Macro 32 Ramblings

Archive-name: info-vax/part01
Last-modified: 1992/08/02

[Changes since last posting: None.]

Please send all changes, corrections, comments, or additions to .

The Info-VAX Monthly Posting
—————————-
PART 1 — Introduction to Info-VAX.
(Coordinated by Dick Munroe, written by many others)

(Part 2 is Beginner “Common Questions”. Part 3 is Advanced Common Questions.
Part 4 is about how to find software.)

Save this message for future reference!

There are four parts to this monthly posting. This first part is concerned
with network etiquette and is redundant to people that read Usenet’s monthly
postings for new users. If you are on Usenet, you might want to skip it.
The other two parts are beginning and advanced questions respectively.

Welcome to the Internet VAX Discussion group. This group is known by
different names on different networks (Info-VAX, comp.os.vms, etc). We’ll
call it Info-VAX, for convenience’s sake. About 13,000 users read it on
Usenet, the global estimate is at about 50,000 users.

The purpose of Info-VAX is to discuss issues surrounding VAX computer
systems. Most of Info-VAX is oriented towards VAX/VMS. Info-VAX does have
a lot of knowledgeable VAX/VMS users; Info-VAX is *not* a forum for
discussion of absolutely everything involving VAX systems. Internet
discussion groups also exist for particular software products (for example,
PMDF and Kermit), for some general topic areas (such as security or
education), and for special purpose hardware.

This message has two purposes: first, to give you an idea of what Info-VAX
is all about, how to use it effectively, and how to make it work best for
you. Second, to answer some of the most frequently asked questions on
Info-VAX.

What this message won’t do is tell you how to send messages to Info-VAX, or
how to use your own mailing system. There are dozens of mailing systems
available for VAX computers, and even more ways of connecting VAX systems to
the Internet. You should ask your system administrator exactly how to send
or post messages to Info-VAX. Some general advice is given but no specific
commands.

The best way to learn how to use Info-VAX is to watch others use it. If you
have just subscribed to Info-VAX, consider lurking for a few days to see
what people are doing and why.

Here is a brief guide to Info-VAX, phrased as a set of commonly asked
questions and our rational answers.

1. What is Info-VAX?

Info-VAX is a number of things.

If you read it on Usenet, you see it as a Newsgroup called comp.os.vms and
you subscribe and unsubscribe just like any newsgroup (ask your system
administrator, it’s different on different machines). Post messages just
like any other newsgroup.

If you read it on Bitnet it is called Info-VAX but it is mailed to you (like
normal email) and you subscribe to it by sending a mail message containing
just the text “SUBSCRIBE INFO-VAX” to LISTSERV@(nearest listserv computer).
You unsubscribe by sending a mail message containing just the text “SIGNOFF
INFO-VAX” to the *SAME* listserv address. Ask your system administrator for
more help. Post messages to “”. Do not send
subscribe/unsubscribe requests to that address.

If you are reading it on the Internet it also arrives as mail. To subscribe
or unsubscribe send mail to “” politely asking to
be added or removed. Send posts to “”. Do not send
subscribe/unsubscribe requests to “”

If you are on the Internet in the UK, people should send a message to
containing the word: SUBSCRIBE
They will be added to the UK fanout. DELETE or UNSUBSCRIBE removes them.

2. What is a “signature”?

In order to let people not at your site know who you really are, you may
want to create a “signature” file which you append to network mail messages.
Your news or mail software may do this automatically (usually using the file
“.signature”) or you may create a function key binding in EDT or TPU to do
this. If someone writes up a quick way to do this, I’ll include it in this
posting.

A signature file typically has your real full name, plus a short list of
addresses. Under no circumstances should your signature be longer than 4
lines. Signatures should have your name and affiliation, plus your
preferred electronic mail address. If you can squeeze your mailing address
and phone number onto a single line, put that in too. This leaves you a
whole line for personal creativity. More than that is an expensive waste of
network resources—it might not cost YOU anything to send the message out,
but thousands of people are paying phone bills to send it across the US and
around the world. Do not include cute graphics, boxes, or extended
non-crucial information in your signature.

3. What return addresses should I put in my signature?

Some readers will be able to get your return mail address from the header
of something you post. Very often, however, the address will be damaged in
transit, so you can make it much easier on them by including your preferred
mail address. Normally, a maximum of two addresses are
appropriate—putting your CompuServe/Telemail/MCI/GEnie address in, or the
address of a system you don’t check every day is unlikely to be useful to
anyone. If you are on a BITNET-only node, simply include your node name in
the BITNET domain, like this: . If you’re directly
connected to the Internet, put in your Internet address, like this:
. If you’re not directly connected, try to express your
address in terms of a nearby gateway, like this:
jms%. While most mailers are smart enough to
deal with domain name system hosts which aren’t directly connected
(sometimes called MX-record systems), it turns out that VMS mailers
typically can’t, and people won’t be able to figure out what’s going on.

Your system administrator will be able to tell you if you’re directly
connected or not; one of the nice things about the domain name addresses is
that you can’t tell just by looking at the address. If you’re a part of
usenet, your return address should include some relatively well-known site,
like this: arizona!small!smaller!smallest!user. Finally, don’t try to
second-guess mailers. If you’re on BITNET, don’t advise Internet users on
how to send you mail—you’ll be wrong about half the time.

Your parents’ postal address, an Email address of only local significance,
or your longitude and latitude are only useful to (a) your parents’ friends,
(b) people at your site, or (c) operators of thermonuclear devices. None of
(a), (b), or (c) read Info-VAX. Note that there’s nothing wrong with having
multiple signature files (each used for different “kinds” of postings).

4. How can I make sure that my message gets through ungarbled?

There are a couple of good rules. Keeping the lines of your message under
80 characters, and under 72 if possible, will make sure that everyone can
read what you have written. Leaving out all special control characters is
another idea. In particular, tabs probably will get screwed up somewhere
along the way. Finally, if you intend to put in characters which are
somewhat off the beaten path, you may want to include a translation table at
the end, giving the character and the name, so if a tilde comes out as an
ampersand, the reader knows how to map properly. This is a particular
problem for BITNET users. You might opt to use VMS_SHARE which encodes text
files (they are semi-readable until you decode them.)

5. Why do I see replies before the question?

Info-VAX is asynchronous—messages flow in what should be considered a
completely random way. What you think is the previous message probably
isn’t; your reply may well get to sites before the message you’re replying
to. If you reply to a message, excerpt the message you’re replying to so
that readers have a little context. Including the ENTIRE message, however,
is in very bad taste. Cut it down to the minimum needed to remind the
reader what’s going on.

6. I’m going to write a letter to the President of Digital because some
Digital employee said …

Don’t forget that we’re all people out here. The nature of Info-VAX makes
it easy to forget this. If someone writes something which you think is
totally outrageous, a public computer conference is NOT the place to take
the issue up; this is one of the reasons that mail was invented. All
messages on any conference should be considered (a) in the public domain,
for you never know who will excerpt and reprint your words and (b) the
opinion of the author only, not their company.

7. Someone posted a 28 part software package, and I didn’t get part 26.
What do I do?

There are lots of things you can do; the one thing you DON’T do is send a
message out to Info-VAX asking if someone can please resend part 26.
Instead send a message to the poster of the other 27 parts asking them to
send you part 26.

In general, the answers to questions 6 and 7 can be boiled down to this:
when possible, use electronic mail. Anything which is of primary interest
to a single person only should be directed to that person, not to the other
50,000 people who read Info-VAX. This includes, but is not limited to:
o A Request for copies of answers they receive to a posted question.
o A request to summarize answers and post them to the group.
o A message telling someone that their answer is all wrong (let the
poster correct the mistake; you’re probably not the only one who
noticed the error).
o A message telling someone that something they said is inappropriate
for Info-VAX.

Actually, if someone sends out something particularly obnoxious, the last
resort is to forward it to their system administrator, usually an account
called “postmaster.” This should only be done after personal mail to the
person has failed to get results. Everyone else on Info-VAX saw the original
message; posting a message to the entire network won’t help matters any.

8. What does 🙂 mean?

This is the net convention for a “smiley face”. It means that something is
being said in jest. If it doesn’t look like a smiley face to you, flop your
head over to the left and look again.

There’s also 😉 (a knowing wink), 🙁 (displeasure, bad news), 😐 (Straight
face or “no I’m not joking”). There are many variations, and the validity of
publishing even this many on Info-VAX is pretty questionable :-).

9. What is the address of foo company?

Despite the fact that you can certainly get the address of virtually any
company by sending out a broadcast to Info-VAX, doing so will earn you the
scorn of your peers. Telephone books, trade magazines, buying guides, and
directory assistance should all be tried before asking 50,000 people to
check their files. This is not to say that all such queries are
inappropriate — obviously some companies are hard to find, and the
multi-national character of Info-VAX means that some of this information is
not readily accessible.

10. How do I get from BITNET to UUCP, ARPA to BITNET, JANET etc etc?

It’s tempting to put these kind of queries on Info-VAX, but the answers vary
so much from site to site that most answers you get will be meaningless.
Ask your system manager. On the other hand, if you are a system manager,
and you don’t know, your question is best phrased like this: “We are
running x Operating System using y Networking Software and attached using z
Communications Channel to w Network. Can anyone suggest a way to increase
our connectivity?” If you’re a new site on a larger campus, other system
managers on your campus will probably be able to give you better help
faster.

11. What is “anonymous ftp??

“FTP” stands for File Transfer Protocol; on many systems, it’s also the name
of a user-level program that implements that protocol. This program allows
a user to transfer files to and from a remote network site, provided that
network site is reachable via the Internet or a similar facility. (Ftp is
also usable on many local-area networks.)

