Frequently Asked Questions about AIX and the IBM RS/6000
__________________________________________________________________

This posting contains frequently asked questions and answers about the
IBM RS/6000 series workstations and AIX versions 3 and 4. All input is
very welcome, I can be reached at <mailto:bofh@mail.teleweb.pt>.

The list is split into five articles to pass thru most mailers. I'll
usually try to post them once a month to comp.unix.aix, ,
and . Please let your input continue as I am most thankful
for all of it.

This FAQ is available from (see section 6.08 for more sites):

<http://www.emerson.emory.edu/services/aix-faq/>
<http://www.faqs.org/faqs/aix-faq/>
<ftp://rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/aix-faq/part1>
<ftp://mirrors.aol.com:/pub/rtfm/usenet-by-hierarchy/comp/unix/aix>

The Adobe Acrobat PDF version of the FAQ is available at:

<http://www.han.de/~jum/aix/aixfaq.pdf>

Thanks to Jonathan S. Stibal for converting it to PDF.

Please make a note of the fact that these sites contain more than just
the AIX FAQ and would probably be worth consulting before you post
questions to any of the usenet groups.

If you see a From: line it means that whatever follows is either an
unabridged or slightly edited version of the input I have received, and
that I may not have verified its contents. If there is no From: line, I
probably know what I am talking about, and the entry is edited from
various sources.

All entries are numbered with major and minor subject number, e.g. 
2.11. If the subject is preceded by an asterisk, that entry has been
changed or added since the last posting.

The comp.unix.aix group is for AIX on all platforms -- RT, PS/2,
370, RS/6000, Bull, Apple, Motorola, etc., and mainframes
(ESA based on OSF/1), but the traffic has
evolved to discuss predominantly AIX 3.x, 4.x, and the RS/6000. The
newsgroups comp.sys.ibm.pc.rt and comp.sys.ibm.ps2.hardware cover the
RT, mostly hardware and AOS 4.3, and on PS/2 hardware respectively. 
Mark Whetzel posts FAQ lists about RTs in the rt and *.answers groups.
There are few to non-existent discussions on AIX/370 and AIX/ESA.

If you post questions to comp.unix.aix, please be sure to indicate:

- the machine type and brief configuration, e.g. Model 540, 64 MB RAM,
  48 MB swap space (this is actually bad), 1.2 GB XYZ hard drive, etc.
  Note: There are now five classes of RS/6000s - the original, RS or
  POWER, RSC (POWER-Single Chip), RS/2 or POWER2, PowerPC and  Power3.

- the exact AIX version number, i.e. AIX 3.1 is NOT sufficient, whereas
  AIX 3.1.5 or AIX 3.1 with the 3005 update is. With 3.2 you should
  mention any significant ptfs using the U4xxxxx numbers.  With 4.r.m,
  please mention version (4), release (r), modification (m) and
  maintenance level, also if aplicable, any significant APAR numbers.

I am doing this on my own time. PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME QUESTIONS THAT
THAT SHOULD BE ASKED OF IBM. If you suspect you have software defect problems
call (800) 237-5511. If you have hardware problems call (800) IBM-SERV.
If you are outside the United States, contact your local IBM representative.

PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME QUESTIONS THAT SHOULD BE POSTED TO comp.unix.aix.
I don't have the time to diagnose individual AIX problems,  and I
probably don't know the answer either.  ;-)  Many experienced and
knowlegable people read the newsgroup.  Post your question there.

------------------------------

Table of contents:

1.0    General concepts
1.000  The AIX operating system - what is it?
1.001  I know neither Unix nor AIX - where do I find more information?
1.002  What is the Object Database?
1.003  How do I get rid of the verbose error messages?
1.004  Which release of AIX do I have?
1.005  What hardware do I have?  What is availible?  WITS?
1.006  Is IBM "dropping" AIX?  AIX 3 discontinued.
1.007  Is IBM "dropping" AIX? AIX 4.1/4.2 discontinued.
1.008  e-Server pSeries (Is IBM "dropping" RS/6000 ?)
1.009  Monterey / AIX 5L              

