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perlos390(1)

NAME

   perlos390 - building and installing Perl for OS/390 and z/OS

SYNOPSIS

   This document will help you Configure, build, test and install Perl on
   OS/390 (aka z/OS) Unix System Services.

   This document needs to be updated, but we don't know what it should
   say.  Please email comments to perlbug@perl.org
   <mailto:perlbug@perl.org>.

DESCRIPTION

   This is a fully ported Perl for OS/390 Version 2 Release 3, 5, 6, 7, 8,
   and 9.  It may work on other versions or releases, but those are the
   ones we've tested it on.

   You may need to carry out some system configuration tasks before
   running the Configure script for Perl.

   Tools
   The z/OS Unix Tools and Toys list may prove helpful and contains links
   to ports of much of the software helpful for building Perl.
   http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/zseries/zos/unix/bpxa1toy.html

   Unpacking Perl distribution on OS/390
   If using ftp remember to transfer the distribution in binary format.

   Gunzip/gzip for OS/390 is discussed at:

     http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/zseries/zos/unix/bpxa1ty1.html

   to extract an ASCII tar archive on OS/390, try this:

      pax -o to=IBM-1047,from=ISO8859-1 -r < latest.tar

   or

      zcat latest.tar.Z | pax -o to=IBM-1047,from=ISO8859-1 -r

   If you get lots of errors of the form

    tar: FSUM7171 ...: cannot set uid/gid: EDC5139I Operation not permitted

   you didn't read the above and tried to use tar instead of pax, you'll
   first have to remove the (now corrupt) perl directory

      rm -rf perl-...

   and then use pax.

   Setup and utilities for Perl on OS/390
   Be sure that your yacc installation is in place including any necessary
   parser template files. If you have not already done so then be sure to:

     cp /samples/yyparse.c /etc

   This may also be a good time to ensure that your /etc/protocol file and
   either your /etc/resolv.conf or /etc/hosts files are in place.  The IBM
   document that described such USS system setup issues was SC28-1890-07
   "OS/390 UNIX System Services Planning", in particular Chapter 6 on
   customizing the OE shell.

   GNU make for OS/390, which is recommended for the build of perl (as
   well as building CPAN modules and extensions), is available from the
   "Tools".

   Some people have reported encountering "Out of memory!" errors while
   trying to build Perl using GNU make binaries.  If you encounter such
   trouble then try to download the source code kit and build GNU make
   from source to eliminate any such trouble.  You might also find GNU
   make (as well as Perl and Apache) in the red-piece/book "Open Source
   Software for OS/390 UNIX", SG24-5944-00 from IBM.

   If instead of the recommended GNU make you would like to use the system
   supplied make program then be sure to install the default rules file
   properly via the shell command:

       cp /samples/startup.mk /etc

   and be sure to also set the environment variable _C89_CCMODE=1
   (exporting _C89_CCMODE=1 is also a good idea for users of GNU make).

   You might also want to have GNU groff for OS/390 installed before
   running the "make install" step for Perl.

   There is a syntax error in the /usr/include/sys/socket.h header file
   that IBM supplies with USS V2R7, V2R8, and possibly V2R9.  The problem
   with the header file is that near the definition of the SO_REUSEPORT
   constant there is a spurious extra '/' character outside of a comment
   like so:

    #define SO_REUSEPORT    0x0200    /* allow local address & port
                                         reuse */                    /

   You could edit that header yourself to remove that last '/', or you
   might note that Language Environment (LE) APAR PQ39997 describes the
   problem and PTF's UQ46272 and UQ46271 are the (R8 at least) fixes and
   apply them.  If left unattended that syntax error will turn up as an
   inability for Perl to build its "Socket" extension.

   For successful testing you may need to turn on the sticky bit for your
   world readable /tmp directory if you have not already done so (see man
   chmod).

   Configure Perl on OS/390
   Once you've unpacked the distribution, run "sh Configure" (see INSTALL
   for a full discussion of the Configure options).  There is a "hints"
   file for os390 that specifies the correct values for most things.  Some
   things to watch out for include:

   *   A message of the form:

        (I see you are using the Korn shell.  Some ksh's blow up on
        Configure, mainly on older exotic systems.  If yours does, try the
        Bourne shell instead.)

       is nothing to worry about at all.

   *   Some of the parser default template files in /samples are needed in
       /etc.  In particular be sure that you at least copy
       /samples/yyparse.c to /etc before running Perl's Configure.  This
       step ensures successful extraction of EBCDIC versions of parser
       files such as perly.c and perly.h.  This has to be done before
       running Configure the first time.  If you failed to do so then the
       easiest way to re-Configure Perl is to delete your misconfigured
       build root and re-extract the source from the tar ball.  Then you
       must ensure that /etc/yyparse.c is properly in place before
       attempting to re-run Configure.