“Anonymous FTP” indicates that a user may log into the remote system as user
“anonymous” with their network address as a password. This is sometimes
useful to those sites that track ftp usage. Also note that most sites
restrict when transfers can be made, or at least suggest that large
transfers be made only during non-peak hours.

Bitnet and Usenet users can not do FTP. There are similar facilities
available to you; ask your system administrator.

12. What does RTFM mean?

It means this: “you have asked a question which I believe would best be
answered by consulting the manual, a copy of which should be in your
possession. The question you have asked is clearly answered in the manual,
and you are wasting time asking all these people to read it to you.” More
specifically, “Read the F-ing Manual.”

If someone posts a question which you feel is best answered with “RTFM,” the
prevailing wisdom on Info-VAX is that it is more polite to mail your “RTFM”
than post it.

Other common abbreviations:
IMHO – In My Humble Opinion
FYI – For Your Information
BTW – By The Way
FAQ – Frequently Asked Question(s)

FAQ when used in a context like “the FAQ” generally refers to a posting of
answers to Frequently Asked Questions, such as this posting. Such postings
are usually posted monthly on many newsgroups or mailing lists, so it is a
good idea to try to find one if you join a newsgroup or mailing list. Note
that a large list of all known FAQ postings in newsgroups is posted
periodically in the usenet newsgroup news.admin (since “is there a FAQ for
this group” is itself a FAQ).

13. I couldn’t get mail through to somebody on another site.

Again, this answer is more a “don’t” than a “do.” DON’T post it to the
entire list with the caveat, “I couldn’t get mail through to this guy, so
I’m posting instead.”

There are lots of good ways of getting in contact with people — directory
assistance if you don’t know the phone number, or the phone if you do, as
well as services offered by the US Postal Service, which can be had for a
mere 29 cents. People outside of America have complained about the last
sentence and rightfully so. I know that user-directory services are
forecoming, but until then I guess everyone must make do.

14. I just installed some new software; I want to test it out.

Don’t send a message to Info-VAX with the text “this is just a test; please
ignore.” Figure out some other way to test your software. People on
Usenet can use misc.test for this purpose.

15. OK, I’ve got a question for Info-VAX. What do I do ?

Your question on Info-VAX should read like this:

a. Here is our configuration.
b. Here is an exact description of the problem.
c. Please send replies to me; I will summarize and post a summary.

Point (c) is very important. When you ask 50,000 people the favor of
answering your questions, you should return the favor by gathering,
summarizing, and posting your summary.

16. Someone just posted a question I know the answer to. What do I do?

It depends. If the answer is short, and likely to be repeated, send the
reply to the poster, and suggest that they summarize and post a summary.

If you think that you’re the only one who will have the right answer
(unlikely, but it happens) or, if you think that the answer you will write
is so interesting that others will want to read it right away (you can be
liberal in this judgment), then post it to Info-VAX.

Many sites, particularly those outside the continental U.S. receive
messages from Info-VAX four or five days after they were first sent. It is
not uncommon for a message to generate twenty or thirty replys from sites in
the U.S., followed, seven to ten days later by a fresh wave of replies from
Australia and New Zealand. If you are not certain that you have something
unique to say in your reply, wait a few hours before posting it. You might
find that everything you wanted to say has already been said by someone who
got the original message first.
—
Dick Munroe Internet:
Doyle Munroe Consultants, Inc. UUCP: …uunet!thehulk!munroe
267 Cox St. Office: (508) 568-1618
Hudson, Ma. USA FAX: (508) 562-1133

GET CONNECTED!!! Send mail to to find out about DMConnection.

Archive-name: info-vax/part02
Last-modified: 1992/10/28

[Changes since last posting: Rewrote the MAI1 for clarity..]

The Info-VAX Monthly Posting
—————————-
PART 2 — Beginner “Common Questions”.
(Coordinated by Dick Munroe, written by many others)

(Part 1 is an introduction to Info-VAX. Part 3 is Advanced Common Questions.
Part 4 is about how to find software.)

Save this message for future reference!

Table of Contents:

,GEN — General beginner questions (the Top 7 quickies) updated 1989-10-03
Many, many authors
,RDT — Why doesn’t my program work when RUN/DETATCH’ed? added 1990-01-31
(Erland Sommarskog)
(Jerry Leichter)
,LIC — Linking and VAX C updated 1989-01-06
(Larry Setlow)
(Trevor Taylor)
,TIM — Why does VMS time start at November 17, 1858 updated 1989-08-28
(Billy Barron & DEC)
,VAC — The VAX Vacuum cleaner added 1989-12-28
(Larry Schuette)
and (John C. Klensin)
,MAI — Mail tips updated 1992-10-28
(Kevin Cole)

,MAI1 — Resetting the new mail counter. added 1992-10-28
(Dr. Kenneth H. Fairfield)

,QU1 — Disk quotas updated 1989-09-02

,QU2 — Diskquota Discrepency updated 1989-09-02
(Marc Shannon)
,U*XARGS — How to get my U*x program to accept arguments. 1992-10-28
(Terry Poot)
,VI — Where is VI for VMS? added 1992-10-28
(Ed Wilts)

[There are two articles on disk quota because I couldn’t decide which to use.
If someone would like to edit them into one article and submit it, fine. -TAL]
,CPD — How to copy an entire directory structure updated 1989-08-03
(Brad Foss)

(the “,REQ”, “,GEN”, etc. are keywords. If you search for that text
(including the “,”) you will be brought to the beginning of that article.)

———————————————————————
,GEN
General questions answered (from various sources)

1. Where can I get old Info-VAX messages?

The archives are held at SRI.COM (128.18.10.1), in files with obvious names
like “info-vax.txt.1”. Ramon Curiel does the thankless
job of maintaining them. (Yea Ramon!)

In the UK, archives are accessible via a mail server. People should
send a message, with EITHER the subject field OR the message body
containing HELP, to (addresses in the
UK are the opposite way round from the rest of the worlds … sigh…)
The server will tell you what to do.

Two years worth of Info-VAX messages are stored at VTVM2 which is a
Bitnet redistribution point. If you have an account there, it is best
to use the database searcher. Otherwise send the commands to
LISTSERV@VTVM2 using TELL (on an IBM system) or SEND (on a VMS system)
or “netwrite” (on a Unix system with the UREP software). Send HELP
and INFO commands to get started. A sample command is something like:
“$ SEND LISTSERV@VTVM2 SEND INFO-VAX LOG8901B” which will get you some
of the messages from Jan 1989. You can also use INDEX to get a list
of the Info-VAX files archived.

[Any more places? Please tell me! -TAL ]

2. How do I reset my new mail count when it gets out of sync?
In other words, what do I do when it says, “You have 1 new mail
message” but I really don’t?

Simple: Send yourself a mail message OR have someone else mail you a
message. If you are in MAIL, exit and re-enter mail. At the MAIL>
prompt, type READ/NEW until it tells you that there are no new
messages. Then enter READ/NEW one more time. Everything is fixed.

3. What is the plural of VAX?

VAXen, VAXln, VAXlen, VAXs, VAXes and just about everything else you can
imagine. It’s been discussed on the net many times and there has never been
a conclusion. Therefore, you may call it anything you want.

It has been pointed out that officially DEC and its lawyers consider VAX an
adjective. This is required by trademark law, since you apparently can’t
trademark a noun. Thus the “correct” plural is VAX systems or VAX
processors. There is no such thing as a VAX! 🙂

4. Where do I get VI, Kermit, (X,Y,Z)Modem, UUCP, ANU news, GNU software,
LZW/Compress/Decompress ?

See the monthly “Info-VAX: How to find software” posting.

5. What’s DECUS?

There is a separate monthly posting about DECUS. Look for it.

6. What do you do about “undeliverable mail” messages that bounce back
to you from various sites when you post a message to Info-VAX?

If the reason is “MTA congestion” just delete them. If the reason is a bad
address, contact the postmaster at the destination site, suggesting that he
request that the addressee be removed from the Info-VAX mailing list.

7. How can I submit a correction or addition to this monthly posting?

Check out the signature for addresses. Additions are always welcome,
corrections are prefered to be in VMS DIFF format if they are specific.
Unix DIFF format isn’t as human-readable and almost never matches up with
the text I have stored here.

———————————————————————
,RDT
Date: Tue, 2 Jan 90 22:53:30 +0100
>From: “Erland Sommarskog”
Subject: Why doesn’t my program work when RUN/DETATCH’ed?

A question that seem to be fairly common goes like this: “We
have program that runs as a detached process and tries to create a
subprocess with LIB$Spawn but always fail. When we run the program
in the debugger everything works OK.”

The answer to this one is when you run a program in a detached
process there is no command line interpreter (CLI) – e.g. DCL – and
since LIB$Spawn is a callback to the CLI it can’t but fail. The same
applies to other callback routines like LIB$Set_logical and LIB$Set_symbol.

The solution is simple. Instead of starting the program
with RUN/DETACH Prog you should do:

RUN/DETACH SYS$SYSTEM:LOGINOUT/INPUT=PROG.COM
where PROG.COM contains the line RUN PROG.

>From:
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 90 12:51 EST

[What Erland said is] basically correct, but there is one tricky thing
that it’s important to watch out for: The names you use for /INPUT and
/OUTPUT and /ERROR on RUN/DET (you would normally define all three so
that you could see what happened) are passed to the created process
UNTRANSLATED. The new process will use them to define its values of
SYS$INPUT, SYS$OUTPUT, and SYS$ERROR. At the point that the new
process does that, the names must be valid. Hence, the only logical
names you can use are those known system-wide.

