Welcome, and thanks for downloading ActivePerl 5.6. This release corresponds to Perl version 5.6.0.
Please note that ActivePerl 600 series builds are NOT binary-compatible with the older 500 series builds. In particular, do not attempt to use extensions or PPM packages built for the 500 series builds with ActivePerl 600 series builds and vice versa.
Binaries for the following platforms are available:
ActivePerl can be easily installed in each platform's native format.
% rpm -i ActivePerl-5.6.0.618-i686-linux-thread-multi.rpm
This package has only been tested with RedHat 6.0, but is expected to be compatible with other RedHat 6.0 compatible installations as well, including RedHat 6.1 installations.
% dpkg -i ActivePerl-5.6.0.618-i686-linux-thread-multi.deb
This package has only been tested with Debian 2.1, but is expected to be compatible with other Debian 2.1 compatible installations as well.
The Solaris package is in pkgadd format. This should be installed as root, using the following commands:
% gunzip ActivePerl-5.6.0.618-sun4-solaris-thread-multi.gz
% pkgadd -d ActivePerl-5.6.0.618-sun4-solaris-thread-multi
This package has only been tested with Solaris 2.6, but is expected to be compatible with other Solaris 2.6 compatible installations as well, including Solaris 2.7.
The Generic Installer allows installation as an unprivileged user, and into a user-specified path.
Download the distribution to a temporary directory, extract the files, chdir to the ActivePerl directory and then run the script ``install.sh''. The installation script will prompt you for the target installation directory.
% tar zxf ActivePerl-5.6.0.618-sun4-solaris-thread-multi.tar.gz
% cd ActivePerl-5.6.0.618
% ./install.sh
GNU tar may be required for extracting the files. See the ``Known Issues'' section below for details.
The Windows package is in Microsoft Windows Installer format. On Windows NT and Windows9x, you may need to download and install the MSI support package in order to begin the install process. Windows 2000 users do not need any additional software to install the package.
To install the package, simply find the directory containing the package with Explorer, and double-click on the MSI file.
Before you can install ActivePerl, Windows NT and 9x users will need to download and install Windows Installer 1.1 from:
http://www.ActiveState.com/download/contrib/Microsoft/NT/InstMsi.exe
http://www.ActiveState.com/download/contrib/Microsoft/9x/InstMsi.exe
If you are installing Perl on behalf of other users, we recommend running the installer with administrative privileges. Running without administrative privileges has the following limitations:
NOTE: DO NOT launch the installation package from a directory for which the ``System'' account does not have read permission. If you do, the Windows Installer Service will not be able to access the MSI file in order to perform the installation. You may get an error message to this effect or it may fail mysteriously.
NOTE: DO NOT attempt to install over a 500 series build of ActivePerl. This package must be installed into a separate directory.
The Red Hat, Debian and Sun packages are installed into the /usr/local/ActivePerl-5.6 directory. Add the /usr/local/ActivePerl-5.6/bin directory to your PATH environment variable to conveniently access it. For example, in the C shell:
% setenv PATH /usr/local/ActivePerl-5.6/bin:$PATH
The Generic ActivePerl installer allows you to install the package anywhere that the user has write permission. Add the bin directory to your PATH environment variable to conveniently access it. For example, in the C shell (assuming you installed into /home/larry/perl-5.6):
% setenv PATH /home/larry/ActivePerl-5.6/bin:$PATH
On Windows, the installer allows the package to be installed anywhere. We recommend not installing over an existing Perl installation.
The following list is a general summary of the known incompatibilities between the 5.6.0 source code release and earlier releases. Be sure to consider these very carefully before upgrading.
chr(1) . chr(2) . chr(3)
rather than as "1.2" . 3.
rand() may yield a different (but usually more random) sequence due
to internal changes.
undef operator raises an exception when applied to read-only
values.
"$$1" always means "${$1}" now, rather than $$ . "1" (which
was deprecated in 5.004).
values() and \(%h) operate on aliases to values,
instead of on copies. You may need to copy the values explicitly
where needed.
vec() will raise an exception if the BITS argument is not a
power-of-two integer.
not followed by parentheses behaves like a list operator. This
allows grep not($_), @things to work as expected, but also changes
not (1,2,3)[0] to mean (not(1,2,3))[0] instead of
not((1,2,3)[0]).
A definitive summary of platform-independent changes and known issues in this release is available in perldelta and in the CHANGES log that comes with the ActivePerl distribution.
http://www.sunfreeware.com/
You can download a self extracting executable that contains MSVCRT.DLL from:
ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles/msvcrt.exe
Save the file in a temporary directory and double click on it to extract the files. Follow the instructions in the ReadMe.txt file contained in the package in order to install the missing file.
fork() emulation has known limitations. See perlfork for a
detailed summary. In particular, fork() emulation will not work
correctly with extensions that are either not thread-safe, or maintain
internal state that cannot be cloned in the psuedo-child process. This
caveat currently applies to extensions such as Tk and Storable.
