4.51 Release Notes for SGI IRIX Computers
Back to 4.51 Release Notes.
15 Feb 1994
CONTENTS
I. FEATURES THAT AFFECT SGI USERS
II. IRIX, C, and FORTRAN VERSIONS
III. OBJECT-CODE FORMATS FOR RELEASES 5.X and 6.X OF IRIX
IV. KERNEL RECONFIGURATION FOR DATABASE SERVERS -- IRIX 5.X
V. KERNEL RECONFIGURATION FOR System V IPC -- IRIX 5.X
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I. FEATURES THAT AFFECT SGI USERS
The following shell scripts are provided to run XView programs under SGI's
default "4dwm" window manager;
xvmerlin4d
xvpcmodels4d
xvthor4d
sgi4d
This scripts are supported but are no longer absolutely required. Changes
to the Daylight "Options Manager" system allows automatic adjustment of
options which are window-environment specific (details below). In most
cases, the user environment can be arranged so that these scripts are not
needed. You may safely stop using the "4d" scripts under these conditions:
o you are not using SGI's default "4dwm" window manager, OR
o your client programs are running on an IRIX operating system, OR
o you have set the environment variable DY_WINDOW_ENVIRONMENT to SGI_4DWM
AND
o you are willing to set your default font as described below.
If you stop using the "4d" scripts, you must add a line similar to this to
your X Resources database (i.e. to the file $HOME/.Xdefaults):
Font.Name: -adobe-helvetica-medium-r-normal--14-100-100-100-p-76-iso8859-1
Without this specified, XView programs will work correctly, but fonts used
for titles and buttons may be big and ugly. This normally takes effect when
you start X-Windows. To make this change effective immediately, enter:
$ xrdb $HOME/.Xdefaults
An example .Xdefaults that contains this line can be found in
$DY_ROOT/contrib/home/sgi/.Xdefaults.
Background:
A bug in the IRIX X Window system combined with bad habits in Sun's XView
code caused the IRIX window system to "lock up" when Daylight applications
were run. In addition, many of the default options (such as fonts, and
graphics parameters) had to be changed for optimum performance when running
under SGI's default window manager "4dwm".
To solve this, Daylight supplies a set of "wrapper" scripts, "xvmerlin4d",
"xvthor4d", and "xvpcmodels4d", that invokes XView programs with parameters
appropriate for use with IRIX X-servers and the 4dwm window manager.
With release 4.33 and later ...
These features are added to the Daylight "Options Manager" package:
1. A new "#if/#else/#endif" feature was added to the Daylight options
manager. This allows selective processing of options.
2. If the environment variable DY_OPERATINGSYSTEM is not defined at
runtime, the Daylight options manager will automatically set it to
the client's operating system (e.g., "IRIX", "SunOS", "HP-UX").
3. A new version of dy_sysprofile.dat is provided as a suggested
system profile. This file uses the new "#if" feature to set up
O/S- and window-specific options from environment variables
DY_OPERATINGSYSTEM and DY_WINDOW_ENVIRONMENT. Options for these
environments are provided: SGI_4D, HP_VUE, MAC_X, and SUN_OLWM.
The file dy_sysprofile.dat sets default SGI_4D option values for IRIX
operating systems, HP_VUE values for HP-UX, SUN_OLWM values for SunOS.
These values will be overridden if the DY_WINDOW_ENVIRONMENT variable
is defined. The MAC_X environment must be specified when needed.
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II. IRIX, C, and FORTRAN VERSIONS
Daylight software runs on version 5.X and 6.X of IRIX.
To find out what version you are running, use:
% uname -r
5.3
Daylight Toolkit customers must be sure they have the rev. 3.10 SGI FORTRAN
and/or C compilers.
To see what version of the compilers you have, use the versions(1) command
and look for the 3.10 Maintenance line:
% versions | grep 'Ansi C'
I c 08/21/91 Ansi C 1.1
I c.man 08/21/91 Ansi C Manual Pages
...
I maint_c 09/07/92 Ansi C Maint, 3.10
...
% versions | grep Fortran
I eoe1.sw.lib 10/30/92 Execution C/Fortran Libraries
I ftn 03/05/92 Fortran 77, 3.4.1
...
I maint_ftn 09/07/92 Fortran 77 Maint, 3.10
...
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III. OBJECT-CODE FORMATS FOR RELEASES 5.X AND 6.X OF IRIX
This version of the Daylight system has been compiled under IRIX 5.X and has
been tested on both version 5.X and 6.X. A single set of binaries, which run
under all IRIX5 and IRIX6 machines is distributed. For users of the toolkit
libraries, the situation is complicated by the object file formats.
In order to support 64-bit native systems, SGI has once again changed its
object code (.o) file formats. Under IRIX 6.X, SGI supports three separate
object file formats: 'old 32-bit', 'new 32-bit' and 64-bit.
The SGI C and Fortran compilers and linker can generate all three object
format files. SGI supplies system libraries in all three formats.
