=head1 NAME
-README.aix - Perl version 5 on IBM Unix (AIX) systems
+perlaix - Perl version 5 on IBM AIX (UNIX) 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
+For information on compilers on older versions of AIX, see L</Compiling
+Perl 5 on older AIX versions up to 4.3.3>.
+
+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. A version of gcc is also included in
+the AIX Toolbox which is shipped with AIX.
+
+=head2 Supported Compilers
+
+Currently all versions of IBM's "xlc", "xlc_r", "cc", "cc_r" or
+"vac" ANSI/C compiler will work for building Perl if that compiler
+works on your system.
+
+If you plan to link Perl to any module that requires thread-support,
+like DBD::Oracle, it is better to use the _r version of the compiler.
+This will not build a threaded Perl, but a thread-enabled Perl. See
+also L</Threaded Perl> later on.
+
+As of writing (2010-09) only the I<IBM XL C for AIX> or I<IBM XL C/C++
+for AIX> compiler is supported by IBM on AIX 5L/6.1/7.1.
+
+The following compiler versions are currently supported by IBM:
+
+ IBM XL C and IBM XL C/C++ V8, V9, V10, V11
+
+The XL C for AIX is integrated in the XL C/C++ for AIX compiler and
+therefore also supported.
+
+If you choose XL C/C++ V9 you need APAR IZ35785 installed
+otherwise the integrated SDBM_File do not compile correctly due
+to an optimization bug. You can circumvent this problem by
+adding -qipa to the optimization flags (-Doptimize='-O -qipa').
+The PTF for APAR IZ35785 which solves this problem is available
+from IBM (April 2009 PTF for XL C/C++ Enterprise Edition for AIX, V9.0).
+
+If you choose XL C/C++ V11 you need the April 2010 PTF (or newer)
+installed otherwise you will not get a working Perl version.
+
+Perl can be compiled with either IBM's ANSI C compiler or with gcc.
+The former is recommended, as not only it can 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 INSTALL file for more gcc-specific
+details. Please report any hoops you had to jump through to the
+development team.
+
+=head2 Incompatibility with AIX Toolbox lib gdbm
+
+If the AIX Toolbox version of lib gdbm < 1.8.3-5 is installed on your
+system then Perl will not work. This library contains the header files
+/opt/freeware/include/gdbm/dbm.h|ndbm.h which conflict with the AIX
+system versions. The lib gdbm will be automatically removed from the
+wanted libraries if the presence of one of these two header files is
+detected. If you want to build Perl with GDBM support then please install
+at least gdbm-devel-1.8.3-5 (or higher).
+
+=head2 Perl 5 was successfully compiled and tested on:
+
+ Perl | AIX Level | Compiler Level | w th | w/o th
+ -------+---------------------+-------------------------+------+-------
+ 5.12.2 |5.1 TL9 32 bit | XL C/C++ V7 | OK | OK
+ 5.12.2 |5.1 TL9 64 bit | XL C/C++ V7 | OK | OK
+ 5.12.2 |5.2 TL10 SP8 32 bit | XL C/C++ V8 | OK | OK
+ 5.12.2 |5.2 TL10 SP8 32 bit | gcc 3.2.2 | OK | OK
+ 5.12.2 |5.2 TL10 SP8 64 bit | XL C/C++ V8 | OK | OK
+ 5.12.2 |5.3 TL8 SP8 32 bit | XL C/C++ V9 + IZ35785 | OK | OK
+ 5.12.2 |5.3 TL8 SP8 32 bit | gcc 4.2.4 | OK | OK
+ 5.12.2 |5.3 TL8 SP8 64 bit | XL C/C++ V9 + IZ35785 | OK | OK
+ 5.12.2 |5.3 TL10 SP3 32 bit | XL C/C++ V11 + Apr 2010 | OK | OK
+ 5.12.2 |5.3 TL10 SP3 64 bit | XL C/C++ V11 + Apr 2010 | OK | OK
+ 5.12.2 |6.1 TL1 SP7 32 bit | XL C/C++ V10 | OK | OK
+ 5.12.2 |6.1 TL1 SP7 64 bit | XL C/C++ V10 | OK | OK
+ 5.13 |7.1 TL0 SP1 32 bit | XL C/C++ V11 + Jul 2010 | OK | OK
+ 5.13 |7.1 TL0 SP1 64 bit | XL C/C++ V11 + Jul 2010 | OK | OK
+
+ w th = with thread support
+ w/o th = without thread support
+ OK = tested
+
+Successfully tested means that all "make test" runs finish with a
+result of 100% OK. All tests were conducted with -Duseshrplib set.
