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.

AUTHOR

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

Structure copied from README.hpux

DATE

Version 0.0.1: 16-10-2000

README.aix - Perl version 5 on IBM Unix systems