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From: sgi-faq@viz.tamu.edu (The SGI FAQ group)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi.misc,comp.answers,news.answers
Subject: SGI apps Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Supersedes: <apps_786697207@viz.tamu.edu>
Followup-To: comp.sys.sgi.misc
Date: 20 Dec 1994 06:56:48 GMT
Organization: Visualization Lab, Texas A&M University
Lines: 1002
Approved: news-answers-request@mit.edu
Expires: 17 Jan 1995 07:00:07 GMT
Message-ID: <apps_787906807@viz.tamu.edu>
Reply-To: sgi-faq@viz.tamu.edu (The SGI FAQ group)
NNTP-Posting-Host: viz.tamu.edu
Originator: sgi-faq@viz
Archive-name: sgi/faq/apps
Last-modified: Sat Dec 17 12:14:10 CST 1994
SGI apps Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
This is one of the Silicon Graphics FAQ series, which consists of:
SGI admin FAQ - IRIX system administration
SGI apps FAQ - Applications and miscellaneous programming
SGI audio FAQ - Audio applications and programming
SGI graphics FAQ - Graphics and user environment customization
SGI hardware FAQ - Hardware
SGI impressario FAQ - IRIS Impressario
SGI inventor FAQ - IRIS Inventor
SGI misc FAQ - Introduction & miscellaneous information
SGI movie FAQ - Movies
SGI performer FAQ - IRIS Performer
SGI pointer FAQ - Pointer to the other FAQs
Read the misc FAQ for information about the FAQs themselves. Each FAQ
is posted to comp.sys.sgi.misc and to the news.answers and comp.answers
newsgroups (whose purpose is to store FAQs) twice per month. If you
can't find one of the FAQs with your news program, you can get it by
anonymous FTP from one of these sites:
viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/faq/
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/sgi/faq/
ftp.uu.net:/usenet/news.answers/sgi/faq/
Note that rtfm.mit.edu is home to many other FAQs and informational
documents, and is a good place to look if you can't find an answer here.
If you can't use FTP, send mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the
word 'help' on a line by itself in the text, and it will send you a
document describing how to get files from rtfm.mit.edu by mail. Send the
command 'send usenet/news.answers/sgi/faq/misc' to get the SGI misc FAQ,
and similarly for the other FAQs. Finally, the FAQs are on the World
Wide Web at
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/sgi/top.html
The SGI FAQs are freely distributable and we encourage wide circulation.
You MUST keep the FAQs intact, including headers and this notice. The
contents are accurate as far as we know, but the usual disclaimers
apply. (In particular, copies of the SGI FAQs published on paper or
CD-ROM are certain to be out of date!) Please send additions and changes
to sgi-faq@viz.tamu.edu.
Topics covered in this FAQ:
---------------------------
-1- Where can I find software for SGIs?
-2- Where can I find software already compiled for SGIs?
-3- What about Explorer?
-4- What about FlexFAX?
-5- WHAT TO USE?
-6- What's a good graphical text editor for SGIs?
-7- What's a good mail program for SGIs?
-8- How can I convert ASCII to PostScript?
-9- How can I preview PostScript?
-10- How can I edit PostScript files?
-11- How can I format unformatted manpages?
-12- IRIX's version of top(1) doesn't let me renice or kill processes
interactively. What to do?
-13- BUGS AND PROBLEMS
-14- Why isn't Iris Insight working properly?
-15- Why don't the arrow keys work in vi?
-16- How can I tell application X about my screen size?
-17- Why does ksh lock up if one's home directory is NFS-mounted?
-18- Why can't I 'talk' to Suns?
-19- How can I change what the keys on my keyboard do?
-20- Why is 'jot' so slow on a remote display in IRIX 5.2?
! -21- Why does 'man -k' repeat itself in IRIX 5.2?
-22- COMPILERS AND PROGRAMMING
-23- What are the correct versions of the Irix Development Option
(IDO) and Fortran for current versions of IRIX?
-24- Why doesn't my non-ANSI C program compile under IRIX 4.0.x?
-25- Where's CHILD_MAX in IRIX 4.0.5?
-26- Where did the system header files go after I installed IDO 4.1.1?
-27- Why doesn't application X understand NIS (Yellow Pages) in IRIX
4.0.x?
-28- Where's edge in IRIX 5.x? What can I use instead?
-29- How can I generate IRIX 4.0.x-compatible executables under IRIX
5.x?
-30- How can I convert IRIX 4.0.x executables to IRIX 5.x?
-31- Why are some static libraries missing in IRIX 5.x?
-32- Where are the audio, CD and DAT libraries in IRIX 5.x?
-33- Why can't my networking application resolve hostnames in IRIX
5.x?
-34- Can I use dynamic shared objects in IRIX?
-35- How can I tell which shared objects my executable uses?
-36- Why does malloc() never return NULL?
-37- What prototypes are missing in IRIX 4.0.x and 5.x?
-38- Where are the regcmp and regex functions?
-39- Why is 'make' complaining about syntax errors that I can't find?
-40- PORTING
-41- How can I make the 'install' program work like BSD 'install'?
-42- Where's 'ranlib'?
-43- Why does GNU Emacs not compile, or compile but not run?
