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Sadly even if the only "unix" thing you want to do is compile a bunch of standard open source packages, you're in for a world of hurt. Need to use xlc on top of

Sadly even if the only "unix" thing you want to do is compile a bunch of standard open source packages, you're in for a world of hurt. Need to use xlc on top of that? Better have your seppuku knife ready. At least IBM took our "suggestion" and now maintains modern gdb so at least you aren't stuck with quirky dbx tracking down issues. There's still some bizarre stuff though. You can set separate text/data page sizes via env variables that differ from the system wide settings. Take a guess which override, if either, will be reported through POSIX calls? Neither! Fun when someone changes how they invoke your app. Just an example...

wmf 12y ago
If you want Linux, it is available for Power.
kev009 12y ago
Take a look at http://www.perzl.org/aix/ http://www.perzl.org/aix/. Not only for the packages, but the porting patterns in the SRPMs.
kjs3 12y ago
Many open source packages don't compile out of the box? Like on many of them don't on *BSD? Dbx, the debugger many of us have been using successfully for the last 2 decades, is "quirky", but gdb isn't? You can tweak weird things in opaque ways? Compilers have differences? AIX is not Linux, so you don't like it. Exactly my point. If these are your use cases, use Linux; don't bitch about AIX because it isn't. You can even use Power blissfully without ever having to use AIX. But then we'd have to hear about Power sucking when a linux developer baked the assumption that Linux == Intel ISA into some "standard" open source packages.
- apaprocki 12y ago
  I use AIX and Solaris pretty much all the time. The pain incurred from building open-source code on Solaris is nothing compared to getting things to work properly on AIX. The dbx quirks on AIX I run into are issues with it not even supporting the code output by IBM's own compiler because the team building AIX is completely separate from the compiler team in Toronto, which is again completely separate from the team that owns dbx. You can imagine what kind of issues you run into when the compiler team implements features that the debugger team has not considered.
  - kjs3 12y ago
    You keep missing the point. If your use case is running open source code bases, then don't use AIX. No shit it sucks, since the vast majority of open source developers probably haven't even seen an AIX login screen before, much less made any effort to make their projects seamlessly build under it. Hell, most of them don't even try to make it work under BSD/Solaris. You're using the classic "Ferrari sucks because it isn't build to haul a boat behind it" false argument. Use AIX for DB2, SAP, Tivoli, etc. Big stuff that is actually targeted for AIX. And, BTW...last time I checked, the people doing the Linux kernel were different than the people doing GCC who are different than the people doing GDB. I don't disagree that the AIX ecosystem is generally more dysfunctional, but the mere presence of separation is yet another straw man. Linus has had some less than flattering things to say about what GCC has been up to in the last year or so.

wmf 12y ago

If you want Linux, it is available for Power.

kev009 12y ago

Take a look at http://www.perzl.org/aix/ http://www.perzl.org/aix/. Not only for the packages, but the porting patterns in the SRPMs.

kjs3 12y ago

Many open source packages don't compile out of the box? Like on many of them don't on *BSD? Dbx, the debugger many of us have been using successfully for the last 2 decades, is "quirky", but gdb isn't? You can tweak weird things in opaque ways? Compilers have differences? AIX is not Linux, so you don't like it. Exactly my point. If these are your use cases, use Linux; don't bitch about AIX because it isn't. You can even use Power blissfully without ever having to use AIX. But then we'd have to hear about Power sucking when a linux developer baked the assumption that Linux == Intel ISA into some "standard" open source packages.

apaprocki 12y ago
I use AIX and Solaris pretty much all the time. The pain incurred from building open-source code on Solaris is nothing compared to getting things to work properly on AIX. The dbx quirks on AIX I run into are issues with it not even supporting the code output by IBM's own compiler because the team building AIX is completely separate from the compiler team in Toronto, which is again completely separate from the team that owns dbx. You can imagine what kind of issues you run into when the compiler team implements features that the debugger team has not considered.
- kjs3 12y ago
  You keep missing the point. If your use case is running open source code bases, then don't use AIX. No shit it sucks, since the vast majority of open source developers probably haven't even seen an AIX login screen before, much less made any effort to make their projects seamlessly build under it. Hell, most of them don't even try to make it work under BSD/Solaris. You're using the classic "Ferrari sucks because it isn't build to haul a boat behind it" false argument. Use AIX for DB2, SAP, Tivoli, etc. Big stuff that is actually targeted for AIX. And, BTW...last time I checked, the people doing the Linux kernel were different than the people doing GCC who are different than the people doing GDB. I don't disagree that the AIX ecosystem is generally more dysfunctional, but the mere presence of separation is yet another straw man. Linus has had some less than flattering things to say about what GCC has been up to in the last year or so.