You can use $CREPRC in place of LIB$SPAWN if you don’t need LIB$SPAWN’s
ability to pass logical names and such.
— Jerry

———————————————————————
,LIC
Subject: Linking and VAX C
>From: Larry Setlow Date: Fri, 8 Sep 89 10:35:48 -0700

A recent posting (maybe you saw it) reminds me of another
frequently-asked question: “How come we have to have the vaxcrtl
explicitly added to the LINK command?”

I’m not sure I know the whole answer, other than “the C library’s
names are too likely to conflict with user-named routines, so we can’t
do it automatically without pissing a lot of people off, and we don’t
like C very much, anyway, so nyah.” but I know it’s been covered a few
times before.

Larry

[ Note from the editor: Trevor Taylor has
pointed out some other information which encouraged me to write this: ]

If you explicitly link with that library you’ll get an old library.
It’s better to link to the sharable library, then you’ll aways get the
newest library.

This is not documented in the HELP file (try HELP CC LINK for the old
method), just the VAX C manual that I have. The manual doesn’t mention
the dangers of the first method but does mention that using the
sharable library saves disk space and makes your program load faster.
One program I use was 154 blocks, with the shareable library it is 5 blocks.

You must use the shareable image if you want to have the most
up-to-date library. The only way is to use an options file. Create
a file called VAXC.OPT containing the line:

SYS$LIBRARY:VAXCRTL/SHARE

Then link as follows:

$ LINK myprog,VAXC/OPT

———————————————————————
,TIM
[ DEC wrote it, Billy Barron submitted it, I edited
it down (it included a complete history of time telling and calendars) -TAL ]

COMPONENT: SYSTEM TIME OP/SYS: VMS, Version 4.n

LAST TECHNICAL REVIEW: 06-APR-1988

SOURCE: Customer Support Center/Colorado Springs

QUESTION: Why is Wednesday, November 17, 1858 the base time for VAX/VMS?

ANSWER: November 17, 1858 is the base of the Modified Julian Day system.

The Modified Julian Day was adopted by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Obser-
vatory (SAO) in 1957 for satellite tracking.

Eighteen bits would allow the Modified Julian Day (the SAO day) to grow as
large as 262,143 ((2 ** 18) – 1). From Nov. 17, 1858, this allowed for
seven centuries. Using only 17 bits, the date could possibly grow only as
large as 131,071, but this still covers 3 centuries, as well as leaving the
possibility of representing negative time. The year 1858 preceded the
oldest star catalog in use at SAO, which also avoided having to use negative
time in any of the satellite tracking calculations.

This base time of Nov. 17, 1858 has since been used by TOPS-10, TOPS-20,
and VAX/VMS. Given this base date, the 100 nanosecond granularity
implemented within VAX/VMS, and the 63-bit absolute time representation (the
sign bit must be clear), VMS should have no trouble with time until:

31-JUL-31086 02:48:05.47

At this time, all clocks and time-keeping operations within VMS will
suddenly stop, as system time values go negative.

Note that all time display and manipulation routines within VMS allow
for only 4 digits within the ‘YEAR’ field. We expect this to be corrected
in a future release of VAX/VMS sometime prior to 31-DEC-9999.

———————————————————————
,VAC
Date: 26 Dec 89 09:49:00 EDT
>From: “Larry Schuette”
Subject: VAX vacuum

The VAX vacuum has been available in the U.K. long before DEC
ever thought of building a 32bit processor. When DEC did a trademark search
they only checked the U.S. (or at least not the U.K). Much to their chagrin,
DEC discovered (too late) that VAX was already a licensed trademark in the U.K.
A deal was struck, and because the products are not similar, life goes on.
However, DEC would be in trouble should the vacuum cleaner company
decide to make “computers that suck” as well.
The best part of this story is that, every few years, a new eager
Digital lawyer will “discover” that some British company has “stolen” the
VAX trademark. Typically, in an effort to impress the boss, they will fire
off letters threatening legal action unless some license (read money) is sent
DEC’s way. The lawyer is then shot down in flames when the same standard form
letter is sent from the U.K.

Larry

[ Thanks, Larry. I also got a note from John C.
Klensin on Thu, 28 Dec 1989 asking:

> If there is really any interest in this, the term apparently also
> means something (non-computer) in Sweden. When I was last there,
> I saw “VAX” plastered in large letters on the outside of several
> buildings out in the sticks along highways. I never got around to
> asking what they were associated with, but the buildings tended to
> be surrounded by heavy machinery, of the road-grading variety.
> I can pursue this if you like, otherwise will leave well enough
> alone.
> John Klensin
>

[ Ok Info-VAXers, any answers? Them to me. -TAL ]

———————————————————————
,MAI
>From: “Kevin Cole at Gallaudet U. Washington DC”
Subject: Mail tips

[Some of these symbols may conflict with those in the ,SIGS posting, but the
information is still good. -TAL
The following applies to VMS systems prior to VMS V5.0. The MAIL$EDIT logical
may not be supported in later versions of VMS.]

To tell MAIL to use an editor, include the following line in your LOGIN.COM:

$ MAIL :== MAIL/EDIT=(SEND,REPLY=EXTRACT,FORWARD)

(Remove the “=EXTRACT” from the above line if you do not want the text from
old messages to be included in replies and forwarded messages.) MAIL will
default to CALLABLE_EDT as it’s choice of editor. If you would prefer to use
EVE/TPU, put the folllowing in your LOGIN.COM as well:

$ DEFINE/NOLOG MAIL$EDIT CALLABLE_TPU

Another option is to have MAIL spawn a seperate process for editing. You might
wish to do this if you have a COM file which you want executed every time you
use MAIL. For example, I have one which turns off broadcasts before starting
the editor so that I do not get interrupted while sending mail. In that case,
just define the logical MAIL$EDIT to point to your COM file instead of a
callable editor. Like so:

$ DEFINE/NOLOG MAIL$EDIT SYS$LOGIN:MAILEDIT.COM

Finally, if you wish to redefine the numeric keypad functions while within mail
you can create a file (say, for example MAIL.INI) which contains the new
definitions:

DEFINE/KEY PF2 “SHOW KEY/ALL”/TERMINATE
DEFINE/KEY PF2/IF_STATE=GOLD “SHOW KEY/ALL/STATE=GOLD”/TERMINATE
DEFINE/KEY PF3 “EXTRACT”/TERMINATE
DEFINE/KEY PF4 “IN%”””””””/TERMINATE
DEFINE/KEY PERIOD “DELETE”/TERMINATE
DEFINE/KEY ENTER “”/TERMINATE

And add a line in your LOGIN.COM which points the logical MAIL$INIT at the file

$ DEFINE/NOLOG MAIL$INIT SYS$LOGIN:MAIL.INI

This supported mechanism in VMS V5.0 and later is:

$ MAIL
MAIL> SET EDIT TPU
MAIL> EXIT

and remove any definitions of MAIL$EDIT that you may have.
——————————————————————————–
,MAI1
>From:
>Subject:Re: New Mail won’t die!
>
>In article >, (Greg Mendizabal) writes:
>> …
>> Now, everytime I logon I have 1638 new mail messages. I cannot eradicate
>> this “flag”. I’ve tried deleting my mail directory, the “mail” itself
>> (ie send myself new mail and then do a del/all within mail).
>> …
>> So, where is this flag bit set and kept???? We have another account with
>> the same problem (only 2 msgs however).
>>
>> This is driving me nuts! 😉

1. Start up MAIL.
2. If your MAIL.MAI file has been deleted, send yourself a mail message
(any mail message).
3. Issue READ/NEW until you see the following:

%MAIL-W-NONEWMAIL, no new messages

4. Exit mail.

The new mail counter has been reset.
———————————————————————
,QU1
>From:
Subject: Diskquotas
Date: Sat, 2 Sep 89 22:52 +0930

Users often complain that their disk usage as shown by SHOW QUOTA
doesn’t match the total size of their files. Here are some reasons why this
happens:

1) Every file consists of at least one 1-block header and some number of
clusters, which are usually 3 blocks long. You may have only 1 block of
data, but you have removed 4 blocks from the space available to others, and
your quota shows 4 blocks gone. To see the effect of this, use
$ DIR […]/SIZE=ALL/GRAND
The “SIZE=ALL” shows both the space used and the number of blocks allocated
to the file. It does not show the 1 block header for each file, but you can
see how much this adds up to by looking at the count of files shown. So, if
you add together the LARGER of the two sizes shown in the grand total given by
the command above, and the total number of files, you have a better idea of
the total number of blocks allocated to you.

2) You may have files owned by you but stored in other directories. Your
own top-level directory is an example – it is is a xxxxx.DIR file stored in
the directory “above” where you log in. You can check the size of that file
using the command DIR/SIZE=ALL/BY [-]

3) The quota file is sometimes inaccurate. For example, it may not get
updated if the system crashes just after you increase or decrease your
usage. Bugs in VMS on a cluster also cause the quota file to drift out of
touch with reality. Your system manager may need to do some disk maintenance
(ANALYZE/DISK/REPAIR dev) to fix this problem. Check with him/her to see
if this is the case.

So, your problem is probably partly misunderstanding of how your
disk quota works (items 1 and 2 above), possibly confused by a bug in the
system (item 3).

Rollo Ross, Network Manager
Comp Centre, Sth Aust Institute of Technology, The Levels, SA 5095, Australia
Voice: +61 8 343 3158 Old way: {.au}
Fax: 349 6939 DTE 505282622004 Standard way:

———————————————————————
,QU2
Subject: Diskquota Discrepency
>From: Marc Shannon
Date: Sat, 2 Sep 89 16:35:58

The SHOW QUOTA returns the number of blocks you have allocated over
the entire disk. Presuming that all of your files are in your directory
tree, use the DIRECTORY/SIZE=ALLOC/GRAND […] command (from your home
directory) to see just how many blocks you are using.

