[Info-vax] Kednos PL/I

[Craig A. Berry]

On 9/13/23 12:52 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> On 9/13/2023 1:48 PM, Tim Sneddon wrote:
>> Arne Vajh??j <arne at vajhoej.dk> wrote:
>>> Hey. Are you saying that PL/I will (at some point in time)
>>> be available for VMS x86-64?
>>
>> Yes, that is correct.
>>
>>>
>>> If yes - are you at liberty to elaborate a bit?
>>>
>>
>> There is currently work underway to get PL/I to GEM BL50
>> on Alpha. Unfortunately, PL/I was stuck at BL26 for a long
>> time.
>>
>> This has been a slow process, but is starting to yield
>> results.
>>
>> When the Alpha update is verified correct against the
>> regression test library a new Alpha kit (V5.0) will be
>> released. My guess is that it will be in Jan 2024.
> 
> And then you need to get it to VMS x86-64.
> 
> Is the plan to make an agreement with VSI and use the
> same GEM to LLVM thing they are using?

I'm pretty sure that would be the only game in town without
reimplementing the whole thing to use LLVM directly.

This is interesting news.  Wasn't it Volkswagen that could never move to
Itanium because of no PL/I because of disagreements over who would
update things to current GEM?  I never expected VMS on x86 to do better
than Itanium as far as preserving availability of old software, but this
may be one case where it does.