-44- What do I need to do to build gcc/g++?
-45- Is there an SGI-compatible version of XView?
-46- How can I compile tcsh 6.05 on IRIX 5.2?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: -1- Where can I find software for SGIs?
Date: 14 Nov 94 00:00:01 EST
Silicon Graphics can tell you about their own and third-party
commercial software. Call SGI Direct for more information (see the
misc FAQ for phone numbers) or look around on SGI's WWW server,
Silicon Surf (http://www.sgi.com/), particularly under "Surf Shop"
and "Subsidiaries and Partners".
The best general reference for finding sources on the Internet is
Jonathan Kamens' "Finding Sources" document. It can be FTPed from
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/finding-sources. Read it
carefully before you post a question about finding software ...
because half of your answers will be "look in Archie" anyway, and
"Finding Sources" tells you how to do that.
Useful general archive sites include ftp.x.org:/ for X software
(particularly in the /contrib and /R5contrib directories) and X
itself (in /pub), prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu/ for GNU software, and
ftp.uu.net:/ and wuarchive.wustl.edu:/ for nearly anything, including
archives of many Usenet sources newsgroups and mirrors of the
aforementioned GNU and X archives.
The best SGI-specific reference is Bill Henderson's
<billh@hampton.sgi.com> SGI anonymous FTP list. (See "What are some
related network documents?" in the misc FAQ.) Good places to look, if
you just feel like looking, are ftp.sgi.com:/ and sgigate.sgi.com:/,
where are kept any number of freebies from the folks at SGI, and
swedishchef.lerc.nasa.gov:/, a site particularly well-stocked with
SGI-related materials.
Finally, see the next question for places to find precompiled
software and questions (in this and the other SGI FAQs) which discuss
particular packages for pointers to those packages.
------------------------------
Subject: -2- Where can I find software already compiled for SGIs?
Date: 03 Dec 94 00:00:01 EST
A very large stash of precompiled software is in
ftp.uni-stuttgart.de:/sw/. IRIX 5.2 binaries are in the sgi_52
directory, and documentation and other non-machine-specific files
are nearby.
David Hinds <dhinds@allegro.stanford.edu> keeps a stock of GNU
software compiled for IRIX 4.0.x at cb-iris.stanford.edu:/pub/gnu/.
Presently it includes recent versions of binutils, emacs, gas, gcc,
glibc, gnuplot, groff, gzip, libg++, make, patch and perl.
Scott Henry <scotth@sgi.com> provides recent versions of GNU Emacs
and gzip compiled for IRIX 4.0.x and (pay attention here) IRIX 5.x,
in 'inst' form, in sgigate.sgi.com:/net-services/gnu-emacs.
Alan Palmer <alan@NMSU.edu> has recent versions of gcc, gas, etc.
compiled for IRIX 5.x in doug.nmsu.edu:/pub/.
If none of the above helps, check Bill Henderson's list (see the misc
FAQ). Keep in mind that many of these binaries won't be the latest
version, and it's worth checking the latest version to see if IRIX
support has improved. SGI's presence is continuously increasing and
the trend is definitely toward better IRIX support.
------------------------------
Subject: -3- What about Explorer?
Date: 24 Feb 94 00:00:01 EST
The IRIS Explorer data visualization system has its own newsgroup,
comp.graphics.explorer. There is an FTP site at
ftp.epcc.ac.uk:/pub/explorer/ (with a North American mirror at
swedishchef.lerc.nasa.gov:/explorer/), a WWW page at
http://www.nag.co.uk:70/1h/Welcome_IEC and an FAQ which you can find
at any of those sites.
------------------------------
Subject: -4- What about FlexFAX?
Date: 28 May 94 00:00:01 EST
There is a FlexFAX mailing list listed in the misc FAQ.
------------------------------
Subject: -5- WHAT TO USE?
Date: 10 Dec 93 00:00:01 EST
The next few questions discuss software for various applications.
------------------------------
Subject: -6- What's a good graphical text editor for SGIs?
Date: 18 Sep 94 00:00:01 EST
The most popular graphic text editors on SGIs include:
IRIX 5.x includes jot, which is very nice. It requires GL, i.e. no
X-terminals, text terminals or non-SGI machines. See below for a bug
and workaround. zip is the IRIX 4.x incarnation of jot (the jot which
comes with IRIX 4.x is something else entirely); FTP it from
ftp.sgi.com:/graphics/zip/.
nedit is a straightforward graphical editor with programmers'
features. It needs X-windows but not GL. Get it from
fnpspb.fnal.gov:/pub/nedit/. Patches to make it work under IRIX 5.x
are at viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/software/nedit/nedit-on-irix-5.x.patch.
GNU Emacs, a perennial favorite, isn't just an editor; it's a way of
life. It has a X-windows mode and works on X-windows terminals as
well as SGI consoles and text terminals. Its X-windows support, once
rather lackluster, has improved in the recently released version 19.
It may be FTPed from any GNU archive, e.g.
prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu/.
Epoch is a derivative of GNU Emacs 18 with better X-windows support.
It may be found at cs.uiuc.edu:/pub/epoch-files/epoch/. It will soon
merge with XEmacs.
