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1 | If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the funny characters you |
2 | see. It is written in the POD format (see pod/perlpod.pod) which is | |
3 | specifically designed to be readable as is. | |
4 | ||
5 | =head1 NAME | |
6 | ||
7 | README.freebsd - Perl version 5 on FreeBSD systems | |
8 | ||
9 | =head1 DESCRIPTION | |
10 | ||
11 | This document describes various features of FreeBSD that will affect how Perl | |
12 | version 5 (hereafter just Perl) is compiled and/or runs. | |
13 | ||
14 | =head2 FreeBSD core dumps from readdir_r with ithreads | |
15 | ||
16 | When perl is configured to use ithreads, it will use re-entrant library calls | |
17 | in preference to non-re-entrant versions. There is a bug in FreeBSD's | |
18 | C<readdir_r> function in versions 4.5 and earlier that can cause a SEGV when | |
19 | reading large directories. A patch for FreeBSD libc is available | |
20 | (see http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=misc/30631 ) | |
21 | which has been integrated into FreeBSD 4.6. | |
22 | ||
23 | =head2 $^X doesn't always contain a full path in FreeBSD | |
24 | ||
25 | perl 5.8.0 sets C<$^X> where possible to a full path by asking the operating | |
26 | system. On FreeBSD the full path of the perl interpreter is found by reading | |
27 | the symlink F</proc/curproc/file>. There is a bug on FreeBSD, where the | |
28 | result of reading this symlink is can be wrong in certain circumstances | |
29 | (see http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=35703 ). | |
30 | In these cases perl will fall back to the old behaviour of using C's | |
31 | argv[0] value for C<$^X>. | |
32 | ||
33 | =head2 Perl will no longer be part of "base FreeBSD" | |
34 | ||
35 | Not as bad as it sounds--what this means is that Perl will no longer be | |
36 | part of the B<kernel build system> of FreeBSD. Perl will still very | |
37 | probably be part of the "default install", and in any case the latest | |
38 | version will be in the ports system. The first FreeBSD version this | |
39 | change will affect is 5.0, all 4.n versions will keep the status quo. | |
40 | ||
41 | =head1 AUTHOR | |
42 | ||
43 | Nicholas Clark <nick@ccl4.org>, collating wisdom supplied by Slaven Rezic | |
44 | and Tim Bunce. | |
45 | ||
46 | Please report any errors, updates, or suggestions to F<perlbug@perl.org>. | |
47 |