1.1    SMIT, system administration
1.100  I am used to Unix systems programming, why should I learn SMIT?
1.101  How do I turn off the "running man" in smit?
1.102  How do I import an /etc/passwd or /etc/group file from another box?
1.103  Cleaning up utmp, who, and accounting problems
1.104  How to fsck the root filesystem
1.105  How can I unmount /usr to run fsck on it?
1.108  How do I see/change parameters like number of processes per user?
1.109  How do I shrink the default paging space on hd6?
1.110  The swapper seems to use enormous amounts of paging space, why?
1.111  How much paging space do I need?
1.112  How do I mount a floppy disk as a filesystem?
1.113  How do I remove a committed lpp?
1.114  How can I recover space after installing updates?
1.115  Where are the AIX log files kept?
1.116  How can I log information about ftp accesses to a file?
1.117  How do I find a file name from the inode number?
1.118  How do I set up postscript accounting?
1.119  How do I create boot diskettes?
1.120  Where can I find tools for performance monitoring?
1.121  How can I tell what virtual printer a print queue is using?
1.122  Two srcmstr's are less useful than one?
1.123  How do I set the tty name associated with a physical port?
1.124  How do I use mksysb to clone a system?
1.125  How do I retain timestamps with mksysb?
1.126  How can I find out the machine type?
1.127  Updating to 3.2.5
1.128  AIX fix strategy
1.129  Are passwords limited to 8 char?
1.130  How do I increase the number of ptys > 64?
1.131  Where can I find patches for CERT Advisories?
1.132  How do I remove a non-existant physical volume?
1.133  How do I kill a process that ignores kill -QUIT -KILL -STOP?
1.134  How can I see "console" messages?
1.135  Where can I find TOP for AIX?
1.136  How can I restrict root logins to specific terminals?
1.137  How do I merge my /etc/password and /etc/security/password for Crack
1.138  I lost the root password, what should I do?
1.139  How can I resolve DEV_WAIT status for a local print queue?
1.140  SMIT problems forcing/overwriting install?
1.141  Which distribution tape do I have?
1.142  How can I get PTF (fixes) via ftp?  What is fixdist?
1.143  Is there an easy way to determine if AIX has a PTF applied or not?
1.144  How do I recreate a deleted /dev/null?
1.145  What is a checkstop error?
1.146  How do I recover deleted files?
1.147  What questions are on the AIX Certified User/SystemAminstrator/etc.,
       exam?
1.148  How can I run a command or commands automatically at system
       shutdown?
1.149  How to install LPPs on a shared disk?
1.150  How can I reduce the size of /var/adm/wtmp ?
1.151  How do I start local daemons at system startup?
1.152  How do I set the TZ variable to automatically change to daylight
       savings time?
1.153  Why does init not reap its zombie child processes?
1.154  I'm looking for a missing command or header file.
       Which fileset do I need to install?
1.155  Why doesn't the df -k output reflect the space I added
       to an LV?

1.2    Backups, tape
1.200  Some info about tape backups
1.201  How do I do remote backup?
1.202  How do I backup a multi-disk volume group?
1.203  How do I put multiple backups on a single 8mm tape?
1.204  How can I make an exact duplicate of a tape over the network?
1.205  What is tape block size of 0?
1.206  Resetting a hung tape drive...
1.207  How do I restore specific files from a mksysb tape?
1.208  How do I read a 5Gbyte tape on a 2Gbyte drive?
1.209  What can Sysback do for me?
1.210  How can I get my HP 4mm DAT to work?
1.211  How do I copy DAT tapes?
1.212  How do I speed up backups to DLT tapes?

1.3    Memory and process management
1.300  Some info about the memory management system
1.301  How much should I trust the ps memory reports?
1.302  Which simms do RS6000's use?
1.303  What is kproc?
1.304  How do I create a RAM disk in AIX?
1.305  How much RAM (real memory) does my machine have?
1.306  Why do PIDs run non-sequentially?

1.4    Shells, commands, man pages, InfoExplorer
1.400  How do I make an informative prompt in the shell?
1.401  How do I set up ksh for emacs mode command line editing?
1.402  Listing files with ls causes a core dump
1.403  How do I put my own text into InfoExplorer?
1.404  InfoExplorer ASCII key bindings 
1.405  How can I add new man pages to the system?
1.406  Why can't I read man pages?  Where is nroff?
1.407  Why is my environment only loaded once?
1.408  Where is the 'nawk' command on my AIX system?
1.409  How do I copy InfoExplorer (manpages and more) to my hard drive?
1.410  Why can't I set my default shell to one we've just installed?
1.411  Why do I get the "Unable to connect socket: 3" starting Info-Explorer?
1.412  Why can't I write a setuid shell script?

