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+.TH PCREBUILD 3 "07 January 2012" "PCRE 8.30"
+.SH NAME
+PCRE - Perl-compatible regular expressions
+.
+.
+.SH "PCRE BUILD-TIME OPTIONS"
+.rs
+.sp
+This document describes the optional features of PCRE that can be selected when
+the library is compiled. It assumes use of the \fBconfigure\fP script, where
+the optional features are selected or deselected by providing options to
+\fBconfigure\fP before running the \fBmake\fP command. However, the same
+options can be selected in both Unix-like and non-Unix-like environments using
+the GUI facility of \fBcmake-gui\fP if you are using \fBCMake\fP instead of
+\fBconfigure\fP to build PCRE.
+.P
+There is a lot more information about building PCRE in non-Unix-like
+environments in the file called \fINON_UNIX_USE\fP, which is part of the PCRE
+distribution. You should consult this file as well as the \fIREADME\fP file if
+you are building in a non-Unix-like environment.
+.P
+The complete list of options for \fBconfigure\fP (which includes the standard
+ones such as the selection of the installation directory) can be obtained by
+running
+.sp
+ ./configure --help
+.sp
+The following sections include descriptions of options whose names begin with
+--enable or --disable. These settings specify changes to the defaults for the
+\fBconfigure\fP command. Because of the way that \fBconfigure\fP works,
+--enable and --disable always come in pairs, so the complementary option always
+exists as well, but as it specifies the default, it is not described.
+.
+.
+.SH "BUILDING 8-BIT and 16-BIT LIBRARIES"
+.rs
+.sp
+By default, a library called \fBlibpcre\fP is built, containing functions that
+take string arguments contained in vectors of bytes, either as single-byte
+characters, or interpreted as UTF-8 strings. You can also build a separate
+library, called \fBlibpcre16\fP, in which strings are contained in vectors of
+16-bit data units and interpreted either as single-unit characters or UTF-16
+strings, by adding
+.sp
+ --enable-pcre16
+.sp
+to the \fBconfigure\fP command. If you do not want the 8-bit library, add
+.sp
+ --disable-pcre8
+.sp
+as well. At least one of the two libraries must be built. Note that the C++ and
+POSIX wrappers are for the 8-bit library only, and that \fBpcregrep\fP is an
+8-bit program. None of these are built if you select only the 16-bit library.
+.
+.
+.SH "BUILDING SHARED AND STATIC LIBRARIES"
+.rs
+.sp
+The PCRE building process uses \fBlibtool\fP to build both shared and static
+Unix libraries by default. You can suppress one of these by adding one of
+.sp
+ --disable-shared
+ --disable-static
+.sp
+to the \fBconfigure\fP command, as required.
+.
+.
+.SH "C++ SUPPORT"
+.rs
+.sp
+By default, if the 8-bit library is being built, the \fBconfigure\fP script
+will search for a C++ compiler and C++ header files. If it finds them, it
+automatically builds the C++ wrapper library (which supports only 8-bit
+strings). You can disable this by adding
+.sp
+ --disable-cpp
+.sp
+to the \fBconfigure\fP command.
+.
+.
+.SH "UTF-8 and UTF-16 SUPPORT"
+.rs
+.sp
+To build PCRE with support for UTF Unicode character strings, add
+.sp
+ --enable-utf
+.sp
+to the \fBconfigure\fP command. This setting applies to both libraries, adding
+support for UTF-8 to the 8-bit library and support for UTF-16 to the 16-bit
+library. There are no separate options for enabling UTF-8 and UTF-16
+independently because that would allow ridiculous settings such as requesting
+UTF-16 support while building only the 8-bit library. It is not possible to
+build one library with UTF support and the other without in the same
+configuration. (For backwards compatibility, --enable-utf8 is a synonym of
+--enable-utf.)
+.P
+Of itself, this setting does not make PCRE treat strings as UTF-8 or UTF-16. As
+well as compiling PCRE with this option, you also have have to set the
+PCRE_UTF8 or PCRE_UTF16 option when you call one of the pattern compiling
+functions.
