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CONTENTS

NAME

perlcygwin - Perl for Cygwin

SYNOPSIS

This document will help you configure, make, test and install Perl on Cygwin. This document also describes features of Cygwin that will affect how Perl behaves at runtime.

NOTE: There are pre-built Perl packages available for Cygwin and a version of Perl is provided in the normal Cygwin install. If you do not need to customize the configuration, consider using one of those packages.

PREREQUISITES FOR COMPILING PERL ON CYGWIN

Cygwin = GNU+Cygnus+Windows (Don't leave UNIX without it)

The Cygwin tools are ports of the popular GNU development tools for Win32 platforms. They run thanks to the Cygwin library which provides the UNIX system calls and environment these programs expect. More information about this project can be found at:

https://www.cygwin.com/

A recent net or commercial release of Cygwin is required.

At the time this document was last updated, Cygwin 3.0.7 was current.

Cygwin Configuration

While building Perl some changes may be necessary to your Cygwin setup so that Perl builds cleanly. These changes are not required for normal Perl usage.

NOTE: The binaries that are built will run on all Win32 versions. They do not depend on your host system or your Cygwin configuration (binary/text mounts, cygserver). The only dependencies come from hard-coded pathnames like /usr/local. However, your host system and Cygwin configuration will affect Perl's runtime behavior (see "TEST").

CONFIGURE PERL ON CYGWIN

The default options gathered by Configure with the assistance of hints/cygwin.sh will build a Perl that supports dynamic loading (which requires a shared cygperl5_16.dll).

This will run Configure and keep a record:

./Configure 2>&1 | tee log.configure

If you are willing to accept all the defaults run Configure with -de. However, several useful customizations are available.

Stripping Perl Binaries on Cygwin

It is possible to strip the EXEs and DLLs created by the build process. The resulting binaries will be significantly smaller. If you want the binaries to be stripped, you can either add a -s option when Configure prompts you,

Any additional ld flags (NOT including libraries)? [none] -s
Any special flags to pass to g++ to create a dynamically loaded
library?
[none] -s
Any special flags to pass to gcc to use dynamic linking? [none] -s

or you can edit hints/cygwin.sh and uncomment the relevant variables near the end of the file.

Optional Libraries for Perl on Cygwin

Several Perl functions and modules depend on the existence of some optional libraries. Configure will find them if they are installed in one of the directories listed as being used for library searches. Pre-built packages for most of these are available from the Cygwin installer.

Configure-time Options for Perl on Cygwin

The INSTALL document describes several Configure-time options. Some of these will work with Cygwin, others are not yet possible. Also, some of these are experimental. You can either select an option when Configure prompts you or you can define (undefine) symbols on the command line.

MAKE ON CYGWIN

Simply run make and wait:

make -jn 2>&1 | tee log.make

where n is the maximum number of simultaneous compilations you want; omitting this parameter is the same as specifying -j1.

TEST ON CYGWIN

There are two steps to running the test suite:

make test 2>&1 | tee log.make-test

cd t; ./perl harness 2>&1 | tee ../log.harness

The same tests are run both times, but more information is provided when running as ./perl harness, and you can run the tests in parallel by instead specifying

cd t; TEST_JOBS=n ./perl harness 2>&1 | tee ../log.harness

where n is the maximum number of tests to run simulataneously.

Test results vary depending on your host system and your Cygwin configuration. If a test can pass in some Cygwin setup, it is always attempted and explainable test failures are documented. It is possible for Perl to pass all the tests, but it is more likely that some tests will fail for one of the reasons listed below.

File Permissions on Cygwin

UNIX file permissions are based on sets of mode bits for {read,write,execute} for each {user,group,other}. By default Cygwin only tracks the Win32 read-only attribute represented as the UNIX file user write bit (files are always readable, files are executable if they have a .{com,bat,exe} extension or begin with #!, directories are always readable and executable). On WinNT with the ntea CYGWIN setting, the additional mode bits are stored as extended file attributes. On WinNT with the default ntsec CYGWIN setting, permissions use the standard WinNT security descriptors and access control lists. Without one of these options, these tests will fail (listing not updated yet):

Failed Test           List of failed
------------------------------------
io/fs.t               5, 7, 9-10
lib/anydbm.t          2
lib/db-btree.t        20
lib/db-hash.t         16
lib/db-recno.t        18
lib/gdbm.t            2
lib/ndbm.t            2
lib/odbm.t            2
lib/sdbm.t            2
op/stat.t             9, 20 (.tmp not an executable extension)

NDBM_File and ODBM_File do not work on FAT filesystems

Do not use NDBM_File or ODBM_File on FAT filesystem. They can be built on a FAT filesystem, but many tests will fail:

../ext/NDBM_File/ndbm.t       13  3328    71   59  83.10%  1-2 4 16-71
../ext/ODBM_File/odbm.t      255 65280    ??   ??       %  ??
../lib/AnyDBM_File.t           2   512    12    2  16.67%  1 4
../lib/Memoize/t/errors.t      0   139    11    5  45.45%  7-11
../lib/Memoize/t/tie_ndbm.t   13  3328     4    4 100.00%  1-4
run/fresh_perl.t                          97    1   1.03%  91

If you intend to run only on FAT (or if using AnyDBM_File on FAT), run Configure with the -Ui_ndbm and -Ui_dbm options to prevent NDBM_File and ODBM_File being built.

