This file describes some things to be aware of when building SIP (and PyQt)
under AIX.

I had success building SIP V3/V4 (and PyQt) on AIX 4.3.3 and on AIX 5.1 with
VisualAge C++ and with gcc.
 
VisualAge C++ was version 6.0 but it should also work with version 5.x.
The GNU compiler was version 3.3.2 downloaded as a binary from
http://aixpdslib.seas.ucla.edu/aixpdslib.html

The Qt-Version was 3.2.3 but it should also work with previous versions.

If you are using Python version 2.3.3 or higher, SIP (and PyQt) should build
out of the box without any changes.

If you are using a Python version before 2.3.3, you have to patch Python,
because until this version, Python uses the system calls load() and
loadbind() to load and bind shared objects. These system calls cannot load
and bind C++ shared objects properly (constructors and destructors for static
classes are not called with these system calls). Since AIX version 4.2 the
system calls dlopen() and dlsym() are available and should be used in
preference.

The following patch changes the configure script of Python to use dlopen()
and dlsym() if they are available. It also fixes a bug with the definition of
_XOPEN_SOURCE:

---8<-------------------------------------------------------------------->8---
diff -uNr Python-2.3.2.orig/configure Python-2.3.2/configure
--- Python-2.3.2.orig/configure	2003-09-27 10:58:55.000000000 +0200
+++ Python-2.3.2/configure	2003-10-28 11:33:58.000000000 +0100
@@ -1452,6 +1452,11 @@
   # but used in struct sockaddr.sa_family. Reported by Tim Rice.
   SCO_SV/3.2)
     define_xopen_source=no;;
+  # On AIX 4, mbstate_t is defined only when _XOPEN_SOURCE == 500 but used in
+  # wcsnrtombs() and mbsnrtowcs() even if _XOPEN_SOURCE is not defined or
+  # has another value. By not (re)defining it, the defaults come in place.
+  AIX/4)
+    define_xopen_source=no;;
 esac
 
 if test $define_xopen_source = yes
@@ -12965,7 +12970,12 @@
 if test -z "$DYNLOADFILE"
 then
 	case $ac_sys_system/$ac_sys_release in
-	AIX*) DYNLOADFILE="dynload_aix.o";;
+	AIX*) # Use dynload_shlib.c and dlopen() if we have it.
+	if test "$ac_cv_func_dlopen" = yes
+	then DYNLOADFILE="dynload_shlib.o"
+	else DYNLOADFILE="dynload_aix.o"
+	fi
+	;;
 	BeOS*) DYNLOADFILE="dynload_beos.o";;
 	hp*|HP*) DYNLOADFILE="dynload_hpux.o";;
 	Darwin/*) DYNLOADFILE="dynload_next.o";;
---8<-------------------------------------------------------------------->8---

Note: I did not mix the compilers when building Qt, Python, SIP and PyQt. At
least Qt, SIP and PyQt must be built with the same compiler because of
different name mangling schemes.

If you have any problems or questions on building SIP or PyQt on AIX, either
send an email to ulrich.berning@desys.de or use the PyKDE mailing list.

Ulrich Berning
DESYS GmbH