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PERLAIX(1)


NAME

  README.aix - Perl version 5 on IBM Unix (AIX) systems


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.

  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: xlc and 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	  (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 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.

  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
      #

  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 ;-).

  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.

  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.

  Using GNU's gcc for building perl

  ... ?

  Using Large Files with Perl

  ... ?

  Threaded Perl

  ... ?

  64-bit Perl

  ... ?

  GDBM and Threads

  ... ?

  NFS filesystems and utime(2)

  ... ?


AUTHOR

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

  Structure copied from README.hpux


DATE

  Version 0.0.1: 16-10-2000

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