With NTFS (and no CYGWIN=nontsec), there should be no problems even if perl was built on FAT.

fork() failures in io_* tests

A fork() failure may result in the following tests failing:

ext/IO/lib/IO/t/io_multihomed.t
ext/IO/lib/IO/t/io_sock.t
ext/IO/lib/IO/t/io_unix.t

See comment on fork in "Miscellaneous" below.

Specific features of the Cygwin port

Script Portability on Cygwin

Cygwin does an outstanding job of providing UNIX-like semantics on top of Win32 systems. However, in addition to the items noted above, there are some differences that you should know about. This is a very brief guide to portability, more information can be found in the Cygwin documentation.

Prebuilt methods:

Cwd::cwd

Returns the current working directory.

Cygwin::pid_to_winpid

Translates a cygwin pid to the corresponding Windows pid (which may or may not be the same).

Cygwin::winpid_to_pid

Translates a Windows pid to the corresponding cygwin pid (if any).

Cygwin::win_to_posix_path

Translates a Windows path to the corresponding cygwin path respecting the current mount points. With a second non-null argument returns an absolute path. Double-byte characters will not be translated.

Cygwin::posix_to_win_path

Translates a cygwin path to the corresponding cygwin path respecting the current mount points. With a second non-null argument returns an absolute path. Double-byte characters will not be translated.

Cygwin::mount_table()

Returns an array of [mnt_dir, mnt_fsname, mnt_type, mnt_opts].

perl -e 'for $i (Cygwin::mount_table) {print join(" ",@$i),"\n";}'
/bin c:\cygwin\bin system binmode,cygexec
/usr/bin c:\cygwin\bin system binmode
/usr/lib c:\cygwin\lib system binmode
/ c:\cygwin system binmode
/cygdrive/c c: system binmode,noumount
/cygdrive/d d: system binmode,noumount
/cygdrive/e e: system binmode,noumount
Cygwin::mount_flags

Returns the mount type and flags for a specified mount point. A comma-separated string of mntent->mnt_type (always "system" or "user"), then the mntent->mnt_opts, where the first is always "binmode" or "textmode".

system|user,binmode|textmode,exec,cygexec,cygdrive,mixed,
notexec,managed,nosuid,devfs,proc,noumount

If the argument is "/cygdrive", then just the volume mount settings, and the cygdrive mount prefix are returned.

User mounts override system mounts.

$ perl -e 'print Cygwin::mount_flags "/usr/bin"'
system,binmode,cygexec
$ perl -e 'print Cygwin::mount_flags "/cygdrive"'
binmode,cygdrive,/cygdrive
Cygwin::is_binmount

Returns true if the given cygwin path is binary mounted, false if the path is mounted in textmode.

Cygwin::sync_winenv

Cygwin does not initialize all original Win32 environment variables. See the bottom of this page https://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net/setup-env.html for "Restricted Win32 environment".

Certain Win32 programs called from cygwin programs might need some environment variable, such as e.g. ADODB needs %COMMONPROGRAMFILES%. Call Cygwin::sync_winenv() to copy all Win32 environment variables to your process and note that cygwin will warn on every encounter of non-POSIX paths.

INSTALL PERL ON CYGWIN

This will install Perl, including man pages.

make install 2>&1 | tee log.make-install

NOTE: If STDERR is redirected make install will not prompt you to install perl into /usr/bin.

You may need to be Administrator to run make install. If you are not, you must have write access to the directories in question.

Information on installing the Perl documentation in HTML format can be found in the INSTALL document.

MANIFEST ON CYGWIN

These are the files in the Perl release that contain references to Cygwin. These very brief notes attempt to explain the reason for all conditional code. Hopefully, keeping this up to date will allow the Cygwin port to be kept as clean as possible.

