complete list of CPAN mirrors.

       http://www.perl.com/CPAN	     (redirects	to another mirror)
       http://www.perl.org/CPAN
       ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN/
       http://www.cs.ruu.nl/pub/PERL/CPAN/
       ftp://ftp.cs.colorado.edu/pub/perl/CPAN/




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PERLFAQ2(1)							   PERLFAQ2(1)



     http:/www.oasis.leo.org/perl/ has,	amongst	other things, source to
     versions 1	through	5 of Perl.

     What mailing lists	are there for perl?

     Most of the major modules (tk, CGI, libwww-perl) have their own mailing
     lists.  Consult the documentation that came with the module for
     subscription information.	The following are a list of mailing lists
     related to	perl itself.

     If	you subscribe to a mailing list, it behooves you to know how to
     unsubscribe from it.  Strident pleas to the list itself to	get you	off
     will not be favorably received.

     MacPerl
	 There is a mailing list for discussing	Macintosh Perl.	 Contact
	 "mac-perl-request@iis.ee.ethz.ch".

	 Also see Matthias Neeracher's (the creator and	maintainer of MacPerl)
	 webpage at http://www.iis.ee.ethz.ch/~neeri/macintosh/perl.html for
	 many links to interesting MacPerl sites, and the applications/MPW
	 tools,	precompiled.

     Perl5-Porters
	 The core development team have	a mailing list for discussing fixes
	 and changes to	the language.  Send mail to "perl5-portersrequest@perl.org" with	help in	the body of the	message	for
	 information on	subscribing.

     NTPerl
	 This list is used to discuss issues involving Win32 Perl 5 (Windows
	 NT and	Win95).	Subscribe by emailing ListManager@ActiveWare.com with
	 the message body:

	     subscribe Perl-Win32-Users

	 The list software, also written in perl, will automatically determine
	 your address, and subscribe you automatically.	 To unsubscribe, email
	 the following in the message body to the same address like so:

	     unsubscribe Perl-Win32-Users

	 You can also check http://www.activeware.com/ and select "Mailing
	 Lists"	to join	or leave this list.

     Perl-Packrats
	 Discussion related to archiving of perl materials, particularly the
	 Comprehensive PerlArchive Network (CPAN). Subscribe by	emailing
	 majordomo@cis.ufl.edu:

	     subscribe perl-packrats




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PERLFAQ2(1)							   PERLFAQ2(1)



	 The list software, also written in perl, will automatically determine
	 your address, and subscribe you automatically.	 To unsubscribe,
	 simple	prepend	the same command with an "un", and mail	to the same
	 address like so:

	     unsubscribe perl-packrats


     Archives of comp.lang.perl.misc    [Toc]    [Back]

     Have you tried Deja News or Alta Vista?

     ftp.cis.ufl.edu:/pub/perl/comp.lang.perl.*/monthly	has an almost complete
     collection	dating back to 12/89 (missing 08/91 through 12/93).  They are
     kept as one large file for	each month.

     You'll probably want more a sophisticated query and retrieval mechanism
     than a file listing, preferably one that allows you to retrieve articles
     using a fast-access indices, keyed	on at least author, date, subject,
     thread (as	in "trn") and probably keywords.  The best solution the	FAQ
     authors know of is	the MH pick command, but it is very slow to select on
     18000 articles.

     If	you have, or know where	can be found, the missing sections, please let
     perlfaq-suggestions@perl.com know.

     Perl Training    [Toc]    [Back]

     While some	large training companies offer their own courses on Perl, you
     may prefer	to contact individuals near and	dear to	the heart of Perl
     development.  Two well-known members of the Perl development team who
     offer such	things are Tom Christiansen <perl-classes@perl.com> and	Randal
     Schwartz <perl-training-info@stonehenge.com>, plus	their respective
     minions, who offer	a variety of professional tutorials and	seminars on
     Perl.  These courses include large	public seminars, private corporate
     training, and fly-ins to Colorado and Oregon.  See
     http://www.perl.com/perl/info/training.html for more details.

     Where can I buy a commercial version of Perl?

