Linux From Scratch - Version 6.3

Chapter 6. Installing Basic System Software

6.23. Perl-5.8.8

The Perl package contains the Practical Extraction and Report Language.

Approximate build time: 1.5 SBU
Required disk space: 143 MB

6.23.1. Installation of Perl

First create a basic /etc/hosts file to be referenced in one of Perl's configuration files as well as the optional testsuite: 

echo "127.0.0.1 localhost $(hostname)" > /etc/hosts

To have full control over the way Perl is set up, you can run the interactive Configure script and hand-pick the way this package is built. If you prefer, you can use the defaults that Perl auto-detects, by preparing Perl for compilation with: 

./configure.gnu --prefix=/usr \
    -Dman1dir=/usr/share/man/man1 \
    -Dman3dir=/usr/share/man/man3 \
    -Dpager="/usr/bin/less -isR"

The meaning of the configure options:

-Dpager="/usr/bin/less -isR"

This corrects an error in the way that perldoc invokes the less program.

-Dman1dir=/usr/share/man/man1 -Dman3dir=/usr/share/man/man3

Since Groff is not installed yet, Configure thinks that we do not want man pages for Perl. Issuing these parameters overrides this decision.

Compile the package: 

make

To test the results, issue: make test.

Install the package: 

make install

6.23.2. Contents of Perl

Installed programs: a2p, c2ph, cpan, dprofpp, enc2xs, find2perl, h2ph, h2xs, instmodsh, libnetcfg, perl, perl5.8.8 (link to perl), perlbug, perlcc, perldoc, perlivp, piconv, pl2pm, pod2html, pod2latex, pod2man, pod2text, pod2usage, podchecker, podselect, prove, psed (link to s2p), pstruct (link to c2ph), s2p, splain, and xsubpp
Installed libraries: Several hundred which cannot all be listed here

Short Descriptions

a2p

Translates awk to Perl

c2ph

Dumps C structures as generated from cc -g -S

cpan

Interact with the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) from the command line

dprofpp

Displays Perl profile data

enc2xs

Builds a Perl extension for the Encode module from either Unicode Character Mappings or Tcl Encoding Files

find2perl

Translates find commands to Perl

h2ph

Converts .h C header files to .ph Perl header files

h2xs

Converts .h C header files to Perl extensions

instmodsh

Shell script for examining installed Perl modules, and can even create a tarball from an installed module

libnetcfg

Can be used to configure the libnet

perl

Combines some of the best features of C, sed, awk and sh into a single swiss-army language

perl5.8.8

A hard link to perl

perlbug

Used to generate bug reports about Perl, or the modules that come with it, and mail them

perlcc

Generates executables from Perl programs

perldoc

Displays a piece of documentation in pod format that is embedded in the Perl installation tree or in a Perl script

perlivp

The Perl Installation Verification Procedure; it can be used to verify that Perl and its libraries have been installed correctly

piconv

A Perl version of the character encoding converter iconv

pl2pm

A rough tool for converting Perl4 .pl files to Perl5 .pm modules

pod2html

Converts files from pod format to HTML format

pod2latex

Converts files from pod format to LaTeX format

pod2man

Converts pod data to formatted *roff input

pod2text

Converts pod data to formatted ASCII text

pod2usage

Prints usage messages from embedded pod docs in files

podchecker

Checks the syntax of pod format documentation files

podselect

Displays selected sections of pod documentation

prove

Command line tool for running tests against the Test::Harness module.

psed

A Perl version of the stream editor sed

pstruct

Dumps C structures as generated from cc -g -S stabs

s2p

Translates sed scripts to Perl

splain

Is used to force verbose warning diagnostics in Perl

xsubpp

Converts Perl XS code into C code