Edit: /usr/share/perl5/pod/perlepoc.pod (3779B)
If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the funny characters you
see. It is written in the POD format (see pod/perlpod.pod) which is
specially designed to be readable as is.
=head1 NAME
README.epoc - Perl for EPOC
=head1 SYNOPSIS
Perl 5 README file for the EPOC Release 5 operating system.
=head1 INTRODUCTION
EPOC is an OS for palmtops and mobile phones. For more informations look at:
http://www.symbian.com/
This is a port of perl to the epocemx SDK by Eberhard Mattes, which
itself uses the SDK by symbian. Essentially epocemx it is a POSIX
look alike environment for the EPOC OS. For more information look at:
http://epocemx.sourceforge.net/
perl and epocemx runs on Epoc Release 5 machines: Psion 5mx, 5mx Pro,
Psion Revo, Psion Netbook and on the Ericsson M128. It may run on Epoc
Release 3 Hardware (Series 5 classic), too. For more information about
this hardware please refer to http://www.psion.com/
Vendors which like to have support for their devices are free to send
me a sample.
=head1 INSTALLING PERL ON EPOC
You can download a ready-to-install version from
http://www.oflebbe.de/oflebbe/perl/
You will need at least ~6MB free space in order to install and run perl.
Please install the emxusr.sis package from
http://epocemx.sourceforge.net/ first.
Install perl.sis on the EPOC machine. If you do not know how to do
that, consult your PsiWin documentation.
Perl itself and its standard library is using 4 MB disk space.
Unicode support and some other modules are left out. (For details,
please look into epoc/createpkg.pl). If you like to use these modules,
you are free to copy them from a current perl release.
=head1 STARTING PERL ON EPOC
Please use the epocemx shell to start perl. perl integrates with the
conventions of epocemx.
=head2 Editors on Epoc
A suitable text editor can be downloaded from symbian
http://www.symbian.com/developer/downloads/files/editor.zip
=head2 Features of Perl on Epoc
The built-in function EPOC::getcwd returns the current directory.
=head2 Restrictions of Perl on Epoc
Features are left out, because of restrictions of the POSIX support in
EPOC:
=over 4
=item *
socket IO is only implemented poorly. You can only use sysread and
syswrite on them. The commands read, write, print, <> do not work for
sockets. This may change iff epocemx supports sockets.
=item *
kill, alarm and signals. Do not try to use them. This may be
impossible to implement on EPOC.
=item *
select is missing.
=item *
binmode does not exist. (No CR LF to LF translation for text files)
=item *
EPOC does not handle the notion of current drive and current
directory very well (i.e. not at all, but it tries hard to emulate
one). See PATH.
=item *
Heap is limited to 4MB.
=item *
Dynamic loading is not implemented.
=back
=head2 Compiling Perl 5 on the EPOC cross compiling environment
Sorry, this is far too short.
=over 4
=item *
You will need the epocemx SDK from Eberhard Mattes.
=item *
Get the Perl sources from your nearest CPAN site.
=item *
Unpack the sources.
=item *
Build a native perl from this sources... Make sure to save the
miniperl executable as miniperl.native.
Start again from scratch
cp epoc/* .
./Configure -S
make
cp miniperl.native miniperl
touch miniperl.exe
make
perl createpkg.pl
emxsis perl.pkg perl.sis
=back
=head1 SUPPORT STATUS OF PERL ON EPOC
I'm offering this port "as is". You can ask me questions, but I can't
guarantee I'll be able to answer them. Since the port to epocemx is
quite new, please check the web for updates first.
Very special thanks to Eberhard Mattes for epocemx.
=head1 AUTHOR
Olaf Flebbe
http://www.oflebbe.de/oflebbe/perl/
=head1 LAST UPDATE
2003-01-18
=cut