use Perl

64 bit Fedora Core shell account?

Journal written by AndyArmstrong (7200) and posted by brian_d_foy on 2008.02.23 19:47   

I'm currently attempting to resolve a problem that the Red Hat folks are having with IPC::ShareLite on 64 bit Fedora Core with Perl 5.10. It's quite important; in fact it's critical to getting 5.10 on FC.

Unfortunately I don't own a 64 bit box. It seems (thanks Nicholas) that it might be possible to reproduce the problem using a Perl built with 64 bit ints on a non-64 bit platform - but I've had no luck in that direction yet and, in any case, I'd like to test on a 64 bit machine just to be sure.

Is there anyone out there in Perl land who could provide me with a temporary shell account on a 64 bit Fedora Core machine? That'd have to be someone who didn't mind me burning enough CPU cycles to build Perl 5.10 from source.

If you can help with getting 5.10 into Fedora by providing access to a suitable box please drop me a line and earn the eternal gratitude of, well, everyone really.

Thanks.

• Is qemu-system-x86_64 a solution? (Score:1)

  by dpavlin (4910)

  When I needed 64 box to test Fuse bindings, I used qemu-system-x86_64 [rot13.org] to install and build Debian system. It was slow, but quite useful (sorry, disk image disappointed over time, but you need FC anyway...)
• Good idea! (Score:2)

  by AndyArmstrong (7200)

  I didn't know it did 64 bit emulation. That's definitely a possibility, thanks.

  Although if anyone does have a real machine that'd be cool too. I can't imagine Perl builds quickly under emulation...
• VMWare? (Score:1)

  by sigzero (5768)

  You could get a VM Image of it...load up VMWare and the FC image and presto. You can download a time limited version of VMWare for your purposes.
  • Re: (Score:1)

    by DAxelrod (4649)

    Unfortunately, according to the VMWare Knowledge Base [vmware.com] a 64-bit processor is required on the host in order to support a 64-bit guest.
• I might be able to help (Score:1)

  by DAxelrod (4649)

  My laptop is 64 bit. It's not currently running Fedora Core, but I could install it in a VMWare virtual machine (virtualizing a 64 bit machine on a 64 bit machine shouldn't be too bad). The other option might just be to boot from a Fedora Core livecd.
  
  Drop me a line at my gmail address (my gmail username is the same as my use.perl username) if I can be of help.
• I can set up such a machine for you if you need (Score:1)

  by numbercruncher (8491)

  Just let me know the parameters you need. Contact me offline at landman _at_ scalableinformatics _dot_ com
• Thanks all (Score:2)

  by AndyArmstrong (7200)

  I think the problem is now solved. I'm going to ask Tom @ RedHat to run the tests on his system again and if they pass then we're done and 5.10 will make it into Fedora.

  Thanks for the kind offers of assistance.
• Stupid question... (Score:1)

  by Alias (5735)

  Didn't the "RedHat folks" have a Fedora Core 64bit box you could use?
  • Re: (Score:2)

    by AndyArmstrong (7200)

    No, surprisingly.
• Really? (Score:1)

  by perrin (4270)

  No offense, but why is IPC::ShareLite necessary for getting 5.10 on Fedora? There are other ways to share data between processes and some of them out-perform IPC::ShareLite.
  • Re: (Score:2)

    by AndyArmstrong (7200)

    Yes, certainly. But we had the discussion on p5p and they wanted IPC::ShareLite. So rather than argue back and forth and then miss getting 5.10 in FC I fixed it.
    • Re: (Score:1)

      by perrin (4270)

      I just read the p5p thread. It's unfortunate that Tom didn't believe the people who told him these modules should be avoided, but I think you handled the situation well.
• you can try test drive (Score:1)

  by jozef (8299)

  You can get a free shell access to many architectures and operating systems at http://www.testdrive.hp.com/ [hp.com]. Access is only allowed through telnet and ftp and no outbound connections. For testing that doesn't need network connection should be fine.