Slight complaint: The only available port of perl to DOS is 386 or higher only,
The perl419x.zip in simtel:msdos/perl doesn't even use the 386. However, those without 386 + memory manager may have a bit of a hard time with memory. I don't know about the perl4019.zip in the same directory; I snarfed it to check, but it has no docs (and I don't care to disassemble for 386 code!)
CrysRides
Eli ebrandt@jarthur.claremont.edu
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On Sun, 21 Feb 93 19:41:06 PST, Eli Brandt <ebrandt@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> said:
Slight complaint: The only available port of perl to DOS is 386 or higher only,
Eli> The perl419x.zip in simtel:msdos/perl doesn't even use the 386. Eli> However, those without 386 + memory manager may have a bit of Eli> a hard time with memory. I don't know about the perl4019.zip in Eli> the same directory; I snarfed it to check, but it has no docs (and Eli> I don't care to disassemble for 386 code!) The executeable in the file you refer to can also be ftp'd from tandem.com, it's source site, in the directory /pub/perl. To quote the README file for that directory: Last updated: Saturday, February 1, 1992 Latest bcdos version of Perl: 1.4 This is a port of Perl 4.019 to MS-DOS using Borland C++ V3.0. It will NOT compile with versions of BC++ prior to 3.0. The port is complete given the functionality of DOS versus UNIX. Support will be added in the future for ndbm() routines using GNU-ndbm (when I get around to it !). The port makes use of Borland's VROOM technology and pretty much *requires* access to extended memory. There is approx. 300+ Kbytes of memory available ^^^^^^^^ for Perl scripts. The amount of memory available can be checked using two user subroutines added via Larry Wall's usersub.c hook. &heapfree() - returns size of far heap in bytes &stkfree() - returns size of free stack The port also makes use of xspawn() (available from Simtel or Wuarchive if you look hard enough) and will swap itself to either extended memory or disk when Perl invokes the system() call. This leaves about 605 Kbytes of memory available for DOS apps on my 386 machine running DOS 5.0. I've run this port of Perl against all the test cases supplied in the normal Perl release. They all work except those that call perl again (not enough memory !) or have specific UNIX dependencies (that dont work on DOS - too bad !). This version of Perl has been tested on both 286 and 386 machines with and without extended memory. If you find problems on a specific machine I would like to hear about them but don't necessarily commit to fix them. As per the Artistic and GNU licenses, you get what you paid for and your on your own ! There are three files herein: bcv14_perl4-019.zip Contains all the source files. There are only one or two files that have changed from the standard 4.019 release (nice job lwall on portable code !). bcv14_perl4-019E.zip Contains the executeable for perl PERL.EXE and all the library files for perl. If you don't intend to re-build PERL, then THIS IS THE FILE FOR YOU ! xspawn34.zip This file contains the xspawn routine used by bcdos_Perl to swap out to extended memory or disk when running child processes. It is identical to the the one that can be found on simtel or wuarchive. Nota bene re extended memory; This port attempts to reserve 128K bytes of extended memory for the VROOM arena. A 64K arena ran like a DOG so this is about the optimum size of memory versus speed. Happy hacking ! Stuart G. Phillips N6TTO/G8HQA/DA4BM/OZ... (you get the idea) [stu@tandem.com] I've not encountered a non 286/386/486 with extended memory, which this file says it requires. Plus there is no testing on machines other than those. I've attempted to run this on an antiquated 8088. It simply executes and drops back to the command line without action. Much as I feel perl would be an easy and useful way to code this up, I don't feel it's a tool with the broadest reach at this time for DOS. Sorry.
CrysRides
Eli> Eli ebrandt@jarthur.claremont.edu CrysRides again -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.1 iQCVAgUBK4i64JSqD+bQ7So3AQGA9wP/bcK1XiUJD2fCv6DslWXF9SGJjpg+XmZT UbIXgk34EpQV2dvbpIv8Rb8w9kKHEsj+sb+Koxad2m2qDJPa0rPYD4VzUbBHEmIC DTctXvcemjlwzLRHp19Udn3nMchtvnEz2hb0ZkTyBkuVJYrkU5r8HgCr2etpPgyX IWwBsIINGGo= =6W7Q -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
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Eli Brandt