   *   This port will support dynamic loading, but it is not selected by
       default.  If you would like to experiment with dynamic loading then
       be sure to specify -Dusedl in the arguments to the Configure
       script.  See the comments in hints/os390.sh for more information on
       dynamic loading.  If you build with dynamic loading then you will
       need to add the $archlibexp/CORE directory to your LIBPATH
       environment variable in order for perl to work.  See the config.sh
       file for the value of $archlibexp.  If in trying to use Perl you
       see an error message similar to:

        CEE3501S The module libperl.dll was not found.
          From entry point __dllstaticinit at compile unit offset +00000194
          at

       then your LIBPATH does not have the location of libperl.x and
       either libperl.dll or libperl.so in it.  Add that directory to your
       LIBPATH and proceed.

   *   Do not turn on the compiler optimization flag "-O".  There is a bug
       in either the optimizer or perl that causes perl to not work
       correctly when the optimizer is on.

   *   Some of the configuration files in /etc used by the networking APIs
       are either missing or have the wrong names.  In particular, make
       sure that there's either an /etc/resolv.conf or an /etc/hosts, so
       that gethostbyname() works, and make sure that the file /etc/proto
       has been renamed to /etc/protocol (NOT /etc/protocols, as used by
       other Unix systems).  You may have to look for things like HOSTNAME
       and DOMAINORIGIN in the "//'SYS1.TCPPARMS(TCPDATA)'" PDS member in
       order to properly set up your /etc networking files.

   Build, Test, Install Perl on OS/390
   Simply put:

       sh Configure
       make
       make test

   if everything looks ok (see the next section for test/IVP diagnosis)
   then:

       make install

   this last step may or may not require UID=0 privileges depending on how
   you answered the questions that Configure asked and whether or not you
   have write access to the directories you specified.

   Build Anomalies with Perl on OS/390
   "Out of memory!" messages during the build of Perl are most often fixed
   by re building the GNU make utility for OS/390 from a source code kit.

   Another memory limiting item to check is your MAXASSIZE parameter in
   your 'SYS1.PARMLIB(BPXPRMxx)' data set (note too that as of V2R8
   address space limits can be set on a per user ID basis in the USS
   segment of a RACF profile).  People have reported successful builds of
   Perl with MAXASSIZE parameters as small as 503316480 (and it may be
   possible to build Perl with a MAXASSIZE smaller than that).

   Within USS your /etc/profile or $HOME/.profile may limit your ulimit
   settings.  Check that the following command returns reasonable values:

       ulimit -a

   To conserve memory you should have your compiler modules loaded into
   the Link Pack Area (LPA/ELPA) rather than in a link list or step lib.

   If the c89 compiler complains of syntax errors during the build of the
   Socket extension then be sure to fix the syntax error in the system
   header /usr/include/sys/socket.h.

   Testing Anomalies with Perl on OS/390
   The "make test" step runs a Perl Verification Procedure, usually before
   installation.  You might encounter STDERR messages even during a
   successful run of "make test".  Here is a guide to some of the more
   commonly seen anomalies:

   *   A message of the form:

        io/openpid...........CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.
        CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.
        CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.
        ok

       indicates that the t/io/openpid.t test of Perl has passed but done
       so with extraneous messages on stderr from CEE.

   *   A message of the form:

        lib/ftmp-security....File::Temp::_gettemp: Parent directory (/tmp/)
        is not safe (sticky bit not set when world writable?) at
        lib/ftmp-security.t line 100
        File::Temp::_gettemp: Parent directory (/tmp/) is not safe (sticky
        bit not set when world writable?) at lib/ftmp-security.t line 100
        ok

       indicates a problem with the permissions on your /tmp directory
       within the HFS.  To correct that problem issue the command:

            chmod a+t /tmp

       from an account with write access to the directory entry for /tmp.

   *   Out of Memory!

       Recent perl test suite is quite memory hungry. In addition to the
       comments above on memory limitations it is also worth checking for
       _CEE_RUNOPTS in your environment. Perl now has (in miniperlmain.c)
       a C #pragma to set CEE run options, but the environment variable
       wins.

       The C code asks for:

        #pragma runopts(HEAP(2M,500K,ANYWHERE,KEEP,8K,4K) STACK(,,ANY,) ALL31(ON))

       The important parts of that are the second argument (the increment)
       to HEAP, and allowing the stack to be "Above the (16M) line". If
       the heap increment is too small then when perl (for example loading
       unicode/Name.pl) tries to create a "big" (400K+) string it cannot
       fit in a single segment and you get "Out of Memory!" - even if
       there is still plenty of memory available.