XEmacs (formerly Lucid Emacs) is a derivative of GNU Emacs 19. It may
be found in cs.uiuc.edu:/pub/xemacs/, and it has a WWW page at
http://xemacs.cs.uiuc.edu/. It requires graphics.
Finally, the comp.windows.x FAQ (at
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/comp.windows.x/) lists many more editors
which run under X-windows, both free and commercial.
------------------------------
Subject: -7- What's a good mail program for SGIs?
Date: 06 Nov 94 00:00:01 EST
Z-Mail is a commercial product written by Z-Code and redistributed by
SGI. IRIX 5.x includes MediaMail, a subset of Z-Mail. Both are
graphical, MIME-compatible (MIME, described in RFC1521, is a standard
for enclosing multimedia material in your mail) and have a text-only
mode. viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/software/mail/zmail-vs-mediamail.ps
describes the differences between Z-Mail and MediaMail.
The free programs Elm and Pine use text-based menus. They are easy to
use, powerful and can easily be run in a separate window. They can be
configured to use 'metamail' for MIME support. Elm can be FTPed from
dsinc.dsi.com:/elm/, Pine from ftp.cac.washington.edu:/pine/ and
'metamail' from thumper.bellcore.com:/pub/nsb/. Z-Mail/MediaMail
includes 'metamail', so if you use both Z-Mail/MediaMail and Elm or
Pine or another free mail program, you can save yourself some trouble
by configuring the latter to use the former's 'metamail'. Elm has an
FAQ in rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/comp.mail.elm/. Packages which make
Elm work nicely with IRIX 4.0.x's WorkSpace and IRIX 5.2's Indigo
Magic are at proton.chem.yale.edu:/pub/elm-ws-support.shar and
proton.chem.yale.edu:/pub/elm-im-support.shar. Elm's
autoreply/arepdaemon subsystem has a bad security hole, so don't
install those binaries. (They have been removed from v. 2.4.24 and
later.) The rest of Elm is fine.
'mh' is a free, command-line oriented Mail Handling system. FTP the
source code from ftp.ics.uci.edu:/pub/mh/ and patches for IRIX 5.x
from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/software/mh/. If you build 'mh' you can
use 'xmh', a graphical mailer, which is part of Xwindows and thus
comes with IRIX.
Finally, Chris Lewis' "Unix Email Software - a Survey" lists many
more mail programs. FTP it from
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/mail/setup/unix/.
------------------------------
Subject: -8- How can I convert ASCII to PostScript?
Date: 19 Jun 94 00:00:01 EST
- IRIX comes with 'lptops', which, because it's called indirectly
from 'lp', isn't as well known as it ought to be. Read the 'lptops'
and 'gpsinterface' manpages.
- Adobe Transcript, which includes 'enscript' (something like
'lptops') and 'psroff' (nroff/troff-to-PostScript) is available at
extra cost from SGI. Most people manage without it.
- SGI's own Impressario does PostScript and a lot of other things. It
too costs extra, but is better liked that Transcript. See the
! impressario FAQ.
- Popular free converters include 'a2ps' (at
imag.fr:/archive/postscript/), 'lwf' (in volume 15 of
comp.sources.unix, e.g.
ftp.uu.net:/usenet/comp.sources.unix/volume15/lwf/) and 'psf' (in
volume 35 of comp.sources.misc, e.g.
ftp.uu.net:/usenet/comp.sources.misc/volume35/psf3/). The
comp.lang.postscript FAQ (at
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/comp.lang.postscript/) has a much longer
list of such programs, unfortunately no longer including reviews or
FTP sites.
- One good way to print manpages is with the '-m' option to 'a2ps'.
------------------------------
Subject: -9- How can I preview PostScript?
Date: 20 Mar 94 00:00:01 EST
Display Postscript (DPS), which includes the 'xpsview' PostScript
previewer, is an extra-cost option from SGI. Happily, Robert Keller
of SGI <rck@fangio.asd.sgi.com> has made available GNU's GhostScript
previewer, compiled *and* in SGI 'inst' installable form. FTP it from
ftp.sgi.com:/sgi/ghost/.
Dale Atems <atems@physics.wayne.edu> points out: Many people try
ghostscript and give it up because of the fonts. There is something
about ghostscript that's not as widely known as it should be and
deserves emphasis: if you have SGI's Display Postscript, you can
forget about most of the ugly bitmap fonts that come with
ghostscript. Edit your Fontmap file to point ghostscript to the DPS
outline fonts (in /usr/lib/DPS/outline/base) and it will use them
instead. This will improve both screen display and, if you're not
using a Postscript printer with those fonts already built in,
printing quality.
------------------------------
Subject: -10- How can I edit PostScript files?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST
Ivan Bach <ib@sgi.com> collected some testimonials from a number of
SGIers:
- Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw can edit PS files of type AI (a
simplified version of PS that facilitates editing).
- Transverter (from TechPool, 212-291-1922) can convert some general
PostScript files to AI PostScript. It also does other conversions,
e.g. to TIFF.
- If you have DPS extensions on your server and a DPS compile time
environment you can do this quite well with xfig. Check out the
version in crocus.medicine.rochester.edu:/pub/apps/.
