Build your first application native Perl on RHEL 6 or RHEL 7

Get started developing with Perl 5.16 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux in under 10 minutes.

Introduction and Prerequisites

In this tutorial, you will see how to get started with Perl development on Red Hat Enterprise Linux by creating a simple Hello World application. The tutorial should take five to ten minutes to complete.

On Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Perl is installed by default. You can skip directly to the "Your First Application" step, or continue reading to learn more about installing and maintaining software packages.

Before you begin, you will need a current Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 or 7 workstation or server subscription that allows you to download software and get updates from Red Hat. If you don’t have an active subscription, register and obtain the RHEL Developer Suite (includes RHEL server) from here.

The native version of Perl are:

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 - 
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 - 5.16

If you want a newer version of Perl for either RHEL 6 or 7, use the updated versions available via Red Hat Software Collections.

If you have problems at any point, see Troubleshooting and FAQ.

 

1. Prepare your system

2 minutes

In this step, you will download and install the latest updates from Red Hat for your system. In the process, you will verify that your system has a current Red Hat subscription and is able to receive updates.

First, start a Terminal window from the Application menu. Then after using su to change to the root user ID, use subscription-managerto verify that you have access to Red Hat Software Repositories.

$ su -
# subscription-manager repos --list-enabled

If you don’t see any enabled repositories, your system might not be registered with Red Hat or might not have a valid subscription. See Troubleshooting and FAQ for more information.

Now download and install any available updates by running yum update. If updates are available, yum will list them and ask if it is OK to proceed.

# yum update

 

2. Setup your development environment

2 minutes

Perl and a number of popular Perl modules are installed by default on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. To see what Perl packages are already installed, run the following yum command after becoming root with su. If you don’t already have a Terminal window open, start one from the Applications menu.

$ su
# yum list installed perl\*

If Perl wasn’t installed or needed an update, you would only need to run one yum command.

# yum install perl

To see what other Perl modules are included with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, run this command:

# yum list available perl\*

You are now done with the part that requires root privileges. Type exit to return to your normal user ID.

# exit
$

If you need help, see Troubleshooting and FAQ.

3. Hello World and your first application

2 minutes

In this step, you will create and run a Perl application. If you don’t have a Terminal window open, start it from the Applications menu. You should run under your normal user ID, If you are still using su to run as the root user, type exit.

Using your preferred text editor, create hello.pl:

$ nano hello.pl

Add the following text:

#!/usr/bin/env perl
#
print "Hello, Red Hat Developers World from Perl $^V\n";

Save it and exit the editor. Then make the script executable and run it:

$ chmod +x hello.pl
$ ./hello.pl
Hello, Red Hat Developers World from Perl

 

Troubleshooting and FAQ

1. My system is unable to download updates from Red Hat?

   I don’t have a current Red Hat subscription, can I get an evaluation?

   If you don’t have a Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription, you can try it for free. Get started with an evaluation at https://access.redhat.com/products/red-hat-enterprise-linux/evaluation. Developers should select the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Developer Workstation option to ensure your evaluation includes additional tools from the Red Hat Developer Toolset and Red Hat Software Collections.

2. How can I get a newer version of Perl on Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

   A newer version of Perl is available through Red Hat Software Collections which delivers the latest stable versions of dynamic languages, open source databases, and web development tools that can be deployed alongside those included in Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Red Hat Software Collections is available with select Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscriptions and has a three-year life cycle to allow rapid innovation without sacrificing stability.

Last updated: January 9, 2023