omniORB2 has been tested with the following software configuration:

A) Kernel               2.0.27
   Gnu C++              2.7.2.1
   Binutils             2.7.0
   Linux C Library      5.3.12
   Linux C++ Library    2.7.1
   Linuxthreads         0.5

B) Kernel               2.0.35
   Egcs                 1.1b
   Binutils             2.9.1.0.14
   Linux C Library      glibc-2.0.x



The following contains information on older Linux configuations
---------------------------------------------------------------

It has been reported that with some S.U.S.E distributions, the
release fails to compile with an internal compiler error. The distribution
apparently bundles gcc 2.7.2.3 so one would expect the release should compile.
The exact cause of the problem is unknown.

Typo in /usr/include/sched.h
----------------------------

In some linux distributions, e.g. RedHat 4.1, there is a typo in
/usr/include/sched.h which would cause an error when compiling omniORB2.
If you see this error, apply the following patch:


*** sched.h     Thu May 22 13:49:34 1997
--- sched.h.patched     Thu May 22 13:49:47 1997
***************
*** 33,39 ****
  extern int sched_getscheduler __P((pid_t __pid));
  extern int sched_yield __P((void));
  extern int sched_get_priority_max __P((int __policy));
! extern int sched_get_priority_min _P((int __policy));
  extern int sched_rr_get_interval __P((pid_t __pid,
                struct timespec *interval));
  
--- 33,39 ----
  extern int sched_getscheduler __P((pid_t __pid));
  extern int sched_yield __P((void));
  extern int sched_get_priority_max __P((int __policy));
! extern int sched_get_priority_min __P((int __policy));
  extern int sched_rr_get_interval __P((pid_t __pid,
                struct timespec *interval));
  

Gcc exception handling
----------------------

omniORB2 uses C++ exceptions. By default, exception handling is not enabled
in gcc 2.7.2. To compile programs that use omniORB2, the -fhandle-exceptions
flag must be specified. Notice that optimization is not supported with
-fhandle-exceptions.

By default, Run Time Type Identification (RTTI) is not supported in g++
2.7.2. In other words, throws will only match on catch parameters of
exactly the same types.

It is possible to enable RTTI support in gcc 2.7.2. To do so, the omniORB
library must be modified to include <typeinfo>. Refer to g++ documentation
for details.

omniORB2 has not been tested with gcc 2.8.0, which should resolve the above 
problems.

No shared library support
-------------------------

With gcc 2.7.2, it is not possible to create a C++ shared library with
exception handling enabled. Therefore, only static libraries are provided.
This problem is probably resolved in gcc 2.8.0.


Porting to other hardware platforms
-----------------------------------

omniORB2 has only been tested on x86 Linux. Theoretically, it will just
compile with no change on other linux platforms. In practice, the success
of a port depends largely on the quality of exception handling in gcc.  On
alpha Linux, gcc 2.7.2 fails to compile the omniORB2 library because of an
internal compiler error. This bug is a show stopper with no work around. 
However, the g++ maintainers have asserted that the bug has been fixed in 
gcc 2.8.0, though this has yet to be verified.


Gcc 2.8.0
---------

gcc 2.8.0 has been released. We have not tested omniORB2 with the compiler. It
may be the case that gcc 2.8.0 will have the same problem with thread safe 
exception handling as egcs (see README.egcs). If that is the case, omniORB2 
programs may crash randomly. One has to wait a bit longer for gcc to have 
thread safe exception or switch to egcs.


