NOTES-VMS.md

   1 NOTES FOR THE OPENVMS PLATFORM
   2 ==============================
   3
   4  Requirement details
   5  -------------------
   6
   7  In addition to the requirements and instructions listed
   8  in [INSTALL.md](INSTALL.md), this are required as well:
   9
  10   * At least ODS-5 disk organization for source and build.
  11     Installation can be done on any existing disk organization.
  12
  13  About ANSI C compiler
  14  ---------------------
  15
  16  An ANSI C compiled is needed among other things.  This means that
  17  VAX C is not and will not be supported.
  18
  19  We have only tested with DEC C (aka HP VMS C / VSI C) and require
  20  version 7.1 or later.  Compiling with a different ANSI C compiler may
  21  require some work.
  22
  23  Please avoid using C RTL feature logical names `DECC$*` when building
  24  and testing OpenSSL.  Most of all, they can be disruptive when
  25  running the tests, as they affect the Perl interpreter.
  26
  27  About ODS-5 directory names and Perl
  28  ------------------------------------
  29
  30  It seems that the perl function canonpath() in the `File::Spec` module
  31  doesn't treat file specifications where the last directory name
  32  contains periods very well.  Unfortunately, some versions of VMS tar
  33  will keep the periods in the OpenSSL source directory instead of
  34  converting them to underscore, thereby leaving your source in
  35  something like `[.openssl-1^.1^.0]`.  This will lead to issues when
  36  configuring and building OpenSSL.
  37
  38  We have no replacement for Perl's canonpath(), so the best workaround
  39  for now is to rename the OpenSSL source directory, as follows (please
  40  adjust for the actual source directory name you have):
  41
  42     $ rename openssl-1^.1^.0.DIR openssl-1_1_0.DIR
  43
  44  About MMS and DCL
  45  -----------------
  46
  47  MMS has certain limitations when it comes to line length, and DCL has
  48  certain limitations when it comes to total command length.  We do
  49  what we can to mitigate, but there is the possibility that it's not
  50  enough.  Should you run into issues, a very simple solution is to set
  51  yourself up a few logical names for the directory trees you're going
  52  to use.
  53
  54  About debugging
  55  ---------------
  56
  57  If you build for debugging, the default on VMS is that image
  58  activation starts the debugger automatically, giving you a debug
  59  prompt.  Unfortunately, this disrupts all other uses, such as running
  60  test programs in the test framework.
  61
  62  Generally speaking, if you build for debugging, only use the programs
  63  directly for debugging.  Do not try to use them from a script, such
  64  as running the test suite.
  65
  66  ### The following is not available on Alpha
  67
  68  As a compromise, we're turning off the flag that makes the debugger
  69  start automatically.  If there is a program that you need to debug,
  70  you need to turn that flag back on first, for example:
  71
  72     $ set image /flag=call_debug [.test]evp_test.exe
  73
  74  Then just run it and you will find yourself in a debugging session.
  75  When done, we recommend that you turn that flag back off:
  76
  77     $ set image /flag=nocall_debug [.test]evp_test.exe
  78
  79  Checking the distribution
  80  -------------------------
  81
  82  There have been reports of places where the distribution didn't quite
  83  get through, for example if you've copied the tree from a NFS-mounted
  84  Unix mount point.
  85
  86  The easiest way to check if everything got through as it should is to
  87  check for one of the following files:
  88
  89     [.crypto]opensslconf^.h.in
  90
  91  The best way to get a correct distribution is to download the gzipped
  92  tar file from ftp://ftp.openssl.org/source/, use `GZIP -d` to uncompress
  93  it and `VMSTAR` to unpack the resulting tar file.
  94
  95  Gzip and VMSTAR are available here:
  96
  97    <http://antinode.info/dec/index.html#Software>
  98
  99  Should you need it, you can find UnZip for VMS here:
 100
 101    <http://www.info-zip.org/UnZip.html>