+
+All tests were conducted on the oldest supported AIX technology level
+with the latest support package applied. If the tested AIX version is
+out of support (AIX 4.3.3, 5.1, 5.2) then the last available support
+level was used.
+
+=head2 Building Dynamic Extensions on AIX
+
+Starting from Perl 5.7.2 (and consequently 5.8.x / 5.10.x / 5.12.x)
+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/mod_perl 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.
+
+It is highly recommended to use the new interface.
+
+=head2 Using Large Files with Perl
+
+Should yield no problems.
+
+=head2 Threaded Perl
+
+Should yield no problems with AIX 5.1 / 5.2 / 5.3 / 6.1 / 7.1.
+
+IBM uses the AIX system Perl (V5.6.0 on AIX 5.1 and V5.8.2 on
+AIX 5.2 / 5.3 and 6.1; V5.8.8 on AIX 5.3 TL11 and AIX 6.1 TL4; V5.10.1
+on AIX 7.1) for some AIX system scripts. If you switch the links in
+/usr/bin from the AIX system Perl (/usr/opt/perl5) to the newly build
+Perl then you get the same features as with the IBM AIX system Perl if
+the threaded options are used.
+
+The threaded Perl build works also on AIX 5.1 but the IBM Perl
+build (Perl v5.6.0) is not threaded on AIX 5.1.
+
+Perl 5.12 an newer is not compatible with the IBM fileset perl.libext.
+
+=head2 64-bit Perl
+
+If your AIX system is installed with 64-bit support, you can expect 64-bit
+configurations to work. If you want to use 64-bit Perl on AIX 6.1
+you need an APAR for a libc.a bug which affects (n)dbm_XXX functions.
+The APAR number for this problem is IZ39077.
+
+If you need more memory (larger data segment) for your Perl programs you
+can set:
+
+ /etc/security/limits
+ default: (or your user)
+ data = -1 (default is 262144 * 512 byte)
+
+With the default setting the size is limited to 128MB.
+The -1 removes this limit. If the "make test" fails please change
+your /etc/security/limits as stated above.
+
+=head2 Long doubles
+
+IBM calls its implementation of long doubles 128-bit, but it is not
+the IEEE 128-bit ("quadruple precision") which would give 116 bit of
+mantissa (nor it is implemented in hardware), instead it's a special
+software implementation called "double-double", which gives 106 bits
+of mantissa.
+
+There seem to be various problems in this long double implementation.
+If Configure detects this brokenness, it will disable the long double support.
+This can be overridden with explicit C<-Duselongdouble> (or C<-Dusemorebits>,
+which enables both long doubles and 64 bit integers). If you decide to
+enable long doubles, for most of the broken things Perl has implemented
+workarounds, but the handling of the special values infinity and NaN
+remains badly broken: for example infinity plus zero results in NaN.
+
+=head2 Recommended Options AIX 5.1/5.2/5.3/6.1 and 7.1 (threaded/32-bit)
+
+With the following options you get a threaded Perl version which
+passes all make tests in threaded 32-bit mode, which is the default
+configuration for the Perl builds that AIX ships with.
+
+ rm config.sh
+ ./Configure \
+ -d \
+ -Dcc=cc_r \
+ -Duseshrplib \
+ -Dusethreads \
+ -Dprefix=/usr/opt/perl5_32
+
+The -Dprefix option will install Perl in a directory parallel to the
+IBM AIX system Perl installation.
+
+=head2 Recommended Options AIX 5.1/5.2/5.3/6.1 and 7.1 (32-bit)
+
+With the following options you get a Perl version which passes
+all make tests in 32-bit mode.
+
+ rm config.sh
+ ./Configure \
+ -d \
+ -Dcc=cc_r \
+ -Duseshrplib \
+ -Dprefix=/usr/opt/perl5_32
+
+The -Dprefix option will install Perl in a directory parallel to the
+IBM AIX system Perl installation.
