1.4. Where to Get Perl

Perl is available from a number of sources. The primary source for Perl distribution is CPAN, the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (www.cpan.org).

Figure 1.2. CPAN ports for binary distribution.

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Go to http://www.cpan.org/ports/ to find out more about what's available for your platform. If you want to install Perl quickly and easily, ActivePerl is a complete, self-installing distribution of Perl based on the standard Perl sources for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, AIX, and HP-UX. It is distributed online at the ActiveState site (www.activestate.com). The complete ActivePerl package contains the binary of the core Perl distribution and complete online documentation.

Here are some significant Web sites to help you find more information about Perl:

• The official Perl home page, run by O'Reilly Media, Inc.: www.perl.com

• The Perl Directory, run by the Perl Foundation, with the aim of being "the central directory of all things Perl": www.perl.org

• The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network, where you will also find "All Things Perl": http://www.cpan.org/

• The site where you will find the essential tools for Perl development: http://www.activestate.com/

Figure 1.3. The Perl directory with links to resources.

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Figure 1.4. The official Perl home page (run by O'Reilly Media).

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1.4.1. What Version Do I Have?

To obtain your Perl version, date this binary version was built, patches, and some copyright information, type the following line shown in Example 1.1 (the dollar sign is the shell prompt):

Example 1.1.

Code View: $ perl -v 1 This is perl, v5.8.8 built for MSWin32-x86-multi-thread (with 50 registered patches, see perl -V for more detail) 2 Copyright 1987-2006, Larry Wall 3 Binary build 820 [274739] provided by ActiveState http://www.ActiveState.com Built Jan 23 2007 15:57:46 4 Perl may be copied only under the terms of either the Artistic License or the GNU General Public License, which may be found in the Perl 5 source kit. Complete documentation for Perl, including FAQ lists, should be found on this system using "man perl" or "perldoc perl". If you have access to the Internet, point your browser at http://www.perl.org/, the Perl Home Page. This is perl, v5.8.8 built for MSWin32-x86-multi-thread (with 1 registered patch, see perl -V for more detail) 5 Perl may be copied only under the terms of either the Artistic License or the GNU General Public License, which may be found in the Perl 5.0 source kit. Complete documentation for Perl, including FAQ lists, should be found on this system using man perl or perldoc perl. If you have access to the Internet, point your browser to www.perl.com/, the Perl home page. ------------------------------------------------------------- 6 perl -v This is perl, v5.8.3 built for sun4-solaris-thread-multi (with 8 registered patches, see perl -V for more detail) Copyright 1987-2003, Larry Wall Binary build 809 provided by ActiveState Corp. http://www.ActiveState.com ActiveState is a division of Sophos. Built Feb 3 2004 00:32:12 Perl may be copied only under the terms of either the Artistic License or the GNU General Public License, which may be found in the Perl 5 source kit. Complete documentation for Perl, including FAQ lists, should be found on this system using `man perl' or `perldoc perl'. If you have access to the Internet, point your browser at http://www.perl.com/, the Perl Home Page. Explanation 1 This version of Perl is 5.8.8 from ActiveState for Windows. 2 Larry Wall, the author of Perl, owns the copyright. 3 This build was obtained from ActiveState. 5 Perl may be copied under the terms specified by the Artistic License or GNU. Perl is distributed under GNU, the Free Software Foundation, meaning that Perl is free. 6 This version of Perl is 5.8.3 for Solaris (UNIX).