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17. How To Run DEC Unix Netscape on Linux/Alpha

(This section was contributed by Gerald Anderson. Note that the Linux/x86 Netscape binary can be run through em86. This is a bit slower, but doesn't require any special licenses. Now that Netscape's sourcecode is available, we expect to see a native Linux/Alpha version in the near future. However porting to 64bit proved more difficult than expected. A fairly stable version of Mozilla is available for download from the AlphaLinux Homepage. Or check out Nils Faerber's page for the latest developments.)

Support for running ECOFF (the OSF and DU version of a.out) binaries must have been built into the Linux/Alpha kernels. In effect, this allows you to run with minimal difficulty a large variety of programs that were originally compiled on an OSF/1 or Digital Unix Alpha.

IMPORTANT: All Compaq software mentioned in this section is copyright by Compaq and other parties. You cannot legally use any of this software on your Linux box without the appropriate license(s) for that machine. If your machine is owned by a university, it may be covered by a campus license agreement---check with your local representative. Please note that recently Compaq has allow for most of the Tru64 libraries to be shipped with Linux. There is usually a Tru64-compat package that is shipped. Install this package and you will be able to run some Tru64 applications.

17.1 Requirements

There are two separate lists of requirements depending on if you have access to OSF/1 v3.x or Digital Unix 4.x (Editor's note: Digital renamed DEC OSF/1 to DEC Unix somewhere around release 3.2---it's the same OS, just different releases).

For DEC OSF/1 up to and including v3.2:

For DEC Unix version v4.0 or newer:

17.2 How-To

For both OSF/1 3.x and Digital Unix 4.x you must complete the following.

  1. Get /sbin/loader from the Digital machine and place it in /sbin/loader on your Linux box.
  2. Create a directory on your Linux box for /usr/shlib
  3. Get the following libraries from the Digital box and place in the /usr/shlib directory on your Linux box If you are going to use Digital Unix 4.0 libs/loader you must also get:
  4. Get the file /etc/svc.conf from the Digital box and place it in /etc/svc.conf on your Linux box.
  5. Download from ftp.netscape.com the OSF/Alpha version of navigator (e.g., get netscape-v301-export.alpha-dec-osf2.0.tar.gz from this directory).
  6. Install it
  7. Run it!!

17.3 Conclusion

This procedure has been tested on a RedHat 4.0 and RedHat 4.1 box with kernel versions 2.0.27, 2.0.28 (for OSF/1 3.x) and 2.1.23 (for DU 4.x). It seems to be very stable when running the OSF/1 libs/loader but I've noticed some problems with Segmentation Faults using the DU 4.0 libs/loader. I've also noticed that when using DU 4.0 libs/loader that the /etc/svc.conf file is not as necessary as when running the OSF/1 stuff. It does complain, but it is not fatal.

If you have questions regarding this document please first refer to the archives for the axp-list mailing list/archive at http://www.redhat.com, then if you didn't find your answer feel free to mail me at gander@voyager.netcomi.com.

All other comments regarding this section may be sent directly to gander@voyager.netcomi.com.

NOTE: Java applets may or may not work OSF/1 or DU libs/loader.

17.4 Mail

After setting Netscape up like this, sending E-Mail still fails. Oleg Gusev came up with the following solution:

There can also be problems with using Netscape mail as a POP3 or IMAP client as a non-root user authenticated via NIS (no local account). Netscape complains that no user name has been specified even though one has been entered.

17.5 Threads

When you receive errors that mention DECthreads you need to do the following:

This problem is known to occur with recent Netscapes and with Adobe Acrobat 3.

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