This is an attempt to make the original Perl Kit, Version 1.0 to build on recent Linux and *BSD. The original README file shipped with Perl has been moved to README.perl.txt.

This project is a remake of https://github.com/rhaamo/perl1. In this branch (minimal-changes) we try harder not to modify the original source code and keep the original build system, because building is half of the fun :) Source changes are limited to pure refactoring allowing to compile Perl1 successfully. We keep the bugs and the building issues, because they're part of history as much as features.

Building

The building process has three steps:

1. ./Configure (answer all the questions)
2. make depend (maybe a lot of warnings)
3. make (expect a lot of warnings)

On success the last line should be

touch all

You can then enjoy ./perl.

But most of the time you'll run into errors depending on your system and how clever were your answers in the Configure step. Instead of trying to give fixes for every system, here is a list of solutions for the most common errors (in order from the most expected to the least).

IMPORTANT: If you intent to run the tests or actually use Perl1, be sure to build it with its own malloc. Answer y to the following question during the Configure step:

Do you wish to attempt to use the malloc that comes with perl? [n]

undefined reference to `crypt'

Perl1 use crypt(3) which is not in your libc, it's probably in libcrypt.

Fix:

At the Configure step try to add -lcrypt to the additional ld flags:

Any additional ld flags? [none] -lcrypt

If you still get the error, your compiler / linker is picky about flags order. The -lcrypt flag must be added to the libs variable in the Makefile:

 % sed -i.bak -e '/^libs =/ s/$/ -lcrypt/' Makefile

perl.y:73.1-5: error: syntax error, unexpected %type, expecting string or character literal or identifier

Your yacc(1) is incompatible with Perl1, it is probably GNU bison.

Fix:

Install a Berkley Yacc (for example byacc under Debian) and then edit the Makefile in order to use it:

% sed -i.bak -e 's/yacc/byacc/' Makefile

error: conflicting types for 'memcpy' (and a lot of noise)

perl.h #define bcopy which means trouble if a header (like good ol' strings.h) try to declare it.

Fix:

In the Configure step add the -DBCOPY to additional cc flags:

Any additional cc flags? [none] -DBCOPY

What is the full name of your C library?

the Configure step might fail to locate your C library. It happens for example on Ubuntu x86_64 because of their Multiarch design.

Fix:

Just figure out where is your system's libc and tell Configure.

Testing

Perl1 comes with some tests, see the t directory. You can launch the tests from the project's directory with:

% make test

Can't open /etc/termcap.

Your system doesn't provide a termcap file, but the tests assume that it exist.

Fix:

You can either get a termcap file and install it as /etc/termcap, or edit the tests to check for another file:

% sed -i -e 's/termcap/fstab/g' t/*