[comp.unix.ultrix] Anyone ever run elm on DECstation/Ultrix?

liq@shark.cs.fau.edu (Qiang Li) (05/06/91)

I am trying to install elm on our new machine DecStation 5000 200CX, most
likely run Ultrix 4.1, but I heard someone had trouble installing it on
their DecStation 3100 and elm may not support Ultrix.  Is this true?

Is there anyone having experience with this?  If elm has no way to run in
Ultrix environment, then what mail interface is the best for VT220
terminals?

Thank you very much in advance.

Charlie

vlr@litwin.com (Vic Rice) (05/06/91)

In <1991May06.023124.1453@cs.fau.edu> liq@shark.cs.fau.edu (Qiang Li) writes:

>I am trying to install elm on our new machine DecStation 5000 200CX, most
>likely run Ultrix 4.1, but I heard someone had trouble installing it on
>their DecStation 3100 and elm may not support Ultrix.  Is this true?

>Is there anyone having experience with this?  If elm has no way to run in
>Ultrix environment, then what mail interface is the best for VT220
>terminals?

We are using Elm on our DECStation 5000 with no problems. I do not remember
any significant installation problems. We are running Ultrix 4.1 .
-- 
Dr. Victor L. Rice
Litwin Process Automation

bill@unixland.uucp (Bill Heiser) (05/07/91)

In article <1991May06.023124.1453@cs.fau.edu> liq@shark.cs.fau.edu (Qiang Li) writes:
>I am trying to install elm on our new machine DecStation 5000 200CX, most
>likely run Ultrix 4.1, but I heard someone had trouble installing it on
>their DecStation 3100 and elm may not support Ultrix.  Is this true?

I just installed elm 2.3 PL 11 on a bunch of DECstation 5000/200's 
and 3100's.  I didn't have any trouble installing it, and haven't seen
any problems with using it so far.  I havne't used it much, though, so
your mileage may vary.

bill

-- 
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frank@croton.nyo.dec.com (Frank Wortner) (05/07/91)

I have ELM 2.3 PL11 running on my machine.  Works fine.

						Frank

gedetil@silver.cs.umanitoba.ca (Gilbert E. Detillieux) (05/08/91)

In article <1991May6.213607.14679@unixland.uucp>, bill@unixland.uucp (Bill Heiser) writes:
> In article <1991May06.023124.1453@cs.fau.edu> liq@shark.cs.fau.edu (Qiang Li) writes:
> >I am trying to install elm on our new machine DecStation 5000 200CX, most
> >likely run Ultrix 4.1, but I heard someone had trouble installing it on
> >their DecStation 3100 and elm may not support Ultrix.  Is this true?
> 
> I just installed elm 2.3 PL 11 on a bunch of DECstation 5000/200's 
> and 3100's.  I didn't have any trouble installing it, and haven't seen
> any problems with using it so far.  I havne't used it much, though, so
> your mileage may vary.

I've been running elm 2.3 PL6 for several months, and just installed PL11 last
week, on a DECstation 5000 and two DS2100's running Ultrix 4.1.

The only problem I had with the installation was trying to compile the
thing with Gnu C, rather than the standard C compiler:  the problem seems to be
with inconsistencies in the Ultrix header files (e.g. typedef int time_t; was
in some headers, rather than using long int).  When I gave up on Gnu C's nice
strict type-checking and used the much more lax MIPS C compiler, everything
worked fine.  (Retorical FAQ:  When will DEC get Unix right?)

I did run into a slight problem with the VAX Ultrix 4.1 compilation of the
src/signals.c file, due to the bizarre handling of the "void" type in its
C compiler, but the following patch took care of that:

*** signals.c.dist      Thu Aug  9 17:41:10 1990
--- signals.c   Thu May  2 10:23:17 1991
***************
*** 30,36 ****
  #include <signal.h>

  #ifdef        VOIDSIG
! typedef       void    sighan_type;
  #else
  typedef       int     sighan_type;
  #endif
--- 30,38 ----
  #include <signal.h>

  #ifdef        VOIDSIG
! /*typedef     void    sighan_type;
! */
! #define sighan_type   void
  #else
  typedef       int     sighan_type;
  #endif

-- 
Gilbert E. Detillieux			Internet: <gedetil@cs.umanitoba.ca>
Dept. of Computer Science		Phone: (204)474-8161 or 8313(messages)
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg MB	Fax:   (204)269-9178
CANADA  R3T 2N2				"Build bridges, not walls"

frank@croton.nyo.dec.com (Frank Wortner) (05/08/91)

In article <1991May7.230339.3520@ccu.umanitoba.ca>, gedetil@silver.cs.umanitoba.ca (Gilbert E. Detillieux) writes:

|>The only problem I had with the installation was trying to compile the
|>thing with Gnu C, rather than the standard C compiler:  the problem seems to be
|>with inconsistencies in the Ultrix header files (e.g. typedef int time_t; was
|>in some headers, rather than using long int).  When I gave up on Gnu C's nice
|>strict type-checking and used the much more lax MIPS C compiler, everything
|>worked fine.  (Retorical FAQ:  When will DEC get Unix right?)

You gave up way too easily.  ;-)

There are two files that give gcc problems:  date.c and opt_util.c.  Both of these
are easy to fix.

In date.c, place an #ifndef __STDC__, #endif pair around the declaration of time().

In opt_util.c, place an #ifndef __ultrix__ #endif pair around the definitions of
strtok() and strpbrk().  The ULTRIX C library contains these functions.  A better
solution would be to update the Configure script to check for the existence of
these funtions.

If you make both these changes, gcc *will* compile ELM on the ULTRIX operating
system.

					Frank

kays@gtenmc.UUCP (Eugene D. Kays) (05/15/91)

In article <1991May6.213607.14679@unixland.uucp> bill@unixland.uucp (Bill Heiser) writes:
>In article <1991May06.023124.1453@cs.fau.edu> liq@shark.cs.fau.edu (Qiang Li) writes:
>>I am trying to install elm on our new machine DecStation 5000 200CX, most
>>likely run Ultrix 4.1, but I heard someone had trouble installing it on
>>their DecStation 3100 and elm may not support Ultrix.  Is this true?

Here at my Installation we have been running elm on Ultrix 3.n and 4.n for over
a year with no problems.  Keep in mind when configuring and making the system 
that if ELM is installed in a 'shared' bin ala NFS .... choose the option in
configure which indicates that the binaries are to be used on multiple systems.

Your milage may vary.

Gene