+.P
+If you set --enable-utf when compiling in an EBCDIC environment, PCRE expects
+its input to be either ASCII or UTF-8 (depending on the run-time option). It is
+not possible to support both EBCDIC and UTF-8 codes in the same version of the
+library. Consequently, --enable-utf and --enable-ebcdic are mutually
+exclusive.
+.
+.
+.SH "UNICODE CHARACTER PROPERTY SUPPORT"
+.rs
+.sp
+UTF support allows the libraries to process character codepoints up to 0x10ffff
+in the strings that they handle. On its own, however, it does not provide any
+facilities for accessing the properties of such characters. If you want to be
+able to use the pattern escapes \eP, \ep, and \eX, which refer to Unicode
+character properties, you must add
+.sp
+ --enable-unicode-properties
+.sp
+to the \fBconfigure\fP command. This implies UTF support, even if you have
+not explicitly requested it.
+.P
+Including Unicode property support adds around 30K of tables to the PCRE
+library. Only the general category properties such as \fILu\fP and \fINd\fP are
+supported. Details are given in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrepattern\fP
+.\"
+documentation.
+.
+.
+.SH "JUST-IN-TIME COMPILER SUPPORT"
+.rs
+.sp
+Just-in-time compiler support is included in the build by specifying
+.sp
+ --enable-jit
+.sp
+This support is available only for certain hardware architectures. If this
+option is set for an unsupported architecture, a compile time error occurs.
+See the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrejit\fP
+.\"
+documentation for a discussion of JIT usage. When JIT support is enabled,
+pcregrep automatically makes use of it, unless you add
+.sp
+ --disable-pcregrep-jit
+.sp
+to the "configure" command.
+.
+.
+.SH "CODE VALUE OF NEWLINE"
+.rs
+.sp
+By default, PCRE interprets the linefeed (LF) character as indicating the end
+of a line. This is the normal newline character on Unix-like systems. You can
+compile PCRE to use carriage return (CR) instead, by adding
+.sp
+ --enable-newline-is-cr
+.sp
+to the \fBconfigure\fP command. There is also a --enable-newline-is-lf option,
+which explicitly specifies linefeed as the newline character.
+.sp
+Alternatively, you can specify that line endings are to be indicated by the two
+character sequence CRLF. If you want this, add
+.sp
+ --enable-newline-is-crlf
+.sp
+to the \fBconfigure\fP command. There is a fourth option, specified by
+.sp
+ --enable-newline-is-anycrlf
+.sp
+which causes PCRE to recognize any of the three sequences CR, LF, or CRLF as
+indicating a line ending. Finally, a fifth option, specified by
+.sp
+ --enable-newline-is-any
+.sp
+causes PCRE to recognize any Unicode newline sequence.
+.P
+Whatever line ending convention is selected when PCRE is built can be
+overridden when the library functions are called. At build time it is
+conventional to use the standard for your operating system.
+.
+.
+.SH "WHAT \eR MATCHES"
+.rs
+.sp
+By default, the sequence \eR in a pattern matches any Unicode newline sequence,
+whatever has been selected as the line ending sequence. If you specify
+.sp
+ --enable-bsr-anycrlf
+.sp
+the default is changed so that \eR matches only CR, LF, or CRLF. Whatever is
+selected when PCRE is built can be overridden when the library functions are
+called.
+.
+.
+.SH "POSIX MALLOC USAGE"
+.rs
+.sp
+When the 8-bit library is called through the POSIX interface (see the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcreposix\fP
+.\"
+documentation), additional working storage is required for holding the pointers
+to capturing substrings, because PCRE requires three integers per substring,
+whereas the POSIX interface provides only two. If the number of expected
+substrings is small, the wrapper function uses space on the stack, because this
+is faster than using \fBmalloc()\fP for each call. The default threshold above
+which the stack is no longer used is 10; it can be changed by adding a setting
+such as
+.sp
+ --with-posix-malloc-threshold=20
+.sp
+to the \fBconfigure\fP command.
+.
+.
