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Originally Published: Dec 16, 1996
Last Revised: Jan 3, 1997
SGI Challenge XL upgrade from
IRIX 5.3 to 6.2 Conversion Notes
==============================================================
From December 15th to 16th, 1996, the SGI operating system
called
IRIX was upgraded from release level 5.3 to release level 6.2.
This document lists important information, enhancements and changes
affecting users regarding this upgrade.
For more detailed information about the software changes,
you can
get access to the release notes by issuing the "relnotes" command
from an ASCII environment, or "grelnotes" from an X device.
You may also wish to refer to the "Electronic
Books (Insight)"
menu, which is a submenu of the "Help and Documentation" item in
the
Toolchest. (The Toolchest is the menu normally displayed in the
top
left corner of the screen). This utility requires an X-terminal
with
at least 4MB of memory or a colour PC running X windows (e.g. Micro-X).
As changes are made to this document they will be marked
with a
revision bar ("|") on the left hand side of the affected line.
1. UPGRADED SOFTWARE LEVELS
------------------------
+ C 3.19 to 6.2
+ C++ 4.0 to 6.2
+ Documentor's Work Bench remains 4.1.3
+ Fortran 4.0.2 to 6.2
+ Motif 1.2.3-5.3 to 1.2.4-6.2
+ NFS 5.3 to 6.2
+ X11 3.3 to 3.5
2. IRIX (Operating System)
----
+ Version is 6.2
+ A list of benefits of IRIX 6.2 are available on the
World Wide Web at |
|
http://www.sgi.com/Products/software/IRIX6.2/IRIX62DS.html
|
+ IRIX 6.2 is a full 64 bit operating system, previously
versions
of IRIX were 32 bit. While this allows the system
to use larger data
structures, also this implies a change behind
the scenes in how the
operating system works.
+ Under IRIX 6.2 the page size on server (SGI Challenge
XL) has been |
increased from 4KB to 16KB.
|
+ 2.1 Compiling Software
------------------
o With the operating system change from 32 bit
to 64 bit, SGI now
provides three compile time libraries
for binaries (also known
as Application Binary Interfaces
[ABIs]) for IRIX 6.2. The new
64 bit ABI is called "-64". The
new 32 bit ABI is called "-n32".
The 32 bit ABI from IRIX 5.3 is
called "-32".
o Specifying the library of choice can be done
in two ways. To
specify the library at each compile
then use a compile line
flag. To specify the library more
globally use the SGI_ABI
environment variable. If you wish
to compile software for
IRIX 5.3 systems use the old 32
bit (O32) ABI. To compile
software to run on ANY IRIX 6.2
system use the new 32 bit (N32)
ABI. To compile 64 bit software
exclusively for the Challenge,
|
R8K, or R10K CPUs use the new 64
bit (N64) ABI. The chart below
|
summarizes this information.
SGI_ABI
ABI
Compile Line Flag Environment Variable
---
----------------- --------------------
O32
-32
-32
N32
-n32
-n32
N64
-64 -mips3
not available
|
For example: To set the SGI_ABI
to the new 32 bit (N32) ABI for
the rest of the current session
command is
setenv SGI_ABI -n32
To keep this setting for subsequent
logins put the above line
in the file .cshrc located in your
home directory (i.e. ~/.cshrc).
o For more detailed information consult the "MIPSpro
64-Bit Porting
and Transition Guide" and "MIPSpro
N32 ABI Handbook" available
to X window users on-line through
SGI's Insight (command: iiv).
For compile time options consult
the IRIX release notes. For
X window users the command is "grelnotes
IRIX 3" (without quotes).
For other users the command is "relnotes
IRIX 3" (without quotes).
+ 2.2 Coff Binaries Obsolete
----------------------
o With IRIX 5, SGI introduced a new binary format
called elf(4).
For compatibility reasons SGI maintained
compatibility with their
old binary format called coff(4).
With the introduction of the
two ABIs described above, SGI has
dropped the old coff ABI. As a
result, binaries in coff(4) format
will not run using IRIX 6.2.
Binaries that are in coff(4) format
need to be recompiled for
use under IRIX 6.2. To determine
if you have coff(4) binaries
in your home directory or on your
loandisk run "coffcheck"
(without quotes).
o If a user attempts to execute a file in COFF
format, the error message
is:
./filename: syntax error at line 1: '(' unexpected
where filename is the name of the binary in coff(4) format
+ 2.3 Command changes
---------------
o chmod(1): The flag '+a' has changed. When the
'a' symbol is used
in the who portion of the chmod(1),
the result is equivalent to
'ugo'. For more information
see the chmod(1) man page. [i.e. The
command is "man chmod" (without
quotes)].
o cp(1): The behaviour of this command has changed.