1.5    Video, Graphics, X11
1.500  Which release of X11 do I have?
1.501  How to prevent ctrl-alt-backspace from killing the X session
1.502  Who has a termcap/terminfo source for aixterm or the HFT console?
1.503  How can I look at PostScript files?  Why is "dpsexec" so lousy?
1.504  unix:0 vs `hostname`:0
1.505  VT100 key bindings for aixterm
1.506  Is there a screen saver that does not use excessive CPU?
1.507  Where are the colors, availible for an X session, listed.
1.508  Why does my app hang the X server but not an X station?
1.509  How do I switch the control and caps lock key bindings?
1.510  Missing fonts?
1.511  What's the termcap entry for an IBM 3151 look like?
1.512  Errors starting X11 application binaries from aixpdslib.
1.513  .XShm*, .sm* (Shared memory) Link errors building Xwindows applications.
1.514  How do I set my DISPLAY when I login to another machine?
1.515  Why doesn't Netscape work?
 
1.6    Networks and communications
1.600  My named dies frequently, why?
1.601  How do I trace ethernet packets on an AIX system?
1.602  What is the authorized way of starting automount at boot time?
1.603  How do I set a tty port for both dial-in and dial-out?
1.604  How to move or copy whole directory trees across a network
1.605  How can I send mail to hosts that cannot be pinged?
1.606  How to configure dialup SLIP
1.607  Where is DCE discussed?
1.608  How do I make /var/spool/mail mountable?
1.609  getty spawning too rapidly
1.610  Does AIX support Compressed SLIP (CSLIP)?
1.611  How do I setup anonymous ftp on my AIX system?
1.612  Talk, getting notification.
1.613  Disabling software flow control; using RTS/CTS.
1.614  NIS security
1.615  Why can't non-anonymous users login using WU-FTP?
1.616  NIS users can't login, do I need '*' in /etc/passwd?
1.617  HP JetDirect cards and virtual printers?  mkvirprt problems?
1.618  How can I hack libc.a to alter how hostnames are resolved?
1.619  What modem settings do I need?
1.620  NIS slave server config with master on different subnet?
1.621  Why does my 64 port concentrator loose data and drop the queue?
1.622  Netscape FastTrack server won't install on AIX 3.2.5 or 4.1.
1.623  How can I share files/printers with Windows 95?
1.624  Printing from AIX to WinNT/95/3.1
1.625  How do I get NFS mounting with Linux to work?
1.626  Telnet takes a 45 seconds to produce a prompt.
1.627  Ethernet frame type - en0 vs. et0

1.7    LVM
1.700  Free LVM lecture slides
1.701  How do I shrink /usr?  (formerly 1.106)
1.702  How do I make a filesystem larger than 2Gb? (formerly 1.107)
1.703  Chlv warning, is the first 4k of a LV safe? (formerly 1.139)
1.704  What's the limit on Physical Partitions Per Volume Group?
1.705  Why am I having trouble adding another disk to my VG?
1.706  What are the limits on a file, filesystem?
1.707  Hints for Segate 9 GB and other disks larger than 4 GB? (see 1.704)
1.708  How do I fix Volume Group Locked?
1.709  How do I remove a volume group with no disks?
1.710  What are the theoretical limits within the LVM?

1.8    AIX 4.X
1.800  How do I control how hostnames are resolved?
1.801  dtlogin ignores /etc/profile?
1.802  Where's the C compiler?
1.803  Why doesn't Netscape work?

1.9    Miscellaneous
1.900  SCSI-1 and SCSI-2 "interoperability" got you confused?
1.901  How to get your keyboard back after unplugging it from the 6000
1.902  How do I set up pcsim, the DOS emulator?
1.903  How do I transfer files between AIX and DOS disks?
1.904  Where is the crypt program?
1.905  How do I play audio CDs?
1.906  How can I get the mouse back after unplugging it?
1.907  Where can I get source code to the operating system binary xxxxx?
1.908  What's the difference between the POWER and POWERPC architectures?
1.909  Will there be date rollover problems in the year 2000?
1.910  How can I build an "installp format" file?
1.911  Is there a generic SCSI driver for AIX?
1.912  Viruses or virus scanning on AIX?
1.913  How do I determine the clock frequency of a RS/6000 by          
       software ?
1.914  How do I create a ramdisk ?
1.915  Can I run Linux on an RS/6000 ?


