README.linux

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
specifically designed to be readable as is.

=head1 NAME

perllinux - Perl version 5 on Linux systems

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This document describes various features of Linux that will affect how Perl
version 5 (hereafter just Perl) is compiled and/or runs.

=head2 Deploying Perl on Linux

Normally one can install F</usr/bin/perl> on Linux using your distribution's
package manager (e.g: C<sudo apt-get install perl>, or
C<sudo dnf install perl>). Note that sometimes one needs to install some
extra system packages in order to be able to use CPAN frontends, and that
messing with the system's perl is not always recommended. One can use
L<perlbrew|https://perlbrew.pl/> to avoid such issues.

Otherwise, perl should build fine on Linux using the mainstream compilers
GCC and clang, while following the usual instructions.

=head2 Experimental Support for Sun Studio Compilers for Linux OS

Sun Microsystems has released a port of their Sun Studio compilers for
Linux.  As of May 2019, the last stable release took place on 2017, and one can
buy support contracts for them.

There are some special instructions for building Perl with Sun Studio on
Linux.  Following the normal C<Configure>, you have to run make as follows:

    LDLOADLIBS=-lc make

C<LDLOADLIBS> is an environment variable used by the linker to link
C</ext> modules to glibc.  Currently, that environment variable is not getting
populated by a combination of C<Config> entries and C<ExtUtil::MakeMaker>.
While there may be a bug somewhere in Perl's configuration or
C<ExtUtil::MakeMaker> causing the problem, the most likely cause is an
incomplete understanding of Sun Studio by this author.  Further investigation
is needed to get this working better.

=head1 AUTHOR

Steve Peters <steve@fisharerojo.org>

Please report any errors, updates, or suggestions to
L<https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues>.