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[MacPerl] Updated Q&A
[Several details have changed, among them the ftp adress of the MacPerl master
server. Note also the warning about the mailing list change.]
In the following article, I will try to discuss a few potential
questions related to MacPerl. I will probably post an updated version
of this article every few weeks.
Questions and Answers about MacPerl
Table of contents
General questions
1) How can I get this document?
2) Where can I get real information about MacPerl?
3) What is MacPerl and where can I get it?
4) How do I subscribe/unsubscribe from the MacPerl mailing lists
5) How do I send an article to the MacPerl mailing lists
6) Is there a searchable archive of the MacPerl mailing list?
7) How many people are using MacPerl?
Working with MacPerl
8) Why don't my droplets work?
9) Is there a collection of MacPerl scripts anywhere?
10) Is it possible to develop CGI scripts for MacHTTP using MacPerl?
Further Development
11) When will there be a stable version of MacPerl5?
12) When will there be a multithreaded/OSA Perl?
13) Why doesn't MacPerl make more rapid progress?
Questions
1) How can I get this document?
Well, you have it, don't you? You could always ask me for a copy by
email. The cool new way to get an updated version is by WWW in
"http://www.iis.ee.ethz.ch/~neeri/macintosh/perl-qa.html". Should
further information (e.g., the manual), become available online in the
future, you'll find it on
"http://www.iis.ethz.ch/~neeri/macintosh/perl.html".
2) Where can I get real information about MacPerl?
Luckily, a few brave MacPerl users have started filling the huge gaps
in the MacPerl documentation.
Sandra Silcot publishes a MacPerl primer at
http://www.unimelb.edu.au/~ssilcot/macperl-primer/home.html,
and also by ftp at
ftp://www.unimelb.edu.au/pub/cwis/tools/macintosh/MacPerl-PRIMER-1.1.sea.hqx
Bob Dalgleish and Bob Wilkinson have taken over the MacPerl FAQ from
Hal Wine. It can be retrieved at
http://www.perl.com/CPAN/doc/FAQs/mac/MacPerlFAQ.html.
3) What is MacPerl and where can I get it?
MacPerl is a port of Larry Wall's Perl (Practical Extraction and
Report Language) to the Apple Macintosh.
The most recent versions of MacPerl are always available in
sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch software/platform/macos/perl
This site is mirrored at
mors.gsfc.nasa.gov /pub/MacPerl/Applications
and in a huge number of CPAN (Common Perl Archive Network) mirror sites:
Florida
ftp://ftp.cis.ufl.edu/pub/perl/CPAN/ports/mac/
Illinois
ftp://uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/lang/perl/CPAN/ports/mac/
Massachusetts
ftp://ftp.iguide.com/pub/mirrors/packages/perl/CPAN/ports/mac/
Oklahoma
ftp://ftp.uoknor.edu/mirrors/CPAN/ports/mac/
Texas
ftp://ftp.sedl.org/pub/mirrors/CPAN/ports/mac/
ftp://ftp.sterling.com/programming/languages/perl/ports/mac/
Finland
ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN/ports/mac/
France
ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/perl/CPAN/ports/mac/
ftp://ftp.pasteur.fr/pub/computing/unix/perl/CPAN/ports/mac/
Germany
ftp://ftp.leo.org/pub/comp/programming/languages/perl/CPAN/ports/mac/
ftp://ftp.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/pub/programming/languages/perl/CPAN/ports/mac/
Great Britain
ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/mirrors/perl/CPAN/ports/mac/
The Netherlands
ftp://ftp.cs.ruu.nl/pub/PERL/CPAN/ports/mac/
Portugal
ftp://ftp.ci.uminho.pt/pub/lang/perl/ports/mac/
Sweden
ftp://ftp.sunet.se/pub/lang/perl/CPAN/ports/mac/
Switzerland
ftp://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/mirror/CPAN/ports/mac/
Australia
ftp://coombs.anu.edu.au/pub/perl/ports/mac/
ftp://ftp.mame.mu.oz.au/pub/perl/CPAN/ports/mac/
New Zealand
ftp://ftp.tekotago.ac.nz/pub/perl/CPAN/ports/mac/
Japan
ftp://ftp.lab.kdd.co.jp/lang/perl/CPAN/ports/mac/
Taiwan
ftp://dongpo.math.ncu.edu.tw/perl/CPAN/ports/mac/
South Africa
ftp://ftp.is.co.za/programming/perl/CPAN/ports/mac/
The current version of MacPerl is 5.1.0r2 and is available in the
above directories as:
- Mac_Perl_510r2_appl.bin.
