From @andk

The testreport
http​://www.cpantesters.org/cpan/report/68c3f844-864b-11e1-ad29-bc4f42b6749c
has test failures because Test​::Cmd trusts $Config{startperl} to contain
the shebang line for the current perl.

But as you can see below, this perl was compiled
with -Drelocateableinc and $^X has been moved away from where it was
originally installed to (which can be seen in the -Dprefix argument).

In my opinion startperl should reflect the current path to perl. If this
is too difficult or not supported for some other reason, it should be
documented that it doesn't.

perl -V

Summary of my perl5 (revision 5 version 15 subversion 5) configuration​:
  Commit id​: c071f8d
  Platform​:
  osname=linux, osvers=2.6.30-1-486, archname=i686-linux
  uname='linux k75 2.6.30-1-486 #1 sat aug 15 18​:14​:04 utc 2009 i686 gnulinux '
  config_args='-Dprefix=/home/src/perl/repoperls/installed-perls/perl/v5.15.5-200-gc071f8d/09a0 -Dmyhostname=k75 -Dinstallusrbinperl=n -Uversiononly -Dusedevel -des -Ui_db -Uuseithreads -Uuselongdouble -DDEBUGGING=-g -Duserelocatableinc'
  hint=recommended, useposix=true, d_sigaction=define
  useithreads=undef, usemultiplicity=undef
  useperlio=define, d_sfio=undef, uselargefiles=define, usesocks=undef
  use64bitint=undef, use64bitall=undef, uselongdouble=undef
  usemymalloc=n, bincompat5005=undef
  Compiler​:
  cc='cc', ccflags ='-fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -fstack-protector -I/usr/local/include -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64',
  optimize='-O2 -g',
  cppflags='-fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -fstack-protector -I/usr/local/include'
  ccversion='', gccversion='4.4.6', gccosandvers=''
  intsize=4, longsize=4, ptrsize=4, doublesize=8, byteorder=1234
  d_longlong=define, longlongsize=8, d_longdbl=define, longdblsize=12
  ivtype='long', ivsize=4, nvtype='double', nvsize=8, Off_t='off_t', lseeksize=8
  alignbytes=4, prototype=define
  Linker and Libraries​:
  ld='cc', ldflags =' -fstack-protector -L/usr/local/lib'
  libpth=/usr/local/lib /lib/i386-linux-gnu /lib/../lib /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu /usr/lib/../lib /lib /usr/lib /usr/lib64
  libs=-lnsl -lgdbm -ldb -ldl -lm -lcrypt -lutil -lc -lgdbm_compat
  perllibs=-lnsl -ldl -lm -lcrypt -lutil -lc
  libc=, so=so, useshrplib=false, libperl=libperl.a
  gnulibc_version='2.13'
  Dynamic Linking​:
  dlsrc=dl_dlopen.xs, dlext=so, d_dlsymun=undef, ccdlflags='-Wl,-E'
  cccdlflags='-fPIC', lddlflags='-shared -O2 -g -L/usr/local/lib -fstack-protector'

Characteristics of this binary (from libperl)​:
  Compile-time options​: HAS_TIMES PERLIO_LAYERS PERL_DONT_CREATE_GVSV
  PERL_MALLOC_WRAP PERL_PRESERVE_IVUV PERL_USE_DEVEL
  USE_LARGE_FILES USE_LOCALE USE_LOCALE_COLLATE
  USE_LOCALE_CTYPE USE_LOCALE_NUMERIC USE_PERLIO
  USE_PERL_ATOF
  Built under linux
  Compiled at Nov 26 2011 14​:28​:17
  %ENV​:
  PERL5LIB=""
  PERL5OPT=""
  PERL5_CPANPLUS_IS_RUNNING="26478"
  PERL5_CPAN_IS_RUNNING="26478"
  @​INC​:
  /home/sand/src/perl/repoperls/installed-perls/relo/k75/v5.15.5-200-gc071f8d/09a0/lib/site_perl/5.15.5/i686-linux
  /home/sand/src/perl/repoperls/installed-perls/relo/k75/v5.15.5-200-gc071f8d/09a0/lib/site_perl/5.15.5
  /home/sand/src/perl/repoperls/installed-perls/relo/k75/v5.15.5-200-gc071f8d/09a0/lib/5.15.5/i686-linux
  /home/sand/src/perl/repoperls/installed-perls/relo/k75/v5.15.5-200-gc071f8d/09a0/lib/5.15.5
  .

--
andreas

From @andk

On Sat, 14 Apr 2012 21​:12​:05 -0700, (Andreas J. Koenig) (via RT) <perlbug-followup@​perl.org> said​:

I found a total of four suspicious Config values​:

installbin
installprefix
perlpath
startperl

All four contain the original value of how this perl was built and
should not.

--
andreas

From @jkeenan

On Sun Apr 15 23​:54​:35 2012, andreas.koenig.7os6VVqR@​franz.ak.mind.de wrote​:

On Sat, 14 Apr 2012 21​:12​:05 -0700, (Andreas J. Koenig) (via RT)
<perlbug-followup@​perl.org> said​:

I found a total of four suspicious Config values​:

installbin
installprefix
perlpath
startperl

All four contain the original value of how this perl was built and
should not.