Note the “/SIZE=ALLOC” qualifier; this has DIRECTORY report the
number of blocks which each file is *allocated*, not just in actual use.
(Most systems have a “cluster-size” of 3 which means that every file
must take up a multiple of 3 blocks, so even files with one line in them
take up 3 blocks.)

Okay, now you’re getting close, but VMS still charges you a bit
more. For every file you own, you are also charged 1 block so that VMS
can store information in the INDEXF.SYS file on your disk about how to
find your file. So, take your total number of blocks and add the number
of files and directories found in your directory tree.

Now you should be almost at the number reached by SHOW QUOTA.
Don’t forget your main directory. Use DIR/SIZE=ALLOC [-]username.DIR to
see how large your main directory file is and add that (plus 1 for its
INDEXF entry) to your total.

This final total should be what SHOW QUOTA returns.

–Marc

———————————————————————
,U*XARGS

From: (Terry Poot)
Subject:Re: Passing args to C programs

In the C code, everything is the same. However, you have to define a foreign
command symbol for your program. For instance, if your executable is
dua0:[foo]test.exe, enter

foo :== $dua0:[foo]test.exe

You can then run your program as:

foo arg1 arg2

and the command line arguments will be passed through argc and argv as usual.

A few notes:

1) Note the “$” at the beginning of the file spec, it’s required. Also, the
filespec will default to looking in sys$system for the executable so be sure to
use a fully qualified file name (i.e. include the device and directory or some
logical name that points to the device and directory.

2) DCL normally forces all unquoted arguments to upper case. The C run-time
library counters this by forcing them all to lower case. If you want an
argument
to be passed in upper or mixed case, you have to quote it, as in:

foo “-AaBb” arg1 Arg2 ARG3 “Arg4”

In the above, the options string and Arg4 will get through in mixed case, args
1-3 will all be lower case. And don’t try the short cut of quoting all the args
with one set of quotes, because that will make the whole quoted string one
argument.

3) argv[0] is NOT the command typed to run the program, it is the whole fully
qualified file name. This can mess up the way most unix programs print their
error messages. Of course, your program can do something like:

#ifdef VMS
argv[0] = “foo”
#endif

to get around this.

Obtw, yes this is the right group for this type of question.
———————————————————————
,VI
From: (Ed Wilts)
Subject:Re: VMS version of vi

In article <>,
writes:
>
> Does somewhere exist a VMS version of ‘vi, the Unix editor
> quite a lot of people here would *jump* on it!

This should be in the FAQ… It’s bundled with Posix (and the Posix license is
*free* with VMS 5.5 – just load the media from the CD.

$ posix posix$bin:vi. login.com

———————————————————————
,CPDIR
>From: (Brad Foss)
Subject: Copy-Directory to Remote Host
Organization: Network Innovations
Lines: 26

> Does anyone know why DECNET doesn’t support the copying of directories
> with unknown sub-directory structure? Right now, to copy a directory
> between 2 vaxes I must login to the destination host, create all the
> sub-directories required in the destiation directory and use individual
> copy commands to pull the files from each source host sub-directory into
> the destination directory.

I’ve had occasion to move directory structures, even whole disks to a remote
node. The only way I’ve succeeded at it is to use BACKUP to create a
saveset on the remote host, then log in to the remote host and backup
(restore) the saveset to the desired disk. Like this;

(at local host)
$ BACKUP/LOG DISK:[DIR…]*.*;* REMOTE::DISK:[DIR]SAVESET.BCK/SAVE

( at remote host)
$ BACKUP/LOG DISK:[DIR]SAVESET.BCK/SAVE DISK:[*…]

You said any help would be appreciated, and this sure beats having to create
directories and use COPY. BACKUP will create the directories as needed. I
expect others will suggest that you create the saveset on the local host,
then DECnet it to the remote host. It seems to run a little quicker that
way.
—
Dick Munroe Internet:
Doyle Munroe Consultants, Inc. UUCP: …uunet!thehulk!munroe
267 Cox St. Office: (508) 568-1618
Hudson, Ma. USA FAX: (508) 562-1133

GET CONNECTED!!! Send mail to to find out about DMConnection.

Archive-name: info-vax/part03
Last-modified: 1992/09/05

[Changes since last posting: Added a description of how to usefully debug
with ANALYZE/PROCESS/IMAGE.]

The Info-VAX Monthly Posting
—————————-
PART 3 — Advanced “Common Questions”.
(Coordinated by Dick Munroe, written by many others)

(Part 1 is an introduction to Info-VAX. Part 2 is Beginner Common Questions.
Part 4 is about how to find software.)

Save this message for future reference!

Table of Contents:

,BAC — Advice on how NOT to backup your VAX updated 1989-08-03
(Jerry Leichter)
,BOOT — Booting a system whose disk is full. 1992-08-12
(Pat Rankin)
,DIR — Why is my directory so slow 1992-08-09
Various people from vmsnet.internals
,SIG — How to set up automatic signatures, etc. added 1989-09-29
(Kevin Cole)
,FLA — No question is stupid… added 1989-10-02
[A reminder to “us gurus” -TAL]
(John McMahon)
,IMAGE-DUMP-ANALYSIS
— Debugging using ANALYZE/PROCESS/IMAGE. added 1992-09-05
Martin Jensen
George Carrette
,MCR — About MCR (Bruce Wright) added 1989-10-02
rti!

(the “,BAC”, “,SIG”, etc are keywords. If you search for that text
(including the “,”) you will be brought to the beginning of that article.)

———————————————————————
,BAC
Subject: VMS Backup tips
>From (“Jerry Leichter”) Tue Aug 1 10:01:00 1989
Lines: 74

>[Various messages concerning long BACKUP times on a MicroVAX II, along with a
>recommendation of the command line:
> $ back/log/ver *.*/ignore=inter mua0:backup.bck/sav/buf=5/blo=17408-
> /nocrc/group=0
>]
>
> I think that Bob’s response addresses part of the major problem with
> BACKUPs on uVAX-IIs: that of CRC. On uVAX-IIs, the CRC instruction is
> emulated in software as opposed to being in hardware as it is in its
> bigger brothers. As you might imagine, doing CRCs takes forever on a II.
> /NOCRC is a MUST in your BACKUP command line.

In general, both of these pieces of advice – ESPECIALLY the first one! –
are EXTREMELY BAD. They are the equivalent of “Locksmiths are SO expensive,
I won’t bother to install locks on my front door”. Such advice might make
sense in some parts of the country, but try it in New York City….

Before considering this advice, decide for yourself just WHY you are doing
backups. Is it because you’ve heard that it’s a good idea, or because it
appears on your job description, but you don’t REALLY expect ever to USE all
those tapes you are writing? Or is it because you want a safe copy of your
data in case something goes wrong with your disk, or in case you just
acciden- tally delete something important?

If it’s the former, I’ll suggest that you can actually make BACKUP run even
faster; just add /CREATED/SINCE:TOMORROW. Try it – you should see amazing
results. In fact, the results will be so good that you should be able to
save all the typing for those other tacky qualifiers.

It it’s the latter, consider what chances you are taking:

– If you use /NOCRC, you are relying on the error detection capabilitites
of the tape hardware. This varies in ability to detect problems, depending
on the kind of tape and the density. Even at its best, it provides no
protection against problems with the tape interface, with the bus, with
memory, and so on. ALL of these are known potential failure points.

– If you add /GROUP=0, you are disabling BACKUP’s ability to recover from
errors that develop on the tape while it is in storage, among other things.
What you are getting in return is about 10% more data on the tape. Sounds
like a very poor tradeoff to me.

– I don’t know how the block size of 17408 was selected. The default value
(2048) was chosen by people with some data about tape failure statistics.
It’s a tradeoff: The larger the block size, the more data you can fit on
the tape – but the larger the probability of two blocks in a redundancy
group suffering simultaneous errors, so that the data is irretrievably lost.

Of course, since redundancy groups have been disabled (by /GROUP=0) this
makes little difference anyway.

– Also about /BLOCK: The combination of a large blocksize with a large
buffer count can cause a reel-to-reel tape to run off the end of the reel.
(Tapes have reflective “end of tape” markers well in from the end of the
tape, but if enough data is already “in the pipe” it can be impossible to
stop the drive in time. Ever try threading a tape backwards?)

I can think of almost no reason to play with the redundancy group size,
except for things like BACKUP savesets used to transfer stuff across a
network where errors are unlikely and you can get another copy of the
damaged stuff if you need it.

I can think of few reasons to play around with the block size.

I personally can’t imagine a serious backup policy based on use of /NOCRC,
at least as a universal policy. (I suppose you MIGHT do weekly backups
/CRC, and nightly incrementals /NOCRC, figuring that the cost of having to
go back, at the very worst, to the weekly backup is small enough to justify
the additional risk.)

There are significant tradeoffs to be made here. “Speed of backup” is only
one factor. You have to decide for your own site how to balance this factor
against the others. But do it in an informed way! Also, be ready to
re-examine your conclusions as the data change: BACKUP in VMS V5.2 should
be much faster. In particular, the CRC algorithms have been SIGNIFICANTLY
sped up.