Installer Information
Internal Error 2744. PPM_CONFI, C:\perl\bin.
"C:\Perl\bin\wPerl.exe" "C:\Perlbin\configPPM.pl"
"C:\Perl\site\lib\ppm.xml" "D:\downloads\perl\\"
"C:\Perl\site\lib\ppm.xml~"
The first thing to note is that you CANNOT install ActivePerl 5.6 over an older version of ActivePerl based on 5.005, such as build 522 or any 500 series build.
We have determined that one cause of this error message is due to other installations of Perl that may be pointed at by something in the environment.
Workaround
The sure-fire solution is to make absolutely certain that no other installations of Perl are on the target machine. Realizing that this is not always possible, you can follow these steps to ensure the other installations will not interfere.
1) Stop the ``Windows Installer'' service. This can be accomplished from the command prompt using the following command:
c:\> net stop "Windows Installer"
2) Temporarily remove or rename PERLLIB and PERL5LIB environment variables in the system environment.
3) Temporarily remove or rename the following registry values:
[\\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Perl] lib = <directory> (REG_SV)
[\\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Perl] sitelib = <directory> (REG_SV)
[\\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Perl] lib-<PerlVersion> = <directory> (REG_SV)
[\\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Perl] sitelib-<PerlVersion> = <directory>(REG_SV)
4) Proceed with the installation.
Once the installation has completed successfully, the above actions may be undone although restoring the environment variables or the registry values may interfere with the proper operation of your new ActivePerl installation.
In order to perform all of the above steps, you will need to have Administrative privileges on the target machine. If you do not have the required privileges you should contact you Administrator.
The next version of ActivePerl has a fix for this issue so none of the above actions will have to be taken.
Workaround
This is a false positive by Norton AntiVirus. ActivePerl-Winfaq12.html has been examined by hand, and it is likely that the following example code is what causes the false report.
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><CODE>use strict;<BR>
use Win32::OLE;<BR>
use Win32::OLE::Const 'Microsoft Outlook';<BR>
<BR>
my $Outlook = Win32::OLE->new('Outlook.Application', 'Quit');<BR>
my $ol = Win32::OLE::Const->Load($Outlook);<BR>
<BR>
my $namespace = $Outlook->GetNamespace("MAPI");<BR>
my $Folder = $namespace->GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox);<BR>
my $NewFolder = $Folder->Folders->Add("Test1");</CODE></P>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
This can be tested by removing the above code from the ActivePerl-Winfaq12.html file and rescanning with Norton AntiVirus. Norton AntiVirus will no longer detect VBS.NewLove.A.
Symantec has been notified of this issue.
Q236597 - OFF2000: Error Message: The Installation Package Could Not Be Opened ... http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q236/5/97.ASP
Q224094 - OFF2000: Error Message: This Application Requires the Windows Installer to Run http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q224/0/94.ASP
Q247532 - Works 2000 Err Msg: Installer Terminated Prematurely http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q247/5/32.ASP
``Error 1303. The installer has insufficient privileges...'' Running Office Setup http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q228/6/58.ASP
Error Message: Error 1316 Running Setup for Admin Installation http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q228/5/92.ASP
Error 1327 Invalid Drive During Office Installation http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q217/6/66.ASP
The Perl distribution comes with extensive documentation. On Unix platforms, all the standard documentation is installed as man pages under the Perl install location. The location of the man pages may need to be added to the MANPATH environment variable in order to access them. For example, in the C shell:
% setenv MANPATH /usr/local/ActivePerl-5.6/man:$MANPATH
The documentation is installed in HTML format on all platforms. If ActivePerl was installed in /usr/local/ActivePerl-5.6 then the HTML documentation would be located in /usr/local/ActivePerl-5.6/html.
On Windows, the standard documentation along with Windows-specific Perl documentation is installed in HTML format, and is accessible from the ``Start'' menu.
Updated versions of the HTML documentation will always be available at the ActiveState website:
http://www.ActiveState.com/ActivePerl/
Please report any problems you encounter with this release at the following location:
http://bugs.ActiveState.com/ActivePerl/
If you do not have web access, reports can be also sent via email to ActivePerl-Bugs@ActiveState.com. Please be sure to include detailed information about the platform in your message.
As far as possible, please ensure that there is enough information in the report to reproduce the bug elsewhere. It also helps to submit a minimal test case that exhibits the bug.