How do I make the perl script [makeglossaries] work on WinXP?

Question

I got help yesterday on how to make \makeindex work (see link at bottom). I now realize that it would be better if I could make the perl script makeglossaries work, since I currently have to modify the call arguments for makeindex each time I want to define an additional glossary. When I try to run makeglossaries.bat from within TeXnicCenter, I get the following error message:

Can't execute C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.8\scripts\glossaries\makeglossaries.

The file makeindex is the perl script, and makindex.bat is a file that calls the perl script with the following lines:

@rem = '-*- Perl -*-
@echo off
perl -S "%~dp0makeglossaries" %*

A MWE of some sample code that I would like to be able to compile follows:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{glossaries}

\newacronym{SEM}{SEM}{scanning electron microscope}
\newacronym{TEM}{TEM}{transmission electron microscopy}
\newacronym{UHV}{UHV}{ultra-high vacuum}

\newglossary{variables}{vrb}{var}{List of variables}
\newglossaryentry{ai}{type=variables,name={a$_i$},sort=ai,description={Distribution coefficient}}
\newglossaryentry{ciI}{type=variables,name={c$_i^{I}$},sort=ciI,description={Concentration of element i}}

\makeglossaries

\begin{document}
\section{First Section} \label{Intro}

Intro. At some point, we used a \gls{SEM}, and the variable \gls{ai}.

\section{List of variables} \label{LoV}

\printglossaries
\end{document}

Any ideas on what goes wrong?

EDIT:

1. makeindex works if used directly (from within TeXnicCenter, but without the makeglossaries perl script)

2 and 3. I am not sure to what degree the script and batch file work as intended. Here is a copy of what I did in the command prompt to examine this:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600] (C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.8\scripts\glossaries>perl makeglossaries asfd ^C at - line 1.

C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.8\scripts\glossaries>@rem = '-- Perl --

C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.8\scripts\glossaries>perl -S "%~dp0makeglossaries" %* Can't execute %~dp0makeglossaries.

C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.8\scripts\glossaries>perl -S makeglossaries Can't locate Getopt/Std.pm in @INC at ./makeglossaries line 66. BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at ./makeglossaries line 66.

C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.8\scripts\glossaries>copy_makeglossaries Can't execute C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.8\scripts\glossaries\copy_makeglossaries .pl.

C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.8\scripts\glossaries>copy_makeglossaries

C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.8\scripts\glossaries># @echo off '#' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.8\scripts\glossaries>perl -S "C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.8\scripts\glossaries\copy_makeglossaries.pl" Can't execute C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.8\scripts\glossaries\copy_makeglossaries .pl.

Does it look like it is working? At least it is doing something, and I guess that means that Perl is working(?). The file copy_makeglossaries.bat calls the file copy_makeglossaries.pl. I wanted to see if adding an extension to the extensionless perl script would help, but it did not change things.

---

The old question from yesterday:

How do I make [\makeindex] work fully on my WinXP system (works on a different system)

Answer 1

You need to install Perl. There's a free version for Windows: ActivePerl Community Edition.

To debug, don't start with the editor but

1. Check if makeindex works at all, run it yourself
2. Test the Perl script
3. Test the batch script
4. Now you could test the editor integration