- Mac_Perl_510r2_tool.bin.
- Mac_Perl_510r2_src.sit.bin.
4) How do I subscribe/unsubscribe from MacPerl mailing lists?
Please be warned that all information about mailing lists is subject to
change within the next few weeks, as the lists will move to a new server.
There are now two mailing lists dedicated to MacPerl. The mac-perl
mailing list is an open discussion list with maybe a dozen articles a
day. The mac-perl-announce list is a very low volume moderated mailin
list with only 1-2 messages a month.
To subscribe to the mac-perl list, send mail to
mac-perl-request@iis.ee.ethz.ch whose BODY (the Subject is
ignored) is the word "subscribe" or "unsubscribe". To subscribe to the
mac-perl-announce list, send this mail to
mac-perl-announce-request@iis.ee.ethz.ch instead. All traffic to
the announce mailing list automatically appears on the regular mailing
list, too, so there is no need to subscribe to both of them.
5) How do I send an article to the MacPerl mailing lists?
Articles sent to mac-perl@iis.ee.ethz.ch are automatically sent to the
list. If you have an article that you have severe doubts whether it should
be distributed, send it to mac-perl-approval@iis.ee.ethz.ch. I will
read your article, and will send it to the list unless I think I can
answer it exhaustively and neither the question nor the answer are of
general interest. Note that I'm severely backlogged in my mail and sending
articles to -approval adds to my work load.
Please help to keep the mailing list an useful resource for as many people
as possible. Don't post an article unless it is
specific for the Macintosh. General Perl questions belong
in comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi, if they are CGI programming
related, and in comp.lang.perl.misc otherwise.
If you feel that your message belongs on the -announce mailing list,
send it to mac-perl-announce-approval@iis.ee.ethz.ch. I will send it
to the list if I agree that it's appropriate.
6) Is there a searchable archive of the MacPerl mailing list?
Yes! Sandra Silcot has dedicated the time and resources to build one at
http://www.its.unimelb.edu.au:801/hma/pub/macperl/.
7) How many people are using MacPerl ?
As with most free software, this is hard to say. There are now around
800 subscribers to the mailing list, and version 4.1.8 has been
downloaded thousands of times from ftp.switch.ch alone (in August
1995, I counted close to 800 downloads).
8) Why won't my droplets work?
Due to a bug in MacPerl 4.1.8, droplets only work if you have
AppleScript installed. This bug was fixed in MacPerl 5.
9) Is there a collection of MacPerl scripts anywhere?
I'm building one in ftp://ftp.switch.ch/software/mac/perl/scripts/, but I
don't have much
time to invest. If you have any interesting scripts to offer, send me
(neeri@iis.ee.ethz.ch) a
mail. If you have a whole collection of scripts on your own ftp site,
tell me and I'll set up a mirror.
10) Is it possible to develop CGI scripts for MacHTTP using MacPerl?
Yes. You'll need the MacHTTP CGI Script extension, which is available
in ftp://err.ethz.ch/pub/neeri/MacPerl/
as "PCGI". The latest version, "PCGI_06Feb96.sit.hqx", is largely
compatible with the Unix CGI specification.
11) When will there be a stable version of MacPerl5?
5.1.0 overall looks pretty good, I think. I'm trying to fix the trouble
spots, but see below.
12) When will there be a multithreaded/OSA Perl?
There is a Perl OSA component, but it doesn't seem to be very stable
yet. I don't know when/if there will be a multithreaded Perl.
13) Why doesn't MacPerl make more rapid progress?
Right now, until Spring of 1997, I'm writing my PhD dissertation (on
Distributed Scheduling in Workstation Clusters). Even after that work
is concluded, I expect that there will always be a day job that has
precedence over all MacPerl work.
Last changed: 19Dec96