2.00  C/C++
2.01  I cannot make alloca work
2.02  How do I compile my BSD programs?
2.03  Isn't the linker different from what I am used to?
2.04  How do I statically link my program?
2.05  How do I make my own shared library?
2.06  Linking my program fails with strange errors.  Why?
2.07  Why does it take so long to compile "hello world" with xlc?
2.08  What's with malloc()?
2.09  Why does xlc complain about 'extern char *strcpy()'
2.10  Why do I get 'Parameter list cannot contain fewer ....'
2.11  Why does xlc complain about '(sometype *)somepointer = something'
2.12  Some more common errors
2.13  Can the compiler generate assembler code?
2.14  Curses
2.15  How do I speed up linking?
2.16  What is deadbeef?
2.17  [moved to 8.10]
2.19  imake, makedepend 
2.20  How can tell what shared libraries a binary is linked with?
2.21  Can I get a PTF for my C/C++ compiler from the net?
2.22  Why does "install"ing software I got from the net fail?
2.23  What is Linker TOC overflow error 12?
2.24  What is the limit on number of shared memory segments I can attach?
2.25  I deleted libc.a by accident --- how do I recover?
2.26  Where can I find dlopen, dlclose, and dlsym for AIX?
2.27  Where can I find ldd for AIX?
2.28  How do I make my program binary executable on the POWER, POWER2,
      and POWERPC architecures?
2.29  How do I access more than 256 Megabytes of memory?
2.30  How do I use POSIX threads with gcc 2.7.x?
2.31  Why does pthread_create return the error code 22?
2.32  How do I build programs under a later AIX release that run
	under earlier releases as well?


3.00  Fortran and other compilers
3.01  I have problems mixing Fortran and C code, why?
3.02  How do I statically bind Fortran libraries and dynamically bind
      C libraries?
3.03  How do I check if a number is NaN?
3.04  Some info sources on IEEE floating point
3.05  Why does it take so long to compile "hello world" with xlf? (see 2.07).

4.00  GNU and Public Domain software
4.01  How do I find PD software?
4.02  Are there any ftp sites?
4.03  General hints
4.04  GNU Emacs
4.05  gcc/gdb
4.06  GNU Ghostscript
4.07  TeX - Document processing
4.08  Perl - Scripting language
4.09  X-Windows
4.10  Bash - /bin/ksh alternative from FSF
4.11  Elm - Mail reader
4.12  Oberon 2.2
4.13  Kermit - Communications 
4.14  Gnu dbm
4.15  tcsh - an alternative shell
4.16  Kyoto Common Lisp
4.17  Tcl/Tk - X-Windows scripting
4.18  Expect
4.19  Public domain software on CD
4.20  Andrew Toolkit
4.21  sudo
4.22  Flexfax/HylaFax and other fax software
4.23  lsof - LiSt Open Files
4.24  popper - POP3 mail daemon
4.26  mpeg link errors version 2.0
4.27  NNTP, INN - news (usenet) news transport protocol, news server software
4.28  Zmodem - File transfer
4.29  Patch - automated file updates
4.30  XNTP - network time protocol, synchronizes clocks
4.31  GNU Screen 3.6.2 and AIX 4.1.x
4.32  SCSI scanner software
4.33  Pager/Paging software
4.34  Java Development Kit

5.00  Third party products
5.01  Non-IBM AIX Hosts
5.02  Disk/Tape/SCSI
5.03  Memory
5.04  Others
5.05  C++ compilers
5.06  Memory leak detectors
5.07  PPP
5.08  Graphics adapters.
5.09  Training Courses
5.10  Hardware Vendors
5.11  Debugging aides
 
6.00  Miscellaneous other stuff
6.01  Can I get support by e-mail?
6.02  List of useful faxes
6.03  IBM's ftp, gopher and WWW presence
6.04  Some RS232 hints
6.05  What publications are available for AIX and RS/6000?
6.06  Some acronyms
6.07  How do I get this by mailserver or ftp?
6.08  Hypertext version of the FAQ
6.09  IBM documentation on the WWW.
6.10  comp.unix.aix archive availible on the WWW
6.11  How can I access the comp.unix.aix newsgroup via email (or Web)

8.00  Program listings
8.03  How do I set up postscript accounting?
8.04  How can I find out the machine type?
8.05  Updating to 3.2.5
8.06  How do I do remote backup?
8.06  How do I do remote backup? (cont.)
8.07  How to configure dialup SLIP
8.08  Disabling software flow control; using RTS/CTS.
8.09  How can I hack libc.a to alter how hostnames are resolved?
8.10  How do I make an export list from a library archive?

9.00  Contributors