     In	a sense, Perl already is commercial software: It has a licence that
     you can grab and carefully	read to	your manager. It is distributed	in
     releases and comes	in well-defined	packages. There	is a very large	user
     community and an extensive	literature.  The comp.lang.perl.* newsgroups
     and several of the	mailing	lists provide free answers to your questions
     in	near real-time.	 Perl has traditionally	been supported by Larry,
     dozens of software	designers and developers, and thousands	of
     programmers, all working for free to create a useful thing	to make	life
     better for	everyone.






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PERLFAQ2(1)							   PERLFAQ2(1)



     However, these answers may	not suffice for	managers who require a
     purchase order from a company whom	they can sue should anything go	wrong.
     Or	maybe they need	very serious hand-holding and contractual obligations.
     Shrink-wrapped CDs	with perl on them are available	from several sources
     if	that will help.

     Or	you can	purchase a real	support	contract.  Although Cygnus
     historically provided this	service, they no longer	sell support contracts
     for Perl.	Instead, the Paul Ingram Group will be taking up the slack
     through The Perl Clinic.  The following is	a commercial from them:

     "Do you need professional support for Perl	and/or Oraperl?	 Do you	need a
     support contract with defined levels of service?  Do you want to pay only
     for what you need?

     "The Paul Ingram Group has	provided quality software development and
     support services to some of the world's largest corporations for ten
     years.  We	are now	offering the same quality support services for Perl at
     The Perl Clinic.  This service is led by Tim Bunce, an active perl	porter
     since 1994	and well known as the author and maintainer of the DBI,
     DBD::Oracle, and Oraperl modules and author/co-maintainer of The Perl 5
     Module List.  We also offer Oracle	users support for Perl5	Oraperl	and
     related modules (which Oracle is planning to ship as part of Oracle Web
     Server 3).	 20% of	the profit from	our Perl support work will be donated
     to	The Perl Institute."

     For more information, contact the The Perl	Clinic:

	 Tel:	 +44 1483 424424
	 Fax:	 +44 1483 419419
	 Web:	 http://www.perl.co.uk/
	 Email:	 perl-support-info@perl.co.uk or Tim.Bunce@ig.co.uk


     Where do I	send bug reports?

     If	you are	reporting a bug	in the perl interpreter	or the modules shipped
     with perl,	use the	perlbug	program	in the perl distribution or email your
     report to perlbug@perl.com.

     If	you are	posting	a bug with a non-standard port (see the	answer to
     "What platforms is	Perl available for?"), a binary	distribution, or a
     non-standard module (such as Tk, CGI, etc), then please see the
     documentation that	came with it to	determine the correct place to post
     bugs.

     Read the perlbug man page (perl5.004 or later) for	more information.

     What is perl.com?	perl.org?  The Perl Institute?






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PERLFAQ2(1)							   PERLFAQ2(1)



     perl.org is the official vehicle for The Perl Institute.  The motto of
     TPI is "helping people help Perl help people" (or something like that).
     It's a non-profit organization supporting development, documentation, and
     dissemination of perl.  Current directors of TPI include Larry Wall, Tom
     Christiansen, and Randal Schwartz,	whom you may have heard	of somewhere
     else around here.

     The perl.com domain is Tom	Christiansen's domain.	He created it as a
     public service long before	perl.org came about.  It's the original	PBS of
     the Perl world, a clearinghouse for information about all things Perlian,
     accepting no paid advertisements, glossy gifs, or (gasp!)	java applets
     on	its pages.

     How do I learn about object-oriented Perl programming?

     the perltoot manpage (distributed with 5.004 or later) is a good place to
     start.  Also, the perlobj manpage,	the perlref manpage, and the perlmod
     manpage are useful	references, while the perlbot manpage has some
     excellent tips and	tricks.

AUTHOR AND COPYRIGHT    [Toc]    [Back]

     Copyright (c) 1997	Tom Christiansen and Nathan Torkington.	 All rights
     reserved.	See the	perlfaq	manpage	for distribution information.
































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PERLFAQ2(1)							   PERLFAQ2(1)


								       PPPPaaaaggggeeee 11110000
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