+
+=head2 Recommended Options AIX 5.1/5.2/5.3/6.1 and 7.1 (threaded/64-bit)
+
+With the following options you get a threaded Perl version which
+passes all make tests in 64-bit mode.
+
+ export OBJECT_MODE=64 / setenv OBJECT_MODE 64 (depending on your shell)
+
+ rm config.sh
+ ./Configure \
+ -d \
+ -Dcc=cc_r \
+ -Duseshrplib \
+ -Dusethreads \
+ -Duse64bitall \
+ -Dprefix=/usr/opt/perl5_64
+
+=head2 Recommended Options AIX 5.1/5.2/5.3/6.1 and 7.1 (64-bit)
+
+With the following options you get a Perl version which passes all
+make tests in 64-bit mode.
+
+ export OBJECT_MODE=64 / setenv OBJECT_MODE 64 (depending on your shell)
+
+ rm config.sh
+ ./Configure \
+ -d \
+ -Dcc=cc_r \
+ -Duseshrplib \
+ -Duse64bitall \
+ -Dprefix=/usr/opt/perl5_64
+
+The -Dprefix option will install Perl in a directory parallel to the
+IBM AIX system Perl installation.
+
+If you choose gcc to compile 64-bit Perl then you need to add the
+following option:
+
+ -Dcc='gcc -maix64'
+
+
+=head2 Compiling Perl 5 on AIX 7.1.0
+
+A regression in AIX 7 causes a failure in make test in Time::Piece during
+daylight savings time. APAR IV16514 provides the fix for this. A quick
+test to see if it's required, assuming it is currently daylight savings
+in Eastern Time, would be to run C< TZ=EST5 date +%Z >. This will come
+back with C<EST> normally, but nothing if you have the problem.
+
+
+=head2 Compiling Perl 5 on older AIX versions up to 4.3.3
+
+Due to the fact that AIX 4.3.3 reached end-of-service in December 31,
+2003 this information is provided as is. The Perl versions prior to
+Perl 5.8.9 could be compiled on AIX up to 4.3.3 with the following
+settings (your mileage may vary):
+
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
+for which you have to pay: B<xlC> and B<vac>. 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)
+ xlC.C 3.1.4.10 or 3.6.6.0 or 4.0.2.2 or 5.0.2.9 or 6.0.0.3
+ vac.C 4.4.0.3 or 5.0.2.6 or 6.0.0.1
-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
+note that xlC has the OS version in the name as of version 4.0.2.0, so
+you will find xlC.C for AIX-5.0 as package
+
+ xlC.aix50.rte 5.0.2.0 or 6.0.0.3
+
+subversions are not the same "latest" on all OS versions. For example,
+the latest xlC-5 on aix41 is 5.0.2.9, while on aix43, it is 5.0.2.7.
+
+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.
+complete, and be sure to read the Perl INSTALL 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 allways complete:
+show the base, but is not always complete (in this example oslevel shows
+4.3.NULL, whereas the system might run most of 4.3.THREE):
# 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
+ bos.rte 4.3.3.75 COMMITTED Base Operating System Runtime
+ bos.rte 4.3.2.0 COMMITTED Base Operating System Runtime
#
-=head2 Building Dynamic Extensions on AIX
+The same might happen to AIX 5.1 or other OS levels. As a side note, Perl
+cannot be built without bos.adt.syscalls and bos.adt.libm installed
-AIX supports dynamically loadable libraries (shared libraries).
-Shared libraries end with the suffix .a, which is a bit misleading,
-cause *all* libraries are shared ;-).
+ # lslpp -l | egrep "syscalls|libm"
+ bos.adt.libm 5.1.0.25 COMMITTED Base Application Development
+ bos.adt.syscalls 5.1.0.36 COMMITTED System Calls Application
+ #
+
+=head2 Building Dynamic Extensions on AIX E<lt> 5L
+
+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/mod_perl 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.
-
-=head2 Using GNU's gcc for building perl
+will turn up nasty later on. For vac 5 be sure to run at least 5.0.1.0,
+but vac 5.0.2.6 or up is highly recommended. Note that since IBM has
+removed vac 5.0.2.1 through 5.0.2.5 from the software depot, these
+versions should be considered obsolete.
