Curtis Larsen writes:
>
> Can someone very POSIX-porting-knowledgeable please indicate what
> things CAN'T be ported to an MPE/iX system?
> I mean -- in general -- what problems would I face in trying to
> re-compile some bit of POSIX/GNU C source code on a MPE/iX 5.5
> system?

GNU stuff is usually very easy to port to MPE, once you get the configure
script working properly.  Lars Appel has a configure script generator you can
use (the location escapes me, unfortunately), or you can tweak the script
manually as described at:

        http://www.cccd.edu/~markb/porting.html

The MPE select() function doesn't work against terminal file descriptors, and
other terminal I/O support is lacking.  That's not to say that porting
terminal-intensive applications is impossible, but rather it may be fairly
difficult and unpleasant.

> (And even if you could technically port something, what possible
> system performance issues would preclude you from doing so?
> or "Why We Don't Run Quake Servers under MPE")

The fork() function suffers from TERRIBLE performance.  Network server
daemons that fork() a child to handle each incoming socket connection will be
SLOW.  Servers that use a pre-forked child pool (like Apache) will offer much
better performance.
--
Mark Bixby                      E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Coast Community College Dist.   Web: http://www.cccd.edu/~markb/
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