Files that are |
copied will have the user's default
permissions instead of the
|
access permissions from the file
being copied. To use the previous |
behaviour use the -p flag.
|
o ln(1): The behaviour of this command has changed
where the 'target'
file exists. The user is now warned
when creating a hard link that
would destroy an existing file.
To use the previous behaviour (no
warnings) use the -i or -f flags.
o test(1): This command is stricter. Now the
number of arguments
being tested must agree.
o uname(1): The output from several flags are slightly different.
o wc(1): wc has been corrected to understand
more word separators.
This means there is possibly a change
in the word count returned
between 5.3 and 6.2 when wc(1) is
used to query a binary.
+ 2.4 Bug Fixes
---------
o The number of fields per input line supported
by the join(1) command
was increased from 100 to 500.
o The time flags on find(1) (atime, mtime, ctime)
have been modified
to use the real definition of a
day.
o The grep(1) command now handles the null pattern
against the
empty file.
o Improvements have been made in the streams
interface. This should |
address the slow character echo
problem that we encounter during |
periods of heavy use.
|
|
o A bug fix has been made in process creation
and scheduling. Under |
IRIX 5.3 there was a key sequence
that caused the system to crash. |
Since this key sequence is used
in IRC (Internet Relay Chat) we found |
it necessary to disallow its use
in late March 1996 after several |
system crashes.
|
3. C Programming Language
----------------------
+ Version is 6.2
+ The C compiler can be accessed using both cc(1) and
c89(1)
4. C++
|
---
|
+ Version is 6.2
|
|
+ Dynamic classes of Delta/C++ are no longer supported
for users of |
the old 32 bit ABI (IRIX 5.3 version). The "-smart"
option has
|
also been discontinued. These features will
be reintroduced
|
when standards emerge.
|
5. Fortran
|
-------
|
+ Version is 6.2
|
|
+ The Fortran compiler can be accessed using both f77(1)
and fort77(1) |
6. X11
---
+ Version is 3.5
+ Although this is not new, the file .auxchestrc in
your home directory
can be used to personalize the toolchest(1X).
Toolchest is the menu
that appears in the upper left hand corner of
the X-windows screen.
Using a ~/.auxchestrc has the advantage of allowing
the customer to
access new additions to the system wide toolchest
when they occur.
7. Affected Third Party Software
|
-----------------------------
+ Since coff(4) software no longer runs under IRIX 6.2
the following
products are now obsolete:
o Visix Looking Glass (command: lg). This has
been replaced by a
combination of the toolchest (menu
in the upper left corner
of the screen) and Desks Overview
(command: ov)
o IF/Prolog (commands: ifprolog and mifprolog)
+ Since coff(4) software no longer runs under IRIX 6.2
arrangements |
have been made for the following products:
|
|
o bmdp
|
|
o maple
|
|
o spss
|
|
o teXsan
|
|
For information call the HelpDesk at ext. 4440.
|
8. Bugs and Workarounds
--------------------
+ IMSL: Users of IMSL will notice a number of warning
messages issued
during compile time like the following:
f77 -mp testimsl.f -limsl -limslblas -limslfft
ld: WARNING 84: /usr/local/lib/libimslblas.a
is not used for resolving any symbol.
... (multiple messages)
ld: WARNING 85: definition of __mp_check_setup
in /usr/lib/libI77_mp.a(mp.o) preempts that definition in /usr/lib/libftn.so.
... (multiple messages)
ld: WARNING 105: Common symbol "ercom1_" defined
in /usr/local/lib/libimsl.a(ball.o) is resolved with a data definition
in /usr/local/lib/libimsl.a(e1mes.o) with a smaller alignment.
... (multiple messages)
These warning messages can be safely ignored.
+ vi(1): A cosmetic bug exits in vi(1). If the file
".exrc" does
not exist in the current directory, the following
message will be
displayed as the user enters the editor:
No such file or directory
This message can be safely ignored.
9. SGI Workstations and Portability
--------------------------------
+ To ensure that the code compiled on node server (SGI
Challenge XL)
also works on other SGI workstations running
IRIX 6.2 (ex. SGI Indy)
it is recommended that software be compiled
with the "-n32" option.
To compile code for IRIX 5.3 systems use the
"-32" option. For more
information refer to the section "Compiling
Software" above.
+ To reflect differences in architectures the
output of the
"uname -s" varies. On server (SGI Challenge
XL) it returns "IRIX64"
on an R4600 Indy it returns "IRIX".
+ The page size on SGI workstations (Indy) remains 4KB
while the page size |
on server (SGI Challenge XL), R8K and R10K CPUs
is now 16KB.
|
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