[ntp:questions] Re: ntp-4.2.2 and Solaris 8 Sparc

Richard B. Gilbert rgilbert88 at comcast.net
Mon Jun 12 19:16:31 UTC 2006


christopher.noyes at pw.utc.com wrote:

> Hello,
> 
>    I am trying to compile ntp-4.2.2 on a Solaris 8 sparc server and
> keep getting the following error in configure:
> 
> checking for perl... /usr/local/bin/perl
> configure: error: How do we create an unsigned long constant?
> 
> 
> I tried seraching for this error in this group and also throught
> Google.com but could find nothing relevent.  If anyone has seen thsi
> before or has an idea of what might be causing this I would be greatly
> appreciative.  Thanks.
> 
> -Chris Noyes
> 

Methinks that's a bug in the configure script!   /usr/local/bin is part 
of the BSD family of Unix variants.   System V Release 4 conformant Unix 
variants frown on putting anything in /usr that is not part of/does not 
belong to, the O/S.  In principle, /usr could be replaced in its 
entirety by a Solaris upgrade.  The "proper" place in Solaris would be 
/opt/local if Perl were not shipped with Solaris. Sun DOES ship a 
version of Perl with Solaris; it can be found in /usr/bin/perl.  A 
sysadmin who wanted to install a more recent version of perl would 
install it in /opt/local.

The quick fix is to test for Solaris and look for perl in /usr/bin/perl.
Sorting out which systems are BSD derived and which are SVR4 derived is 
going to be quite a bit more complicated.




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