+
+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 | grep 'vac.C '
+ vac.C 5.0.2.2 COMMITTED C for AIX Compiler
+ vac.C 5.0.2.0 COMMITTED C for AIX Compiler
+ # grep 'vac.C.5.0.2.*.bff' other.ll
+ -rw-rw-r-- 1 45776101 1 13592576 Apr 16 2001 vac.C.5.0.2.0.bff
+ -rw-rw-r-- 1 45776101 1 14133248 Apr 9 2002 vac.C.5.0.2.3.bff
+ -rw-rw-r-- 1 45776101 1 14173184 May 20 2002 vac.C.5.0.2.4.bff
+ -rw-rw-r-- 1 45776101 1 14192640 Nov 22 2002 vac.C.5.0.2.6.bff
+ # wget ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/aix/fixes/v4/other/vac.C.5.0.2.6.bff
+ #
+
+Likewise on all other OS levels. 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.5.0.2.6.bff ]
+ [ OK ]
+ [ OK ]
+
+Follow the messages ... and you're done.
+
+If you like a more web-like approach, a good start point can be
+L<http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/download/downloadaz.jsp> and click
+"C for AIX", and follow the instructions.
+
+=head2 The usenm option
+
+If linking miniperl
+
+ cc -o miniperl ... miniperlmain.o opmini.o perl.o ... -lm -lc ...
+
+causes error like this
+
+ ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .aintl
+ ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .copysignl
+ ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .syscall
+ ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .eaccess
+ ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .setresuid
+ ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .setresgid
+ ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .setproctitle
+ ld: 0711-345 Use the -bloadmap or -bnoquiet option to obtain more
+ information.
+
+you could retry with
+
+ make realclean
+ rm config.sh
+ ./Configure -Dusenm ...
+
+which makes Configure to use the C<nm> tool when scanning for library
+symbols, which usually is not done in AIX.
+
+Related to this, you probably should not use the C<-r> option of
+Configure in AIX, because that affects of how the C<nm> tool is used.
+
+=head2 Using GNU's gcc for building Perl
+
+Using gcc-3.x (tested with 3.0.4, 3.1, and 3.2) now works out of the box,
+as do recent gcc-2.9 builds available directly from IBM as part of their
+Linux compatibility packages, available here:
+
+ http://www.ibm.com/servers/aix/products/aixos/linux/
+
+=head2 Using Large Files with Perl E<lt> 5L
-... ?
+Should yield no problems.
-Wait, I'll have to scan perlbug ...
-
-=head2 Using Large Files with Perl
+=head2 Threaded Perl E<lt> 5L
-... ?
+Threads seem to work OK, though at the moment not all tests pass when
+threads are used in combination with 64-bit configurations.
-=head2 Threaded Perl
-
-... ?
-
-=head2 64-bit Perl
+You may get a warning when doing a threaded build:
-... ?
+ "pp_sys.c", line 4640.39: 1506-280 (W) Function argument assignment
+ between types "unsigned char*" and "const void*" is not allowed.
-=head2 GDBM and Threads
+The exact line number may vary, but if the warning (W) comes from a line
+line this
-... ?
+ hent = PerlSock_gethostbyaddr(addr, (Netdb_hlen_t) addrlen, addrtype);
-=head2 NFS filesystems and utime(2)
+in the "pp_ghostent" function, you may ignore it safely. The warning
+is caused by the reentrant variant of gethostbyaddr() having a slightly
+different prototype than its non-reentrant variant, but the difference
+is not really significant here.
-... ?
+=head2 64-bit Perl E<lt> 5L
-=head1 AUTHOR
+If your AIX is installed with 64-bit support, you can expect 64-bit
+configurations to work. In combination with threads some tests might
+still fail.
-H.Merijn Brand <h.m.brand@hccnet.nl>
+=head2 AIX 4.2 and extensions using C++ with statics
-Structure copied from README.hpux
+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 DATE
+=head1 AUTHORS
-Version 0.0.1: 16-10-2000
+Rainer Tammer <tammer@tammer.net>
=cut
https://perl5.git.perl.org / perl5.git / blobdiff