Does Perl run on ARM?

BrowserUk has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Does Perl run on ARM? by Tux (Canon) on Apr 12, 2014 at 08:00 UTC
Short anser: yes it does. Longer answer: it depends on what you want out of perl. I managed to build perl from scratch on my Synology DS213: `Linux 2.6.32.12 [DSM 4.3-3827-0] Feroceon 88FR131 rev 1 (v5l)/0 armv5 +tel 499 Mb $ /pro/bin/perl -v This is perl 5, version 19, subversion 4 (v5.19.4 (v5.19.3-309-g760100 +7*)) built for armv5tel-linux (with 1 registered patch, see perl -V for more detail)` [download] But I have problems with dynamic loading due to shared lib conflicts. I installed the development suite as the Synology site prescribes. The CORE has been amended to support the deviating environment. The download sites for the DSM also have prebuilt perl available, but I find</p `$ /usr/bin/perl -v This is perl, v5.8.6 built for MARVELL_88F6281` [download] Way too old to play with :) There is also an alternative resource, but that also is not reasonably up-to-date: `$ /opt/bin/perl -v This is perl, v5.10.0 built for arm-none-linux-gnueabi` [download] IIRC Brian managed to do a cross-compile build for ARM. Native compilation on ARM just uses `Configure` if the OS is Linux-like, so all rules for Linux/Unix regarding configuring threads, 32/64-bitness and all apply. Not every ARM is the same. I noticed that my `armv5tel` is not the same as other ARM architectures. YMMV. Enjoy, Have FUN! H.Merijn	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Does Perl run on ARM? by stefbv (Priest) on Apr 12, 2014 at 09:08 UTC
The Synology DSM 5.0 has a package for Perl 5.18.1. This is the good news, the bad news is that I didn't succeed to install modules probably because of the settings: % perl -V Summary of my perl5 (revision 5 version 18 subversion 1) configuration +: Platform: osname=linux, osvers=current, archname=armle-linux Compiler: Linker and Libraries: Dynamic Linking: Characteristics of this binary (from libperl): Compile-time options: HAS_TIMES PERLIO_LAYERS PERL_DONT_CREATE_GVSV PERL_HASH_FUNC_ONE_AT_A_TIME_HARD PERL_MALLOC_ +WRAP PERL_PRESERVE_IVUV PERL_SAWAMPERSAND USE_LARGE +_FILES USE_LOCALE USE_LOCALE_COLLATE USE_LOCALE_CTYPE USE_LOCALE_NUMERIC USE_PERLIO USE_PERL_ATOF Built under linux Compiled at Feb 27 2014 13:59:58 %ENV: PERL_READLINE_NOWARN="1" @INC: /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl /usr/share/perl5/site_perl /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/lib/perl5/core_perl /usr/share/perl5/core_perl [download] No compiler, linker and libraries configurations... :-( Regards, Stefan	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: Does Perl run on ARM? by Tux (Canon) on Apr 12, 2014 at 13:33 UTC
I just upped my DS213 from DSM-4.3-3827 to 5.0-4458-Update2. Not all went as smooth as I hoped. Besides all the usual broken symlinks, there is now a new sshd running that makes logging in a whole lot more troublesome. Backup using rsync still works, but not as a normal user, only as root :( :( `Linux 2.6.32.12 [DSM 5.0-4458-2] Feroceon 88FR131 rev 1 (v5l)/0 armv5 +tel 499 Mb This is perl 5, version 18, subversion 1 (v5.18.1) built for armle-lin +ux` [download] That perl is cripled though: Checking if your kit is complete... Looks good CONFIG key 'lddlflags' does not exist in Config.pm CONFIG key 'ldflags' does not exist in Config.pm make: *** No rule to make target `/usr/lib/perl5/core_perl/CORE/config +.h', needed by `Makefile'. Stop. [download] So building any sensible modules (V, Test::NoWarnings, DBI, DBD::Pg, Text::CSV_XS, Data::Peek, Test::Tester, DBD::SQLite, Tie::Hash::DBD, DBD::CSV) from that is close to impossible Enjoy, Have FUN! H.Merijn	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Does Perl run on ARM? by moritz (Cardinal) on Apr 12, 2014 at 10:24 UTC
I have a "Raspberry Pi" mini computer, which runs a Debian derivate. It comes with GCC and perl, and I guess that it was also gcc that compiled the perl. Executables (and object files) must be compiled for ARM; i386/x64 executables don't run on ARM, and vice versa. Cross compilation is (as far as I can tell) possible, but a hassle. tl;dr: ARM is pretty much mainstream for linux. Perl 6 - the future is here, just unevenly distributed	[reply]
Re: Does Perl run on ARM? by kcott (Archbishop) on Apr 12, 2014 at 06:02 UTC
