X-Git-Url: http://git.shadowcat.co.uk/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?a=blobdiff_plain;f=README.aix;h=a4134a0b815c0e74ee2e193bcb28374f7ddccd8f;hb=753ec01cd1a343383d22b11f4db9f53b07aa2e34;hp=6346a180b24d9f045826d5ee1b0cc22f6d475e91;hpb=22d4bb9ccb8701e68f9243547d7e3a3c55f70908;p=p5sagit%2Fp5-mst-13.2.git diff --git a/README.aix b/README.aix index 6346a18..a4134a0 100644 --- a/README.aix +++ b/README.aix @@ -8,38 +8,45 @@ README.aix - Perl version 5 on IBM Unix (AIX) systems =head1 DESCRIPTION -This document describes various features of IBM's Unix operating system -(AIX) that will affect how Perl version 5 (hereafter just Perl) is -compiled and/or runs. +This document describes various features of IBM's Unix operating +system (AIX) that will affect how Perl version 5 (hereafter just Perl) +is compiled and/or runs. =head2 Compiling Perl 5 on AIX -When compiling Perl, you must use an ANSI C compiler. AIX does not shif +When compiling Perl, you must use an ANSI C compiler. AIX does not ship an ANSI compliant C-compiler with AIX by default, but binary builds of gcc for AIX are widely available. At the moment of writing, AIX supports two different native C compilers, -for which you have to pay: B and B. If you decide to use eiter +for which you have to pay: B and B. If you decide to use either of these two (which is quite a lot easier than using gcc), be sure to upgrade to the latest available patch level. Currently: xlC.C 3.1.4.0 - vac.C 4.4.0.3 (5.0 is already available) + vac.C 4.4.0.3 or 5.0.2.0 -Perl can be compiled with either IBM's ANSI C compiler or with gcc. The -former is recommended, as not only can it compile Perl with no +Perl can be compiled with either IBM's ANSI C compiler or with gcc. +The former is recommended, as not only can it compile Perl with no difficulty, but also can take advantage of features listed later that require the use of IBM compiler-specific command-line flags. +The IBM's compiler patch levels 5.0.0.0 and 5.0.1.0 have compiler +optimization bugs that affect compiling perl.c and regcomp.c, +respectively. If Perl's configuration detects those compiler patch +levels, optimization is turned off for the said source code files. +Upgrading to at least 5.0.2.0 is recommended. + If you decide to use gcc, make sure your installation is recent and complete, and be sure to read the Perl README file for more gcc-specific -details. +details. Please report any hoops you had to jump through to the development +team. =head2 OS level Before installing the patches to the IBM C-compiler you need to know the level of patching for the Operating System. IBM's command 'oslevel' will -show the base, but is not allways complete: +show the base, but is not always complete: # oslevel 4.3.0.0 @@ -50,42 +57,134 @@ show the base, but is not allways complete: =head2 Building Dynamic Extensions on AIX -AIX supports dynamically loadable libraries (shared libraries). -Shared libraries end with the suffix .a, which is a bit misleading, -cause *all* libraries are shared ;-). +AIX supports dynamically loadable objects as well as shared libraries. +Shared libraries by convention end with the suffix .a, which is a bit +misleading, as an archive can contain static as well as dynamic members. +For perl dynamically loaded objects we use the .so suffix also used on +many other platforms. + +Note that starting from Perl 5.7.2 (and consequently 5.8.0) and AIX 4.3 +or newer Perl uses the AIX native dynamic loading interface in the so +called runtime linking mode instead of the emulated interface that was +used in Perl releases 5.6.1 and earlier or, for AIX releases 4.2 and +earlier. This change does break backward compatibility with compiled +modules from earlier perl releases. The change was made to make Perl +more compliant with other applications like Apache/modperl which are +using the AIX native interface. This change also enables the use of C++ +code with static constructors and destructors in perl extensions, which +was not possible using the emulated interface. =head2 The IBM ANSI C Compiler All defaults for Configure can be used. If you've chosen to use vac 4, be sure to run 4.4.0.3. Older versions -will turn up nasty later on. +will turn up nasty later on. For vac 5 be sure to run at least 5.0.1.0. + +Here's a brief lead of how to