AIX README update

[perl5.git] / README.aix

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=head1 NAME

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.

=head2 Compiling Perl 5 on AIX

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<xlc> and B<VAC>. If you decide to use eiter
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 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
difficulty, but also can take advantage of features listed later that
require the use of IBM compiler-specific command-line flags.

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. 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 always complete:

    # oslevel
    4.3.0.0
    # lslpp -l | grep 'bos.rte '
    bos.rte      4.3.2.1  COMMITTED  Base Operating System Runtime
    bos.rte      4.3.2.0  COMMITTED  Base Operating System Runtime
    #

=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,
because *all* libraries are shared ;-).

=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. 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

We're woking 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

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 GDBM and Threads

... ?

=head2 NFS filesystems and utime(2)

... ?

=head1 AUTHOR

H.Merijn Brand <h.m.brand@hccnet.nl>

Structure copied from README.hpux

=head1 DATE

Version 0.0.2: 12 Jul 2001

=cut