+.SH "HANDLING VERY LARGE PATTERNS"
+.rs
+.sp
+Within a compiled pattern, offset values are used to point from one part to
+another (for example, from an opening parenthesis to an alternation
+metacharacter). By default, two-byte values are used for these offsets, leading
+to a maximum size for a compiled pattern of around 64K. This is sufficient to
+handle all but the most gigantic patterns. Nevertheless, some people do want to
+process truly enormous patterns, so it is possible to compile PCRE to use
+three-byte or four-byte offsets by adding a setting such as
+.sp
+ --with-link-size=3
+.sp
+to the \fBconfigure\fP command. The value given must be 2, 3, or 4. For the
+16-bit library, a value of 3 is rounded up to 4. Using longer offsets slows
+down the operation of PCRE because it has to load additional data when handling
+them.
+.
+.
+.SH "AVOIDING EXCESSIVE STACK USAGE"
+.rs
+.sp
+When matching with the \fBpcre_exec()\fP function, PCRE implements backtracking
+by making recursive calls to an internal function called \fBmatch()\fP. In
+environments where the size of the stack is limited, this can severely limit
+PCRE's operation. (The Unix environment does not usually suffer from this
+problem, but it may sometimes be necessary to increase the maximum stack size.
+There is a discussion in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrestack\fP
+.\"
+documentation.) An alternative approach to recursion that uses memory from the
+heap to remember data, instead of using recursive function calls, has been
+implemented to work round the problem of limited stack size. If you want to
+build a version of PCRE that works this way, add
+.sp
+ --disable-stack-for-recursion
+.sp
+to the \fBconfigure\fP command. With this configuration, PCRE will use the
+\fBpcre_stack_malloc\fP and \fBpcre_stack_free\fP variables to call memory
+management functions. By default these point to \fBmalloc()\fP and
+\fBfree()\fP, but you can replace the pointers so that your own functions are
+used instead.
+.P
+Separate functions are provided rather than using \fBpcre_malloc\fP and
+\fBpcre_free\fP because the usage is very predictable: the block sizes
+requested are always the same, and the blocks are always freed in reverse
+order. A calling program might be able to implement optimized functions that
+perform better than \fBmalloc()\fP and \fBfree()\fP. PCRE runs noticeably more
+slowly when built in this way. This option affects only the \fBpcre_exec()\fP
+function; it is not relevant for \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP.
+.
+.
+.SH "LIMITING PCRE RESOURCE USAGE"
+.rs
+.sp
+Internally, PCRE has a function called \fBmatch()\fP, which it calls repeatedly
+(sometimes recursively) when matching a pattern with the \fBpcre_exec()\fP
+function. By controlling the maximum number of times this function may be
+called during a single matching operation, a limit can be placed on the
+resources used by a single call to \fBpcre_exec()\fP. The limit can be changed
+at run time, as described in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcreapi\fP
+.\"
+documentation. The default is 10 million, but this can be changed by adding a
+setting such as
+.sp
+ --with-match-limit=500000
+.sp
+to the \fBconfigure\fP command. This setting has no effect on the
+\fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP matching function.
+.P
+In some environments it is desirable to limit the depth of recursive calls of
+\fBmatch()\fP more strictly than the total number of calls, in order to
+restrict the maximum amount of stack (or heap, if --disable-stack-for-recursion
+is specified) that is used. A second limit controls this; it defaults to the
+value that is set for --with-match-limit, which imposes no additional
+constraints. However, you can set a lower limit by adding, for example,
+.sp
+ --with-match-limit-recursion=10000
+.sp
+to the \fBconfigure\fP command. This value can also be overridden at run time.
+.
+.
+.SH "CREATING CHARACTER TABLES AT BUILD TIME"
+.rs
+.sp
+PCRE uses fixed tables for processing characters whose code values are less
+than 256. By default, PCRE is built with a set of tables that are distributed
+in the file \fIpcre_chartables.c.dist\fP. These tables are for ASCII codes
+only. If you add
+.sp
+ --enable-rebuild-chartables
+.sp
+to the \fBconfigure\fP command, the distributed tables are no longer used.