— Jerry

———————————————————————
,BOOT

>Subject: Re: How to boot VMS from a failed AUDIT writing
>From: (Pat Rankin)
>
>In newsgroup vmsnet.misc, article <>,\
> (Shinn-Tzong Wu) writes…
>> Hi, we just encounteded one of our worst nightmare, the VAXStation 3100
>> (running VMS 5.3) died probably because it ran out of disk space for
>> the AUDIT process. Since the AUDIT process tried to write into the
>> full disk in the process of rebooting, there seemed to be no way that we
>> can bring the system up. We tried to boot it from a stand alone tape but
>> it won’t access to any of the disks. Can anyone suggest any help? Thanks…
>
> Use a conversational boot to bring up a minimum system. For a 3100,
>use B/1 at the `>>>’ console prompt. (If you have a console password
>enabled, you’ll have to enter it in order to use any variant of the boot
>command other than just “B”.) From B/1, you’ll get a `SYSBOOT>’ prompt
>where you can modify SYSGEN parameters; do the following
>SYSBOOT> SET STARTUP_P1 “MIN”
>SYSBOOT> CONTINUE
>from there the system will boot normally, except that under a minimum
>system many things are suppressed, including the audit server. (Also
>systartup_v5, the site-specific startup procedure, is suppressed, as are
>sylogin and login.com once the system is up.)
>
> Log in immediately as SYSTEM, use SET LOGIN/INTERACTIVE=1 to keep
>ordinary users out, and then purge, delete, or move files to recover
>sufficient disk space for normal operation. Lastly, reset the system
>parameters
>$ run sys$system:sysgen
>SYSGEN> USE CURRENT
>SYSGEN> SET STARTUP_P1 “”
>SYSGEN> WRITE CURRENT
>SYSGEN> EXIT
>and then reboot.
>
> This kind of stuff should be covered in the “emergency procedures”
>section of the system manager’s manual(s). Followups redirected to
>vmsnet.sysmgt.
>
> Pat Rankin,
>
[Ed. note: The instructions to perform a minimum boot vary from
processor to processor. The instructions here are specific to a VAX
3100 (although most of the 3xxx product line seems to follow this
“standard”) NOT to all VAXen. Check the Installation Supplement manual
for your specific processor for the conversational boot procedure.]
———————————————————————
,DIR

>Subject: Why does emptying a dir take so long?
>From: (Maarten Landzaat)
>
>I’m sorry if this is a FAQ. I don’t often read VMS newsgroups.
>A friend of mine using VAXstations 3100 and 4000(?) running
>5.4 and 5.5 told me this striking story:
>
>He has a few directories containing a few hundred files. Sometimes, these
>dirs need to be emptied. He then issues a simple delete *.*;* or whatever.
>then VMS takes an INCREDIBLE time of 2 hours (5.4) or 45 minutes (5.5)
>to delete the files.
>
>Now I’ve been working with VMS and unix, and didn’t find that many
>performance differences. But this is a VERY big difference. I’ve seen
>lots of unix directories with hundreds of files, and delete time
>seems linear. Deleting a few files on VMS does not take a long time,
>at least IMO. Is VMS file deletion then not linear?
>
>Does anybody know why VMS takes such a long time?
>Is it fundamental to the VMS filesystem structure?

#From: (Ed Wilts)
#
#I would hazard a guess that the size of the directory file exceeds 127 blocks.
#The size of this file is proportional to the number of files in the directory
#and the length of each file name. I am surprised that you’re seeing it with
#only a few hundred files.
#
#Once you hit this magical limit [127 blocks], all hell breaks loose and you
#wait forever to get any work done. Spread your files over multiple
#sub-directories if possible.

#From: (Mark H. Granoff)
#
#Try deleting the files in reverse alphabetical order. It’ll take a little more
#code (DCL, for example) than a simple DELE *.*.* command, but it’ll improve the
#performance of that logical operation.
#
#Directory files are maintained in alphabetical order. If you delete the first
#file in a directory, the directory file must be compressed and/or shuffled to
#remove that first entry. In a directory containing many files, this will take
#some time.

#From:
#
#If all access to the directory becomes VERY SLOW (including DIR’s) then
#I would suggest looking at the SYSGEN parameter ACP_DIRCACHE. This is the
#number of blocks of a directory file that are kept in cache. Although a few
#hundred files should NOT create an extremely large directory, if there were
#ever a lot more (i.e., thousands) then this could be your problem since
#directory files are not automatically compressed when files are deleted.
#
#ACP_DIRCACHE should be slightly larger than your largest directory file.
#The parameter is dynamic, so you can change it without rebooting and see
#if it fixes your problem.
———————————————————————
,SIG
>From: “Kevin Cole at Gallaudet U. Washington DC”
Subject: Automatic Signatures, Emblems and “>” a la EDT

Several people have asked me about automatic emblems. I’m not saying this is
the best way to do things… I’m just saying it’s the way I do things. Seems
to work OK for me. Well, here’s how I do it:

1) Create a file with your particular emblem or signature in it.
(I called mine SIGNATURE.TXT.)

2) Add the following lines in your LOGIN.COM:
$ DEFINE/NOLOG MAIL$EDIT SYS$LOGIN:MAILEDIT.COM
$ MAIL :== MAIL/EDIT=(SEND,REPLY=EXTRACT,FORWARD)

3) Cut out the following two files (MAILEDIT.COM and MAILEDT.INI)

——————– MAILEDIT.COM ————————-
$ SET TERM/NOBROADCAST
$ DEFINE /USER SYS$INPUT ‘F$TRNLNM(“SYS$OUTPUT”)’
$ IF P1 .EQS. “” THEN GOTO NOINPUT
$ EDIT /COMMAND=SYS$LOGIN:MAILEDT.INI/OUTPUT=’P2′ ‘P1’
$ SET TERM/BROADCAST
$ EXIT
$NOINPUT:
$ EDIT /COMMAND=SYS$LOGIN:MAILEDT.INI ‘P2’
$ SET TERM/BROADCAST
$ EXIT
———————————————————–

——————– MAILEDT.INI ————————–
SET CURSOR 0:20
SET SCREEN 80
SET WRAP 79
SET SEARCH BEGIN
SET ENTITY WORD ‘^H^I^J^K^L^M !”#$%&”()*+,-./:;< =>?@[\]^_`{|}~’
SET WORD NODELIMITER
DEFINE KEY GOLD 14 AS “5SHL.”
DEFINE KEY GOLD 15 AS “5SHR.”
DEFINE KEY GOLD D AS “DATE.”
C; ER -L 32000(62ASC -2L) ER EX
INC SYS$LOGIN:SIGNATURE.TXT
F BEG
C; IDate sent: ^Z DATE ^M EX
SET MODE CHANGE
———————————————————–

NOTE: Change the ^H^I^J^K^L^M to control characters in the SET ENTITY command.
Change the ^Z to control-Z (but NOT the ^M) in the second last line.

Explaination:

The above does a bit more than what is asked for… The reason I spawn instead
of using callable EDT or TPU is because I prefer to turn off broadcasts while
I’m editing, and because the COM file runs a non-standard INI file. The
special INI file is what adds the emblem/signature. It also does a few other
handy things like adding the time the message was sent, and adding the “>”
character to the beginning of every old line in a reply. (That’s a trick I
learned from someone on this list ages ago.) The guts are in the last five
lines.

First we move to the end of the buffer (ER). Backup one line (-L). Insert a
“>” (62ASC) and go to previous line (-2L) 32000 times. When we’ve finally
added as many “>” as we can, go back to the end of the buffer (ER). Add the
signature file. (INC SYS$LOGIN:SIGNATURE.TXT). Go back to the top of the file
(F BEG) and add the current time and date (IDate sent: ^Z DATE ^M EX). Lastly
give control back to the sender (SET MODE CHANGE).

———————————————————————
,FLA
Subject: No question is stupid…
>From: John McMahon – NASA GSFC ADFTO – 301-286-2045

Date: Thu, 3 Aug 89 12:18:10 EDT

(Commentary having very little to do with Vaxen follows…)

Sample antagonistic response to novice question:
***> RTFM! Page 7-7 in binder 8B, the version 4 doc set. Just set
***> bit 28 and you’re done! And stop asking such silly questions,
***> which are so easily answered, will you!

It seems to me that usefulness of Info-Vax/Comp.Os.Vms is decreased when
someone out on the net asks a question and is greeted with comments like those
above. To you the question may seem trivial… However, it wasn’t to the
person posting.

First thing to keep in mind: Even if it’s in the manuals, the person may not
be able to find it. If you posted a question about “How do I increase the
maximum record size for DECnet I/O”, I could easily answer RTFM. But that’s
only because I found it once… It took a couple of hours, several manuals,
and a little luck. Some people aren’t that lucky, and some don’t have access
to full documentation sets. Also, when was the last time you actually read an
index that pointed to exactly what you wanted the first time ? Most indexes
imply that the user knows approximately what he/she is looking for first…
What is a user to do when he/she doesn’t know where to look ? How about ask
the Info-Vax gurus…

Second thing to keep in mind: Not everyone here is at the same level of
experience. Just because you are talented/knowledgeable you don’t have to hold
that over a novice who is lost in VMS. Remember that at one point, all of the
gurus (including you) were novices. How far would you have advanced if people
you asked for help from said “Read the manuals… You ask silly questions…”
Probably not as far as you have gotten.

Third thing: Behind each posting is a person. The network creates an
‘artificial buffer’ which keeps us separate enough that we forget. Just
because it’s e-mail doesn’t meen you shouldn’t be polite. We are humans after
all… We are supposed to be civilized…

Boiled down to a point: Info-Vax is a technical discussion involving everyone
from the Novice to Guru level. Let’s keep it polite and technical… Don’t
post personal editorial comments…

(I know, I probably just violated that…)

Please direct comments to me (not the list)…
/————————————-+—————————————\
| John “Fast Eddie” McMahon | Span: SDCDCL::FASTEDDY (Node 6.9) |
| Advanced Data Flow Technology Office| Arpa: |
| Code 630.4 – Building 28/W255 | Bitnet: FASTEDDY@DFTBIT |
| NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |GSFCmail: JMCMAHON |
| Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 | Phone: x6-2045 |

——————————————————————————–
,IMAGE-DUMP-ANALYSIS
>Subject: Analyzing a process dump
>From: (Martin Jensen)
>
> I’ve got an executable that runs with the /dump qualifier. I expect
> that, on occasion, the process will crash. (as a matter of fact, we
> intentionally crash it if software detects an unrecoverable condition
> in the code).
>
> The problem is that the dump files are pretty useless. ‘show calls’
> reports only the module names – no routine names – and I’ve only got
> access to universal symbols. The program is compiled with the /debug
> switch and linked with /trace.
>
> Ideally, I would like to be able use anal/proc/image=xxx against the
> dump from the normally linked executable – where xxx would be an
> image containing the full DST and GST. The couple of options I have
> tried allow me to analyze the dump, but the symbol locations don’t
> match properly between the images.
>
> Any ideas???

