Mark Berryman wrote:
I need to install the Net::SSH::Perl module in Perl V5.10.0 on VMS V8.3
which means I need the Math::Pari module. Unfortunately, the build code
for this module generates extensive Unix syntax and I don't know enough
about the build process within Perl to fix it. This is probably the
least portable perl module I have ever come across.
In my experience there are several things to look for:
* catfile being used where catdir is expected.
* catfile and friends converting Unix syntax to VMS syntax.
* Missing routines.
* Filenames that are not legal on ODS-2.
Is there anyone on this list who would be willing to help me get a
working version of this module on VMS?
I will not be able to do anything but try to answer questions for the
next two weeks or so.
If you can run Perl on a DECTerm, you can use a special feature of the
Perl debugger that is available with 5.10.0 on VMS and will be available
again on Unix with a later version or maintenance releases on
Unix/Cygwin. (When I added the feature to Perl on VMS, I did not
realize it was broken on Unix).
$ define TERM "xterm" !case is important
$ define PERLDB_PIDS XXX !If you abort a debug run, redo this.
$ define DISPLAY "Yourhost:0.0" ! Contents are currently ignored.
Then when you use the -d flag when launching perl, a new DECTerm will be
created which you can use with the I/O separate from program you are
debugging.
And then in general each time that the debugged program launches a new
instance of perl, a new DECTerm window will show up so that you can
debug it separately.
This is important because a lot of times a perl script being debugged
will redirect I/O so you can not see things in the debugger, or the
debugger prompt will overwrite what you want to see in the program.
If you use the "spawn process" option in the debugger, the spawned
process does I/O in the program window, not the debug window.
Your other option is to use a current build of blead-perl which may have
its own quirks, and set the logical names in the VMS specific pod files
for Unix compatibility. You may find that the existing build procedure
will just work. I meant to put that stuff in the 5.10.0 release, but it
does not work quite right and needs support from the perl library
modules. That support (with a few minor exceptions) is now in blead-perl.
-John
wb8...@qsl.net
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