C Compiler Documentation

HP C/HP-UX Release Notes

The HP C/HP-UX Release Notes, which you are reading now, provide release-specific information such as new feature summaries, installation instructions, and known bugs. In addition, they contain this documentation overview to help you orient yourself regarding available documentation. The release notes for version A.10.32 are online in the text file /opt/ansic/newconfig/RelNotes/ansic.10.32.

Printed Documentation

You can order printed versions of a wide variety of Hewlett-Packard documents. Use the man manuals command for details on which documents are available for ordering as well as ordering information. Listed below are some of the documents most closely related to use of the C Compiler.

HP C/HP-UX Reference Manual (92453-90024 E0696)
Provides reference material for HP C as implemented on HP 9000 systems. This document is based on the ANSI C standard 9899-1990, and documents implementations and extensions unique to HP C on HP-UX. It does not replicate the ANSI C standard and you are referred to the standard for any fine points not covered.
HP C/HP-UX Programmer's Guide (92434-90002 E0696)
Contains a detailed discussion about selected C topics for HP 9000 systems. Included are a discussion of alignment modes, some comparisons between HP C and other languages, and information on optimization.
HP-UX Floating-Point Guide (B3906-90004 E0796)
Describes how floating-point arithmetic is implemented on HP 9000 systems and discusses how floating-point behavior affects the programmer. Provides information about the C and Fortran math libraries.

Online Help for HP C and the Linker

The HP C compiler online help and the HP-UX linker and libraries online help include examples, tutorial information, error message discussions, and reference information.

To use the online help, on a system where the HP C/HP-UX compiler is installed enter the following commands:

cc +help

ld +help

and in a few moments, the online help window appears on your display. (Note that this requires that your $DISPLAY variable is set correctly. If you do not know how to do this, contact your system administrator.)

You can also click on the ? icon on the HP CDE front panel on a system where HP C is installed and select HP C Online Reference or HP-UX Linker and Libraries Online User Guide.

Troubleshooting Information

The +help option may not work on systems running HP CDE. If it does not work, ensure the environment variable DTHELPSEARCHPATH is set. (It may not be set if you rlogin to a system, for example.) If it is not set, use the following command to set it:

eval $(dtsearchpath)

Ensure the LANG environment variable is set, typically LANG=C.

As a workaround, you can view the C or linker and libraries online help using the ? icon on the HP CDE front panel or by using one of the following commands:

/usr/dt/bin/dthelpview -helpVolume linker

/usr/dt/bin/dthelpview -helpVolume c

/usr/dt/bin/dthelpview -helpVolume\ /opt/langtools/lib/help/C/linker.hv

Character-Mode Help Browser

If you do not have a graphics display or prefer to work with a character-based help interface, enter the command:

charhelp

and you will get a usage description for this command:

charhelp: Usage: charhelp {cc|CC|aCC|f77|ld|dde| -helpVolume file}

For help with the HP C compiler, for example, enter:

/opt/langtools/bin/charhelp cc

or for help with the linker or libraries, for example, enter:

/opt/langtools/bin/charhelp ld

and follow the menus for further direction. For more information, see the man page for charhelp(1) (/opt/langtools/share/man/man1.Z must be in your $MANPATH environment variable).