- The InterViews tool `idraw' allows manipulation of EPS
(Encapsulated PostScript) files, and has a `mac-type' interface.
- Island Draw 3.0 has an option to import Postscript, and it seems to
accept arbitrary Postscript. I have fed it single page Postcript
files from Illustrator, Corel, Ventura, Designer, Eroff, and
hand-coded files, and it made Island Draw objects out of them. The
file initially opens as one grouped object, but if you ungroup, you
get editable objects. I was quite impressed. I don't doubt there
are ways to fool the interpreter, but it works for output from
drawing and publishing packages, which is what I need it for.
------------------------------
Subject: -11- How can I format unformatted manpages?
Date: 19 Nov 94 00:00:01 EST
SGI provides manpages in formatted form, and does not therefore
provide us all with the formatting software. Most FTPable manpages,
however, come in nroff ("unformatted") form.
To install an unformatted manpage, one needs to format it (more on
this in a moment), pack it with pack(1) and put it in the appropriate
place under one of the 'catman' directories (see man(1)).
Alternatively, one might simply put the unformatted manpage under one
of the 'man' directories (again, see man(1)) and let IRIX run the
formatting software on it as needed. Which method one uses is a matter
of taste. In any case, one needs formatting software, and that is what
the rest of this entry is about.
Manpages are most often formatted with Documenter's Workbench (DWB),
which SGI has had to license separately from USL and we have to buy
separately from SGI. SGI's DWB is based on version 2.1; the current
version from USL is 3.3.
Public domain alternatives to DWB include 'groff' and 'awf':
'groff' is by the Free Software Foundation and can be had from any
GNU archive (e.g. prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu/). Compilers beware: it
must be compiled with g++ (or another C++ compiler?). However, there
are compiled binaries in cb-iris.stanford.edu:/pub/gnu/. David Hinds
<dhinds@allegro.stanford.edu>, the man who put them there, gives this
advice for installing groff so that it can format manpages on the fly
in IRIX 4.0.x:
Create a script called 'eqn':
> #!/bin/sh
> if [ ${1:-""} = /usr/pub/eqnchar ] ; then shift ; fi
> geqn $*
and a script called 'neqn':
> #!/bin/sh
> if [ ${1:-""} = /usr/pub/eqnchar ] ; then shift ; fi
> geqn -Tascii $*
and do:
> ln -s gnroff nroff
and edit the end of the gnroff script to be:
> rest=`echo ${1+"$@"} | sed -e 's+/usr/lib/tmac+/usr/local/lib/groff/tmac+'`
> exec groff -Wall -mtty-char $T $opts $rest
To get PostScript output from 'man -t', you also need to create a
'psroff' script similar to 'nroff'. Here are the context diffs:
*** /usr/local/bin/nroff Sat Feb 13 15:51:09 1993
--- /usr/local/bin/psroff Sat Feb 13 17:45:46 1993
***************
*** 1,8 ****
#!/bin/sh
! # Emulate nroff with groff.
prog="$0"
! T=-Tascii
opts=
for i
--- 1,8 ----
#!/bin/sh
! # Emulate psroff with groff.
prog="$0"
! T=-Tps
opts=
for i
***************
*** 25,30 ****
--- 25,33 ----
-Tascii|-Tlatin1)
T=$1
;;
+ -t)
+ # ignore -- default is send to stdout
+ ;;
-T*)
# ignore other devices
;;
***************
*** 49,53 ****
rest=`echo ${1+"$@"} | sed -e 's+/usr/lib/tmac+/usr/local/lib/groff/tmac+'`
# This shell script is intended for use with man, so warnings are
# probably not wanted. Also load nroff-style character definitions.
! exec groff -Wall -mtty-char $T $opts $rest
--- 52,56 ----
rest=`echo ${1+"$@"} | sed -e 's+/usr/lib/tmac+/usr/local/lib/groff/tmac+'`
# This shell script is intended for use with man, so warnings are
! # probably not wanted.
! exec groff -Wall $T $opts $rest
The binaries on cb-iris.stanford.edu have these changes already made.
Paul Walmsley <ccshag@sgi1.phlab.missouri.edu> offers the following
advice for IRIX 5.x, which assumes that you have already followed
David Hinds' instructions for IRIX 4.0.x:
1. Remove the link from tbl to gtbl.
2. Rename gtroff to gtroff-exe or some other suitable name. Note
that if you name it something other than gtroff-exe, you must
change the gtroff script below.
3. Install the gtroff and tbl scripts included below in place of the
above two programs, and chmod them appropriately.
--- cut here for tbl ---
#!/bin/sh
# Shoehorn gtbl into IRIX 5.2 - Shag
# Removes the -TX from gtbl's command line - yes, I know this is a kludge
rest=`echo ${1+"$@"} | sed -e 's+-TX++'`
exec gtbl $rest
--- cut here for gtroff --
#!/bin/sh
# Shoehorn gtroff into working with IRIX 5.2 - Shag
# Translates all references for /usr/lib/tmac to /usr/local/lib/groff/tmac,
# and disables warnings - from David Hinds' code
rest=`echo ${1+"$@"} | sed -e 's+/usr/lib/tmac+/usr/local/lib/groff/tmac+'`
exec gtroff-exe -Wall -mtty-char $rest
--- you can stop cutting now ---
It is also possible to avoid the need for these scripts by setting
some environment variables, which are only documented in the man(1)
manpage (q.v.) in IRIX 5.2 and later.