>Subject: Re: Analyzing a process dump
>From: (George J. Carrette)
>
>The trick people use is to LINK/DEBUG and then use a command
>procedure that calls VMS PATCH to change the image back to thinking
>it was LINK/NODEBUG.
>
>That way you get all the symbols in the image without having it start
>up in the debugger.
>
>You can get a SETDEBUG.C or NSETDEBUG.COM, or other various of that
>from various places. Probably VMSNET.SOURCES archives.
>
>-gjc

——————————————————————————–
,MCR
Subject: Response to Question about “MCR”
>From: Bruce Wright >
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 89 15:31:08 GMT

In article <>, writes:
> MCR stands for “Monitor Console/Control Routine”, and is a vestigial
> element left over when PDP-11 programs could be run under VMS. MCR is/was
> the RSX-11 equivalent of the RUN command, although it really RUNS the
> image as a foreign command, as opposed to RUN, which launches the
> installed image. In that way it’s not exactly a synonym for
> RUN SYS$SYSTEM.

Sorry if this is too pedantic for the net.censors, if you don’t like it
just hit the “n” key.

The MCR command on VMS is more-or-less like RUN on VMS, though with some
of the slight differences that have been mentioned here and elsewhere – but
MCR on RSX was NOT the RSX equivalent of RUN. VMS doesn’t have an exact
equivalent of MCR – the closest thing is DCL; MCR was the user command
line interface module under RSX. As noted, MCR stands for “Monitor
Console Routine” and was the prompt that the user saw:

MCR>your-RSX-command

RUN was a very respectable RSX command – it ran a user image as a task.
RSX commands were one-to-three letter commands which were derived from the
names of installed tasks (sort of like an installed image on VMS, but when
it was invoked it would start a new task [=process on VMS]).

RSX commands were one-to-three letter commands which were derived from the
names of installed tasks. These were run as separate tasks (=process on
VMS) when the corresponding command was entered (everything on RSX was a
task, image activation corresponded to task activation). Since there were
a number of different versions of RSX (RSX-11A, RSX-11B, RSX-11C, RSX-11D,
RSX-11M, RSX-11M+, RSX-11S, IAS, POS, and maybe others), some of which
shared only a few architectural and historical things in common, the
precise details of the implementation differed somewhat between members
of the family.

Later versions of RSX (and some of its derivatives such as IAS) did include
a DCL interpreter which had numerous similarities (and differences) with
respect to VMS DCL. Because of the architecture of the systems, many of
the DCL commands in the RSX family would start a new task (=process) rather
than run an image in the same process as on VMS – but the effect from the
user point of view was very similar.

> Alas, the MCR command interpreter seems to be absent from VMS 5.2. At
> least when I type SPAWN/CLI=MCR, it can’t be found.

The MCR command is left over from when the RSX compatibility mode software
was bundled in with VMS. Those of you that have been around since VMS V1.0
probably remember that, for example, DIRECTORY was implemented as PIP /LI
and that many commands (including DIRECTORY) would spit out RSX-like error
messages like “PIP — No such file(s)”. It started out as much as an aid
for DEC to get all that utility software running on the VAX as it did as an
aid for helping customer conversions.

Since at least V4.0 this has been separate product (VAX-11 RSX) which sites
with an earlier license automatically had a license to use. When it was
made a separate product, all the RSX code (MCR, PIP, TKB, FLX, and all the
other friends from the RSX world, and BACKTRANS.EXE and other things from
the VMS world which made the whole mess work) were removed and made part
of the VAX-11 RSX product.

When this was done, the MCR command was probably left in the DCL tables
because removing it would break too many command files and annoy too many
people who had gotten used to typing “MCR mumble” instead of the wordier
“RUN SYS$SYTEM:mumble”.

Bruce C. Wright
—
Dick Munroe Internet:
Doyle Munroe Consultants, Inc. UUCP: …uunet!thehulk!munroe
267 Cox St. Office: (508) 568-1618
Hudson, Ma. USA FAX: (508) 562-1133

GET CONNECTED!!! Send mail to to find out about DMConnection.

Archive-name: info-vax/part04
Last-modified: 1993/05/27

[Changes since last posting: Add new site for CMUIP. Minor tweaks because of
changes to dmc.com.]

The Info-VAX Monthly Posting
—————————-
PART 4 — How to find software.
(Coordinated by Dick Munroe, written by many others)

(Part 1 is an introduction to Info-VAX. Part 2 is Beginner Common Questions.
Part 3 is Advanced Common Questions.)

This is NOT an introduction to navigation on the Internet. Nor is it intended
to supplant other official “how to find …” FAQs. It is intended to be a
collection of pointers to commonly used/requested VMS software. Whenever
possible the pointers will be to the “official” support site. Pointers to
widely known software archives will be included here from time to time.

In general, all of the software discussed here either has been or soon will be
available from DECUS either as a seperate package or on the DECUS CDROMs. If
all else fails, you can always get things through your local DECUS librarian or
[shudder] buy your own copy.

I’m also soliciting reviews of any of the software discussed in here from users.

Thanks,

Dick Munroe

Save this message for future reference!

Table of Contents:

,ANONYMOUS-UUCP — Archive sites available via anonymous UUCP 30-Apr-93
Dick Munroe
,BBS — Is there a VAX based BBS available? updated 28-Oct-92
Dick Munroe
Jay Whitney
“Brendan Welch”
,CMU-OpenVMS-IP — Where to find CMU-OpenVMS-IP 24-Feb-93
Marc Shannon
,FAQFINDING — Sources for Frequently Asked Questions 04-Aug-92
Dick Munroe
,FILESERV — Addresses of various mail based file servers. updated 28-Oct-92
Dick Munroe
,FTP — Addresses of various FTP sites. updated 05-Sep-92
Dick Munroe
Ulli Horlacher
,FTPMAIL — How to access FTP without an Internet Connection 02-Aug-92
Dick Munroe
,GCC — See ,GNUSOFT 02-Aug-92
,GNUSOFT — How to find GNU software 02-Aug-92
Dick Munroe
,MX — How to get a copy of the Message Exchanger 02-Aug-92
Hunter Goatley
,NEWS — How to get a news reader. updated 03-Sep-92
Billy Barron
Rod Eldridge
Hunter Goatley
Bernd Onasch
,SOFTWARE_LIST — Pointer to lists of VAX Software 03-Sep-92
Ed Wilts
,UUCP — *how* to get decus uucp V2.0 02-Aug-92
Kent C. Brodie
,VI — Where to get VI for VMS? (for those without POSIX) 28-Oct-92
(Andrea Spinelli) and a cast of thousands.
,ZMODEM — Where to find [sources for] ZMODEM for VMS. 14-Sep-92
Dick Munroe
Chuck Forsberg
,ZOO — Where to get ZOO v2.10 for MS-DOS, Unix and VMS 09-Aug-92
Keith Petersen , The SIMTEL20 Archives

(the “,UUCP”, etc are keywords. If you search for that text (including the “,”)
you will be brought to the beginning of that article.)

——————————————————————————–
,ANONYMOUS-UUCP

Some sites provide anonymous uucp access to VMSNET.SOURCES and a variety
of other software.

dmc.com Telephone: (508) 562-7186
Modem: WorldBlazer or equivalent
Login: …
DMConnection> connect hulk
…
Username: UANON
Password: anonymous

Where … is text that can be ignored and is carriage
return.

Make sure that your chat script sets parity to zero or you won’t
make it past the DECServer. U*x boxes should try “” P_ZERO as
the first two tokens of their chat scripts if they have trouble
getting in.

Further information can be gotten by transfering:

~/listings/README.

Which describes the contents of the archives and how to transfer
things. Briefly, you have access to the latest DECUS L&T CDROM,
VMSNET.SOURCE, COMP.SOURCES.*, COMP.BINARIES.MAC, and any other
software in use at dmc.com (some GNU products, MX, DECUS UUCP,
etc.) If you would like other things archived, send
suggestions/requests to

——————————————————————————–
,BBS

The only public domain VAX based BBS that I know of is available from:

or
MAILSERV%

Start by sending a message to the mailserv with the body of the message being:

HELP
INDEX

And go from there. A copy of this BBS has been posted to VMSNET.SOURCES, so it
should also be available from an archive site near you.

At least one person (Roger Smith, ) has reported that
has bounced messages recently.

There is at least one commercially developed BBS available (I’m not an owner or
user of this software, I just know about it). Contact OMTOOL in Salem, New
Hampshire, USA for details.

If anybody knows of other commercial or public domain BBSs for VMS, please
contact me so I can update this listing.

Dick Munroe

I got a pointer to another commercial BBS. The following message is from one of
the developers. The product name is Huddle and is available from Innovative
Software in Denver, Col. As before, I’m not a user or a principal in the
company, just an interested bystander.

