Re: gnubol: Linux on S/390

[Michael Martin <mimartin@bmc.com>]

Linux on the S/390 is just like Linux on any other hardware. It's ASCII,
and it's big endian. So far, my experiences with taking software to the
mainframe Linux have shown that, usually, it's just a recompile. Some
software has to be tweaked for endian issues, but that's rare (xdoom was
one that I had to dink with some). Since it's really Linux, there's no
JCL, no VSAM (yet) and no PDS (yet). IBM will be providing DB2 access
through DB2 Connector soon, and have promised UDB for 4Q00 I think, or
maybe 1Q01.

As far as GCC goes on the mainframe, I don believe that someone (David
Pitts?)
has it working (to some degree, at least) on USS, so there may be an 
opportunity (to open a can of worms) there, as well.

-Michael

Matthew Vanecek wrote:
> 
> Michael Martin wrote:
> >
> > Hi Vijay-
> > I am aware of the status of the COBOL compiler - I'd just like to ensure
> > that any porting issues inre S390 are handled in parallel with
> > development.
> >
> > -Michael
> 
> What would be some issues in running this on the mainframe?  Well,
> comp-3 would obviously probably need to be handled differently.  I'm not
> even sure what all the Linux effort on the mainframe is supporting --
> JCL, for instance. KSDS? and PDS?  What about VSAM?  I'm just not real
> clear on the aims of the Linx/390 effort, myself.  Any parallel
> development would necessarily need to geared toward the goals of the OS
> development--and I say that not because I think gcc should be Linux
> specific, but because I don't see much chance of gcc running on the
> mainframe on an OS *other* than Linux.
> 
> >
> > Vijayakumar_N_Makkithaya@apex.soft.net wrote:
> > >
> > > hi michael,
> > >
> > > >
> > > > Hi Tim-
> > > > We are playing around with Linux on the S/390 mainframe, and I'd like to
> > > take a whack at running your COBOL stuff there.
> > > > What do you think?
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > >
> > > > --------------------------------
> > > > Michael Martin
> > > > mimartin@bmc.com
> > > > (713) 918-2631
> > > > --------------------------------
> > >
> > > The discussion is now on what to do (in the compiler) with 'SELECT...'
> > > clause.
> > > I don't think the project is anywhere near 'running' condition.
> > >
> > > Which brings up my question (to Tim) : when (do you think) we might have a
> > > 'running' version ?
> > > I am just curious to know if you have a timeframe in mind.
> > >
> > > thanks & regards,
> > > -vijay.
> > >
> 
> --
> Matthew Vanecek
> Visit my Website at http://mysite.directlink.net/linuxguy
> For answers type: perl -e 'print
> $i=pack(c5,(41*2),sqrt(7056),(unpack(c,H)-2),oct(115),10);'
> *****************************************************************
> For 93 million miles, there is nothing between the sun and my shadow
> except me. I'm always getting in the way of something...
> 
> --
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-- 

--------------------------------
Michael Martin
mimartin@bmc.com
(713) 918-2631
--------------------------------

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