Henry Spencer's awf ("Amazingly Workable Formatter") is written in
'awk', which we all have, and does a pretty good job, considering. It
can be FTPed from fresnel.stanford.edu:/pub/4D/.
Finally, you might be able to format them on a non-SGI machine which
does have nroff. You might need to specify the generic printer macros
with '-Tlp', i.e. 'nroff -man -Tlp foo.1 > foo'.
------------------------------
Subject: -12- IRIX's version of top(1) doesn't let me renice or kill
processes interactively. What to do?
Date: 10 Dec 93 00:00:01 EST
Try William LeFebvre's <phil@eecs.nwu.edu> version, which has these
capabilities. FTP it from eecs.nwu.edu:/pub/top/. One port to IRIX is
at ftp.cs.ruu.nl:/pub/SGI/top-3.1.tar.gz.
------------------------------
Subject: -13- BUGS AND PROBLEMS
Date: 10 Dec 93 00:00:01 EST
This section discusses bugs and problems with various applications.
------------------------------
Subject: -14- Why isn't Iris Insight working properly?
Date: 03 Dec 94 00:00:01 EST
The format for Insight's ~/.insightrc file changed in Insight 2.0. An
~/.insightrc left over from an older version might cause Insight to
emit error messages or not work in various ways. Just delete the old
~/.insightrc and restart Insight.
Insight generates PostScript which says "language level" where it
should say "languagelevel", and thus may not print on your printer.
Pipe the PostScript to a file, change every "language level" in the
file to "languagelevel" and print that.
Greg Ferguson <gferg@hoop.timonium.sgi.com> keeps a list of other
problems with Insight, which can be found at
viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/lists/insight-problems.
------------------------------
Subject: -15- Why don't the arrow keys work in vi?
Date: 04 May 94 00:00:01 EST
Arrow keys send more than one character, and vi can misinterpret them
as multiple single-character commands on slow connections. Increase
vi's patience by putting the command 'set timeout=400' (or a larger
or smaller number to your taste) in the file ~/.exrc or the EXINIT
environment variable. See also the ex(1) and vi(1) manpages.
Or use h, j, k and l. Or jot or Emacs.
Incidentally, an article in the March/April 1994 Pipeline discusses a
variety of 'vi' tips and tricks.
------------------------------
Subject: -16- How can I tell application X about my screen size?
Date: 10 Dec 93 00:00:01 EST
IRIX does not have 'stty rows n' or 'stty columns n'. Use
'setenv LINES n' and 'setenv COLUMNS n' respectively.
------------------------------
Subject: -17- Why does ksh lock up if one's home directory is NFS-
mounted?
Date: 21 Jan 94 00:00:01 EST
Sez Dave Olson <olson@sgi.com>: Since all ksh sessions for the same
user write to the same file, ksh uses locking on the history file.
Locking over NFS is problematic at best. There is an environment
variable (HISTFILE) that can be set to specify where the history file
lives; I would suggest putting it somewhere on the local disk.
------------------------------
Subject: -18- Why can't I 'talk' to Suns?
Date: 16 Mar 94 00:00:01 EST
SGI, and most Unix vendors, use the 4.3BSD talk protocol, while Sun
still uses the 4.2BSD talk protocol. The fault is Sun's, not SGI's.
Look in thor.ece.uc.edu:/pub/sun-faq/ for Sun-compatible versions of
'new talk' (ntalk.tar.Z) and 'ytalk', which speaks both old and new
'talk' (ytalk-3.0.1.tar.gz).
You could also run 'ytalk' on your SGI. Get it from
ftp.uu.net:/usenet/comp.sources.unix/volume27/ytalk-3.0/.
------------------------------
Subject: -19- How can I change what the keys on my keyboard do?
Date: 04 May 94 00:00:01 EST
Use 'xmodmap'. The manpage describes how to swap control and caps-
lock, which is the most common use. 'xwsh' and 'tcsh' also have key-
binding facilities, described in their manpages; consider these if
you want to change key meanings only in 'xwsh' windows or only in
'tcsh'.
------------------------------
Subject: -20- Why is 'jot' so slow on a remote display in IRIX 5.2?
Date: 08 Jul 94 00:00:01 EST
It's a bug. A fixed version is in ftp.sgi.com:/graphics/jot/.
------------------------------
Subject: ! -21- Why does 'man -k' repeat itself in IRIX 5.2?
Date: 10 Dec 94 00:00:01 EST
! 'man -k' looks for two whatis databases, the default
! (/usr/share/catman/whatis) and one in a directory specified by the
! environment variable LANG. If LANG is set but empty, the paths come
! out the same and you see the same database twice. Fix the problem by
! doing 'unsetenv LANG' or 'setenv'ing it to something sensible.
! This can also happen if the old Irix 4.0.x database is left behind
! after upgrading to Irix 5.2. Fix the problem by removing
! /usr/catman/whatis.
