Well, I'm back from a 2.5 week holiday and there is a heap of topics that have built up in that time. My email is very full of things I need to share so expect a blog per day for a while.

 

My friend for the last couple of decades Michael Perzl in Germany has been very busy in the last month or two.

 

  Instead of getting annoyed and complaining (like me), Michael decided to go and fix this short fall himself and a personal project and "give back" to AIX users world wide. So he compiles the open source packages on AIX and makes them freely available for download from:   http://perzl.org

   This website covers the AIX pre-compiled binaries for 800+ open source packages as RPM's and the other his hot project Ganglia for POWER, AIX and Power Linux.  If you want to know more about Ganglia then it is good timing as last week Michael ran a AIX Virtual Users Group session and demo.  You can get the presentation slides and a Replay movie download from the User Group website: http://tinyurl.com/AIXVirtualUserGroup   Look for July 26, 2012 - Monitoring Power Systems with Ganglia with Michael Perzl

 

  Also on the website are the precise software code used to compile the binaries, so you know exactly what you are getting or you can download the code and compile it yourself knowing that it should clean compile OK.  Michael also shares some of the problems encountered and work arounds in the FAQ.  If you fail to install something: first check the prerequisites (these are listed in the relevant web page on the site for each package) and then check the FAQ - there are a couple of well-known problems and fixes.  In fact, I would go as far as saying if you can't get the package to install there is a 99% chance you forgot something and the answer is on the website.

 

 One issue that will catch you out at the start is that lots of the packages have a long list of prerequisites (which are also on Michael's website) and then some of the prerequisites have prerequisite!  Michael is in the process of building complete packages including prerequisites for the top favourite downloads.  Including popular packages like Apache, Ganglia (gmetad and gmond), PHP etc.   If you have a favourite package you would like it built with prerequisites then let Michael know via the "Contact Me" left menu link on the website.

 

 I am not going to list all the 800+ packages here - It is best you go an look at the perzl.org website for the most up to date list, as more get added regularly. If you can't find a package that you really would like - let Michael know.  Feedback is always welcome but that is not a promise it will appear - I know some packages present real technical or legal difficulties.