xref: /openssl/NOTES-VMS.md (revision 3e3ad3c5)
1Notes for the OpenVMS platform
2==============================
3
4 - [Requirement details](#requirement-details)
5 - [About ANSI C compiler](#about-ansi-c-compiler)
6 - [About ODS-5 directory names and Perl](#about-ods-5-directory-names-and-perl)
7 - [About MMS and DCL](#about-mms-and-dcl)
8 - [About debugging](#about-debugging)
9 - [Checking the distribution](#checking-the-distribution)
10
11Requirement details
12-------------------
13
14In addition to the requirements and instructions listed
15in [INSTALL.md](INSTALL.md), this are required as well:
16
17  * At least ODS-5 disk organization for source and build.
18    Installation can be done on any existing disk organization.
19
20About ANSI C compiler
21---------------------
22
23An ANSI C compiled is needed among other things.  This means that
24VAX C is not and will not be supported.
25
26We have only tested with DEC C (aka HP VMS C / VSI C) and require
27version 7.1 or later.  Compiling with a different ANSI C compiler may
28require some work.
29
30Please avoid using C RTL feature logical names `DECC$*` when building
31and testing OpenSSL.  Most of all, they can be disruptive when
32running the tests, as they affect the Perl interpreter.
33
34About ODS-5 directory names and Perl
35------------------------------------
36
37It seems that the perl function canonpath() in the `File::Spec` module
38doesn't treat file specifications where the last directory name
39contains periods very well.  Unfortunately, some versions of VMS tar
40will keep the periods in the OpenSSL source directory instead of
41converting them to underscore, thereby leaving your source in
42something like `[.openssl-1^.1^.0]`.  This will lead to issues when
43configuring and building OpenSSL.
44
45We have no replacement for Perl's canonpath(), so the best workaround
46for now is to rename the OpenSSL source directory, as follows (please
47adjust for the actual source directory name you have):
48
49    $ rename openssl-1^.1^.0.DIR openssl-1_1_0.DIR
50
51About MMS and DCL
52-----------------
53
54MMS has certain limitations when it comes to line length, and DCL has
55certain limitations when it comes to total command length.  We do
56what we can to mitigate, but there is the possibility that it's not
57enough.  Should you run into issues, a very simple solution is to set
58yourself up a few logical names for the directory trees you're going
59to use.
60
61About debugging
62---------------
63
64If you build for debugging, the default on VMS is that image
65activation starts the debugger automatically, giving you a debug
66prompt.  Unfortunately, this disrupts all other uses, such as running
67test programs in the test framework.
68
69Generally speaking, if you build for debugging, only use the programs
70directly for debugging.  Do not try to use them from a script, such
71as running the test suite.
72
73### The following is not available on Alpha
74
75As a compromise, we're turning off the flag that makes the debugger
76start automatically.  If there is a program that you need to debug,
77you need to turn that flag back on first, for example:
78
79    $ set image /flag=call_debug [.test]evp_test.exe
80
81Then just run it and you will find yourself in a debugging session.
82When done, we recommend that you turn that flag back off:
83
84    $ set image /flag=nocall_debug [.test]evp_test.exe
85
86Checking the distribution
87-------------------------
88
89There have been reports of places where the distribution didn't quite
90get through, for example if you've copied the tree from a NFS-mounted
91Unix mount point.
92
93The easiest way to check if everything got through as it should is to
94check that this file exists:
95
96    [.include.openssl]configuration^.h.in
97
98The best way to get a correct distribution is to download the gzipped
99tar file from ftp://ftp.openssl.org/source/, use `GZIP -d` to uncompress
100it and `VMSTAR` to unpack the resulting tar file.
101
102Gzip and VMSTAR are available here:
103
104   <http://antinode.info/dec/index.html#Software>
105
106Should you need it, you can find UnZip for VMS here:
107
108   <http://www.info-zip.org/UnZip.html>
109
110 How the value of 'arch' is determined
111 -------------------------------------
112
113 'arch' is mentioned in INSTALL.  It's value is determined like this:
114
115    arch = f$edit( f$getsyi( "arch_name"), "upcase")
116