Documentation
INSTALL README.cygwin README.win32 MANIFEST
pod/perl.pod pod/perlport.pod pod/perlfaq3.pod
pod/perldelta.pod pod/perl5004delta.pod pod/perl56delta.pod
pod/perl561delta.pod pod/perl570delta.pod pod/perl572delta.pod
pod/perl573delta.pod pod/perl58delta.pod pod/perl581delta.pod
pod/perl590delta.pod pod/perlhist.pod pod/perlmodlib.pod
pod/perltoc.pod Porting/Glossary pod/perlgit.pod
Porting/updateAUTHORS.pl
dist/Cwd/Changes ext/Compress-Raw-Zlib/Changes
dist/Time-HiRes/Changes
ext/Compress-Raw-Zlib/README ext/Compress-Zlib/Changes
ext/DB_File/Changes ext/Encode/Changes ext/Sys-Syslog/Changes
ext/Win32API-File/Changes
lib/ExtUtils/CBuilder/Changes lib/ExtUtils/Changes
lib/ExtUtils/NOTES lib/ExtUtils/PATCHING lib/ExtUtils/README
lib/Net/Ping/Changes lib/Test/Harness/Changes
lib/Term/ANSIColor/ChangeLog lib/Term/ANSIColor/README
Build, Configure, Make, Install
cygwin/Makefile.SHs
ext/IPC/SysV/hints/cygwin.pl
ext/NDBM_File/hints/cygwin.pl
ext/ODBM_File/hints/cygwin.pl
hints/cygwin.sh
Configure             - help finding hints from uname,
                        shared libperl required for dynamic loading
Makefile.SH Cross/Makefile-cross-SH
                      - linklibperl
Porting/patchls       - cygwin in port list
installman            - man pages with :: translated to .
installperl           - install dll, install to 'pods'
makedepend.SH         - uwinfix
regen_lib.pl          - file permissions

plan9/mkfile
vms/descrip_mms.template
win32/Makefile
Tests
t/io/fs.t             - no file mode checks if not ntsec
                        skip rename() check when not
                        check_case:relaxed
t/io/tell.t           - binmode
t/lib/cygwin.t        - builtin cygwin function tests
t/op/groups.t         - basegroup has ID = 0
t/op/magic.t          - $^X/symlink WORKAROUND, s/.exe//
t/op/stat.t           - no /dev, skip Win32 ftCreationTime quirk
                        (cache manager sometimes preserves ctime of
                        file previously created and deleted), no -u
                        (setuid)
t/op/taint.t          - can't use empty path under Cygwin Perl
t/op/time.t           - no tzset()
Compiled Perl Source
EXTERN.h              - __declspec(dllimport)
XSUB.h                - __declspec(dllexport)
cygwin/cygwin.c       - os_extras (getcwd, spawn, and several
                        Cygwin:: functions)
perl.c                - os_extras, -i.bak
perl.h                - binmode
doio.c                - win9x can not rename a file when it is open
pp_sys.c              - do not define h_errno, init
                        _pwent_struct.pw_comment
util.c                - use setenv
util.h                - PERL_FILE_IS_ABSOLUTE macro
pp.c                  - Comment about Posix vs IEEE math under
                        Cygwin
perlio.c              - CR/LF mode
perliol.c             - Comment about EXTCONST under Cygwin
Compiled Module Source
ext/Compress-Raw-Zlib/Makefile.PL
                      - Can't install via CPAN shell under Cygwin
ext/Compress-Raw-Zlib/zlib-src/zutil.h
                      - Cygwin is Unix-like and has vsnprintf
ext/Errno/Errno_pm.PL - Special handling for Win32 Perl under
                        Cygwin
ext/POSIX/POSIX.xs    - tzname defined externally
ext/SDBM_File/sdbm/pair.c
                      - EXTCONST needs to be redefined from
                        EXTERN.h
ext/SDBM_File/sdbm/sdbm.c
                      - binary open
ext/Sys/Syslog/Syslog.xs
                      - Cygwin has syslog.h
ext/Sys/Syslog/win32/compile.pl
                      - Convert paths to Windows paths
ext/Time-HiRes/HiRes.xs
                      - Various timers not available
ext/Time-HiRes/Makefile.PL
                      - Find w32api/windows.h
ext/Win32/Makefile.PL - Use various libraries under Cygwin
ext/Win32/Win32.xs    - Child dir and child env under Cygwin
ext/Win32API-File/File.xs
                      - _open_osfhandle not implemented under
                        Cygwin
ext/Win32CORE/Win32CORE.c
                      - __declspec(dllexport)
Perl Modules/Scripts
ext/B/t/OptreeCheck.pm - Comment about stderr/stdout order under
                         Cygwin
ext/Digest-SHA/bin/shasum
                      - Use binary mode under Cygwin
ext/Sys/Syslog/win32/Win32.pm
                      - Convert paths to Windows paths
ext/Time-HiRes/HiRes.pm
                      - Comment about various timers not available
ext/Win32API-File/File.pm
                      - _open_osfhandle not implemented under
                        Cygwin
ext/Win32CORE/Win32CORE.pm
                      - History of Win32CORE under Cygwin
lib/Cwd.pm            - hook to internal Cwd::cwd
lib/ExtUtils/CBuilder/Platform/cygwin.pm
                      - use gcc for ld, and link to libperl.dll.a
lib/ExtUtils/CBuilder.pm
                      - Cygwin is Unix-like
lib/ExtUtils/Install.pm - Install and rename issues under Cygwin
lib/ExtUtils/MM.pm    - OS classifications
lib/ExtUtils/MM_Any.pm - Example for Cygwin
lib/ExtUtils/MakeMaker.pm
                      - require MM_Cygwin.pm
lib/ExtUtils/MM_Cygwin.pm
                      - canonpath, cflags, manifypods, perl_archive
lib/File/Fetch.pm     - Comment about quotes using a Cygwin example
lib/File/Find.pm      - on remote drives stat() always sets
                        st_nlink to 1
lib/File/Spec/Cygwin.pm - case_tolerant
lib/File/Spec/Unix.pm - preserve //unc
lib/File/Spec/Win32.pm - References a message on cygwin.com
lib/File/Spec.pm      - Pulls in lib/File/Spec/Cygwin.pm
lib/File/Temp.pm      - no directory sticky bit
lib/Module/CoreList.pm - List of all module files and versions
lib/Net/Domain.pm     - No domainname command under Cygwin
lib/Net/Netrc.pm      - Bypass using stat() under Cygwin
lib/Net/Ping.pm       - ECONREFUSED is EAGAIN under Cygwin
lib/Pod/Find.pm       - Set 'pods' dir
lib/Pod/Perldoc/ToMan.pm - '-c' switch for pod2man
lib/Pod/Perldoc.pm    - Use 'less' pager, and use .exe extension
lib/Term/ANSIColor.pm - Cygwin terminal info
lib/perl5db.pl        - use stdin not /dev/tty
utils/perlbug.PL      - Add CYGWIN environment variable to report
Perl Module Tests
dist/Cwd/t/cwd.t
ext/Compress-Zlib/t/14gzopen.t
ext/DB_File/t/db-btree.t
ext/DB_File/t/db-hash.t
ext/DB_File/t/db-recno.t
ext/DynaLoader/t/DynaLoader.t
ext/File-Glob/t/basic.t
ext/GDBM_File/t/gdbm.t
ext/POSIX/t/sysconf.t
ext/POSIX/t/time.t
ext/SDBM_File/t/sdbm.t
ext/Sys/Syslog/t/syslog.t
ext/Time-HiRes/t/HiRes.t
ext/Win32/t/Unicode.t
ext/Win32API-File/t/file.t
ext/Win32CORE/t/win32core.t
lib/AnyDBM_File.t
lib/Archive/Extract/t/01_Archive-Extract.t
lib/Archive/Tar/t/02_methods.t
lib/ExtUtils/t/Embed.t
lib/ExtUtils/t/eu_command.t
lib/ExtUtils/t/MM_Cygwin.t
lib/ExtUtils/t/MM_Unix.t
lib/File/Compare.t
lib/File/Copy.t
lib/File/Find/t/find.t
lib/File/Path.t
lib/File/Spec/t/crossplatform.t
lib/File/Spec/t/Spec.t
lib/Net/hostent.t
lib/Net/Ping/t/110_icmp_inst.t
lib/Net/Ping/t/500_ping_icmp.t
lib/Net/t/netrc.t
lib/Pod/Simple/t/perlcyg.pod
lib/Pod/Simple/t/perlcygo.txt
lib/Pod/Simple/t/perlfaq.pod
lib/Pod/Simple/t/perlfaqo.txt
lib/User/grent.t
lib/User/pwent.t

BUGS ON CYGWIN

Support for swapping real and effective user and group IDs is incomplete. On WinNT Cygwin provides setuid(), seteuid(), setgid() and setegid(). However, additional Cygwin calls for manipulating WinNT access tokens and security contexts are required.

AUTHORS

Charles Wilson <cwilson@ece.gatech.edu>, Eric Fifer <egf7@columbia.edu>, alexander smishlajev <als@turnhere.com>, Steven Morlock <newspost@morlock.net>, Sebastien Barre <Sebastien.Barre@utc.fr>, Teun Burgers <burgers@ecn.nl>, Gerrit P. Haase <gp@familiehaase.de>, Reini Urban <rurban@cpan.org>, Jan Dubois <jand@activestate.com>, Jerry D. Hedden <jdhedden@cpan.org>.

HISTORY

Last updated: 2019-11-14