xlC / VisualAge C/C++ installation and customization

[ 1.3 | 3.1.4 | 3.6.6 | 4.1 | 4.4 | 6.0 | 8.0 ]

General remarks

In order to avoid trouble with the license manager, some versions allow to bypass license management, append -qnolm to the configuration file's common option definitions after the DEFLT: label, e.g.:

      options   = ...other options...,-qnolm

The vac type compilers need to be added to the command path:

export PATH=/usr/vac/bin:$PATH

xlc 1.3

Comes native with the OS (3.2), but can also be found packaged in some ftp archives. Configuration file is /etc/xlc.cfg.
Appendix _r indicates threadsafe version, which e.g. defines -D_THREAD_SAFE. Used in conjunction with DCE threads.

3.1.4

Straightforward, but needs license key ?. Configuration file is /etc/xlC.cfg.

3.6.6

(AIX 4.3)
If not limited in space (i.e. for system disks >> 1 GB) install just everything. One may omit IBM Open Class samples and sources (this will save several 100MB of disk space), as well as Japanese and Chinese help text. Do not include filesets which refers to AIX levels < 4.3 !
For system disks approximately 1GB or below omit IBM Open Class stuff, install only common HTML docs.
Note that the configuration file is /etc/ibmcxx.cfg
Configuration:

With IBM C/C++ there's a shell script to set the proper links:
```
/usr/ibmcxx/bin/replaceCSET
```
In order to avoid trouble with the license manager in /etc/ibmcxx.cfg append -qnolmto the common option definitions after the DEFLT: label, e.g.:
```
      options   = ...other options...,-qnolm
```
The documentation is in: /usr/ibmcxx/html/en_US/doc/index.html

4.1

Straightforward, but needs license. Configuration file is /etc/vac.cfg.

4.4

Straightforward. Configuration file is: /etc/vac.cfg

6.0

(AIX 4.3, 5.x)
Installation with smitty is not quite straightforward as usual. Here's the procedure I found to work best.

Install from the VAC++ CDs
When filesets come in common and versions for various AIX levels, choose only the version specific for your level. Do not include SW which refers to AIX levels < the one you're using.
To make the cforaixhelp script work, the httpdlite daemon must run (see /etc/inittab). Its config file /etc/IMNSearch/httpdlite/httpdlite.conf should contain the entries
```
HostName localhost
Port   49213
```
Add /usr/vac/bin to your PATH

Configuration file is: /etc/vac.cfg

8.0

(AIX 5.3)

9.0

(AIX 6.1) Use smitty to install straightforward from CD. Install only filesets belonging to the version of AIX you are running on.
Unlike earlier versions it seems XL C 9 does not enforce license management.

In order to run XL C 9 on AIX 6.1 a PTF (oct2007) has to be applied. Browse

IBM Support - Download - Software
Category: Other Software
Subcategory: XL C/C++

and download. If the transmission is bad, command line download may be used:

wget -e robots=off ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/aix/products/ccpp/ptfs/vac.90.aix61.oct2007.ptf.tar.Z

Unpack and update via smitty. Configuration file for AIX 6.1:

ln -s /etc/vac.cfg.61 /etc/vac.cfg

XL C 9 comes with a web information server, to be controlled via

/usr/xlhelp/bin/xlhelp      # start eclipse server, in /etc/rc.local  
/usr/xlhelp/bin/xlhelp_end  # stop  eclipse server

Clients may access it via

/usr/vac/bin/xlchelp                    # client command, requires Mozilla
http://localhost:9011/help/index.jsp    # URL on local machine
http://server_name:9011/help/index.jsp  # URL on remote machine

PDF docs are found in


/usr/vac/doc/en_US/pdf/

Last update: 13-Jun-2009, M.Kraemer