>From: Jay Whitney
>Subject: Your Huddle request
>
>Huddle is a commercial electronic conferencing and bulletin board system for
>VMS. Its primary catch point is ease of use. Huddle offers three different
>user interfaces; two are command-based, with an intuitive command set based on
>VMS MAIL (of those two, one is screen oriented, and one is not), the third is a
>panel-oriented, user-extendable menu a-la Lotus 1-2-3 and MS-word.
>
>Huddle also features hierarchical conferencing. A conference can support any
>number of subconferences, where the aggregate structure can be managed as a
>single unit. Maintenance is very simple. Once a maintenance policy has been
>defined, implementation of the maintenance policy is 100% automated. Access
>control is very similar to standard VMS mechanisms.
>
>Huddle also offers built-in bidirectional Bitnet/Internet mailing list
>integration, file upload and download, a file transfer area, and a system news
>facility.
>
> Best Regards,
> Jay Whitney

Yet another pointer to a commercial BBS:

>From: “Brendan Welch, System Analyst, UMass/Lowell”
>
>Subject: Info-VAX: How to find VAX/VMS software.
>
>CoSy (Conferencing System) is a product originally from the Univ. of Guelph.
>It is now supported by Softwords, 4252 Commerce Circle, Victoria, BC, Canada,
>V8Z 4M2. (604)727-6522 Their David Sells does have an email
>address; sorry I have lost it.
>
>Incidentally, we do run it here (as well as VaxNotes and VTX).
>
>Brendan Welch, UMass/Lowell, W1LPG,

——————————————————————————–
,CMU-OpenVMS-IP

>The End of an Era…
>
>Effective December 1st, 1992, Carnegie Mellon University will no
>longer be distributing, developing, or supporting CMU-TEK TCP/IP.
>The resources for CMU-TEK will be reassigned to other local projects
>which will benefit the CMU community.
>
>What happens now?
>
>CMU has made an arrangement with Tektronix to remove their name from
>the product and we are making a final release called CMU-OpenVMS/IP.
>This version is nearly identical to the CMU-TEK 6.6-5 kit, so
>”upgrading” is not required. This version is being released for
>public distribution and will be available for a limited time (until
>January 15, 1993 locally and can probably be found elsewhere after
>that time) for ANONYMOUS FTP.
>
>The installation savesets for CMU-OpenVMS/IP will be stored on
>DRYCAS.CLUB.CC.CMU.EDU (128.2.232.11). This location will also
>contain a CMU-OpenVMS/IP V6.3 kit for those users who are still
>using VMS V4.4 through V4.7. Instructions on how best to retrieve
>and install the software are available there in README.CMUIP. In
>addition, these kits will also be placed in the DECUS Library and
>available for distribution after January 1, 1993. You can contact
>the DECUS Library at the following address/number:
> DECUS
> Library Order Processing
> 333 South Street, SHR1-4/D31
> Shrewsbury, MA 01545-4195
> Phone: 508-841-3500/3502/3511 (8:30AM – 5:00PM EST)
> FAX: 508-841-3373
>
>”Support” for the product will continue on a volunteer-based system
>through the electronic mailing list. Please note (from this
>message) that the mailing list has been moved. The new addresses
>are:
>
>for postings to the mailing list, and:
>
>for requests to be put on or taken off the list.
>The VMSnet newsgroup vmsnet.networks.cmu-tek is also being renamed
>to be vmsnet.networks.cmu-openvms-ip.
>
>Thank you for your support over the years and we hope that this new
>arrangement will permit more sites to help develop CMU-OpenVMS/IP.

[Ed. note: I have found copies of the release available via FTP on
csus.edu in the following directories:

/pub/cmuip/contrib – User contributions to CMUIP.
/pub/cmuip/vms-v4 – The version of CMUIP know to work
against VMS V4
/pub/cmuip/vms-v5 – Ditto for V5 and higher.

The mailing list is gatewayed to

vmsnet.networks.tcp-ip.cmu-tek

for those of you who prefer news group interaction. There appears to be
much more traffic there now and as near as I can tell, better support.
Anyway, more people are responding faster.

I received official confirmation of csus.edu as a mirror site in a later
message, below.]

>Since we are quite fond of the former CMU/Tek package, still rely on it
>for some of our machines, and need to keep a copy around anyway, we have
>placed a mirror copy of the release files on our Anonymous-FTP server.
>CMU initially announced that these files would only be available from their
>server (drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu) until 15-Jan-1993. The intent is that
>providing this mirror site will help maintain the availability of this
>software.
>
>PLEASE NOTE that we are doing this as a convenience to the network community –
>CSU Sacramento does *not* offer any form of support or assistance with the
>product so please do not ask! (Though we’ll be happy to distribute patches
>and updates if/when they become available from Henry, John and other
>dedicated [and slightly eccentric :-)] persons).
>
> John F. Sandhoff, University Network Support
> California State University, Sacramento – USA
>

[Ed. note: Another FTP site for CMUIP is available (this may even be the
“official” one as Henry Miller runs it):

sacwms.mp.usbr.gov [.tekip]
sacusr.mp.usbr.gov [.tekip]

There is a European mirror for CMUIP and all it’s goodies run by Andy Harper:

oak.cc.kcl.ac.uk [.cmu-tcpip]
elm.cc.kcl.ac.uk [.cmu-tcpip]
ash.cc.kcl.ac.uk [.cmu-tcpip]

get [.cmu-tcpip]AAA-TYPE-ME-FIRST.TXT to see the index of everything in the
directory.]
——————————————————————————–
,FAQFINDING

The news.answers news group is the official vehicle for publication of
frequently asked questions digests (including this one). For those of you
without access to News, there is an alternative: DMConnection archives
news.answers and makes it available to the general public. Send a message to
with the body of the message containing the line:

help

to get started.

Dick Munroe
——————————————————————————–
,FILESERV

The following mail servers deal primarily with VMS software. Instructions on
their use and content appear regularly in the vmsnet.sources.d, vmsnet.misc,
and vmsnet.tpu newsgroups.

Address Maintainer

. Bruce Tanner

Stephen Tihor
or TPU Command Procedures Collection

Hunter Goatley
Bernd Onasch

Dick Munroe
——————————————————————————–
,FTP

The following FTP sites have significant collections of VMS software. More
complete lists of anonymous FTP sites and their contents appear regularly in the
news.answers newsgroup. The following ftp sites and their content are discussed
fully in vmsnet.sources.d.

Address Maintainer

acfcluster.nyu.edu Stephen Tihor
Black.Cerritos.EDU Bruce Tanner
dmc.com Dick Munroe
ftp.spc.edu
White.Cerritos.EDU Bruce Tanner

Dick Munroe

>From: (Framstag)
>Subject:Re: Anonymous FTP sites for VMS, DOS, Mac files
>
>For a list of VMS-ftp-sites look at info.rz.uni-ulm.de (134.60.1.125) in
>pub/VMS/ftp-sites
>
>Updated every sunday.
>

[Ed. Note: I looked and here is the sort of stuff you can expect to find:

total 659
-r–r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 42990 Apr 28 16:42 VAX-VMS-SOFTWARE.LIS_Z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 35853 Sep 6 06:04 acfcluster_nyu_edu.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 1718 Sep 6 07:40 ada.cenaath.cena.dgac.fr.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 2594 Sep 6 06:06 addvax_llnl_gov.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 33135 Sep 6 06:37 arizona_edu.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 22874 Sep 6 06:40 black_cerritos_edu.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 2647 Sep 6 06:11 cca_camb_com.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 4934 Sep 6 06:07 cisco_nosc_mil.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 13767 Sep 6 06:41 ftp_spc_edu.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 4508 Aug 2 06:09 ftpvms_ira_uka_de.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 2662 Sep 6 06:05 iago_caltech_edu.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 1805 Sep 6 06:00 kuhub_cc_ukans_edu.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 809 Sep 6 06:11 mis1_mis_mcw_edu.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 218437 Sep 6 07:37 mvb_saic_com.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 84183 Sep 6 06:33 niord_shsu_edu.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 3797 Sep 6 06:05 phast_phys_washington_edu.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 6300 Sep 6 07:39 public_tgv_com.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 834 Sep 6 06:06 rml2_sri_com.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 1167 Sep 6 07:39 ubvms_cc_buffalo_edu.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 734 Sep 6 06:06 utnetw_utoledo_edu.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 6718 Sep 6 06:08 vesta_sunquest_com.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 3337 May 24 06:00 vms_ecs_rpi_edu.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 139662 Sep 6 06:52 vms_huji_ac_il.lis_z
-rw-r–r– 1 ftp-admi news 1670 Sep 6 06:00 vmsa_oac_uci_edu.lis_z

The above was obtained via with the following message:

connect info.rz.uni-ulm.de
ls /pub/VMS/ftp-sites
quit

Presumably things will change as stuff gets added.]
——————————————————————————–
,FTPMAIL

Many sites are not directly connected to the internet. Yet much of the software
or information we want access to is not available from mail servers. In the
United States (there may be other sites, but I’ve never had reason to access
them) I have found the FTPMAIL service of DEC Western Research Labs to be
invaluable. To get information, send a message to with a
message body consisting of the single line:

help

ftpmail and other mechanisms are discussed periodically in the news.answers
newsgroup.

Good Luck,

Dick Munroe
——————————————————————————–
,GCC
,GNUSOFT

The official FTP site for all GNU software is prep.ai.mit.edu. They even have
the basics there for GCC. For those of you interested in G++ (the GNU C++
compiler) for VMS you should try FTP from mango.rsmas.miami.edu. They keep
current copies of G++ and G++lib in VMS installable form available. I have also
found a mail based file server, which also keeps current
copies of G++ and G++lib in VMS installable form.