G'day BrowserUk, [The following Perl documentation links are all for the current (`5.18.2`) version.] "perlport: Supported Platforms" lists ARM. (Note the first line of that section starts with "The following platforms are known to build Perl 5.12 ...") There are a number of links to files in the `Cross/` directory of http://search.cpan.org/~rjbs/perl-5.18.2/MANIFEST that have information about cross-compiling ARM (not just the ones with `arm` in the filename). "todo: Cross-compile support" mentions ARM a couple of times. Maybe consider some of this (e.g. "none are documented well", "code is almost 10 years old", etc.) as a caveat, or at least a notification of limitations, with respect to information you find elsewhere. The search function of http://www.arm.com/ finds over 200 results for "`perl`". I didn't investigate this further. -- Ken	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Does Perl run on ARM? by fishy (Friar) on Apr 12, 2014 at 08:49 UTC
Build Perl 5.18.2 on ArchLinux ARM (Samsung Chromebook). Runs like a charm...	[reply]
Re: Does Perl run on ARM? by marto (Cardinal) on Apr 12, 2014 at 13:54 UTC
Yes, perl runs on ARM platforms. Do you have a specific ARM system in mind? My main ARM development experience is the Raspberry Pi which runs a Debian variant. For context an untweaked system running from SD card (slow for IO) can build perl in a little over two hours via perlbrew. You can make some tweaks to the system to lower memory usage which speeds things up a little when compiling. Cross compiling for this platform is described here reasonably well.	[reply]
Re^2: Does Perl run on ARM? by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Apr 12, 2014 at 15:30 UTC
Not yet. The device in question is still being specified; but is likely to be one of these(pdf) (Toshiba TMPM330FDFG 32-bit ARM Cortex M3). I see from the responses that the easiest route to having Perl available is if the target is running under some Linux variant. I'm not sure that will be the case; hence my question regarding cross-compilation. What I am beginning to realise is that it's still too early to be looking at this until more information about the device (still in stealth mode) is available. With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday' Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error. "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.	[reply]
Re^3: Does Perl run on ARM? by bulk88 (Priest) on Apr 13, 2014 at 03:34 UTC
So what OS are you going to run? Android? WinCE? WinRT? Symbian?	[reply]
Re^4: Does Perl run on ARM? by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Apr 13, 2014 at 10:04 UTC
Re^3: Does Perl run on ARM? by Mr. Muskrat (Canon) on Apr 14, 2014 at 19:08 UTC
Obligatory "Hackers" quote... Kate: Indeed. RISC architecture is gonna change everything. Dade: Yeah. RISC is good.	[reply]
Re: Does Perl run on ARM? by Anonymous Monk on Apr 12, 2014 at 00:50 UTC
Maybe :) Building for arm-linux Smoke [blead] v5.19.10-61-g45a1388 PASS linux 3.2.27+ [wheezy/sid] (armv6l/1 cpu) - nntp.perl.org Test::Smoke Database Search -> Smoke v5.16.0-13-gba1797a PASS linux 3.1.9+ [debian] ( 0MHz) ?	[reply]
Re^2: Does Perl run on ARM? by Anonymous Monk on Apr 12, 2014 at 00:53 UTC
Raspberry Perl for use with Raspberry Pi which is apparently "ARM" I also know nothing	[reply]
Re^3: Does Perl run on ARM? by Anonymous Monk on Apr 12, 2014 at 00:56 UTC
Perl and Raspberry Pi, Citrus Raspberry Pi ; Binary Perl for Raspberry Pi	[reply]
Re: Does Perl run on ARM? by Preceptor (Deacon) on Apr 12, 2014 at 13:10 UTC
`pi@raspberrypi ~ $ perl -v This is perl 5, version 18, subversion 1 (v5.18.1) built for armv6l-li +nux-thread-multi` [download] Yup, it does.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Does Perl run on ARM? by karlgoethebier (Abbot) on Apr 13, 2014 at 08:48 UTC
Yet another addendum: we just set up two Raspberries as WLAN access points using Debian: `Linux raspberrypi 3.10.25+ #622 PREEMPT Fri Jan 3 18:41:00 GMT 2014 armv6l GNU/Linux` `This is perl 5, version 14, subversion 2 (v5.14.2) built for arm-linux +-gnueabihf-thread-multi-64int (with 88 registered patches, see perl -V for more detail)` [download] See also gcc and Perl Regards, Karl �The Crux of the Biscuit is the Apostrophe�	[reply] [d/l] [select]