SUMMARY: v4.0e C compiler problems?

From: Sylvain Robitaille <syl_at_alcor.concordia.ca>
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 16:18:05 -0400 (EDT)

On Fri, 14 May 1999 18:02:17 -0400 (EDT), I wrote:

> I recently installed (fresh install) DU-4.0e on a couple of my systems,
> and it seems that certain software packages don't compile correctly,
> notably perl-5.004.03 and openssl-0.9.2b. Both compile correctly and
> appear to function properly on 4.0b systems we still have.

I recieved a number of replies which I'd like to summarize here, in case
they help others. This summary is in the order I received the replies.

Edwin R Wolfe Jr. <ewolfe_at_umich.edu> wrote:

    we recently fresh installed 4..0e on some machines here, and found
    that some code wouldn't run anymore - such as freeware's pico editor.
    the solution was to install OSFOBSOLETEnnn: Obsolete Commands
    and Utilities.

In our case, the OBSOLETE package was already installed, but Edwin's
experience could save others some grief.

Achim Bohnet <ach_at_mpe.mpg.de> wrote:

    There is a bug in DECs cc optimizer that makes the perls pack
    test fail. The latest perl release 5.005_03 as a workaround for
    the buggy optimizer. (AFAIR latest maintaince release of 5.004
    branch 5.004_05 has the same fix).

Rich Lafferty <rich_at_alcor.concordia.ca> also pointed out that newer
versions of Perl include a work-around for the compiler bug.

Achim Bohnet also added:

    I would suggest to use 5.005_03 or at least 5.004_05. They include
    some security fixes (+ many other fixes and enhancement)

I certainly would be interested in knowing what sort of security fixes
Achim referred to. He also suggested that I try turning off optimization
(-O0) to see if that helps. This is actually getting close...

Finally, Joe Mario <mario_at_zk3.dec.com> contacted me with the following
information:

    There is a known problem with the V4.0E C compiler that causes
    the Perl op/pack test to fail. The fixed compiler is in the
    V4.0E patch pool release that is expected to be available to
    customers sometime in June.
    
    In the meantime, you can work around the problem by lowering
    the optimization a notch when building Perl.
    
    This can be easily done with an environment variable, as follows:
    
            setenv DEC_CC "|-O1".
    
    Then you can rebuild Perl. The above variable will be read
    by the cc driver and it will lower the opt level that is used
    to build Perl from -O2 to -O1.

That's exactly what I was hoping to find out (the problem is known by
Dec/Compaq and has been fixed). In the meantime, when Configure asks,
"What optimizer/debugger flag should be used? [-O4]" simply answer "-O1"
and Perl seems to build correctly and pass all its tests.

Note that the same approach does not solve the problem I was having with
OpenSSL. As was suggested to me on the ssl-users mailing list, I
obtained a development version of the source tree and that seems to be
working correctly.

Thanks to all who took the time to think about this, and especially to
those who replied.

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sylvain Robitaille                              syl_at_alcor.concordia.ca
 
Systems Manager                                   Concordia University
Instructional & Information Technology        Montreal, Quebec, Canada
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Received on Wed May 19 1999 - 20:20:29 NZST

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