upgrade the compiler to the latest +level. Of course this is subject to changes. You can only upgrade +versions from ftp-available updates if the first three digit groups +are the same (in where you can skip intermediate unlike the patches +in the developer snapshots of perl), or to one version up where the +`base' is available. In other words, the AIX compiler patches are +cumulative. + + vac.C.4.4.0.1 => vac.C.4.4.0.3 is OK (vac.C.4.4.0.2 not needed) + xlC.C.3.1.3.3 => xlC.C.3.1.4.10 is NOT OK (xlC.C.3.1.4.0 is not available) + + # ftp ftp.software.ibm.com + Connected to service.boulder.ibm.com. + : welcome message ... + Name (ftp.software.ibm.com:merijn): anonymous + 331 Guest login ok, send your complete e-mail address as password. + Password: + ... accepted login stuff + ftp> cd /aix/fixes/v4/ + ftp> dir other other.ll + output to local-file: other.ll? y + 200 PORT command successful. + 150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls. + 226 Transfer complete. + ftp> dir xlc xlc.ll + output to local-file: xlc.ll? y + 200 PORT command successful. + 150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls. + 226 Transfer complete. + ftp> bye + ... goodbye messages + # ls -l *.ll + -rw-rw-rw- 1 merijn system 1169432 Nov 2 17:29 other.ll + -rw-rw-rw- 1 merijn system 29170 Nov 2 17:29 xlc.ll + +On AIX 4.2 using xlC, we continue: + + # lslpp -l | fgrep 'xlC.C ' + xlC.C 3.1.4.9 COMMITTED C for AIX Compiler + xlC.C 3.1.4.0 COMMITTED C for AIX Compiler + # grep 'xlC.C.3.1.4.*.bff' xlc.ll + -rw-r--r-- 1 45776101 1 6286336 Jul 22 1996 xlC.C.3.1.4.1.bff + -rw-rw-r-- 1 45776101 1 6173696 Aug 24 1998 xlC.C.3.1.4.10.bff + -rw-r--r-- 1 45776101 1 6319104 Aug 14 1996 xlC.C.3.1.4.2.bff + -rw-r--r-- 1 45776101 1 6316032 Oct 21 1996 xlC.C.3.1.4.3.bff + -rw-r--r-- 1 45776101 1 6315008 Dec 20 1996 xlC.C.3.1.4.4.bff + -rw-rw-r-- 1 45776101 1 6178816 Mar 28 1997 xlC.C.3.1.4.5.bff + -rw-rw-r-- 1 45776101 1 6188032 May 22 1997 xlC.C.3.1.4.6.bff + -rw-rw-r-- 1 45776101 1 6191104 Sep 5 1997 xlC.C.3.1.4.7.bff + -rw-rw-r-- 1 45776101 1 6185984 Jan 13 1998 xlC.C.3.1.4.8.bff + -rw-rw-r-- 1 45776101 1 6169600 May 27 1998 xlC.C.3.1.4.9.bff + # wget ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/aix/fixes/v4/xlc/xlC.C.3.1.4.10.bff + # + +On AIX 4.3 using vac, we continue: + + # lslpp -l | fgrep 'vac.C ' + vac.C 4.4.0.2 COMMITTED C for AIX Compiler + vac.C 4.4.0.0 COMMITTED C for AIX Compiler + # grep 'vac.C.4.4.0.*.bff' other.ll + -rw-rw-r-- 1 45776101 1 13466624 May 26 1999 vac.C.4.4.0.1.bff + -rw-rw-r-- 1 45776101 1 13473792 Aug 31 1999 vac.C.4.4.0.2.bff + -rw-rw-r-- 1 45776101 1 13480960 May 19 20:32 vac.C.4.4.0.3.bff + # wget ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/aix/fixes/v4/other/vac.C.4.4.0.3.bff + # + +Then execute the following command, and fill in its choices + + # smit install_update + -> Install and Update from LATEST Available Software + * INPUT device / directory for software [ vac.C.4.4.0.3.bff ] + [ OK ] + [ OK ] + +Follow the messages ... and you're done. =head2 Using GNU's gcc for building perl -... ? - -Wait, I'll have to scan perlbug ... +We're working on this using gcc-3.0 ... (any input highly appreciated) =head2 Using Large Files with Perl -... ? +Should yield no problems. =head2 Threaded Perl -... ? +Threads seem to work OK, though at the moment not all tests pass when +threads are used in combination with 64bit configurations. =head2 64-bit Perl -... ? - -=head2 GDBM and Threads - -... ? +If your AIX is installed with 64-bit support, you can expect 64bit +configurations to work. In combination with threads some tests might +still fail. -=head2 NFS filesystems and utime(2) +=head2 AIX 4.2 and extensions using C++ with statics -... ? +In AIX 4.2 Perl extensions that use C++ functions that use statics +may have problems in that the statics are not getting initialized. +In newer AIX releases this has been solved by linking Perl with +the libC_r library, but unfortunately in AIX 4.2 the said library +has an obscure bug where the various functions related to time +(such as time() and gettimeofday()) return broken values, and +therefore in AIX 4.2 Perl is not linked against the libC_r. =head1 AUTHOR @@ -95,6 +194,6 @@ Structure copied from README.hpux =head1 DATE -Version 0.0.1: 16-10-2000 +Version 0.0.3: 12 Jul 2001 =cut