> On 10 Aug 2023, at 9:24 pm, Rick Troth <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > ... the IBM Open XL C/C++ compiler is not compatible with XL C/C++
> > or xlclang compilers. This incompatibility may pose challenges.
> > Python 3.11 is developed using IBM Open XL C/C++, while Python
> > 3.10 uses xlclang. As a result, binary packages created for
> > Python 3.10 won't work with the IBM Open XL C/C++ compiler.
>
> Come again?
> Are you saying that object code for this platform produced by one compiler
> is incompatible with object code for this platform produced by the other
> compiler?
I’m not 100% sure about the ABI but the C++ library is different. It’s a port
of clang which is open source. IBM are committing z/OS LLVM/clang port
upstream.
>
> The broken compiler "can only be used for open source", but open source
> aficionados would surely use the alternative when compiling their wares.
> Free as in speech, not just free as in beer.
IBM don’t really do altruism on z/OS. Although you can download Python (and
Node, golang etc) and use them free of charge. However, if you want to install
a Python library that requires a C/C++ compiler to build extensions and you
don’t have the paid for XL C/C++ product then this compiler will fill the gap.
You can also use it to contribute to open source projects on z/OS but nothing
else. Seems reasonable to me, it’s better than nothing.
>
> Perhaps the broken compiler should come with a surgeon general's warning.
> (A meaningful reference in the US where cigarette packaging has, now for
> decades, been required to state "this product is bad for you".)
>
> We continue further down the rabbit hole of software being used for
> controlling people rather than software being used for controlling machines.
>
> -- R; <><
>
>
> On 8/9/23 02:58, David Crayford wrote:
>> As if we didn’t already have enough z/OS C/C++ compilers :)
>>
>> I've recently been working on Python bindings for z/OS products and wanted
>> to share some useful notes. IBM recently released the IBM C/C++ for Open
>> Enterprise Languages on z/OS compiler [1], a free version of IBM Open XL
>> C/C++, which is a port of LLVM/clang. This compiler can only be used for
>> open source. For example, to build Python, Node, go packages that require a
>> build phase when installed or contributing to z/OS open source projects.
>> It's important to note that the IBM Open XL C/C++ compiler is not compatible
>> with XL C/C++ or xlclang compilers. This incompatibility may pose
>> challenges. Python 3.11 is developed using IBM Open XL C/C++, while Python
>> 3.10 uses xlclang. As a result, binary packages created for Python 3.10
>> won't work with the IBM Open XL C/C++ compiler.
>> To overcome this issue, the recommended solution is to build Python
>> distributions that include the source C/C++ code. During the installation
>> process using pip, this code can be built. There are a few issues with the
>> new compiler. Firstly, there is no support for "OS" linkage, meaning no
>> #pragma linkage(module,OS) or extern 'OS' {}. Custom thunk routines need to
>> be written to address this. Additionally, the compiler supports inline
>> assembly, but the -qasmlib=<macro-library> option is not available, making
>> macros unusable. A workaround I found is to assemble some HLASM code and
>> copy-paste from the listing.
>> Moreover, the runtime library is not entirely compatible with XL C/C++. I
>> discovered that the __amrc structure is missing, which breaks my pzfile
>> package and makes accessing VSAM files nearly impossible. I plan to open a
>> case with IBM to address this issue.
>> Another limitation is that the compiler does not produce source/assembly
>> listings. Furthermore, thread level storage is not supported, which
>> complicates the process of porting certain libraries.
>>
>> On a positive note, IBM has open-sourced their zoslib library [2], which
>> assists in porting applications to z/OS. There is a lot of useful function
>> in this library. It supports dynamically loading and calling modules using
>> thunk routines. Unfortunately, there is a comment in the code which states
>> it only works with xlclang. The library is Apache 2.0 licensed but it has
>> IBM copyright. I'm not a lawyer so I'm unsure of the legalities of using
>> this library for product code.
>>
>> [1]
>> https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cloud-paks/z-modernization-stack/2023.2?topic=languages-cc-open-enterprise-zos
>> [2] https://github.com/ibmruntimes/zoslib
>>
>>
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