PERLRISCOS(1perl)

📦
version 5.44.0 · 2 versions
, in arch rolling

🦋 perlriscos — Perl version 5 for RISC OS 🦋

okay bestie, so this is perlriscos, aka the whole lore on getting Perl version 5 running on RISC OS. skibidi-adjacent retro computing era, no cap 💅

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

This doc is your step-by-step for building Perl for RISC OS. ngl, it's giving complicated because you literally have to cross-compile — that's the whole vibe here 🫠

BUT WAIT. There's already a binary version of perl out there that someone built for you:

https://www.cp15.org/perl/

and honestly? you may wish to use that instead of trying to compile it yourself. like, you can compile it, but bestie, why fight 😭

🔥 BUILD 🔥

First things first, the prerequisites. You need:

fr fr, "working" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence. if GCCSDK isn't working, none of this is working 💀

Now, the actual process. First, copy the source and build a native copy of perl for your host system. Yes, host system. That native build is gonna come back later and save you — main character energy 👑

Then, in the source to be cross-compiled:

  1. Run this:
$ ./Configure
  1. Select the RISC OS hint file (hints/riscos.sh). The default answers for the rest of the questions are usually sufficient. slay, just hit enter ✨

Note that, if you wish to run Configure non-interactively (see the INSTALL document for details), to have it select the correct hint file, you'll need to provide the argument -Dhintfile=riscos on the Configure command-line.

  1. Then:
$ make miniperl
  1. This should build miniperl and then fail when it tries to run it. and that is expected, bestie. this is not a bug, this is the plot 🙈
  2. Copy the miniperl executable from the native build you did earlier to replace the cross-compiled miniperl. yeah — the one from step one. she's back, she's the moment 💅
  3. Then:
$ make
  1. This will use miniperl to complete the rest of the build. and that's the whole thing. periodt. 🎀

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Alex Waugh <alex@alexwaugh.com>

this page is perl v5.44.0, dated 2026-10-17, brought to you by Perl Programmers Reference Guide — ty for coming to my TED talk, now go cross-compile something, ily 🫶💖

📦 where this page comes from