Well, a disk failure has caused me to have to start my port of Apache to z/OS over again.
Bit of a bummer, but also a chance to start over with a clean slate. Based on some of the suggestions and posts, I find I'm bewildered a bit by the open source world. For example, Greg Ames asked me: "Where did you get your build tools, especially libtool?" It never would have occurred to me to scuttle around grabbing build tools. My experience is: you get an application, whether for Windows or z/OS, and you install it. Install shield, or its cousins, either come with the package or the OS; in the z/OS world you either simply unpack (RECEIVE) or you use SMP/E, which is part of the OS. So, help me out here. How would I find out the right tools to grab to build Apache for my environment? I'm trying to write a narrative, to direct those who follow, in a linear (or relatively linear) or rational (or relatively rational). If I were rational, I guess I would start with the Apache site: Apache.org, which has a link to the httpd project (httpd.apache.org) which contains the following interesting / promising links for my efforts: Download ( http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi ) Documentation, Version 2.2 ( http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/ ) The Download site tells me Apache 2.2.9 is the best available option, and gives me two Unix sources, three Windows sources, and an Others; none of these mention z/OS, so I'll take the closest to this, which is Unix; the first choice is a .gz file, the second is a .bz2 file. Either way, I'll have to download a file to unzip the tarball. I choose the .gz file because the z/OS Ported Tools page has a port for gzip. You see, I can make some basic deductions and apply some reasonably knowledgable reasoning to select the files I need. But then... No clues on the Download page about installing. So, I roll over to the Documentation page, which has lots of interesting links... Under Reference Manual I see "Compiling and Installing" hey, that looks like just the thing! Go there ( http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/install.html ) And I am told pretty clearly that I will need libtool and autoconf. Now please remember I am a stranger in a strange land. There is no definition nor link to any place to get these tools. Where do I go? What do they do, anyway? You could help the cause a lot by providing this kind of information. I know that people who "know" know. Reminds me of the ancient days of mainframes when the systems people were kind of high priests and were jealous of letting their knowldege be widely available. Anyway, Google ends up pointing me back to the IBM Ported Tools page, which contains a large tarball with lots of tools, including libtool and autoconf. Of course, I have no idea if these are "right" for Apache 2.2.9 on z/OS 1.9. But we'll give it a try. OK, so I'm off. We'll send back dispatches from the trenches. Kind regards, -Steve Comstock The Trainer's Friend, Inc. 303-393-8716 http://www.trainersfriend.com z/OS Application development made easier * Our classes include + How things work + Programming examples with realistic applications + Starter / skeleton code + Complete working programs + Useful utilities and subroutines + Tips and techniques ==> Check out the Trainer's Friend Store to purchase z/OS <== ==> application developer toolkits. Sample code in four <== ==> programming languages, JCL to Assemble or compile, <== ==> bind and test. <== ==> http://www.trainersfriend.com/TTFStore/index.html <==