Format Compiler flag System Library path
old 32-bit -32 /usr/lib
new 32-bit -n32 /usr/lib32
64-bit -64 /usr/lib64
SGI now uses three environment variables for the dynamic linker:
LD_LIBRARY_PATH: old-format 32-bit shared library path (/usr/lib)
LD_LIBRARYN32_PATH: new-format 32-bit shared library path (/usr/lib32)
LD_LIBRARY64_PATH: 64-bit shared library path (/usr/lib64)
At runtime, the dynamic linker decides which format of shared libraries are
required and links them appropriately based on the path set for the applicable
path.
The old 32-bit format is identical to the format used on IRIX 5.X. The
Daylight toolkit libraries in the $DY_ROOT/lib directory are compiled under
the old format (using the -32 option for cc and f77).
The new 32-bit format libraries are supported only on IRIX6.X. The Daylight
toolkit libraries in the $DY_ROOT/lib32 directory are compiled under the new
format (using the -n32 option for cc and f77).
Unfortunately, XView is not available in the new format in this release. If
you are developing XView programs using the Daylight widgets, they must be
compiled using the old format libraries.
Our recommendations for this release are to use the old-format libraries for
all development unless an external factor dictates otherwise. For example, if
you are developing an application under IRIX 6.X and are linking a set of
third-party libraries which are only available in the new 32-bit format.
The default for all Daylight makefiles is to use the old-format 32-bit
libraries. If you choose to develop using the new-format 32-bit libraries,
you must change include the compiler flag -n32, change the library paths to
the new-format versions (/usr/lib32 and $DY_ROOT/lib32) and set the
environment variable LD_LIBRARYN32_PATH for the dynamic linker.
See the man page for 'cc' under IRIX 6.X for further discussion of the
differences between the new- and old-format 32-bit libraries.
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IV. KERNEL RECONFIGURATION FOR DATABASE SERVERS -- IRIX 5.X
The Problem:
If you have a very large database, such as the SPRESI database, your
kernel may be configured with a memory limit that is too small.
When you try to load the database into the Merlin server, the server
will report "Out of memory," even when there is plenty of memory.
The Solution:
Use the "systune" program to reconfigure your system. The following
example illustrates raising the memory limits for each process to 1
gigabyte (only the super-user can do this):
# systune -i
systune-> resource
group: resource (statically changeable)
rlimit_rss_max = 536870912 (0x20000000)
rlimit_rss_cur = 1054482432 (0x3eda2000)
rlimit_vmem_max = 536870912 (0x20000000)
rlimit_vmem_cur = 536870912 (0x20000000)
rlimit_nofile_max = 2500 (0x9c4)
rlimit_nofile_cur = 200 (0xc8)
rlimit_core_max = 2147483647 (0x7fffffff)
rlimit_core_cur = 2147483647 (0x7fffffff)
rlimit_stack_max = 536870912 (0x20000000)
rlimit_stack_cur = 67108864 (0x4000000)
rlimit_data_max = 1073741824 (0x40000000)
rlimit_data_cur = 1073741824 (0x40000000)
rlimit_fsize_max = 2147483647 (0x7fffffff)
rlimit_fsize_cur = 2147483647 (0x7fffffff)
rlimit_cpu_max = 2147483647 (0x7fffffff)
rlimit_cpu_cur = 2147483647 (0x7fffffff)
systune-> rlimit_data_max 0x40000000
rlimit_data_max = 536870912 (0x20000000)
Do you really want to change rlimit_data_max to 1073741824
(0x40000000)? (y/n) y
In order for the change in parameter rlimit_data_cur to become
effective, reboot the system.
Do the same for:
systune-> rlimit_data_max 0x40000000 (shown above)
systune-> rlimit_data_cur 0x40000000
systune-> rlimit_vmem_cur 0x40000000
systune-> rlimit_vmem_max 0x40000000
systune-> rlimit_rss_cur 0x40000000
systune-> rlimit_rss_max 0x40000000
One customer trying to use more than 1 GB reports that several other
parameters had to be changed:
rsshogfrac to 98
gpgshi -- still experimenting?
gpgslo -- still experimenting?
See the system administration manual for complete details, and consult with
your SGI representative for more assistance.
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V. KERNEL RECONFIGURATION FOR System V IPC -- IRIX 5.X
Problem:
Beginning with Version 4.41, the nearneighbors program and the daytoolserver
program use System V semaphores for scheduling and process management. In
some environments, the default numbers of semaphore configured into the
kernel may be too small. This is indicated by problems starting either of
the above applications.
Solution:
Reconfigure the kernel with more semaphores. This is accomplished by performing
the following steps:
1. Run 'systune -i' as root. Within this shell, enter the following two
commands:
semmns 256
semmsl 128
2. Exit the systune shell.
3. Reboot.
This procedure should increase the number of semaphores sufficiently for
almost all installations.
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