+Instead, a program called \fBdftables\fP is compiled and run. This outputs the
+source for new set of tables, created in the default locale of your C run-time
+system. (This method of replacing the tables does not work if you are cross
+compiling, because \fBdftables\fP is run on the local host. If you need to
+create alternative tables when cross compiling, you will have to do so "by
+hand".)
+.
+.
+.SH "USING EBCDIC CODE"
+.rs
+.sp
+PCRE assumes by default that it will run in an environment where the character
+code is ASCII (or Unicode, which is a superset of ASCII). This is the case for
+most computer operating systems. PCRE can, however, be compiled to run in an
+EBCDIC environment by adding
+.sp
+ --enable-ebcdic
+.sp
+to the \fBconfigure\fP command. This setting implies
+--enable-rebuild-chartables. You should only use it if you know that you are in
+an EBCDIC environment (for example, an IBM mainframe operating system). The
+--enable-ebcdic option is incompatible with --enable-utf.
+.
+.
+.SH "PCREGREP OPTIONS FOR COMPRESSED FILE SUPPORT"
+.rs
+.sp
+By default, \fBpcregrep\fP reads all files as plain text. You can build it so
+that it recognizes files whose names end in \fB.gz\fP or \fB.bz2\fP, and reads
+them with \fBlibz\fP or \fBlibbz2\fP, respectively, by adding one or both of
+.sp
+ --enable-pcregrep-libz
+ --enable-pcregrep-libbz2
+.sp
+to the \fBconfigure\fP command. These options naturally require that the
+relevant libraries are installed on your system. Configuration will fail if
+they are not.
+.
+.
+.SH "PCREGREP BUFFER SIZE"
+.rs
+.sp
+\fBpcregrep\fP uses an internal buffer to hold a "window" on the file it is
+scanning, in order to be able to output "before" and "after" lines when it
+finds a match. The size of the buffer is controlled by a parameter whose
+default value is 20K. The buffer itself is three times this size, but because
+of the way it is used for holding "before" lines, the longest line that is
+guaranteed to be processable is the parameter size. You can change the default
+parameter value by adding, for example,
+.sp
+ --with-pcregrep-bufsize=50K
+.sp
+to the \fBconfigure\fP command. The caller of \fPpcregrep\fP can, however,
+override this value by specifying a run-time option.
+.
+.
+.SH "PCRETEST OPTION FOR LIBREADLINE SUPPORT"
+.rs
+.sp
+If you add
+.sp
+ --enable-pcretest-libreadline
+.sp
+to the \fBconfigure\fP command, \fBpcretest\fP is linked with the
+\fBlibreadline\fP library, and when its input is from a terminal, it reads it
+using the \fBreadline()\fP function. This provides line-editing and history
+facilities. Note that \fBlibreadline\fP is GPL-licensed, so if you distribute a
+binary of \fBpcretest\fP linked in this way, there may be licensing issues.
+.P
+Setting this option causes the \fB-lreadline\fP option to be added to the
+\fBpcretest\fP build. In many operating environments with a sytem-installed
+\fBlibreadline\fP this is sufficient. However, in some environments (e.g.
+if an unmodified distribution version of readline is in use), some extra
+configuration may be necessary. The INSTALL file for \fBlibreadline\fP says
+this:
+.sp
+ "Readline uses the termcap functions, but does not link with the
+ termcap or curses library itself, allowing applications which link
+ with readline the to choose an appropriate library."
+.sp
+If your environment has not been set up so that an appropriate library is
+automatically included, you may need to add something like
+.sp
+ LIBS="-ncurses"
+.sp
+immediately before the \fBconfigure\fP command.
+.
+.
+.SH "SEE ALSO"
+.rs
+.sp
+\fBpcreapi\fP(3), \fBpcre16\fP, \fBpcre_config\fP(3).
+.
+.
+.SH AUTHOR
+.rs
+.sp
+.nf
+Philip Hazel
+University Computing Service
+Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
+.fi
+.
+.
+.SH REVISION
+.rs
+.sp
+.nf
+Last updated: 07 January 2012
+Copyright (c) 1997-2012 University of Cambridge.
+.fi