Original of this document is here

content="A section of the Perl for Win32 FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) document
for using the Perl language on Win32 platforms (like Windows NT and Windows 95).
This section concentrates on Availability and Installation.">
content="Perl, perl, Win32, Perl for Win32, Windows NT, Windows 95, scripts,
scripting languages, CGI, ISAPI, PerlIS, FAQ, perl-win32-users, NT, WinNT, Win95,
programming, Availability and Installation" >

Main Page


1. Availability and Installation


http://www.perl.com/perl (The perl home page)

  • http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Programming_Languages/Perl/
    (The Yahoo Perl page)

  • There are several good books about Perl; consult your local technical
    bookstore. Two in particular to consider are _Programming_Perl_, 2nd
    Edition, by Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen and Randal L. Schwartz
    (O'Reilly & Associates, 1996) and _Learning_Perl_, by Randal L. Schwartz
    (O'Reilly & Associates, 1993). These are referred to by Perl enthusiasts
    as "the Camel book" and "the Llama book", respectively. The nicknames
    come from the pictures on the front covers.

    If you are new to Perl, and there are any terms mentioned in this FAQ
    that you don't get, try one of the above resources.
    question 1.13.

    Another implementation is the perl port in the MKS Toolkit from
    Mortice Kerns Systems, Inc. (http://www.mks.com/). This is a package
    that includes numerous other UNIX-originated tools.

    Another version is available compiled for OpenNT for Microsoft
    Windows NT (http://www.softway.com/OpenNT/tw/contrib.html). OpenNT is a
    replacement for the POSIX subsystem of Windows NT, and is produced by
    Softway Systems, Inc. You'll have to have OpenNT to run this version.

    [Any other implementations that should be mentioned here? - ESP]
    http://www.edv.agrar.tu-muenchen.de/~syring/gnu-win32/perl.zip

    To build this, you'll need GNU-Win32, which is available from Cygnus
    Support (http://www.cygnus.com/misc/gnu-win32).

    Gary Ng has ported perl to be compiled with Microsoft Visual C++.
    His port is available at this address:

    http://www.endcontsw.com/pub/perl_win32.zip

    To build it, unzip the distribution file into a win32 subdirectory
    of your perl directory (from the standard distribution -- like the
    os2 subdirectory).
    ftp://ftp.activeware.com/ntperl/perl5.001m/CurrentBuild/

    There are 4 distribution packages: one for Intel x86 machines, one for
    DEC Alpha machines, one for PowerPC machines, and one source code
    package. These packages are named XXX-i86.zip, XXX-Alp.zip, XXX-Ppc.zip,
    and XXX-src.zip, respectively, where XXX is the current build number.
    The current build number is 110.

    To download files from CPAN, go to the following URL:

    http://www.perl.com/CPAN/ports/win32/Perl5/perl5.001m/CurrentBuild/

    Note that this will automatically redirect you to your nearest CPAN
    mirror site.
    http://www.winzip.com/


  • Info-Zip Unzip, a command-line free unzipper, available at
    ftp://ftp.uu.net/pub/archiving/zip/WIN32/

  • To extract the archive, make a new directory on your hard drive that
    will become your new perl directory ("C:\Program Files\perl5" and
    "C:\perl5" are good candidates). Extract the archive to that directory,
    making sure that directory names are expanded from the archive (this is
    crucial!). See the documentation for your unzipper for details.
    question 9.15.


  • SDBM_File: sdbm_file.mdp in the dll-src\Ext\SDBM_File directory.

  • Win32 extensions: Win32.mdp in the dll-src\Ext\Win32 directory.
    Consider doing a batch build of these, to save yourself some
    headaches.

  • Win32::NetResource: NetResource.mak in the
    dll-src\Ext\Win32\NetResource\ directory. For some reason, this one
    isn't included with all the other Win32 modules. See also
    question 9.16.

  • Note that the extensions look for perl100.lib in the dll-src\Release
    directory, which by default doesn't exist. You can either create the
    directory and copy the lib file there, or go through the build settings
    for the extensions and set them to point to the proper directory,
    dll-src\LibRel.

    Building the extensions will put the extension binaries (.pll files) in
    the proper place in the Lib subdirectory.
    ftp://ftp.activeware.com/beta/PlSEi302.exe

    or on CPAN at

    http://www.perl.com/CPAN/ports/win32/Perl5/beta/PlSEi302.exe

    You'll also need to download either the Perl for Win32 5.003 binary or
    source format package in the same directory (see question 1.13).

    There's no documentation to speak of, but there are several examples.
    ActiveScripting works a lot like OLE Automation, so if you review
    that documentation, plus the ActiveScripting documentation, you should
    be able to get along.
    http://www.python.org/): a very full-featured language,
    widely-used. OOP, networking, CGI, database, GUI programming.


  • Object REXX (http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/orexx/): An update of REXX
    for the OOP decade.

  • TCL/TK (http://www.sunlabs.com/research/tcl/): Tool Control
    Language.

  • Awk and UNIX shell languages are available from in several UNIX-to-NT
    packages (see question 4.7).

    [Any others? -ESP]
    ftp://ftp.activeware.com/Perl-Win32/beta/

    or on CPAN at

    http://www.perl.com/CPAN/ports/win32/Perl5/beta/

    There are four beta packages:



    • Pw32i302.exe, the Intel x86 binary

    • Pw32302s.exe, the source distribution

    • PlSEi302.exe, the ActiveScripting PerlScript engine (see question 1.11).

    • PlISi302.exe, the Perl for ISAPI distribution (see question 2.2)

    Neither PerlIS (see question 2.2) or any of the RISC processor
    distributions can be found here.

    Many of the answers in this FAQ do not apply to the beta version.
    question 2.2). Because
    setting PerlIS up for Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) is such
    a pain in the keister, install.bat will do it for you automagically.

    However, if you don't use IIS on the machine you're installing Perl for
    Win32 on, you should answer "no" when you're asked. A lot of people confuse
    "PerlIS.dll" that the message asks about with Perl for Win32 in general.
    Thus the problem.

    If you get this error, ignore it. Perl programs should run just fine. If
    you're the kind of chucklehead who won't sleep knowing that there was an
    error during the installation, just run uninstall.bat, then run install.bat
    again, and answer "no" instead of "yes". Feel better?

    If you want to use PerlIS.dll with another ISAPI-enabled Web browser, you'll
    have to set that up by hand. install.bat won't do it for you.