[Info-vax] VMS Software needs to port VAX DIBOL to OpenVMS X86 platform

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 12/15/2020 12:02 PM, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
> On 2020-12-14 19:08:16 +0000, ultradwc at gmail.com said:
> 
>> So Synergex as of now refuses to port their OpenVMS version of DIBOL 
>> to OpenVMS X86.
>>
>> This is a request for VMS software to port VAX DIBOL to the x86 
>> OpenVMS environment.
>>
>> I have started a project using DIBOL and need to implement it on the 
>> x86 platform.

> ...convince Synergex to port DIBOL/DBL, or convince somebody to port an 
> existing DIBOL compiler or to write a new DIBOL compiler for you, or 
> write one yourself. For folks writing a new DIBOL compiler, the back end 
> will prolly be LLVM, that for either native code or (using emscripten) 
> to WebAssembly for browser-based operations, or otherwise. And no, I'm 
> not aware of an open-source DIBOL compiler.

Synergex may be convinced to do it.

Somebody creating a Dibol compiler from scratch seems unrealistic.

> ...translate the existing DIBOL code into C or into some other language, 
> using the available d2c or dibol2c or other tooling, or home-grown 
> tooling.

 > The referenced dibol2c and d2c tools are open-source. YMMV, etc.

In my opinion either Dibol was the wrong choice to begin with or
C is the wrong choice to port to.

If it is traditional business code, then using C in 2020 does
not make much sense in my opinion.

> ...port the DIBOL apps to another platform with a supported DIBOL 
> compiler. This when continued use of the current platform and current 
> compiler becomes untenable. This other platform may well co-exist as a 
> guest with OpenVMS x86-64 in a virtual machine, too. Either long-term, 
> or for the duration of the platform migration.

Synergex supports other platforms.

I have no idea if Synergex DBL code is portable between
their supported platforms.

Arne