NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/comp/os/vms/18103

Internet Message Format | 1992-11-17 | 1.7 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!charon.amdahl.com!pacbell.com!ames!saimiri.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!ucbvax!IPG.PH.KCL.AC.UK!SYSMGR
From: [e-mail]
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: re: Plans for mixed Alpha/VAX cluster with common system disk?
Message-ID: <27A00A11_00168E00.00963B3804E014C0$[e-mail]>
Date: 16 Nov 92 12:03:50 GMT
Sender: [e-mail]
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 26

> >
> > What worries me more about a mixed architecture VAX/Alpha VMS Cluster is
> > how the poor innocent users are going to sort out the confusion between
> > VAX and Alpha executables.
>
>     David Kashtan had an interesting solution to this problem.    Create
> a format for images that allows you to "store" both a VAX and an Alpha
> image in the same executable.  Then you just need an APPEND/IMAGE
> command or somesuch to create these "duel-architecture" executables.

If DEC don't do something like this, I'll be very disappointed. Also it'll
be a big mistake: the confusion caused may well result in Alpha+VMS getting a
bad name and even loss of customers to the competition.

If they can't do this, there's a trivial confusion-avoider. Simply create
file types .AEXE, .AOBJ, and .AOLB for alpha code, plus qualifiers /VAX and
/ALPHA on utilities like LINK and LIBRARY, which default to that native
for the processor on which they are running. However, it would be much, much
nicer to have the ability to create EXEs that contain both sets of code
and map and execute that appropriate for the processor on which they are run.

        Nigel Arnot

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