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doc: bring AIX steps up to date with reality
sxa May 14, 2026
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Update ansible/MANUAL_STEPS.md
sxa May 15, 2026
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Update ansible/MANUAL_STEPS.md
sxa May 15, 2026
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Update ansible/MANUAL_STEPS.md
sxa May 15, 2026
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Update ansible/MANUAL_STEPS.md
sxa May 15, 2026
dabc70c
update AIX playbooks for python, OpenXL utilities, java 25 etc.
sxa May 18, 2026
868ae94
AIX 7.3 already has the OpenXL17 runtime filesets installed
sxa May 18, 2026
57bebd3
Update index for AIX
sxa May 18, 2026
8ec7568
fixup of index formatting
sxa May 18, 2026
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fixup of index formatting
sxa May 18, 2026
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specify 90GiB minimum for the volume group on AIX
sxa May 18, 2026
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252 changes: 68 additions & 184 deletions ansible/MANUAL_STEPS.md
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -117,6 +117,9 @@ need to have enough disk space available to fit the requested disk space. On
IBM Cloud, for example, this involves having a second disk added in addition to
the default one (e.g. 20Gb standard disk and an additional 100Gb one).

<details>
<summary>If you get an error with the automated disk expansion, expand this section</summary>

If not enough space is availble the Jenkins worker create playbook will fail
with an `allocp` error, e.g.

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -144,7 +147,9 @@ hdisk1 00f6db0a6c7aece5 rootvg active

shows two disks attached to one volume group named `rootvg`. If this shows one
of the disks as `None` this indicates that the disk has not been included in
the volume group.
the volume group. If you only have one physical volume attached and don't
have enough space, then you should add a second through your provider which
you can then add to the volume group as per the instructions below.

```console
hdisk0 00fa00d6b552f41b rootvg active
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -287,10 +292,16 @@ ENCRYPTION: no
#
```

</details>

### OpenSSL

On AIX OpenSSL is not available as an rpm via yum/dnf and is instead an
installp fileset that must be manually downloaded and installed.
On AIX the OpenSSL is packaged as part of the base AIX operating systems and
not via the AIX Toolbox dnf repositories. When deploying a new system it
is possible that it will already be at the latest version.

<details>
<summary>If you need to update OpenSSL then expand this section and follow the instructions</summary>

The following instructions are based on https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/downloading-and-installing-or-upgrading-openssl-and-openssh.

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -319,81 +330,62 @@ To see a list of installed packages, run:
lslpp -L all
```

### Remove en1 network interface
</details>

### Remove unused network interface (typically `en1`)

Some libuv/Node.js tests currently fail on AIX with a network interface
containing a link local address. This is being tracked in
https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/46792. In the meantime the `en1`
interface containing the link local address is removed.
Some libuv/Node.js tests currently
(`parallel/test-dgram-udp6-link-local-address` is an example](https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/46792)
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fail on AIX with a network interface containing a link local address.
Until the underlying reason is resolved In the meantime the
interface containing the link local address should be removed by running the
following command as root on the appropriate interface.
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```
sudo ifconfig en1 down detach
chdev -l en1 -a state=down
```

Use
```
ifconfig -a
```
to list the available interfaces. To add back the `en1` interface, run
```
sudo autoconf6 -i en1
```
to list the available interfaces and shut down the the one that doesn't have
an IPv4 configured on it (Listed after `inet` in the `ifconfig` output if it's configured).

## AIX 7.1

### Update XL C/C++ Runtime

Java 17 requires XL C/C++ Runtime 16.1 available from https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/fix-list-xl-cc-runtime-aix#161X.
Once downloaded, unpack the files with `zcat`:
```
zcat 16.1.0.9-IBM-xlCrte-AIX-FP009.tar.Z | tar -xvf -
```
and then install with `installp`:
```
installp -aXYgd . -e /tmp/install.log all
```

Use `lslpp -l xlC\*` to view the curently installed version.

```
# lslpp -l xlC\*
Fileset Level State Description
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Path: /usr/lib/objrepos
xlC.aix61.rte 13.1.3.3 COMMITTED IBM XL C++ Runtime for AIX 6.1
and later
xlC.cpp 9.0.0.0 COMMITTED C for AIX Preprocessor
xlC.rte 13.1.3.3 COMMITTED IBM XL C++ Runtime for AIX
xlC.sup.aix50.rte 9.0.0.1 COMMITTED XL C/C++ Runtime for AIX 5.2
#
```

## AIX 7.2 Install

Most packages should be installed via ansible.
Most packages required by Node.js build and test can be installed via the
normal ansible playbooks. This will typically install various open-source
packages via the [IBM AIX toolbox](https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/aix-toolbox-open-source-software-downloads-alpha).

If there are any missing they should be installed via yum
Some exceptions are as follows (all done automatically by the playbooks):
- [ccache](https://github.com/nodejs/build/blob/main/ansible/roles/baselayout/tasks/partials/ccache/aix.yml) (not in the AIX toolbox - we build from source)
- [clang](https://github.com/nodejs/build/blob/main/ansible/roles/baselayout/tasks/partials/clang/aix.yml)
- Potentially `rust` in the future if we need a version not in the AIX toolbox for V8 ...

