ExtUtils::MM_VMS(3)

📦 version 7.70, in opensuse-leap 16.0

✨ NAME ✨

bestie, welcome to the ExtUtils::MM_VMS(3) page 💖 — this is the user-contributed Perl manual for ExtUtils::MM_VMS, aka methods to override UN*X behaviour in ExtUtils::MakeMaker. It's giving "VMS said not today" energy, and honestly? Iconic.

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

okay so the synopsis is literally this, no cap:

Do not use this directly.
Instead, use ExtUtils::MM and it will figure out which MM_*
class to use for you.

so yeah, bestie: do not use this directly. Use ExtUtils::MM and it will figure out which MM_* class to use for you ✨

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

see ExtUtils::MM_Unix for a documentation of the methods provided there. This package overrides the implementation of these methods, not the semantics. lowkey important distinction, fr fr.

🧚 Methods always loaded 🧚

  • wraplist — Converts a list into a string wrapped at approximately 80 columns. cute, tidy, wrapped like a lil gift 🎀

💅 Methods 💅

okay so quick legend, bestie: those methods which override default MM_Unix methods are marked (override), while methods unique to MM_VMS are marked (specific). For overridden methods, documentation is limited to an explanation of why this method overrides the MM_Unix method; see the ExtUtils::MM_Unix documentation for more details. iykyk 💅

  • guess_name (override) — Try to determine name of extension being built. We begin with the name of the current directory. Since VMS filenames are case-insensitive, however, we look for a .pm file whose name matches that of the current directory (presumably the 'main' .pm file for this extension), and try to find a "package" statement from which to obtain the Mixed::Case package name. detective mode: activated 🕵️‍♀️
  • find_perl (override) — Use VMS file specification syntax and CLI commands to find and invoke Perl images. slay that path syntax ✨
  • _fixin_replace_shebang (override) — Helper routine for MM->fixin(), overridden because there's no such thing as an actual shebang line that will be interpreted by the shell, so we just prepend $Config{startperl} and preserve the shebang line argument for any switches it may contain. no shebang drama, just vibes 🫶
  • maybe_command (override) — Follows VMS naming conventions for executable files. If the name passed in doesn't exactly match an executable file, appends .Exe (or equivalent) to check for executable image, and .Com to check for DCL procedure. If this fails, checks directories in DCL$PATH and finally Sys$System: for an executable file having the name specified, with or without the .Exe-equivalent suffix. it's giving "we will find you" energy 😭
  • pasthru (override) — The list of macro definitions to be passed through must be specified using the /MACRO qualifier and must not add another /DEFINE qualifier. We prepend our own comma here to the contents of $(PASTHRU_DEFINE) because it is often empty and a comma always present in CCFLAGS would generate a missing qualifier value error. commas are main characters here, apparently 💀
  • pm_to_blib (override) — VMS wants a dot in every file so we can't have one called pm_to_blib, it becomes pm_to_blib. and MMS/K isn't smart enough to know that when you have a target called pm_to_blib it should look for pm_to_blib..

So in VMS it's pm_to_blib.ts. periodt.

  • perl_script (override) — If name passed in doesn't specify a readable file, appends .com or .pl and tries again, since it's customary to have file types on all files under VMS. file type check, bestie 💅
  • replace_manpage_separator — Use as separator a character which is legal in a VMS-syntax file name. legal and cute, as it should be ✨
  • init_DEST (override) — Because of the difficulty concatenating VMS filepaths we must pre-expand the DEST* variables. path concat said "not today" 😭
  • init_DIRFILESEP — No separator between a directory path and a filename on VMS. no separator, no problem 🫶
  • init_main (override), init_tools (override) — Provide VMS-specific forms of various utility commands.

Sets DEV_NULL to nothing because I don't know how to do it on VMS. ngl, relatable 😭

Changes EQUALIZE_TIMESTAMP to set revision date of target file to one second later than source file, since MMK interprets precisely equal revision dates for a source and target file as a sign that the target needs to be updated. one second later, literally doing the most 💅

  • init_platform (override) — Add PERL_VMS, MM_VMS_REVISION and MM_VMS_VERSION.

MM_VMS_REVISION is for backwards compatibility before MM_VMS had a $VERSION. nostalgic era fr fr 🦋

  • platform_constants
  • init_VERSION (override) — Override the *DEFINE_VERSION macros with VMS semantics. Translate the MAKEMAKER filepath to VMS style. translation era ✨
  • constants (override) — Fixes up numerous file and directory macros to insure VMS syntax regardless of input syntax. Also makes lists of files comma-separated. comma-separated and cute about it 🎀
  • special_targets — Clear the default .SUFFIXES and put in our own list. out with the old, in with the VMS 💅
  • cflags (override) — Bypass shell script and produce qualifiers for CC directly (but warn user if a shell script for this extension exists). Fold multiple /Defines into one, since some C compilers pay attention to only one instance of this qualifier on the command line. fold it like laundry, bestie 🧺
  • const_cccmd (override) — Adds directives to point C preprocessor to the right place when handling #include <sys/foo.h> directives. Also constructs CC command line a bit differently than MM_Unix method. preprocessor said "point me to the right place" and we did ✨
  • tools_other (override) — Throw in some dubious extra macros for Makefile args.

