Perl builds and runs on a bewildering number of platforms. Virtually all known and current Unix derivatives are supported (perl's native platform), as are other systems like VMS, DOS, OS/2, Windows, QNX, BeOS, OS X, MPE/iX and the Amiga.
Binary distributions for some proprietary platforms can be found <http://www.cpan.org/ports/> directory. Because these are not part of the standard distribution, they may and in fact do differ from the base perl port in a variety of ways. You'll have to check their respective release notes to see just what the differences are. These differences can be either positive (e.g. extensions for the features of the particular platform that are not supported in the source release of perl) or negative (e.g. might be based upon a less current source release of perl).
Otherwise if you really do want to build Perl, you need to get a binary version of "gcc" for your system first. Use a search engine to find out how to do this for your operating system.
One simple way to check that things are in the right place is to print out the hard-coded @INC that perl looks through for libraries:
% perl -le 'print for @INC'
If this command lists any paths that don't exist on your system, then you may need to move the appropriate libraries to these locations, or create symbolic links, aliases, or shortcuts appropriately. @INC is also printed as part of the output of
% perl -V
You might also want to check out ``How do I keep my own module/library directory?'' in perlfaq8.
You can search CPAN on <http://metacpan.org> or <http://search.cpan.org/>.
The master web site for CPAN is <http://www.cpan.org/>, <http://www.cpan.org/SITES.html> lists all mirrors.
See the CPAN FAQ at <http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html> for answers to the most frequently asked questions about CPAN.
The Task::Kensho module has a list of recommended modules which you should review as a good starting point.
The complete Perl documentation is available with the Perl distribution. If you have Perl installed locally, you probably have the documentation installed as well: type "perldoc perl" in a terminal or view online <http://perldoc.perl.org/perl.html>.
(Some operating system distributions may ship the documentation in a different package; for instance, on Debian, you need to install the "perl-doc" package.)
Many good books have been written about Perl---see the section later in perlfaq2 for more details.
The Perl Foundation is an advocacy organization for the Perl language which maintains the web site <http://www.perl.org/> as a general advocacy site for the Perl language. It uses the domain to provide general support services to the Perl community, including the hosting of mailing lists, web sites, and other services. There are also many other sub-domains for special topics like learning Perl and jobs in Perl, such as:
Perl Mongers <http://www.pm.org/> uses the pm.org domain for services related to local Perl user groups, including the hosting of mailing lists and web sites. See the Perl Mongers web site <http://www.pm.org/> for more information about joining, starting, or requesting services for a Perl user group.
CPAN, or the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network <http://www.cpan.org/>, is a replicated, worldwide repository of Perl software. See What is CPAN?.
Other places to ask questions are on the PerlMonks site <http://www.perlmonks.org/> or stackoverflow <http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/perl>.
Several Unix/Linux related magazines frequently include articles on Perl.
<http://blogs.perl.org/> hosts many Perl blogs, there are also several blog aggregators: Perlsphere <http://perlsphere.net/> and IronMan <http://ironman.enlightenedperl.org/> are two of them.
If you still need commercial support ActiveState <http://www.activestate.com/activeperl> offers this.
First, ensure that you've found an actual bug. Second, ensure you've found an actual bug.
If you've found a bug with the perl interpreter or one of the modules in the standard library (those that come with Perl), you can use the perlbug utility that comes with Perl (>= 5.004). It collects information about your installation to include with your message, then sends the message to the right place.
To determine if a module came with your version of Perl, you can install and use the Module::CoreList module. It has the information about the modules (with their versions) included with each release of Perl.
Every CPAN module has a bug tracker set up in RT, <http://rt.cpan.org>. You can submit bugs to RT either through its web interface or by email. To email a bug report, send it to bug-<distribution-name>@rt.cpan.org . For example, if you wanted to report a bug in Business::ISBN, you could send a message to bug-Business-ISBN@rt.cpan.org .
Some modules might have special reporting requirements, such as a Github or Google Code tracking system, so you should check the module documentation too.
This documentation is free; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
Irrespective of its distribution, all code examples here are in the public domain. You are permitted and encouraged to use this code and any derivatives thereof in your own programs for fun or for profit as you see fit. A simple comment in the code giving credit to the FAQ would be courteous but is not required.