1If you read this file _as_is_, just ignore the funny characters you
2see. It is written in the POD format (see pod/perlpod.pod) which is
3specially designed to be readable as is.
4
5=head1 NAME
6
7README.epoc - Perl for EPOC
8
9=head1 SYNOPSIS
10
11Perl 5 README file for the EPOC Release 5 operating system.
12
13=head1 INTRODUCTION
14
15EPOC is an OS for palmtops and mobile phones. For more informations look at:
16http://www.symbian.com/
17
18This is a port of perl to the epocemx SDK by Eberhard Mattes, which
19itself uses the SDK by symbian. Essentially epocemx it is a POSIX
20look alike environment for the EPOC OS.  For more information look at:
21http://epocemx.sourceforge.net/
22
23perl and epocemx runs on Epoc Release 5 machines: Psion 5mx, 5mx Pro,
24Psion Revo, Psion Netbook and on the Ericsson M128. It may run on Epoc
25Release 3 Hardware (Series 5 classic), too. For more information about
26this hardware please refer to http://www.psion.com/
27
28Vendors which like to have support for their devices are free to send
29me a sample.
30
31=head1 INSTALLING PERL ON EPOC
32
33You can download a ready-to-install version from
34http://www.oflebbe.de/oflebbe/perl/
35
36You will need at least ~6MB free space in order to install and run perl.
37
38Please install the emxusr.sis package from
39http://epocemx.sourceforge.net/ first.
40
41Install perl.sis on the EPOC machine. If you do not know how to do
42that, consult your PsiWin documentation.
43
44Perl itself and its standard library is using 4 MB disk space.
45Unicode support and some other modules are left out. (For details,
46please look into epoc/createpkg.pl). If you like to use these modules,
47you are free to copy them from a current perl release.
48
49=head1 STARTING PERL ON EPOC
50
51Please use the epocemx shell to start perl. perl integrates with the
52conventions of epocemx.
53
54=head2 Editors on Epoc
55
56A suitable text editor can be downloaded from symbian
57http://www.symbian.com/developer/downloads/files/editor.zip
58
59=head2 Features of Perl on Epoc
60
61The built-in function EPOC::getcwd returns the current directory.
62
63=head2 Restrictions of Perl on Epoc
64
65Features are left out, because of restrictions of the POSIX support in
66EPOC:
67
68=over 4
69
70=item *
71
72socket IO is only implemented poorly. You can only use sysread and
73syswrite on them. The commands read, write, print, <> do not work for
74sockets. This may change iff epocemx supports sockets.
75
76=item *
77
78kill, alarm and signals. Do not try to use them. This may be
79impossible to implement on EPOC.
80
81=item *
82
83select is missing.
84
85=item *
86
87binmode does not exist. (No CR LF to LF translation for text files)
88
89=item *
90
91EPOC does not handle the notion of current drive and current
92directory very well (i.e. not at all, but it tries hard to emulate
93one). See PATH.
94
95=item *
96
97Heap is limited to 4MB.
98
99=item *
100
101Dynamic loading is not implemented.
102
103=back
104
105=head2 Compiling Perl 5 on the EPOC cross compiling environment
106
107Sorry, this is far too short.
108
109=over 4
110
111=item *
112
113You will need the epocemx SDK from Eberhard Mattes.
114
115=item *
116
117Get the Perl sources from your nearest CPAN site.
118
119=item *
120
121Unpack the sources.
122
123=item *
124
125Build a native perl from this sources... Make sure to save the
126miniperl executable as miniperl.native.
127
128Start again from scratch
129
130      cp epoc/* .
131      ./Configure -S
132      make
133      cp miniperl.native miniperl
134      touch miniperl.exe
135      make
136      perl createpkg.pl
137
138      emxsis perl.pkg perl.sis
139
140=back
141
142=head1 SUPPORT STATUS OF PERL ON EPOC
143
144I'm offering this port "as is". You can ask me questions, but I can't
145guarantee I'll be able to answer them. Since the port to epocemx is
146quite new, please check the web for updates first.
147
148Very special thanks to Eberhard Mattes for epocemx.
149
150=head1 AUTHOR
151
152Olaf Flebbe <olaf@oflebbe.de>
153http://www.oflebbe.de/oflebbe/perl/
154
155=head1 LAST UPDATE
156
1572003-01-18
158
159=cut
160