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Migrating from OpenVMS VAX to OpenVMS Alpha?

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The Question is:

 
We are about to begin the process of migrating vax c source code written on
a vaxstation 4000 openVMS 6.2 over to an Alphaserver 800 OpenVMS 7.1.  We
also have pro c code and fortran code we will need to port to the alpha and
relink.
What is the best approach to doing this ?  We know we can move the code over
to the alpha and try recompiling and linking but we've heard of DECMigrate
and were wondering if this would be an appropriate tool to use for this
task. We will be maintaining/up
dating this code on the Alpha  exclusively once we port it over.
 
Thanks Wizard
 


The Answer is :

 
  DECmigrate translates older OpenVMS VAX executables for direct operation
  on OpenVMS Alpha.  If you have the application source code and have all
  necessary prerequisite products available on OpenVMS Alpha, the Wizard
  would tend to recommend recompilation -- rather than use DECmigrate.
 
  This migration can be anything from trivial to involved -- most of the
  migrations will tend to be easy, but which end of the scale you find
  yourself working at depends entirely on the coding practices used.
 
  First, read through the available application migration documentation
  for OpenVMS, and for moving from VAX C to DEC C.  (The latter is part
  of the DEC C for OpenVMS VAX documentation set, but not of the DEC C
  for OpenVMS Alpha set.)
 
  The Wizard would recommend installing DEC C on OpenVMS VAX, and moving
  the existing C code from VAX C to DEC C on OpenVMS VAX first, then to
  OpenVMS Alpha.  This will help isolate the compiler differences -- the
  VAX C compiler predates ANSI C -- from the architectural differences.
  The same holds for moving to current releases of OpenVMS, Fortran, and
  other products -- it is easier to operate at compatible releases.
 
  To ease the migration process, configuring the two systems into an
  OpenVMS Cluster can often be a reasonable approach.
 

answer written or last revised on ( 22-FEB-1999 )

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