Virtual Server Documentation

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Perl
Perl has become a language of choice for World Wide Web development, text processing, Internet services, mail filtering, systems administration, and most every other task requiring a portable and easily developed solution. Your Virtual Server has the Perl5 interpreter already installed at the following location.

~/usr/local/bin/perl

If you require the use of the Perl5 Standard Libraries or other Perl5 modules, you will need to install these into a local directory on your Virtual Server.

Installing the Perl5 Standard Libraries
Do the following, depending on your Virtual Server O/S.

• FreeBSD & Solaris
  Your Virtual Server should already have the Perl5 Standard Libraries installed at ~/usr/local/lib/perl5. If not, or if you wish to re-install them, connect to your Virtual Server via Telnet or SSH and execute the following command.

   
  % vinstall perl5 
  

  NOTE: The Perl5 Standard Libraries for FreeBSD and Solaris do not count toward your Virtual Server disk space quota.

• BSD/OS Upgrade!
  Connect to your Virtual Server via Telnet or SSH and execute the following commands.

   
  % cd 
  % tar xvf /usr/local/contrib/perl5.tar 
  

  NOTE: The Perl5 Standard Libraries for BSD/OS require approximately 11 MB of disk space.

• Huh?
  If you don't know the Virtual Server O/S, try the following:

  • Which O/S Is Your Virtual Server Running?

Removing the Perl5 Standard Libraries
If you would like to remove the Perl5 Standard Libraries you may do so by following the directions that match your Virtual Server O/S.

• FreeBSD & Solaris
  Connect to your Virtual Server via Telnet or SSH and execute the following command.

   
  % vrmperl 
  

• BSD/OS Upgrade!
  Connect to your Virtual Server via Telnet or SSH and execute the following command.

   
  % rm -rf ~/usr/local/lib/perl5 
  

• Huh?
  If you don't know the Virtual Server O/S, try the following:

  • Which O/S Is Your Virtual Server Running?

Perl5 Modules
Perl5 Modules can greatly extend the functionality of your Virtual Server Perl programming language interpreter. By using prepared modules written by others, instead of using your own code, you can save yourself both time and effort. Many popular Perl5 modules can be easily installed on your Virtual Server.

perldoc - Perl Documentation Viewer
Do the following to install the perldoc utility, which you can use to view Perl5 documentation, on your Virtual Server.

• FreeBSD & Solaris
  Connect to your Virtual Server via Telnet or SSH and execute the following command.

   
  % vinstall perldoc 
  

• BSD/OS Upgrade!
  The perldoc utility is unavailable.

• Huh?
  If you don't know the Virtual Server O/S, try the following:

  • Which O/S Is Your Virtual Server Running?

This command links in a variety of required terminal macro definitions as well as a bunch of groff/troff/nroff files required for proper man page formatting.

Once installed, you may run the following command to access documentation for your favorite Perl5 module. Substitute your favorite Perl5 module name for MODULE::FAVORITE below.

 
% virtual perldoc MODULE::FAVORITE 

More Information
There is a wealth of available Perl information and documentation online.

• Perldoc.com