NOTES-VMS.md

NOTES FOR THE OPENVMS PLATFORM
==============================

 Requirement details
 -------------------

 In addition to the requirements and instructions listed
 in [INSTALL.md](INSTALL.md), this are required as well:

  * At least ODS-5 disk organization for source and build.
    Installation can be done on any existing disk organization.

 About ANSI C compiler
 ---------------------

 An ANSI C compiled is needed among other things.  This means that
 VAX C is not and will not be supported.

 We have only tested with DEC C (aka HP VMS C / VSI C) and require
 version 7.1 or later.  Compiling with a different ANSI C compiler may
 require some work.

 Please avoid using C RTL feature logical names `DECC$*` when building
 and testing OpenSSL.  Most of all, they can be disruptive when
 running the tests, as they affect the Perl interpreter.

 About ODS-5 directory names and Perl
 ------------------------------------

 It seems that the perl function canonpath() in the `File::Spec` module
 doesn't treat file specifications where the last directory name
 contains periods very well.  Unfortunately, some versions of VMS tar
 will keep the periods in the OpenSSL source directory instead of
 converting them to underscore, thereby leaving your source in
 something like `[.openssl-1^.1^.0]`.  This will lead to issues when
 configuring and building OpenSSL.

 We have no replacement for Perl's canonpath(), so the best workaround
 for now is to rename the OpenSSL source directory, as follows (please
 adjust for the actual source directory name you have):

    $ rename openssl-1^.1^.0.DIR openssl-1_1_0.DIR

 About MMS and DCL
 -----------------

 MMS has certain limitations when it comes to line length, and DCL has
 certain limitations when it comes to total command length.  We do
 what we can to mitigate, but there is the possibility that it's not
 enough.  Should you run into issues, a very simple solution is to set
 yourself up a few logical names for the directory trees you're going
 to use.

 About debugging
 ---------------

 If you build for debugging, the default on VMS is that image
 activation starts the debugger automatically, giving you a debug
 prompt.  Unfortunately, this disrupts all other uses, such as running
 test programs in the test framework.

 Generally speaking, if you build for debugging, only use the programs
 directly for debugging.  Do not try to use them from a script, such
 as running the test suite.

 ### The following is not available on Alpha

 As a compromise, we're turning off the flag that makes the debugger
 start automatically.  If there is a program that you need to debug,
 you need to turn that flag back on first, for example:

    $ set image /flag=call_debug [.test]evp_test.exe

 Then just run it and you will find yourself in a debugging session.
 When done, we recommend that you turn that flag back off:

    $ set image /flag=nocall_debug [.test]evp_test.exe

 Checking the distribution
 -------------------------

 There have been reports of places where the distribution didn't quite
 get through, for example if you've copied the tree from a NFS-mounted
 Unix mount point.

 The easiest way to check if everything got through as it should is to
 check for one of the following files:

    [.crypto]opensslconf^.h.in

 The best way to get a correct distribution is to download the gzipped
 tar file from ftp://ftp.openssl.org/source/, use `GZIP -d` to uncompress
 it and `VMSTAR` to unpack the resulting tar file.

 Gzip and VMSTAR are available here:

   <http://antinode.info/dec/index.html#Software>

 Should you need it, you can find UnZip for VMS here:

   <http://www.info-zip.org/UnZip.html>