Linux From Scratch - Version 6.7-rc1

Chapter 6. Installing Basic System Software

6.33. Perl-5.12.1

The Perl package contains the Practical Extraction and Report Language.

Approximate build time: 5.5 SBU
Required disk space: 171 MB

6.33.1. 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

This version of Perl now builds the Compress::Raw::Zlib module. By default Perl will use an internal copy of the Zlib source for the build. Issue the following command so that Perl will use the Zlib library installed on the system: 

sed -i -e "s|BUILD_ZLIB\s*= True|BUILD_ZLIB = False|"           \
       -e "s|INCLUDE\s*= ./zlib-src|INCLUDE    = /usr/include|" \
       -e "s|LIB\s*= ./zlib-src|LIB        = /usr/lib|"         \
    cpan/Compress-Raw-Zlib/config.in

To have full control over the way Perl is set up, you can remove the “-des” options from the following command and hand-pick the way this package is built. Alteratively, use the command exactly as below to use the defaults that Perl auto-detects: 

sh Configure -des -Dprefix=/usr \
                  -Dvendorprefix=/usr           \
                  -Dman1dir=/usr/share/man/man1 \
                  -Dman3dir=/usr/share/man/man3 \
                  -Dpager="/usr/bin/less -isR"

The meaning of the configure options:

-Dvendorprefix=/usr

This ensures perl knows how to tell packages where they should install their perl modules.

-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 (approximately 2.5 SBU), issue: 

make test

Install the package: 

make install

6.33.2. Contents of Perl

Installed programs: a2p, c2ph, config_data, corelist, cpan, cpan2dist, cpanp, cpanp-run-perl, dprofpp, enc2xs, find2perl, h2ph, h2xs, instmodsh, libnetcfg, perl, perl5.12.1 (link to perl), perlbug, perldoc, perlivp, perlthanks (link to perlbug), piconv, pl2pm, pod2html, pod2latex, pod2man, pod2text, pod2usage, podchecker, podselect, prove, psed (link to s2p), pstruct (link to c2ph), ptar, ptardiff, s2p, shasum, splain, and xsubpp
Installed libraries: Several hundred which cannot all be listed here
Installed directory: /usr/lib/perl5

Short Descriptions

a2p

Translates awk to Perl

c2ph

Dumps C structures as generated from cc -g -S

config_data

Queries or changes configuration of Perl modules

corelist

A commandline frontend to Module::CoreList

cpan

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

cpan2dist

The CPANPLUS distribution creator

cpanp

The CPANPLUS launcher

cpanp-run-perl

Perl script that is used to enable flushing of the output buffer after each write in spawned processes

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

perl5.12.1

A hard link to perl

perlbug

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

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

perlthanks

Used to generate thank you messages to mail to the Perl developers

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

ptar

A tar-like program written in Perl

ptardiff

A Perl program that compares an extracted archive with an unextracted one

s2p

Translates sed scripts to Perl

shasum

Prints or checks SHA checksums

splain

Is used to force verbose warning diagnostics in Perl

xsubpp

Converts Perl XS code into C code