       A related issue is use with perl's malloc. Perl's malloc uses
       "sbrk()" to get memory, and "sbrk()" is limited to the first
       allocation so in this case something like:

         HEAP(8M,500K,ANYWHERE,KEEP,8K,4K)

       is needed to get through the test suite.

   Installation Anomalies with Perl on OS/390
   The installman script will try to run on OS/390.  There will be fewer
   errors if you have a roff utility installed.  You can obtain GNU groff
   from the Redbook SG24-5944-00 ftp site.

   Usage Hints for Perl on OS/390
   When using perl on OS/390 please keep in mind that the EBCDIC and ASCII
   character sets are different.  See perlebcdic.pod for more on such
   character set issues.  Perl builtin functions that may behave
   differently under EBCDIC are also mentioned in the perlport.pod
   document.

   Open Edition (UNIX System Services) from V2R8 onward does support
   #!/path/to/perl script invocation.  There is a PTF available from IBM
   for V2R7 that will allow shell/kernel support for #!.  USS releases
   prior to V2R7 did not support the #! means of script invocation.  If
   you are running V2R6 or earlier then see:

       head `whence perldoc`

   for an example of how to use the "eval exec" trick to ask the shell to
   have Perl run your scripts on those older releases of Unix System
   Services.

   If you are having trouble with square brackets then consider switching
   your rlogin or telnet client.  Try to avoid older 3270 emulators and
   ISHELL for working with Perl on USS.

   Floating Point Anomalies with Perl on OS/390
   There appears to be a bug in the floating point implementation on S/390
   systems such that calling int() on the product of a number and a small
   magnitude number is not the same as calling int() on the quotient of
   that number and a large magnitude number.  For example, in the
   following Perl code:

       my $x = 100000.0;
       my $y = int($x * 1e-5) * 1e5; # '0'
       my $z = int($x / 1e+5) * 1e5;  # '100000'
       print "\$y is $y and \$z is $z\n"; # $y is 0 and $z is 100000

   Although one would expect the quantities $y and $z to be the same and
   equal to 100000 they will differ and instead will be 0 and 100000
   respectively.

   The problem can be further examined in a roughly equivalent C program:

       #include <stdio.h>
       #include <math.h>
       main()
       {
       double r1,r2;
       double x = 100000.0;
       double y = 0.0;
       double z = 0.0;
       x = 100000.0 * 1e-5;
       r1 = modf (x,&y);
       x = 100000.0 / 1e+5;
       r2 = modf (x,&z);
       printf("y is %e and z is %e\n",y*1e5,z*1e5);
       /* y is 0.000000e+00 and z is 1.000000e+05 (with c89) */
       }

   Modules and Extensions for Perl on OS/390
   Pure pure (that is non xs) modules may be installed via the usual:

       perl Makefile.PL
       make
       make test
       make install

   If you built perl with dynamic loading capability then that would also
   be the way to build xs based extensions.  However, if you built perl
   with the default static linking you can still build xs based extensions
   for OS/390 but you will need to follow the instructions in
   ExtUtils::MakeMaker for building statically linked perl binaries.  In
   the simplest configurations building a static perl + xs extension boils
   down to:

       perl Makefile.PL
       make
       make perl
       make test
       make install
       make -f Makefile.aperl inst_perl MAP_TARGET=perl

   In most cases people have reported better results with GNU make rather
   than the system's /bin/make program, whether for plain modules or for
   xs based extensions.

   If the make process encounters trouble with either compilation or
   linking then try setting the _C89_CCMODE to 1.  Assuming sh is your
   login shell then run:

       export _C89_CCMODE=1

   If tcsh is your login shell then use the setenv command.

AUTHORS

   David Fiander and Peter Prymmer with thanks to Dennis Longnecker and
   William Raffloer for valuable reports, LPAR and PTF feedback.  Thanks
   to Mike MacIsaac and Egon Terwedow for SG24-5944-00.  Thanks to Ignasi
   Roca for pointing out the floating point problems.  Thanks to John
   Goodyear for dynamic loading help.

HISTORY

   This document was originally written by David Fiander for the 5.005
   release of Perl.

   This document was podified for the 5.005_03 release of Perl 11 March
   1999.

   Updated 28 November 2001 for broken URLs.

   Updated 12 November 2000 for the 5.7.1 release of Perl.

   Updated 15 January 2001 for the 5.7.1 release of Perl.

   Updated 24 January 2001 to mention dynamic loading.

   Updated 12 March 2001 to mention //'SYS1.TCPPARMS(TCPDATA)'.

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