[Info-vax] VMS port to x86

[abrsvc]

On Tuesday, March 20, 2012 11:20:31 AM UTC-4, David Froble wrote:
> Howard S Shubs wrote:
> > In article <4f67e979$0$4672$c3e8da3$3a1a2348 at news.astraweb.com>,
> >  JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot at vaxination.ca> wrote:
> > 
> >> I fear it may be too late to save VMS.
> > 
> > We can always hope they'll release the source code for some earlier 
> > version, such as 7.3.  Then we can have some fun.
> > 
> 
> There already exists a Macro32 compiler, used on both Alpha and itanic.  Don't know what 
> language it's written in, but with recent trends, probably (hock, spit) C.
> 
> Same argument for Bliss.
> 
> Just being able to compile the code probably isn't the only requirements.  There is most 
> likely some things that depend upon the underlying hardware.  That's a conservative 
> assumption to make.
> 
> Not going to try to guess what all the problems might be, but, I've got to think that it's 
> not just a complete re-write.

As with previous ports, there are many things involved.  Simply porting the compilers won't be enough.  The Macro compiler and the bliss compiler use the GEM backend code generator.  That too would need to be developed.  Also, tehre are "hardware assists" that are used to implement some of the VMS "isms" that exist.  For example, I don't think that the x86 has the concept of 4 operating priv modes.

Dan