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The Remaining COFF Executable Files on the DT as of v6.1


The following COFF-based binaries and object files are still included on the v6.1 toolbox even though these files will not work on any IRIX 6 system. For the background on this situation of COFF (Common Object File Format) support ending with IRIX 6 see The Coff Story -- End of Coff Support. What this means in actuality is that COFF binaries will not run, and COFF object files cannot be linked to, on IRIX 6 systems. If one tries to run a COFF binary, say xrset in src/exampleCode/speech/utilities/, the resulting message sent to STDOUT/STDERR will be:

Hence we list below the 7 locations where things aren't right with an IRIX 6 universe and attempt to explain why.

  1. /toolbox/src/exampleCode/speech/utilities/
      xrset

      UNFORTUNATELY, the speech software has not been ported to IRIX 6.

      The speech subtree is not able to be compiled on the v6.1 DT because resources in engineering are so tight that the speech project has been put on hold for IRIX 6.

      If this impasse impacts your own development, please send e-mail, describing your concerns and your interest in resuscitating the speech project's software in the IRIX 6 ocean, to DTjanitor@sgi.com, and we will pass all such correspondence on to the powers-that-be in software engineering who are responsible for such decisions.

      We ARE still including source code + Makefiles + inst images but these will only work on IRIX 5.



  2. /toolbox/src/exampleCode/stereo/GL_5.2/
      SGIStereo.o_4.0.5

      This is a 4.0.5 object with XSGI extensions that allows querying for and using SoftStereo under IRIX 5.2 from 4.0.5 built applications. It still will be useful for people working between IRIX 4 and IRIX 5.



  3. /toolbox/src/swtools/trubasic/rolldemos/basic/
      gltru
      tru

      The janitor last communicated with his contact at True BASIC iver 2 years ago and has not been able to multiplex efficiently enough in this push-to-6.2 period to re-establish connection. One way or the other, this lapse will be ammended before year's end.



  4. /toolbox/hardware/h550_driver/
      h550.o

      Both this Streams Driver for Comtrol Hostess 550 ISA Serial Port Board and the Summa driver (below) share the same constraints as all device drivers -- with each new release of the operating system, all drivers must be re-written to conform to changes in the kernel. At present, our hardware meisters have not been able to re-write this streams driver based on the IRIX 6.2 kernel.



  5. /toolbox/hardware/summa/io/
      idev.o
      summa.o

      Both this Streams Driver for the Summagraphics 6x9 Tablet and the 550 driver (above) share the same constraints as all device drivers -- with each new release of the operating system, all drivers must be re-written to conform to changes in the kernel. At present, our hardware meisters have not been able to re-write this streams driver based on the IRIX 6.2 kernel.



  6. /toolbox/perfTuning/ChallengeIO/Disk.perf.disk/
      xgraph

      This binary is used by the graph* scripts in Disk.perf.disk. For the moment we will continue to include it. Perhaps this information is becoming dated enough that we'll let go of the bulk of this directory after this version of the DT.



  7. /toolbox/public/HylaFAX/dps2fax/
      ps2fax

      The author of HylaFAX has not been able to rebuild an ELF version of this binary.