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Archive-name: sgi/faq/apps Last-modified: Sun Feb 26 15:42:30 CST 1995 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 (In particular, copies of the SGI FAQs published on paper or CD-ROM are certain to be out of date!)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 non-shared 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- Why does stripping executables corrupt them in IRIX 6.x? -41- PORTING -42- How can I make the 'install' program work like BSD 'install'? -43- Where's 'ranlib'? -44- Why does GNU Emacs not compile, or compile but not run? -45- What do I need to do to build gcc/g++? -46- Is there an SGI-compatible version of XView? -47- How can I compile tcsh 6.05 on IRIX 5.2? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: -1- Where can I find software for SGIs? Date: 12 Nov 95 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/ or its mirrors; see the misc FAQ), 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: 08 Feb 95 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. 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 than 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: 11 Feb 95 00:00:01 EST In one of two ways: Display Postscript (DPS) comes with IRIX 5.x. (Machines which came with IRIX 4.0.1-4.0.4 didn't get DPS in later versions of IRIX 4.x, but it is standard in 5.x.) It includes the 'xpsview' viewer. The DPS developer's option, which you need to write or build programs which exploit DPS, costs extra. Ghostscript is free from Aladdin Software and the Free Software Foundation; ghostview (a viewer which uses ghostscript) is likewise free from the FSF. Original sources are in ftp.cs.wisc.edu:/pub/ghost/, and Robert Keller of SGI <rck@fangio.asd.sgi.com> has put a compiled, 'inst'-installable package at 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. [Editor's note: This seems to cause problems with some files under IRIX 5.x. Any details?] ------------------------------ Subject: -10- How can I edit PostScript files? Date: 10 Jan 95 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 and the DPS developer's kit you can do this quite well with xfig. Check out the version in ftp.x.org:/contrib/R5contrib-fixes/xfig-patches/. - 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: 08 Feb 95 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 'nroff', which is a part of 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. You might be able to format manpages on a non-SGI machine which does have DWB/nroff. You might need to specify the generic printer macros with '-Tlp', e.g. 'nroff -man -Tlp foo.1 > foo'. Public domain alternatives to DWB include 'awf' and 'groff': 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 ftp.sgi.com:/sgi/IRIX5.0/man/, along with a version of 'man' which looks for awf if nroff isn't available. It will come with releases of IRIX after 5.3. '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. Finally, under IRIX 5.3, you need to edit the 'eqn' and 'neqn' scripts (above) a bit more. Add the following line if [ ${1:-""} = - ] ; then shift ; fi just before the last "geqn" line. ------------------------------ Subject: -12- IRIX's version of top(1) doesn't let me renice or kill processes interactively. What to do? Date: 02 Jan 95 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. Another is at babar.ucsf.edu:/pub/top/top-3.3beta3.irix.tar.Z. ------------------------------ 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 non-shared libraries missing in IRIX 5.x? Date: 02 Jan 95 00:00:01 EST - Some of the non-shared libraries which do come with IRIX 5.x are installed by default and some are not. The shared library you want may be in one of the "speclibs" subsystems, e.g. dev.sw.irix_speclibs, which contains /usr/lib/nonshared/crt1.o, a very popular item among those compiling nonshared. - IRIX 5.x does not have non-shared versions of some libraries, notably libX11.a. Nonshared libraries are provided if 1) they are required by the MIPS ABI (Application Binary Interface), a binary-compatibility standard, 2) they are needed to compile benchmarks (these are the libraries in the "speclibs" subsystems) or 3) SGI hasn't gotten around to providing a shared library. So, why do you want that nonshared library? - If you just want to compile something whose link statement explicitly specifies a particular nonshared library, substitute the shared version (e.g. libX11.so.1 instead of libX11.a). - If you really need a nonshared application, and you can't find all the nonshared libraries you need, you're out of luck. ------------------------------ 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- Why does stripping executables corrupt them in IRIX 6.x? Date: 26 Feb 95 00:00:01 EST + IRIX 6 (but not 4 or 5) has a bug such that if one strips more than + one executable with a single 'strip' command, all but the first will + be corrupted. Work around the bug by stripping only one file at a + time. ------------------------------ Subject: -41- 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: -42- 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: -43- 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: -44- 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: -45- 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: -46- 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: -47- 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.