------------------------------
Subject: -22- COMPILERS AND PROGRAMMING
Date: 10 Dec 93 00:00:01 EST
This section discusses general compilers and programming issues. See
the audio, graphics and movie FAQs for audio, graphics and movie
! programming issues, and the impressario, inventor and performer FAQs
for discussions of those packages.
------------------------------
Subject: -23- What are the correct versions of the Irix Development
Option (IDO) and Fortran for current versions of IRIX?
Date: 12 Jun 94 00:00:01 EST
If you're using IRIX 4.0.x, you should be using IDO 4.1.1. It
includes C 3.10.1 and the 3.12 back-end (the part of the compiler
which actually produces the executable; 3.12 is the number you see
when you use the 'file' command on an executable). The previous
version was badly buggy; upgrade ASAP.
IRIX 5.2 needs IDO 5.2, which includes C 3.18. Executables produced by
the IRIX 5.x back-end don't show a version number with 'file'.
Each version of IDO has a corresponding version of Fortran, and they
MUST be used together. IDO 4.1.1 needs Fortran 3.5.1 and IDO 5.2 needs
Fortran 4.0.1. This is true for other languages as well, but only
Fortran has confused enough people to have its version numbers here.
------------------------------
Subject: -24- Why doesn't my non-ANSI C program compile under IRIX
4.0.x?
Date: 14 May 94 00:00:01 EST
SGI's C compiler is ANSI C by default in IRIX 4.0.x. Use the '-cckr'
option to compile K&R C. You can do this most easily by setting the
environment variable SGI_CC to "-cckr" or by editing the
application's Makefile, often by adding "-cckr" to the CFLAGS
variable.
A related problem is that Makefiles generated by 'imake' most often
use 'cc -cckr -prototypes'; missing or incorrect prototypes usually
just generate pages of warnings but may cause an unrecoverable
error. You can often work around this by removing "-prototypes" from
the line where it appears in the Makefile (not the Imakefile).
------------------------------
Subject: -25- Where's CHILD_MAX in IRIX 4.0.5?
Date: 21 Jan 94 00:00:01 EST
/usr/include/limits.h has a bug in all versions of IRIX 4.0.5. The
definition of ARG_MAX on line 92 is missing a closing comment, so the
definition of CHILD_MAX on line 93 is ignored. Line 92
#define ARG_MAX 5120 /* max length of arguments to exec
should look like this:
#define ARG_MAX 5120 /* max length of arguments to exec */
------------------------------
Subject: -26- Where did the system header files go after I installed
IDO 4.1.1?
Date: 14 May 94 00:00:01 EST
Some header files were in both the dev.hdr.lib subsystem (which is
part of IDO) and eoe1.sw.unix (which is part of basic IRIX) in IRIX
4.0.5, but are not in dev.hdr.lib in IDO 4.1 and 4.1.1. If one
removes an older IDO then installs IDO 4.1(.1), these headers will
disappear. The solution is to reinstall eoe1.sw.unix. Affected
headers are all in /usr/include/sys, and include domain.h, fddi.h,
if_imf.h, if_ipg.h, if_mf.h, if_sl.h, llc.h, mbuf.h, protosw.h,
smt.h, socket.h, socketvar.h, tcp-param.h, uio.h, un.h, and unpcb.h.
------------------------------
Subject: -27- Why doesn't application X understand NIS (Yellow Pages)
in IRIX 4.0.x?
Date: 19 Dec 93 00:00:01 EST
If you run NIS (aka Yellow Pages), you need to link programs which
access files served by NIS with -lsun. The functions in libc.a which
deal with these files are not NIS-aware; the NIS versions are in
libsun.a. Using libsun.a usually means adding '-lsun' to the variable
LIBS or LDFLAGS in one's Makefile. If '-lc' or '-lc_s' (libc_s.a is
the shared version of libc.a) is given explicitly, '-lsun' must
precede it.
This is only true for IRIX 4.0.x; IRIX 5.x's libc.a is NIS-aware.
------------------------------
Subject: -28- Where's edge in IRIX 5.x? What can I use instead?
Date: 13 Nov 94 00:00:01 EST
SGI does not include edge with IRIX 5.x. When asked for substitutes,
SGI will direct you to their CASEVision debugger, which costs extra.
An oft-mentioned free graphical debugger is 'xdbx'; you can find the
original source in ftp.x.org:/R5contrib/, a patch to make it work on
IRIX 4.0.x in viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/software/xdbx/xdbx.sgi.patch and
patched versions for IRIX 4.0.x and 5.x in
swedishchef.lerc.nasa.gov:/programs/X/. An 'inst'-installable binary
for IRIX 5.x only is in ftp.sgi.com:~ftp/sgi/xdbx/.
If you have 'gdb', you can try 'tgdb' and 'tgdb_wish', which may be
FTPed from sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/devel/debuggers/ and
ftp.aud.alcatel.com:/tcl/code/ respectively.
------------------------------
Subject: -29- How can I generate IRIX 4.0.x-compatible executables
under IRIX 5.x?
