=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
xlC.C 3.1.4.0
vac.C 4.4.0.3 (5.0 is already available)
-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.
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
AIX supports dynamically loadable libraries (shared libraries).
Shared libraries end with the suffix .a, which is a bit misleading,
-cause *all* libraries are shared ;-).
+because *all* libraries are shared ;-).
=head2 The IBM ANSI C Compiler
If you've chosen to use vac 4, be sure to run 4.4.0.3. Older versions
will turn up nasty later on.
+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 ...
-
=head2 Using Large Files with Perl
... ?