****************************************************************************
*									   *
*				    Perl				   *
*		  Practical Extraction and Report Language		   *
*			       Version  5.005				   *
*			      RISC OS port 1.12				   *
*			       RiscPC  Archive				   *
*									   *
****************************************************************************

				    STOP

As warned the incorrect 'RiscOS' has gone. Packages are now RISCOS::
and $^O reports 'riscos'. To find everything that needs changing try:

scripts.grep -t RiscOS myscriptdir..*

Beware: as RISC OS filesystems are case insensitive, use RiscOS; will find
RISCOS, but not import subroutines. This will lead to a lot of wacky syntax
errors. The brute-force solution is to

perl -i~ -p 's/RiscOS/RISCOS/' myscriptdir..*

(By the way, .. recursive globbing can be quite useful.)

The directory structure has changed again :-)
Most of the perl library is now in a single zip file, and I've hacked perl to
read libraries direct from a zip file. You *can* read the zip file with Infozip
or SparkFS, but *please* leave it settype'd data, else perl will use SparkFS to
read from it (which is probably slower). Again it is best to back up any changes
you made to your !Perl, and start afresh with this copy. I'm experimenting with
sfio to get the remaining few library files inside the zip (those which use
__DATA__).

UnixLib still can't cope with command lines like

perl -le 'print @ARGV' <Wimp$Scrap>

as it thinks you mean

perl -le 'print @ARGV' <"Wimp$Scrap" >

and tries to open the (illegaly named) Wimp$Scrap for input redirection. This
causes problems with programs such as !Netplex. Try changing the lines
with set Alias$@RunType_102 in !Boot and !Run, replacing "perl" with "do perl".
"do" is supplied with RiscPCs, and expands the variables before perl runs.
Strictly UnixLib is doing nothing wrong. Due to popular demand UnixLib will
probably be improved to guess when OS variables are wanted.

(consider perl somescript <Foo>Bar   - redirect from Foo to Bar, or use the OS
variable Foo to make a filename to put in @ARGV?  There are ambiguous cases)

Anyway, back to the regular diatribe:


				 NO WARRANTY

     BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY
FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.  EXCEPT WHEN
OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES
PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED
OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  THE ENTIRE RISK AS
TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU.  SHOULD THE
PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING,
REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

     IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING
WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR
REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES,
INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING
OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED
TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY
YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER
PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.



Perl is a language optimized for scanning arbitrary text files, extracting
information from those text files, and printing reports based on that
information. It's also a good language for many system management tasks.
The language is intended to be practical (easy to use, efficient, complete)
rather than beautiful (tiny, elegant, minimal).

	       This is a statically linked perl for a Risc PC
		  (Risc PCs, A7000s and Network Computers)

This archive contains a !Perl application, a !System folder containing two
support modules and a Docs directory containing perl documentation in text
format.

Merge the !System in this archive with your existing !System, either by
Risc PC:	Double click on !Boot to run configure.
		The "Configuration" window will open
		Click on the "System" icon - a "System" window will open
		Drag this archive's !System to the window
		Close all the windows - the job is done
Archimedes:	Drag this archive's !System to the directory containing your
		copy of !System (usually the root directory of your hard
		disc). This will update your copy of system

This will copy gdbm 0.03 (the Gnu database manager) and CallASWI into your
!System, where perl will be able to find them.

*IF YOU HAVE USED A PREVIOUS PERL PORT* note that this perl defaults to
"Unix style" filenames. (consistent with perl ports to other OSes)
To *TURN OFF* automatic filename conversion

	use RISCOS::Filespec;

at the start of your script (or invoke perl as perl -MRISCOS::Filespec)

As well as documentation on this port and the RISC OS libraries, the Docs
directory contains the basic documentation from the perl distribution as
text files. The full documentation and FAQ is available in various formats
(text, HTML, ddf, Impression documents) from the same site as this archive,
or ftp://ftp.unfortu.net/pub/flirble/users/nick/P/

Perl documentation as HTML is avaiable online from a local site via
http://www.perl.com/CPAN/doc/manual/html/


The !Perl application in this archive contains a perl binary with statically
linked extensions (including socket support), standard perl libraries
(providing many useful functions), and some RISC OS libraries providing
RISC OS specific functions and perl-like interfaces to RISC OS system calls.
When first seen by the filer !Perl will set an icon for perl files,
initialise some variables needed by the perl binary, add the directory
containing the perl binary to your Run$Path, and set a run-type for perl
files so that double-clicking will run perl.

Running the !Perl application will also open the directory, set the
WimpSlot "next" to 1024K, and change directory to the !Perl directory.

You may wish to copy the perl binary to a library directory where you keep
other command line programs (such as compilers). If so, you should ensure
that the actions performed by the !Boot file inside !Perl occur when you
start your machine, so that perl can find its libraries. This can be done by
placing !Perl in the !Boot.Choices.Boot.Tasks directory on a Risc PC, or by
placing !Perl in a directory that is "seen" when your machine starts (ie a
directory where you keep your common applications).


UnixLib malloc (the memory allocator) cannot increase an application's
WimpSlot size once perl is running. However, it does allow perl to use a
dynamic area instead, which allows perl to claim (and release!) memory
whilst running. However, as code cannot be run from a dynamic area this
prevents the use of dynamic linking, so this perl binary is supplied with
all extensions statically linked, which gives the perl binary full
functionality at the expense of making it slightly larger. Because of this
it is most suitable for use with Risc PCs (A7000s and Network Computers).
An archive containing a statically linked perl binary is available from the
same site as this archive, which is more suited to use on an A-Series machine
(A300s, A400s, A3000s, A4000s, A5000s and A4s).

Perl may be copied subject to the conditions of the "Artistic License"
which you will find in the file "Artistic".

The perl source code and utilities needed to remake perl from scratch are
from ftp://ftp.unfortu.net/pub/flirble/users/nick/P/

Nicholas Clark <nick@unfortu.net>

PS Now look at !Perl.scripts.drawfile
