http://qs321.pair.com?node_id=462746


in reply to Perl thinks it's the shell!

From perlrun,

If the #! line does not contain the word ``perl'', the program named after the #! is executed instead of the Perl interpreter. This is slightly bizarre, but it helps people on machines that don't do #!, because they can tell a program that their SHELL is /usr/bin/perl, and Perl will then dispatch the program to the correct interpreter for them.

Also, I believe Apache uses the #! line rather the file association.

On a related note, (again from perlrun)

The #! line is always examined for switches as the line is being parsed. Thus, if you're on a machine that allows only one argument with the #! line, or worse, doesn't even recognize the #! line, you still can get consistent switch behavior regardless of how Perl was invoked, even if -x was used to find the beginning of the program.

so -w and other switches on the #! line will work in Windows, even though Windows doesn't know about the #! line.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^2: Perl thinks it's the shell!
by misterw (Acolyte) on Jun 02, 2005 at 05:23 UTC
    Thanks so much. I thought I was going NUTS!

    In correction to my original post (since updated) it does work with callperl.exe but originally it was

    !#/c/apps/pp3.exe
    and that didn't work , which added to my confusion(I should have noticed this when posting). Seeing this, I then actually started adding and deleting letters from the shebang line and got what seemed to be random results.
    !#/c/apps/callperl.exe and !#/c/apps/callperllllll.exe
    worked but
    !#/c/apps/callpe.exe
    failed

    I didn't happen to think that it might be to do with the word perl

    Thanks again for the quick response, You get good service here!!!

    This is the second time I have come across mysterious (yes, should have read the docs) perl (related - though not perls fault) problems on windows. At first callperl.exe kept stealing spaces from my command line arguments until I realised that you need to double quote all command line parameters containing spaces. This is important for system and exec in c which call CreateProcess on windows platforms.

    Matt

      Fellow misterw
      This is a classical. :-) Just do like the emacs users do:

      #!/c/apps/pp3.exe # -*- perl -*-

      This solves your problem, I guess. This solved my problems, when I was dealing with this kind'o'stuff.

      May the gods bless your work.

        Yes, a typo in my post, nothing to do with the problem at hand

Re^2: Perl thinks it's the shell!
by Stoffe (Sexton) on Jun 02, 2005 at 19:01 UTC

    Verging on OT, but:

    Also, I believe Apache uses the #! line rather the file association.
    Correct. When I used Windows, I always installed ActivePerl to c:/usr/ instead of the standard c:/Perl/, this way the standard shebang (#!/usr/bin/perl) worked without any conversions, assuming of course that Apache also was on C:

      What I do is install Activestate Perl in the default spot then create the directory path C:\usr\bin\ into which I drag-drop a copy of perl.exe. Apache uses this executable as detailed in the shebang #!/usr/bin/perl . Since the executable knows where its libs are, everything works like a charm. You can then take your locally-developed scripts and port them to *nix platforms if you want with nary an edit!

      (Ph) Phaysis (Shawn)
      If idle hands are the tools of the devil, are idol tools the hands of god?