Shortly after the introduction of the first PowerMac G5, in October
2003, IBM released a preview version of its XL C and Fortran compiler
suite for the Mac OS X.
The final version of the compiler was released by IBM in January 2004
with the then brandnew G5 processor in mind, but is also working on G4
processors. Because of IBM's knowledge of its own PPC processors, the
compiled code for the G4 and G5 is much faster than the same code
compiled with the standard gcc 3.3 compiler, as supplied by Apple,
while being source- and binary-compatible to it (same situation as for
the x86 processor series with Intel compiler vs. Microsoft compiler).
The compilers had to be ordered at IBM.
After Apple's announcement to switch from PPC-based to x86-based Macs
in 2005, the IBM compilers were not longer available (there are now
Intel compilers for C/C++ and Fortran available for Mac OS X instead).
They were discontinued and are to be considered abandonware (latest
versions of the compilers are for AIX, Linux and mainframes only (XLC:
12.1, XLFortran: V14.1)):
[IBM's Announcement of Product Discontinuation][1]
Information:
[Overview][2]
[Help][3]
[Information PDF][4]
All the Manuals are available here: [C/C++ compiler][5].
Updates are still available on the [IBM FTP server][6]:
[
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com:21//aix/products/ccpp/ptfs/vacpp.60.macosx.ma...][7]
[
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com:21//aix/products/ccpp/ptfs/vacpp.cmp.60.macos...][8]
[
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com:21//aix/products/ccpp/ptfs/vacpp.cmp.60.macos...][9]
[
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com:21//aix/products/ccpp/ptfs/vacpp.cmp.60.macos...][10]
The Runtime environments are available here:
[C/C++ compiler][11]
The compilers worked for Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar and Mac OS X 10.3
Panther, for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, I found a workaround:
`MacOS X 10.4, 10.5. MacOS X 10.5 requires you to create a dummy
crtbegin.o in /usr/lib. You can use "cat /dev/null | gcc -arch ppc
-arch i386 -arch ppc64 -x c -o crtbegin.o -c -" and copy the resulting
object in /usr/lib.`
[Here][12] is a report about the possible speed-ups versus the
standard gcc compiler:
"Current GCC vs XLC performance comparisons show optimized GCC vs
optimized XLC compiles showing improvements of anywhere from 11% to
51% on SPECint2000 scores. For floating point performance, the
difference is even more extreme - more of the numbers are over the 50%
mark than under; the G4/G5 have always had stronger floating point,
and now the compiler backs that up with the appropriate optimizations
to make use of the unique features of the architecture that enables
that to be true."
See [here][13] for the Fortran compiler sister product.
Compatibility
Architecture: PPC
Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar, Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger with
workaround
[1]:
http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=an&subtype=ca&supplier=897&appname=IBMLinkRedirect&letternum=ENUS905-182
[2]:
http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?subtype=ca&infotype=an&appname=iSource&supplier=897&letternum=ENUS204-005
[3]:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/macxhelp/v6v81/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.vacpp6m.doc%2Fgetstart%2Foverview%2Foverview.htm
[4]:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27005176&aid=1
[5]:
http://www.msg.ucsf.edu/local/programs/IBM_Compilers/C:C++/pdf/
[6]:
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com:21//aix/products/ccpp/ptfs/
[7]:
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com:21//aix/products/ccpp/ptfs/vacpp.60.macosx.mar2004.update.dmg (
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com:21//aix/products/ccpp/ptfs/vacpp.60.macosx.mar2004.update.dmg)
[8]:
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com:21//aix/products/ccpp/ptfs/vacpp.cmp.60.macosx.jul2004.update.dmg (
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com:21//aix/products/ccpp/ptfs/vacpp.cmp.60.macosx.jul2004.update.dmg)
[9]:
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com:21//aix/products/ccpp/ptfs/vacpp.cmp.60.macosx.jun2005.update.dmg (
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com:21//aix/products/ccpp/ptfs/vacpp.cmp.60.macosx.jun2005.update.dmg)
[10]:
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com:21//aix/products/ccpp/ptfs/vacpp.cmp.60.macosx.sept2004.update.dmg (
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com:21//aix/products/ccpp/ptfs/vacpp.cmp.60.macosx.sept2004.update.dmg)
[11]:
http://ftp.software.ibm.com/aix/products/ccpp/vacpp-rte-macos/
[12]:
http://lightyear.livejournal.com/51175.html
[13]:
http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/ibm-xl-fortran-advanced-edition-81-mac-os-x
