Welcome, and thank you for choosing ActivePerl.
Note: The first three numbers of an ActivePerl release correspond to the core Perl version. The fourth number is the ActivePerl build number, which may be followed by a fifth number that specifies a modified build for ActivePerl Enterprise Edition. For example, this release of ActivePerl is 5.8.7.813, which corresponds to Perl 5.8.7.
Please note that ActivePerl 800 series builds are NOT binary-compatible with the older 600 and 500 series builds. In particular, do not attempt to use extensions or PPM packages built for the 500 and 600 series builds with ActivePerl 800 series builds and vice versa.
Binaries for the following platforms are available:
You can also get ActivePerl for HP-UX from HP:
https://payment.ecommerce.hp.com/portal/swdepot/try.do?productNumber=PERL
There are currently two versions of ActivePerl that are supported. The most significant differences between the two versions are that:
ActivePerl 5.6.1, build 638:
ActivePerl 5.8.7, build 813:
ActivePerl 5.6.1, build 638, is generally better for web hosting purposes and high performance applications; however, ActiveState does not intend to continue releasing builds of Perl 5.6.1, unless a major security vulnerability is discovered.
ActivePerl 5.8.7, build 813, is recommended for most Perl scripting needs. It has better support for more recent developments such as XML, and the bundled modules are much more up to date.
For more information, please refer to the release notes for each version:
% rpm -i ActivePerl-5.8.7.813-i686-linux.rpm
This will install ActivePerl into /opt/ActivePerl-5.8.
To uninstall ActivePerl, run:
% rpm -e ActivePerl
The RPM package has only been tested with Red Hat 6.2, but is expected to be compatible with other Red Hat 6.2 compatible installations as well.
Note: Previous versions of ActivePerl were installed in
/usr/local. Upgrading using rpm will not remove
modules and documentation subsequently added using PPM or the CPAN shell,
nor will it move them to the new location in /opt. These
modules must be reinstalled after the upgrade. The old ActivePerl directory
in /usr/local can be removed.
% dpkg -i ActivePerl-5.8.7.813-i686-linux.deb
This will install ActivePerl into /opt/ActivePerl-5.8.
To uninstall ActivePerl, run:
% dpkg -r ActivePerl
The Debian package has only been tested with Debian 2.2, but is expected to be compatible with other Debian 2.2 compatible installations as well.
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-5.8.7.813-i686-linux.tar.gz
% cd ActivePerl-5.8.7.813
% ./install.sh
If you share the system with other people, or if you do not have root access, it is recommended that you install ActivePerl in your own user directory. For example:
/home/larry/bin/ActivePerl58
We suggest adding the following line to your .bash_profile file:
PATH=$PATH:/home/larry/bin
Also, we suggest that you create symbolic links to the binaries:
ln -s /home/larry/bin/ActivePerl58/bin/perl /home/larry/bin/perl58
ln -s /home/larry/bin/ActivePerl58/bin/ppm /home/larry/bin/ppm58
This will allow you to call ActivePerl with a command like:
perl -e "hello world!;"
The Red Hat and Debian packages are installed into the /opt/ActivePerl-5.8 directory. Add the /opt/ActivePerl-5.8/bin directory to your PATH environment variable to conveniently access it. For example, in the C shell:
% setenv PATH /opt/ActivePerl-5.8/bin:$PATH
The ActivePerl Generic 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/ActivePerl-5.8):
% setenv PATH /home/larry/ActivePerl-5.8/bin:$PATH
dpkg -r ActivePerl
rpm -e ActivePerl
/bin/rm -rf /opt/ActivePerl-5.8
ActivePerl is distributed on Mac OS X as a disk image (.dmg
file). The disk image contains an installer package (.pkg bundle)
that installs ActivePerl.
ActivePerl-<version>-<platform>.dmg).ActivePerl-<version>-<platform>.dmg to do so.OS X includes a non-interactive command line interface to Apple's Installer. To install the ActivePerl Apple installer from the command line:
$ sudo installer -pkg /Users/<username>/ActivePerl-<version>.pkg -target /
More information on the command line interface to Installer can be
found in its man page.
The Apple Installer package installs ActivePerl in /usr/local/ActivePerl-5.8. To run the perl interpreter and PPM package manager (without having to enter the full path), add /usr/local/ActivePerl-5.8/bin to your PATH environment variable. For example:
$ export PATH=/usr/local/ActivePerl-5.8/bin:$PATH
To permanently add the directory to your PATH, add it to the
.profile or .bashrc file in the user's home
directory. For example:
PATH=/usr/local/ActivePerl-5.8/bin:$PATH
export PATH
Alternatively, symbolic links to the binaries can be created in any bin directory currently in the PATH. For example:
PATH=/Users/<username>/bin:$PATH
$ ln -s /usr/local/ActivePerl-5.8/bin/perl /Users/<username>/bin/perl
$ ln -s /usr/local/ActivePerl-5.8/bin/ppm /Users/<username>/bin/ppm
To uninstall ActivePerl, run the uninstall script:
$ /Library/Receipts/ActivePerl-5.8.pkg/Contents/Resources/uninstall
Removing ActivePerl will also remove perl modules manually installed using PPM.