Date: 10 Dec 93 00:00:01 EST
Strictly speaking, you can't. Many things changed in IRIX 5.x. You
can, however generate executables in COFF (IRIX 4.0.x) format instead
of ELF (IRIX 5.x) format, and these will often work on IRIX 4.0.x if
they don't use complex things like multiprocessing. The manual and
release notes describe how, and here's a summary:
1) Make sure you've installed all of the appropriate irix4
compatibility subsystems. These include irix4_eoe, irix4_dev,
irix4_c and others for Motif, Inventor, etc.
2) setenv SGI_IRIX4 1
3) If your source uses explicit paths to headers, libraries, etc.,
change them to point to the irix4 versions.
4) Use cc or make or whatever as you normally would.
------------------------------
Subject: -30- How can I convert IRIX 4.0.x executables to IRIX 5.x?
Date: 04 Nov 94 00:00:01 EST
Sez Jay McCauley <mccauley@sgi.com>: IRIX does not and cannot have a
coff2elf (actually, it's 'cof2elf') converter. The COFF (actually,
ECOFF) to ELF transition was also the transition to the use of
Expanded Fundamental Types (EFT), an SVR4-ism. EFT enlarges a number
of basic data types, finally casting off the last vestiges of the
PDP-11. So, structures built in an EFT world would have their
members at different offsets than they would in a pre-EFT (e.g. IRIX
4.x) world. The operating system uses the fact that an executable is
in ELF to trigger the use of EFT-based strucures for input and
output. So, even if you had a program like coff2elf, the resulting
transformed executable would not operate correctly for almost any
interesting case. Trivial programs that don't have any system calls
which pass in structures or get structures back from the OS could
theoretically work, but these fall into the "uninteresting" class.
Note that the cof2elf(1) program referred to by the elf(1) manpage in
IRIX 5.2 does not exist. The elf(1) manpage is wrong.
------------------------------
Subject: -31- Why are some static libraries missing in IRIX 5.x?
Date: 05 Feb 94 00:00:01 EST
IRIX 5.x does not have static (non-shared) versions of some
libraries, notably libX11.a. This is only a problem if one needs to
name one explicitly in a linking statement; just use the shared
version (in this case, libX11.so.1).
But *why* are they missing? 1) The shared versions (but not the
static versions) are specified in the MIPS ABI, with which IRIX 5.x
complies. 2) SGI can tune system-dependent aspects of the libraries
without losing binary compatibility between different SGI machines
and with other MIPS ABI-compliant platforms. 2) The library
interfaces are stable, so there is no need to link them statically.
3) It forces us all to use the shared versions with the attendant
benefits: less disk and memory usage and better portability.
------------------------------
Subject: -32- Where are the audio, CD and DAT libraries in IRIX 5.x?
Date: 05 Mar 94 00:00:01 EST
In IRIX 5.x, they (and the associated headers, sample code, etc.)
have moved to the extra-cost Digital Media Development option.
Sorry.
------------------------------
Subject: -33- Why can't my networking application resolve hostnames in
IRIX 5.x?
Date: 14 May 94 00:00:01 EST
The resolv.conf file, which tells IRIX how to resolve hostnames, is
in /usr/etc in IRIX 4.0.x but /etc in IRIX 5.x. Applications compiled
under IRIX 4.0.x and moved to a 5.x system will not be able to find
it. The easiest fix is to do 'ln -s /etc/resolv.conf /usr/etc', and
the best fix is to recompile. See 'man 4 resolv.conf'.
------------------------------
Subject: -34- Can I use dynamic shared objects in IRIX?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST
IRIX 5.x supports SVR4-style dynamic shared objects. IRIX 4.0.x does
not, but Jack Jansen <jack@cwi.nl> has written a package to do it
anyway. Get the file ftp.cwi.nl:/pub/dl-1.3.tar.Z by anonymous FTP.
------------------------------
Subject: -35- How can I tell which shared objects my executable uses?
Date: 25 Apr 94 00:00:01 EST
Use 'odump -Lv' for COFF format executables (under IRIX 4.0.x, or 5.x
using the irix4 compatibility stuff) and 'elfdump -Dl' for ELF format
executables (IRIX 5.x only). Both are in the dev.cmplrs_sw.util
subsystem.
------------------------------
Subject: -36- Why does malloc() never return NULL?
Date: 05 Jul 94 00:00:01 EST
Virtual memory is effectively infinitely large in IRIX 4.0.x, and it
can be configured to be so in IRIX 5.x. malloc() never returns NULL
because requests are always granted. The admin FAQ gives further
background, and tells how to configure your system to limit virtual
memory to physical memory and physical swap space.
------------------------------
Subject: -37- What prototypes are missing in IRIX 4.0.x and 5.x?
Date: 03 Apr 94 00:00:01 EST
Kevin Russo <russo@rudedog.nrl.navy.mil> has compiled lists, which
you can FTP from
viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/software/prototypes/missing-protos.shar.
------------------------------
Subject: -38- Where are the regcmp and regex functions?
Date: 13 Nov 94 00:00:01 EST
In the libPW.a (IRIX 4.0.x) or libgen.a (IRIX 5.x) library. Add
'-lPW' or '-lgen' to your linking command.
------------------------------
Subject: -39- Why is 'make' complaining about syntax errors that I
can't find?
