Experience installing on Alpha VMS 8.3

[email protected] ("Miller, Edward S." via vmsperl) Mon, 15 Feb 2021 23:07:52 +0000
Newsgroups perl.vmsperl
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We have recently installed PERL v5.32.1 on our Alpha VMS 8.3 system using t=
he distribution from PERL.ORG.
The README.VMS suggests that:
   "Regardless of how confident you are, make a bug report to the VMSPerl m=
ailing list."

This is not really a complete bug report, but more a summary of my experien=
ce doing the install
and an attempt to find out whether anyone is really interested in a more sp=
ecific 'bug report'.

As far as we can tell, the install for us was successful.  Our user who rep=
orted that his code would not
work with our old perl version (5.004_04) reports that it now works with th=
e newly installed v5.32.1.

I have one change to the readme.vms I would strongly suggest:  state unequi=
vocally that the install procedures should
be done using an ODS-5 disk, and that you are (very likely?) wasting your t=
ime attempting it on an ODS-2 disk.
(In our case the first MMK operation failed eventually--in two different wa=
ys, with two different MMK versions--
using an ODS-2 disk.)

The step   @configure "-des" was apparently successful (assuming the many "=
NOT found" messages are benign).

The first "MMK" step had several "%CC-I" compiler messages, the most suspic=
ious of which was

                neg =3D PL_statcache.st_ino < 0;
     ..................^
    %CC-I-QUESTCOMPARE, In this statement, the unsigned expression "PL_stat=
cache.st_ino" is being compared with a relational
    operator to a constant whose value is not greater than zero.  This migh=
t not be what you intended.
    at line number 2949 in file DISK$ORACLE5:[PERL.perl-5^.32^.1]pp_sys.c;1

The step "MMK test" completed and summarized its results with
   "Failed 58 tests out of 2350, 97.53% okay."

   I ran the procedure to get details of some of these failures using
       $ @[.vms]test .EXE "" -"v"  (filespec)
   However I was successful in getting the proper syntax for (filespec) onl=
y for those that were originally
   reported as FAILED with a file specification that started with "t/", not=
 the others.

The step "MMK install" was apparently successful (assuming the many "Can't =
cd to (cpan/IO-Compress/)  xxx.tmp:  no such file or directory"
messages are benign).

A thanks to all of those who contributed to making PERL functional on VMS s=
ystems.

  -- Ed Miller  SLAC NAL.


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<div style=3D"font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size=
: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
We have recently installed PERL v5.32.1 on our Alpha VMS 8.3 system using t=
he distribution from PERL.ORG.
<div>The README.VMS suggests that:</div>
<div>&nbsp; &nbsp;&quot;Regardless of how confident you are, make a bug rep=
ort to the VMSPerl mailing list.&quot;</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>This is not really a complete bug report, but more a summary of my exp=
erience doing the install</div>
<div>and an attempt to find out whether anyone is really interested in a mo=
re specific 'bug report'.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>As far as we can tell, the install for us was successful. &nbsp;Our us=
er who reported that his code would not</div>
<div>work with our old perl version (5.004_04) reports that it now works wi=
th the newly installed v5.32.1.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I have one change to the readme.vms I would strongly suggest: &nbsp;st=
ate unequivocally that the install procedures should</div>
<div>be done using an ODS-5 disk, and that you are (very likely?) wasting y=
our time attempting it on an ODS-2 disk.</div>
<div>(In our case the first MMK operation failed eventually--in two differe=
nt ways, with two different MMK versions--</div>
<div>using an ODS-2 disk.)</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The step &nbsp; @configure &quot;-des&quot; was apparently successful =
(assuming the many &quot;NOT found&quot; messages are benign).</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The first &quot;MMK&quot; step had several &quot;%CC-I&quot; compiler =
messages, the most suspicious of which was</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; neg =3D PL_sta=
tcache.st_ino &lt; 0;</div>
<div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;..................^</div>
<div>&nbsp; &nbsp; %CC-I-QUESTCOMPARE, In this statement, the unsigned expr=
ession &quot;PL_statcache.st_ino&quot; is being compared with a relational<=
/div>
<div>&nbsp; &nbsp; operator to a constant whose value is not greater than z=
ero. &nbsp;This might not be what you intended.</div>
<div>&nbsp; &nbsp; at line number 2949 in file DISK$ORACLE5:[PERL.perl-5^.3=
2^.1]pp_sys.c;1</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The step &quot;MMK test&quot; completed and summarized its results wit=
h</div>
<div>&nbsp; &nbsp;&quot;Failed 58 tests out of 2350, 97.53% okay.&quot;</di=
v>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>&nbsp; &nbsp;I ran the procedure to get details of some of these failu=
res using</div>
<div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;$ @[.vms]test .EXE &quot;&quot; -&quot;v&qu=
ot; &nbsp;(filespec)</div>
<div>&nbsp; &nbsp;However I was successful in getting the proper syntax for=
 (filespec) only for those that were originally</div>
<div>&nbsp; &nbsp;reported as FAILED with a file specification that started=
 with &quot;t/&quot;, not the others.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The step &quot;MMK install&quot; was apparently successful (assuming t=
he many &quot;Can't cd to (cpan/IO-Compress/) &nbsp;xxx.tmp: &nbsp;no such =
file or directory&quot;</div>
<div>messages are benign).</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>A thanks to all of those who contributed to making PERL functional on =
VMS systems.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>&nbsp; -- Ed Miller &nbsp;SLAC NAL.</div>
<br>
</div>
</body>
</html>

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