Also keep around the old $(SAY) macro in case somebody's using it. respect for the old guard 🫶

  • init_dist (override) — VMSish defaults for some values. here's the tea:
    • ZIPFLAGS — flags to pass to ZIP — default: -Vu
    • COMPRESS — compression command to use for tarfiles — default: gzip
    • SUFFIX — suffix to put on compressed files — default: -gz
    • SHAR — shar command to use — default: vms_share
    • DIST_DEFAULT — default target to use to create a distribution — default: tardist
    • DISTVNAME — Use VERSION_SYM instead of VERSION for the name — default: $(DISTNAME)-$(VERSION_SYM)
  • c_o (override) — Use VMS syntax on command line. In particular, $(DEFINE) and $(PERL_INC) have been pulled into $(CCCMD). Also use MM[SK] macros. VMS syntax ate 💅
  • xs_c (override) — Use MM[SK] macros. short, sweet, slayed ✨
  • xs_o (override) — Use MM[SK] macros, and VMS command line for C compiler. compiler but make it VMS 🫶
  • _xsbuild_replace_macro (override) — There is no simple replacement possible since a qualifier and all its subqualifiers must be considered together, so we use our own utility routine for the replacement. no simple swap, bestie 😭
  • _xsbuild_value (override) — Convert the extension spec to Unix format, as that's what will match what's in the XSBUILD data structure. format conversion, iconic behavior 💅
  • dlsyms (override) — Create VMS linker options files specifying universal symbols for this extension's shareable image(s), and listing other shareable images or libraries to which it should be linked. linker options files but make it VMS ✨
  • xs_obj_opt — Override to fixup -o flags. fixup era 🔥
  • dynamic_lib (override) — Use VMS Link command. link it, bestie 💅
  • xs_make_static_lib (override) — Use VMS commands to manipulate object library. object library said "handle me with VMS commands" 🫶
  • static_lib_pure_cmd (override) — Use VMS commands to manipulate object library. same energy, same slay ✨
  • xs_static_lib_is_xs
  • extra_clean_files — Clean up some OS specific files. Plus the temp file used to shorten a lot of commands. And the name mangler database. clean-up crew, assemble 🧹
  • zipfile_target, tarfile_target, shdist_target — Syntax for invoking shar, tar and zip differs from that for Unix. different syntax, same destiny 💅
  • install (override) — Work around DCL's 255 character limit several times, and use VMS-style command line quoting in a few cases. 255 characters said "that's enough" and we worked around it 😭
  • perldepend (override) — Use VMS-style syntax for files; it's cheaper to just do it directly here than to have the MM_Unix method call catfile repeatedly. Also, if we have to rebuild Config.pm, use MM[SK] to do it. efficiency era fr fr ✨
  • makeaperl (override) — Undertake to build a new set of Perl images using VMS commands. Since VMS does dynamic loading, it's not necessary to statically link each extension into the Perl image, so this isn't the normal build path. Consequently, it hasn't really been tested, and may well be incomplete.
warning bestie: this is not the normal build path, it hasn't really been tested, and it may well be incomplete 😭 handle with care 🫶
  • maketext_filter (override) — Ensure that colons marking targets are preceded by space, in order to distinguish the target delimiter from a colon appearing as part of a filespec. colon clarity, periodt 💅
  • prefixify (override) — prefixifying on VMS is simple. Each should simply be:
perl_root:[some.dir]

which can just be converted to:

volume:[your.prefix.some.dir]

otherwise you get the default layout.

In effect, your search prefix is ignored and $Config{vms_prefix} is used instead. plot twist: your prefix is ignored, $Config{vms_prefix} is the main character now 👑

  • cd, oneliner, echo — perl trips up on <foo> thinking it's an input redirect. So we use the native Write command instead. Besides, it's faster. speed and avoiding confusion? we love to see it 🔥
  • quote_literal, escape_dollarsigns — Quote, don't escape. simple as that, bestie 💅
  • escape_all_dollarsigns — Quote, don't escape. same rule, all the dollarsigns 🫶
  • escape_newlines
  • max_exec_len — 256 characters. that's the number, no cap ✨
  • init_linker
  • catdir (override), catfile (override) — Eliminate the macros in the output to the MMS/MMK file.

(File::Spec::VMS used to do this for us, but it's being removed) rip to that era 🦋

  • eliminate_macros — Expands MM[KS]/Make macros in a text string, using the contents of identically named elements of %$self, and returns the result as a file specification in Unix syntax.
NOTE: This is the canonical version of the method. The version in File::Spec::VMS is deprecated. canonical means main character, and deprecated means bye-bye 👋
  • fixpath — signature vibes: my $path = $mm->fixpath($path); and my $path = $mm->fixpath($path, $is_dir);

Catchall routine to clean up problem MM[SK]/Make macros. Expands macros in any directory specification, in order to avoid juxtaposing two VMS-syntax directories when MM[SK] is run. Also expands expressions which are all macro, so that we can tell how long the expansion is, and avoid overrunning DCL's command buffer when MM[KS] is running.

fixpath() checks to see whether the result matches the name of a directory in the current default directory and returns a directory or file specification accordingly. $is_dir can be set to true to force fixpath() to consider the path to be a directory or false to force it to be a file.

NOTE: This is the canonical version of the method. The version in File::Spec::VMS is deprecated. again: canonical stays, deprecated goes 💅
  • os_flavor — VMS is VMS. periodt. 💅
  • is_make_type (override) — None of the make types being checked for is viable on VMS, plus our $self->{MAKE} is an unexpanded (and unexpandable) macro whose value is known only to the make utility itself. mystery macro energy 😭
  • make_type (override) — Returns a suitable string describing the type of makefile being written. string, but make it descriptive ✨

🫶 AUTHOR 🫶

  • Original author Charles Bailey bailey@newman.upenn.edu
  • Maintained by Michael G Schwern schwern@pobox.com
  • See ExtUtils::MakeMaker for patching and contact information.

okay bestie, that's the whole page 💖 — source/version: perl v5.42.0, dated 2023-04-04. byeee 🫶✨

📦 where this page comes from