What you do need to install manually is **ccache**
You may need to set up the AIX toolbox if it is not configured by default by
your provider, and potentially update python and pip to allow ansible to
communicate with it properly (`dnf install python3-pip` will often be enough)
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python3-pip should be being installed via the playbook.
There may be packages such as python3-dnf (needed for the ansible.builtin.dnf/ansible.builtin.package tasks) which should be done as part of the bootstrap role if not already.

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It's installed explicitly via a download/install of pip3 outside the toolbox on AIX 7.2. I've left that as-is (I'm only testing on 7.3 just now) and am pulling down the python3-pip from the AIX Toolbox for 7.3


### Enable the AIX Event Infrastructure with AHAFS

```bash
mkdir -p /opt/gcc-6.3 && cd /opt/gcc-6.3
curl -L https://ci.nodejs.org/downloads/aix/gcc-6.3-aix7.2.ppc.tar.gz | /opt/freeware/bin/tar -xzf -
```
The AIX Event Infrastructure is [required for the file watcher
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tests](https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/10085). Check if it is installed
on your machine by looking in the `/aha` directory and verify if it is
present and non-empty.

### ccache 3.7.4 on AIX 7.2
<details>
<summary>If `/aha` is not available or is empty expand this section:</summary>

```bash
mkdir -p /opt/ccache-3.7.4 && cd /opt/ccache-3.7.4
curl -L https://ci.nodejs.org/downloads/aix/ccache-3.7.4.aix7.2.ppc.tar.gz | /opt/freeware/bin/tar -xzf -
Ensure that the `bos.ahafs` package is installed:
```
lslpp -l bos.ahafs`
```
which will tell you if it is not already installed. If it is not, then you will
need to get it installed form the AIX install media, which may involve contacting
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the provider of the system.

### Enable the AHA fs

For AIX 7 and 6.1, needed for the file watcher unit tests.

Add the following to /etc/filesystems:

Once the package is installed, ensure that the following is in `/etc/filesystems`
```
/aha:
dev = /aha
Expand All @@ -409,104 +401,19 @@ mkdir /aha
mount /aha
```

### Install XL compilers
</details>

1. Download 16.1.0 packages from: https://testcase.boulder.ibm.com (username:
xlcomp4, password: ask @mhdawson)
2. scp them to target:/opt/ibm-xlc
3. on target:
```bash
cd /opt/ibm-xlc
uncompress 16.1.0.3-IBM-xlCcmp-AIX-FP003.tar.Z
tar -xvf 16.1.0.3-IBM-xlCcmp-AIX-FP003.tar
uncompress IBM_XL_C_CPP_V16.1.0.0_AIX.tar.Z
tar -xvf IBM_XL_C_CPP_V16.1.0.0_AIX.tar
installp -aXYgd ./usr/sys/inst.images -e /tmp/install.log all
inutoc
installp -aXgd ./ -e /tmp/install.log all
```
4. Find compilers in `/opt/IBM/xl[cC]/16.1.0/bin/`

### Preparing gcc distributables

1. download gcc-c++ (with dependencies) from bullfreeware.com
2. `scp 15412gcc-c++-6.3.0-1.aix7.2.ppc.rpm-with-deps.zip TARGET:/ramdisk0`
- Note: / is too small
3. `unzip 15412gcc-c++-6.3.0-1.aix7.2.ppc.rpm-with-deps.zip`
4. contained wrong libstdc++-9.1, so downloaded bundle for libstdc++ 6.3.0-1
5. unpack the RPMs:
`$ for f in *gcc* *stdc*; do rpm2cpio $f | /opt/freeware/bin/cpio_64 -idmv; done`
5. Find absolute symlinks, and make them relative, example:
```
$ find . -type l | xargs file
./opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/ppc64/libatomic.a: symbolic link to /opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/libatomic.a.
./opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/ppc64/libgcc_s.a: symbolic link to /opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/libgcc_s.a.
./opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/ppc64/libstdc++.a: symbolic link to /opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/libstdc++.a.
./opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/ppc64/libsupc++.a: symbolic link to /opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/libsupc++.a.
./opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/pthread/ppc64/libatomic.a: symbolic link to /opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/pthread/libatomic.a.
./opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/pthread/ppc64/libgcc_s.a: symbolic link to /opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/pthread/libgcc_s.a.
./opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/pthread/ppc64/libstdc++.a: symbolic link to /opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/pthread/libstdc++.a.
./opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/pthread/ppc64/libsupc++.a: symbolic link to /opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/pthread/libsupc++.a.
```
```
bash-5.0# pwd
/ramdisk0/aixtoolbox/opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/ppc64
```
```
bash-5.0# ln -fs ../libatomic.a ../libgcc_s.a ../libstdc++.a ../libsupc++.a ./
```
```
bash-5.0# find . -type l | xargs file
./ppc64/libatomic.a: archive (big format)
./ppc64/libgcc_s.a: archive (big format)
./ppc64/libstdc++.a: archive (big format)
./ppc64/libsupc++.a: archive (big format)
./pthread/ppc64/libatomic.a: symbolic link to /opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/pthread/libatomic.a.
./pthread/ppc64/libgcc_s.a: symbolic link to /opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/pthread/libgcc_s.a.
./pthread/ppc64/libstdc++.a: symbolic link to /opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/pthread/libstdc++.a.
./pthread/ppc64/libsupc++.a: symbolic link to /opt/freeware/lib/gcc/powerpc-ibm-aix7.2.0.0/6.3.0/pthread/libsupc++.a.
```
```
bash-5.0# cd pthread/ppc64/
```
```
bash-5.0# ln -fs ../libatomic.a ../libgcc_s.a ../libstdc++.a ../libsupc++.a ./
```
```
bash-5.0# file *.a
libatomic.a: archive (big format)
libgcc.a: archive (big format)
libgcc_eh.a: archive (big format)
libgcc_s.a: archive (big format)
libgcov.a: archive (big format)
libstdc++.a: archive (big format)
libsupc++.a: archive (big format)
```

6. Move to target location and create a tarball with no assumptions on leading
path prefix:
```
$ mkdir /opt/gcc-6.3
$ cd /opt/gcc-6.3
$ mv .../opt/freeware/* ./
$ tar -cvf ../gcc-6.3-aix7.2.ppc.tar *
```


Example above was for 6.3.0, but process for 4.8.5 is identical, other than
the version numbers.

Example search for 4.8.5 gcc on bullfreeware:
- http://www.bullfreeware.com/?searching=true&package=gcc&from=&to=&libraries=false&exact=true&version=5

### Install Clang Backend
### Install `clang` prerequisites

The clang frontend will be auto installed via ansible playbook from:
https://github.com/IBM/llvm-project/releases

The clang backend requires manually installing xl runtime and xl utilities
The clang backend requires the installation of the IBM OpenXL17 runtime and
utilities package (Note that the utilities install will be added the
playbooks in the future)

runtime:
<details>
<summary>IBM OpenXL 17 Runtime (Note: Requires IBM login)</summary>

1. Download the current *.tar.Z from https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/fix-list-xl-cc-runtime-aix

Expand All @@ -515,60 +422,37 @@ runtime:
3. On the target

