AIX Questions

[Perry Smith]

On Jul 23, 2008, at 1:10 AM, Paul Zimmermann wrote:

>       Dear Perry,
>
> I suggest you read the following paragraph from MPFR's INSTALL file:
>
>   If the "configure" fails, please check that the C compiler and its
>   options are the same as those for the GMP build (specially the ABI).
>   You can see the latter with the following command:
>
>     grep "^CC\|^CFLAGS" GMPBUILD/Makefile
>
>   if the GMP build directory is available. Then type:
>
>     ./configure <configure options> CC=<C compiler> CFLAGS=<compiler  
> options>
>
>   and continue the install. On some platforms, you should provide  
> further
>   options to match those used by GMP, or set some environment  
> variables.
>   For instance, see the "Notes on AIX/PowerPC" section below.

Yes, I had already read that.

The default for GMP is to compile with an ABI of aix64.  But that  
default is not carried on by other packages such as MPFR and GCC.  So,  
I went back and compiled GMP using an ABI of 32.  Then MPFR compiled  
fine and GCC compiled as well -- although GCC's configure script still  
needed a little coaxing.

All that does not address the bigger issue.  Libraries need to be  
compiled with an ABI of 32 as well as aix64 (to use GMP's  
terminology).  That is possible to do.  The .a archive simply has two  
shared object files, one compiled in 32 bit mode and the other  
compiled in 64 bit mode.  No open source package seems to bother with  
that and its a bit sad.  I once tried to dig into the autogen /  
configure stuff on another project and got intimidated and quit.

But you might consider changing the default for GMP on AIX to compile  
with an ABI of 32 since that is what everything else appears to assume.

Perry
Ease Software, Inc. ( http://www.easesoftware.com )

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