If neccessary, remove any symbolic links created during configuration. For example:
$ rm /Users/<username>/bin/perl
% gunzip ActivePerl-5.8.7.813-sun4-solaris.pkg.gz
% pkgadd -d ActivePerl-5.8.7.813-sun4-solaris.pkg
This will install ActivePerl into /opt/ActivePerl-5.8.
To uninstall ActivePerl, run:
% pkgrm ASperl
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 and Solaris 2.8.
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-5.8.7.813-sun4-solaris.tar.gz
% cd ActivePerl-5.8.7.813
% ./install.sh
The Solaris package is installed into the /opt/ActivePerl-5.8 directory. Add the /opt/ActivePerl-5.8/bin directory to your PATH environment variable to conveniently access it. For example, in the C shell:
% setenv PATH /opt/ActivePerl-5.8/bin:$PATH
The ActivePerl Generic installer allows you to install the package anywhere that the user has write permission. Add the bin directory to your PATH environment variable to conveniently access it. For example, in the C shell (assuming you installed into /home/larry/ActivePerl-5.8):
% setenv PATH /home/larry/ActivePerl-5.8/bin:$PATH
pkgrm -d ASperl
/bin/rm -rf /opt/ActivePerl-5.8
PERLLIB, PERL5LIB or PERL5OPT
have been set on your system, you should unset them before installing
ActivePerl. Otherwise, these variables may cause incompatible versions of
Perl modules to be used during the installation process.
Upgrading from ActivePerl version 5.6 requires that you delete the old version of ActivePerl, and then install the 5.8.x version. This means that any additional packages that were installed using PPM must be manually reinstalled after the ActivePerl 5.8.x installation, so creating a list of these packages is an important first step.
To upgrade from ActivePerl 5.6.x:
dir /b c:\perl\site\lib\ppm-conf\*.ppd > c:\ppm_modules.txtc:\perl).ppm_modules.txt.Note: You may receive the following error:
Can't locate object method "catfile" via package "MM" (perhaps you
forgot to load "MM"?) at E:/Perl/site/lib/PPM.pm line 363, line 22.
If you do receive this error, it is because you did not properly remove the old ActivePerl installation before you installed. Fully remove the old ActivePerl installation and reinstall.
If you have installed modules using the PPM included with earlier versions of ActivePerl 5.8, use the following steps to upgrade ActivePerl. PPM modules can only be migrated to later ActivePerl builds if you installed ActivePerl using the MSI Installer.
C:\Perl) except the site\lib directory.C:\Perl).If you are using ActivePerl to serve CGI / ASP scripts using IIS or another Web server, stop the Web server before installing ActivePerl.
Do not install over a 500 or 600 series build of ActivePerl. This package must be installed into a separate directory.
msiexec /i msi_file.msi
The ADDLOCAL command line property is used to specify which features should be installed. (If ADDLOCAL is not specified, all features are installed.) For example:
msiexec /i msi_file.msi ADDLOCAL="PERL_FEATURE,PERLIS"
The following features may be specified with the ADDLOCAL switch:
A set of command-line properties can be used to configure the installation. For example:
msiexec /i msi_file.msi TARGETDIR="c:\perl" PERL_PATH="Yes"
The following command-line switches can be used:
msiexec /i msi_file.msi /l log.txt
To enable verbose logging, use the *v modifier with
the /l command line option. For example:
msiexec /i msi_file.msi /l*v log.txt
If you run Perl at the command prompt, the script will be executed by the
first Perl.exe it encounters in the list of paths in the PATH
environment variable. To ensure the script is executed by the Perl interpreter
of your choice, specify the complete path to the Perl.exe you want
to use. (Typing perl -v at the command prompt will tell you which
version of Perl is currently first in your PATH)
Installing ActivePerl will change your Path environment variable and may change registry settings, such as file associations, which may affect your Web server. If you want to use a previously installed copy of Perl, you will need to modify these settings.
ftype PerlScript=perl.exe %1 %*
assoc .pl=PerlScript
config.pm:
797 otherlibdirs=''
798 package='perl5'
799 # pager='more /e' NOTE: The " /e" does not work on WIN9x systems
800 pager='more'
801 passcat=''