```sh
uncompress IBM_OPEN_XL_CPP_RUNTIME_17.1.4.1_AIX.tar.Z
tar -xf IBM_OPEN_XL_CPP_RUNTIME_17.1.4.1_AIX.tar
uncompress IBM_OPEN_XL_CPP_RUNTIME_17.1.4.1_AIX.tar.Z | tar xpf -
installp -aFXYd . ALL
```

</details>

<details>
<summary>IBM Open XL C/C++ Utilities</summary>
utilities:

1. Download the current *.tar.Z from https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ibm-open-xl-cc-utilities-aix-1713
2. scp tar onto the target
3. On the target
3. On the target (Note `inutoc` will only be needed if you extracted to the same directory as the RUNTIME package above

```sh
uncompress IBM_OPEN_XL_CPP_UTILITIES_17.1.3.0_AIX.tar.Z
tar -xf IBM_OPEN_XL_CPP_UTILITIES_17.1.3.0_AIX.tar
uncompress IBM_OPEN_XL_CPP_UTILITIES_17.1.3.0_AIX.tar.Z | tar xpf -
inutoc .
installp -aFXYd . ALL
```

After installing these packages we will need to update dnf:
After installing these packages we will need to sync up the RPM database with
the files from the AIX OOM used by native package installs:

```sh
/usr/sbin/updtvpkg
```

If you want more details on this command check out
[this IBM documentation](https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/understanding-aix-virtual-rpm-package-rpmrte)


### Preparing ccache distributables

Notes:
- AIX tar doesn't know about the "z" switch, so use GNU tar.
- Build tools create 32-bit binaries by default, so explicitly create 64-bit
ones.

```
$ curl -L -O https://github.com/ccache/ccache/releases/download/v3.7.4/ccache-3.7.4.tar.gz
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
100 607 0 607 0 0 3281 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 3281
100 490k 100 490k 0 0 586k 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 60.4M
$ /opt/freeware/bin/tar -xzf ccache-3.7.4.tar.gz
$ cd ccache-3.7.4
$ ./configure CC="gcc -maix64" && gmake
$ mkdir -p /opt/ccache-3.7.4/libexec /opt/ccache-3.7.4/bin
$ cp ccache /opt/ccache-3.7.4/bin
$ cd /opt/ccache-3.7.4/libexec
$ ln -s ../bin/ccache c++
$ ln -s ../bin/ccache cpp
$ ln -s ../bin/ccache g++
$ ln -s ../bin/ccache gcc
$ ln -s ../bin/ccache gcov
$ cd cd /opt/ccache-3.7.4
$ tar -cf /opt/ccache-3.7.4.aix7.2.ppc.tar.gz *
```
</details>

## Windows (Azure/Rackspace)

Expand Down