NAME

B::Bytecode - Perl compiler's bytecode backend

SYNOPSIS

perl -MO=Bytecode[,-H][,-oscript.plc] script.pl

DESCRIPTION

Compiles a Perl script into a bytecode format that could be loaded later by the ByteLoader module and executed as a regular Perl script.

EXAMPLE

    $ perl -MO=Bytecode,-H,-ohi -e 'print "hi!\n"'
    $ perl hi
    hi!

OPTIONS

-H

Prepend a use ByteLoader VERSION; line to the produced bytecode.

-b

Save all the BEGIN blocks. Normally only BEGIN blocks that require other files (ex. use Foo;) are saved.

-k

Keep the syntax tree - it is stripped by default.

-ooutfile

Put the bytecode in <outfile> instead of dumping it to STDOUT.

-s

Scan the script for # line .. directives and for <goto LABEL> expressions. When gotos are found keep the syntax tree.

-S

Output assembler source rather than piping it through the assembler and outputting bytecode. Without -q the assembler source is commented.

-q

Be quiet.

-DM

Set debugging flag for more verbose STDERR output. Verbose debugging options are crucial, because we have no interactive debugger at the early CHECK step, where the compilation happens.

M for Magic and Matches.

-DA

Set developer Assertions, to help find possible obj-indices out of range.

KNOWN BUGS

• BEGIN { goto A: while 1; A: } won't even compile.

• ?...? and reset do not work as expected.

• variables in (?{ ... }) constructs are not properly scoped.

• Scripts that use source filters will fail miserably.

• 5.10 PMOP and REGEXP ops do not yet work. Various 5.10 and 5.11 crashes.

NOTICE

There are also undocumented bugs and options.

THIS CODE IS HIGHLY EXPERIMENTAL. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

AUTHORS

Originally written by Malcolm Beattie <mbeattie@sable.ox.ac.uk> and modified by Benjamin Stuhl <sho_pi@hotmail.com>.

Rewritten by Enache Adrian <enache@rdslink.ro>, 2003 a.d.

Enhanced by Reini Urban <rurban@cpan.org>, 2008