In the course of reviewing RT #45155 tonight, I had occasion to
configure and build perl (blead) with these arguments​:

#####
sh ./Configure -des -Dusedevel -Dprefix=/home/jkeenan/tmp
-Duserelocatableinc
#####

I did not install this Perl. When I inspected config.sh, I got these
values for the four keys mentioned above​:

#####
$ grep -nE '(startperl|installbin|installprefix|perlpath)' config.sh |
grep -v installprefixexp
749​:installbin='/home/jkeenan/tmp/bin'
754​:installprefix='/home/jkeenan/tmp'
886​:perlpath='/home/jkeenan/tmp/bin/perl5.19.1'
998​:startperl='#!/home/jkeenan/tmp/bin/perl5.19.1'
#####

Is this consistent with your bug report? (Doesn't appear to be
consistent to me, but I've never actually used 'userelocatableinc'.)

Thank you very much.
Jim Keenan

The RT System itself - Status changed from 'new' to 'open'

From tsibley@cpan.org

On 05/26/2013 05​:51 PM, James E Keenan via RT wrote​:

I found a total of four suspicious Config values​:

installbin
installprefix
perlpath
startperl

All four contain the original value of how this perl was built and
should not.

In the course of reviewing RT #45155 tonight, I had occasion to
configure and build perl (blead) with these arguments​:

#####
sh ./Configure -des -Dusedevel -Dprefix=/home/jkeenan/tmp
-Duserelocatableinc
#####

I did not install this Perl. When I inspected config.sh, I got these
values for the four keys mentioned above​:

#####
$ grep -nE '(startperl|installbin|installprefix|perlpath)' config.sh |
grep -v installprefixexp
749​:installbin='/home/jkeenan/tmp/bin'
754​:installprefix='/home/jkeenan/tmp'
886​:perlpath='/home/jkeenan/tmp/bin/perl5.19.1'
998​:startperl='#!/home/jkeenan/tmp/bin/perl5.19.1'
#####

Is this consistent with your bug report? (Doesn't appear to be
consistent to me, but I've never actually used 'userelocatableinc'.)

Yes, that is consistent with what Andreas reported and I've observed.
Why did it seem inconsistent with the report?

The utility of userelocatableinc is significantly handicapped when those
parameters contain hardcoded paths specified at configuration time. The
problem arises when the installation is moved from the original location
and the parameters are used at runtime.

I spent some time triaging this bug myself before I had to drop it for
lack of time. I found that at the time I was investigating there were
additional config parameters which contained hardcoded paths even under
userelocatableinc. Some of those were clearly harmless, but others
appeared to be paths that might be used at runtime and hence probably
shouldn't contain hardcoded paths when userelocatableinc is in effect.

From tsibley@cpan.org

On 05/26/2013 05​:51 PM, James E Keenan via RT wrote​:

I found a total of four suspicious Config values​:

installbin
installprefix
perlpath
startperl

All four contain the original value of how this perl was built and
should not.

In the course of reviewing RT #45155 tonight, I had occasion to
configure and build perl (blead) with these arguments​:

#####
sh ./Configure -des -Dusedevel -Dprefix=/home/jkeenan/tmp
-Duserelocatableinc
#####

I did not install this Perl. When I inspected config.sh, I got these
values for the four keys mentioned above​:

#####
$ grep -nE '(startperl|installbin|installprefix|perlpath)' config.sh |
grep -v installprefixexp
749​:installbin='/home/jkeenan/tmp/bin'
754​:installprefix='/home/jkeenan/tmp'
886​:perlpath='/home/jkeenan/tmp/bin/perl5.19.1'
998​:startperl='#!/home/jkeenan/tmp/bin/perl5.19.1'
#####

Is this consistent with your bug report? (Doesn't appear to be
consistent to me, but I've never actually used 'userelocatableinc'.)

Yes, that is consistent with what Andreas reported and I've observed.
Why did it seem inconsistent with the report?

The utility of userelocatableinc is significantly handicapped when those
parameters contain hardcoded paths specified at configuration time. The
problem arises when the installation is moved from the original location
and the parameters are used at runtime.

I spent some time triaging this bug myself before I had to drop it for
lack of time. I found that at the time I was investigating there were
additional config parameters which contained hardcoded paths even under
userelocatableinc. Some of those were clearly harmless, but others
appeared to be paths that might be used at runtime and hence probably
shouldn't contain hardcoded paths when userelocatableinc is in effect.

From tsibley@cpan.org

Following up with the additional configuration reported to build a more relocatable Perl 5.20.0, from #toolchain​:

22​:43 < mohawk> ./Configure -de -Dprefix=/usr -Duserelocatableinc
  -Dinstallsitearch=.../../lib/perl5/site_perl/5.20.0/x86_64-linux
  -Dinstallsitelib=.../../lib/perl5/site_perl/5.20.0
  -Dsitearch='.../../lib/perl5/site_perl/5.20.0/x86_64-linux'
  -Dsitelib='.../../lib/perl5/site_perl/5.20.0'
22​:44 < mohawk> otherwise the "site" stuff ends up non-relocatable