Installing Understand's PERL Module

Understand Module

We supply a PERL module called 'Understand' which allows the user to query Understand databases. It is an extension, which means it uses a shareable library written, in this case, in c++. It has been created with PERL 5.6.0. It is likely this module will work with some earlier versions of PERL, perhaps as early as version 5.0; however, it is not guaranteed.

Installation

Understand includes a special compilation of PERL called "uperl", which is a PERL binary located in Understand's binary directory. It is ready to use once Understand is installed. Any needed modules (Understand or other) are found automatically in Understand's installation directory.

Note that "uperl" includes a subset of PERL's standard libraries. This is done to reduce size. If you write a script that requires more of PERL's libraries contact us, or simply install the Understand module for use with a full PERL installation (See below).

To run scripts, simply run "uperl" as in:

uperl metrics.pl

Using with PERL outside of "uperl"

Only follow these steps if you wish to use Understand with an existing installation of PERL, perhaps ActivePERL on Windows, or the existing PERL installation that comes with many Unix systems. The Understand module is not supported with PERL installations beyond 5.6.

The Understand module may be used directly from the location it is installed at, or it may be installed into the system's PERL installation. By default, it resides in the directory PERL, within the system specific bin directory of the Understand installation.

To use it from it's current location, either an environment variable may be set, or a 'use lib' command may be used.

For example, either:
% setenv PERLLIB /stihome/bin/sun4-solaris_2.5/Perl/STI

or, at the top of your perl script:
use lib "/stihome/bin/sun4-solaris_2.5/Perl/STI";

It is possible to install the Understand module directly into your PERL setup. This can be useful, as Understand will be available immediately within all PERL scripts, without the need for an environment variable or a 'use lib' command. However, this should only be done by someone with a fair amount of knowledge administering PERL installations.

Using the Perl API with Perl 5.8 (Windows Only)

Currently only subversion 5.8.7 on Windows is supported. To modify the Perl API to use Perl 5.8.7:

• Download the Understand API package and extract it into the STI install directory.
• Navigate to STI\bin\pc-win32\Perl\STI
• Rename the file Api.dll toApi.dll.old
• Copy the file Api.dll into this directory from the 5.8.7 subdirectory
• Create an environment variable for PERLLIB
  • Open Control Panel | System
  • Select the Advanced Tab | Environment Variables
  • Create a new variable named PERLLIB with the value being the complete path to the directory above. (For example: C:\Program Files\STI\bin\pc-win95\Perl\STI)