Date: 26 May 94 00:00:01 EST
Two possibilities:
- SGI's 'make' sends shell commands to your shell (specified in the
SHELL environment variable), while every other 'make' in the world
uses /bin/sh by default. Put the line "SHELL=/bin/sh" at the top of
a Makefile to make SGI's 'make' use /bin/sh.
- Dependency lines in your Makefile may begin with spaces. Some
'make's accept spaces; SGI's requires tabs.
------------------------------
Subject: -40- PORTING
Date: 10 Dec 93 00:00:01 EST
This section discusses problems with porting software from other
systems to SGIs. Be sure to look through the previous section and the
programming part of the graphics FAQ too.
------------------------------
Subject: -41- How can I make the 'install' program work like BSD
'install'?
Date: 22 Nov 94 00:00:01 EST
The BSD and System V versions of the 'install' command are
incompatible; the BSD version is most often used by Makefiles. IRIX
provides both the System V version (/etc/install) and the BSD version
(/usr/bin/X11/bsdinst.sh in IRIX 4.0.x, and /usr/bin/X11/bsdinst in
IRIX 5.x). SGI's 'imake' defines INSTALL as /usr/bin/X11/bsdinst,
and the Install* rules use that definition, so Imakefile-generated
Makefiles will use the BSD version.
Michael Joosten <joost@ori.cadlab.de> points out that you can also use
GNU install (available from any GNU archive, e.g.
prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu/), which emulates the BSD version. Unlike
/usr/bin/X11/bsdinst, it has a manpage. It also may be better
debugged; SGI's version reportedly mishandles '-o' and installs
multiple files into a single directory.
------------------------------
Subject: -42- Where's 'ranlib'?
Date: 16 Sep 93 00:00:01 EST
IRIX doesn't need it. Read the description of the 's' option in the
'ar' manpage. When the Makefile for a program you're porting wants
ranlib, delete the ranlib command, substitute 'true' or put a little
shell script in your PATH to fake it.
------------------------------
Subject: -43- Why does GNU Emacs not compile, or compile but not run?
Date: 08 Oct 94 00:00:01 EST
You probably have an old version.
Emacs 18.59 is the last release of Emacs version 18. It builds and
runs correctly under IRIX 4.0.x. Some earlier versions failed to
compile (because cc now needs -cckr for K&R C compatibility) or
failed to run when stripped (because of object file format changes).
For the latter reason, the file unexmips.c in some versions of Epoch
and Lucid Emacs should be replaced with the same-named file from the
GNU Emacs 18.59 distribution.
Karsten Kuenne <kuenne@desy.de> has patched Emacs 18.59 to work with
IRIX 5.0's new object file format. The patches are at
ftp.desy.de:/pub/gnu/emacs/emacs-irix5.0-patches.
Emacs 19.28 is the most recent release of Emacs version 19 at this
writing; it builds and runs correctly under IRIX 4.0.x and 5.x with
recent compilers (IDO 4.1.1 or newer). Be sure to read about Iris
quirks in etc/MACHINES.
See also "Where can I get software already compiled for SGIs?"
above.
------------------------------
Subject: -44- What do I need to do to build gcc/g++?
Date: 04 Nov 94 00:00:01 EST
Recent versions of gcc build reliably on IRIX 4.0.x and 5.x without
much difficulty. Just read the INSTALL document and follow the
directions. A few hints:
- Don't. Several people have already, and they'll let you have a
copy. Even if you must do it yourself, you can bootstrap from
someone else's binary. Furthermore, their distribution may include
notes on how they did it, if they didn't think it was obvious. See
"Where can I get software already compiled for SGIs?" above.
- You need the headers and runtime libraries from SGI's extra-cost
development option (IDO) to compile gcc. Of course if you buy IDO
you'll get SGI's compiler anyway; this is comp.sys.sgi.*'s most
popular Catch-22.
- Don't forget to install the dev.cmplrs_hdr.internal subsystem,
which contains needed headers and is not installed by default.
- READ THE RELEASE NOTES! gcc (and gas, etc.) are updated too
frequently for this FAQ to document every quirk of every release.
The release notes often describe quirks that have not yet been
fixed.
------------------------------
Subject: -45- Is there an SGI-compatible version of XView?
Date: 01 Jul 94 00:00:01 EST
For IRIX 4.0.x, look in
swedishchef.lerc.nasa.gov:/libraries/XView3/. For IRIX 5.x, look in
wuarchive.wustl.edu:/graphics/graphics/sgi-stuff/XView/xview3/irix5/.
A copy of the patches used to create the IRIX 5.x version is in
viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/software/xview/.
------------------------------
Subject: -46- How can I compile tcsh 6.05 on IRIX 5.2?
Date: 15 Nov 94 00:00:01 EST
IRIX 5.2 includes tcsh 6.04. If you want 6.05 (which has a lot of bug
fixes and a nice new manpage) you need to compile it yourself. Get
the source from tesla.ee.cornell.edu:/pub/tcsh/ and a patch to let it
compile under IRIX 5.2 from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/software/tcsh/.
------------------------------
End of sgi/faq/apps Digest
******************************
--
The SGI FAQ group sgi-faq@viz.tamu.edu
Finger us for info on the SGI FAQs, or look in viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi.