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Diffstat (limited to 'contrib/perl5/hints/README.hints')
| -rw-r--r-- | contrib/perl5/hints/README.hints | 62 |
1 files changed, 54 insertions, 8 deletions
diff --git a/contrib/perl5/hints/README.hints b/contrib/perl5/hints/README.hints index e36bd6d..5f23b29 100644 --- a/contrib/perl5/hints/README.hints +++ b/contrib/perl5/hints/README.hints @@ -11,7 +11,9 @@ over from perl4. Please send any problems or suggested changes to perlbug@perl.com. -Hint file naming convention: Each hint file name should have only +=head1 Hint file naming convention. + +Each hint file name should have only one '.'. (This is for portability to non-unix file systems.) Names should also fit in <= 14 characters, for portability to older SVR3 systems. File names are of the form $osname_$osvers.sh, with all '.' @@ -51,6 +53,56 @@ detect what is needed. A glossary of config.sh variables is in the file Porting/Glossary. +=head1 Setting variables + +=head2 Optimizer + +If you want to set a variable, try to allow for Configure command-line +overrides. For example, suppose you think the default optimizer +setting to be -O2 for a particular platform. You should allow for +command line overrides with something like + + case "$optimize" in + '') optimize='-O2' ;; + esac + +or, if your system has a decent test(1) command, + + test -z "$optimize" && optimize='-O2' + +This allows the user to select a different optimization level, e.g. +-O6 or -g. + +=head2 Compiler and Linker flags + +If you want to set $ccflags or $ldflags, you should append to the existing +value to allow Configure command-line settings, e.g. use + + ccflags="$ccflags -DANOTHER_OPTION_I_NEED" + +so that the user can do something like + + sh Configure -Dccflags='FIX_NEGATIVE_ZERO' + +and have the FIX_NEGATIVE_ZERO value preserved by the hints file. + +=head2 Libraries + +Configure will attempt to use the libraries listed in the variable +$libswanted. If necessary, you should remove broken libraries from +that list, or add additional libraries to that list. You should +*not* simply set $libs -- that ignores the possibilities of local +variations. For example, a setting of libs='-lgdbm -lm -lc' would +fail if another user were to try to compile Perl on a system without +GDBM but with Berkeley DB. See hints/dec_osf.sh and hints/solaris_2.sh +for examples. + +=head2 Other + +In general, try to avoid hard-wiring something that Configure will +figure out anyway. Also try to allow for Configure command-line +overrides. + =head1 Hint file tricks =head2 Printing critical messages @@ -189,12 +241,6 @@ after Configure prompts the user for the C compiler, it will load in and run the UU/cc.cbu "call-back" unit. See hints/solaris_2.sh for an example. -=item Threading-related flags - -Similarly, after Configure prompts the user about whether or not to -compile Perl with threads, it will look for a "call-back" unit -usethreads.cbu. See hints/linux.sh for an example. - =item Future status I hope this "call-back" scheme is simple enough to use but powerful @@ -210,4 +256,4 @@ say things like "sh Configure -Dcc=gcc -Dusethreads" on the command line. Have the appropriate amount of fun :-) - Andy Dougherty doughera@lafcol.lafayette.edu + Andy Dougherty doughera@lafayette.edu |