Good Luck,

Dick Munroe
——————————————————————————–
,MX

>From: “Hunter Goatley, WKU”
>Subject:New e-mail fileserver:

>OK, I’m setting up an experiment….
>
>Some of you have been asking about getting MX031 via e-mail because
>you don’t have access to anonymous ftp. Well, I (finally) packaged up
>MX031 and created a new file server on my system. To the new file
>server is . MX will *not* be available from
>FILESERV because I want to try to limit when the files go out.
>
>MX031 is a VMS_SHARE file in 113 parts (60 blocks)—that’s pretty
>big. Unlike the way Matt used to set it up, I’ve (for the time being)
>created one big .MFTU file containing all the VMSINSTAL savesets.
>The only caveat at the moment is that MXSERVER files are only sent
>between 5PM CDT and 6AM CDT. If very many people request MX031, my
>poor 9600-baud BITNET link will take a while to let everything go
>through.
>
>SO:
>
> a) please be patient—it may take several days for everything to
> make it through
> b) MX_REVC_UPGRADE031 has also been moved from FILESERV to MXSERVER
> (use SEND MX_REVC_UPGRADE031)
> c) don’t everybody ask for it at once
> d) this is an experiment—depending on how things go, I may have to
> limit the number of files a person can get in a day, etc.
>
>Of course, MX is available via ftp from ftp.spc.edu in [.MX].
>
>Hunter
——————————————————————————–
,NEWS

[Ed. Note — This was cribbed from the news.software.anu-news FAQ. There
is an beta version of ANU News, 6.1b* that is available as well. I don’t know
if it is available from these sites as well, but I believe it is. 6.1a4 is
packaged as part of the UUCP 2.0 release, so if you’re getting that, you don’t
need to get a copy unless you want to get the documentation/sources, or the
latest versions.

Dick Munroe]

>From: (Billy Barron – VAX/UNIX Systems Manager)
>Subject:FAQ: news.software.anu-news

>…
>Q: How do I acquire a copy of ANU News?
>A: ANU News is available for anonymous FTP on sao.aarnet.edu.au (Australia)
> and kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (Kansas, USA). Other sites may also have it
> available. Please use the site closest to you. There are two versions
> available: a normal backup saveset and a LZW compressed version of the
> backup savesets. VMS LZW programs are available on kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
> also and through DECUS. For network load reasons, it is preferable if you
> acquire LZW and the compressed version of ANU NEWS.
>
> The Glass patch was posted to the newsgroup after V6.0-2 was released. The
> archives for the newsgroup are accessable from .
>
> here’s an example of what you should send to :
>
> //ListSrch JOB Echo=No,Reply-via=mail
> Database Search DD=Rules
> //Rules DD *
> Select glass v6.0-3 patch in anu-news since 1-jan-1991
> print
> /*
>
> i believe you can send mail there with a subject (or is it body?)
> of “help”, and it’ll send help.
>
> there’s also a news fileserver at . commands are
> like:
> send news_v60-3_patch.19
> send news_v60-3_patch.2%
> send news_v60-3_patch.18
> and i imagine the help thing works there, too..
>
>…

>From: (R Eldridge, VMS FOREVER)
>Subject:Re: Looking for Newsreader software

>VNEWS – NNTP Client developed by a large group of people. Current
> contact is Joel Snyder (). Available by
> Anonymous FTP, contact Joel for details. UNIX style interface.
>
> ‘bit.listserv.vnews-l’ is a USENET equivalent of the ‘VNEWS-L’
> mailing list based at UBVM.BITNET.
>
>DXRN – VMS port of the Berkeley XRN X windows news reader. Contact
> is Rick Murphy (). Available by
> Anonymous FTP to decuac.dec.com, file /pub/DEC/dxrn.share.
>
>BULLETIN – Includes a USENET news reading mode. Send mail to
> with the text INFO for details on
> what BULLETIN is and how to get it.
>

>Subject: Matt Madison’s utilities (was Re: Looking for Newsreader software)
>From:
>
>In article <>,
>(R Eldridge, VMS FOREVER) writes:
>> NEWSRDR – Available for Anonymous FTP on
>> …
>>
>Actually, all of this has changed. NEWSRDR is available via anonymous
>ftp from ftp.spc.edu ([192.107.46.27]) in [.MADISON.NEWSRDR]. It’s
>available via e-mail by sending the following commands in the body
>a of mail message to :
>
>SEND NEWSRDR
>SEND FILESERV_TOOLS
>SEND NEWSRDR_SRC !To get the sources
>
>All of Matt’s programs are available from ftp.spc.edu in [.MADISON]
>and via e-mail from . Send the command DIR ALL
>in the body of a mail message to for a brief
>listing of all the packages available from here.
>

>From: (Framstag)
>Subject:Re: Looking for Newsreader software
>
>VMS NEWS v1.24 by Bernd Onasch
>
>VMS NEWS is a VAX/VMS full screen orientated NEWSreader supporting the
>following network (TCP/IP) implementations:
> * CMU/tek
> * EXOS (never tested, no site with it available)
> * MultiNet
> * Process Software
> * UCX (1.x and 2.0 [DEC TCP/IP])
> * Wollongong
> * DECnet object (tested the one of ANU NEWS 6.0.6)
>( * ANET – just got it from someone in japan – not yet tested )
>
>The client supports various display methods:
> * Numbered to just show the articles in order they came in
> * Subject to display the articles sorted by subject line
> * Threaded to display the articles sorted by threads (e.g. references)
>In all cases, VMS NEWS offers a window where you can scroll around to select
>the requested newsgroup or article.
>
>VMS NEWS is available from:
> * MAILserver
> package NEWS_124 – VMSshare’d source
> * FTPserver iraun1.ira.uka.de (129.13.10.90)
> /pub/networks/news/news_1_24.com – VMSshare’d source
> * FTPserver info.rz.uni-ulm.de (134.60.1.125)
> /pub/VMS/communication/news124.zip – VMS zipped source
> * FTPserver ftp.spc.edu (192.107.46.27)
> [anonymous.ucx]news_124.share – VMSshare’d source
>
>For technical questions about VMS NEWS please mail directly to
>Bernd Onasch:
>
>
>
——————————————————————————–
,SOFTWARE_LIST
>From: EWILTS
>Subject: Info-VAX: How to find VAX/VMS software.
>
>Dick,
>
>Ric Steinberger publishes a monthly Vax Software list to comp.os.vms. A
>pointer to this would be helpful. From Ric’s file:
>
>NOTE: A current version of this file may be retreived by sending a ONE LINE
> mail message to: . The one line should say:
> ?PACKAGE*VAX_LIST
> I will also try to keep a current version of VAX_LIST.TXT (this
> file) available via anonymous FTP from: rml2.sri.com (128.18.22.20).
>
>
>Ed Wilts, BC Systems Corp., 4000 Seymour Place, Victoria, B.C., Canada, V8X 4S8
> | | (604) 389-3430
>
——————————————————————————–
,UUCP

>Subject: HOW to get decus uucp (last time… really!)
>From:
>
> UUCP_INFO.TXT
> -or-
>”The canned answer given to folks who want to get a copy of DECUS UUCP”
>
>Last Revision: 7/28/92 Kent C. Brodie ()
> -or- fps!brodie)
>
>
>How to get DECUS UUCP (Version 2.0):
>
>DECUS UUCP, distributed by the DECUS “VMSNET” working group, is a complete
>implementation of UUCP for VMS. It is becoming one of the most popular
>”packages” offered from DECUS, and for many VAX sites, it’s their only
>way to get to the internet. This file describes how you may
>obtain your very own copy of the software for little or no cost.
>
>
>1) via DECUS. By far the most popular method of obtaining DECUS UUCP
> is through the VAX SIG TAPES distributed by the DECUS librarians. The
> tapes (now available on CDROM, too!) do not cost much (or nothing at all
> if you obtain them via your LUG librarian), and you’ll get
> TONS of stuff besides “just” UUCP. Contact your local DECUS tape
> librarian, and find out how you can get the latest set of DECUS tapes.
> (You can also order them through the DECUS LIBRARY)
>
> NOTE:
> * decus UUCP (V2.0) is NOW available on the SPRING 1992 tapes
> * decus UUCP (V1.3) last appeared on the FALL 1990 tapes
>
>2) using FTP via the INTERNET. DECUS UUCP (V2.0) is available via anonymous
> ftp from the following sites:
>
> ftp.spc.edu directory [.decus_uucp]
> Address: 192.107.46.27
> (maintained by )
> ftp.uu.net directory /systems/vms/uucp
> Address: 137.39.1.9
> (maintained by the folks at uunet)
> mis1.mis.mcw.edu directory [.decus_uucp]
> Address: 141.106.64.11
> (maintained by )
> mvb.saic.com directory [.decus_uucp]
> Address: 139.121.19.1
> (maintained by )
>
> “mis1.mis.mcw.edu” is the ftp site that *I* maintain, and any
> updates I receive will be immediately passed down to the other sites
> shown above.
>
> The contents if the [.decus_uucp] directory should have the following:
> (file sizes listed are VMS disk blocks [=512 bytes each])
>
> Directory STA1:[UUCP_DIST]
>
> DEVEL.BKP;1 16128
> MAPS.BKP;1 13167
> NEWSDEVEL.BKP;1 7623
> * RUN.BKP;1 8001
> SUPPDOC.BKP;1 3465
> SUPPNEWS.BKP;1 12096
> * UU20BOOT.BKP;1 1890
>
> Total of 7 files, 62370 blocks.
>
> Files with a “*” are the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM required. Additionally,
> NEW sites (not yet running UUCP) will also need MAPS.BKP.
> The “NEWS” files refer to Geoff Huston’s ANU-NEWS, which is
> also distributed with DECUS UUCP.
>
> Additionally, If you’re really up to it, the ftp site
> wuarchive.wustl.edu currently offers the latest VAX SIG decus
> tape offerings via anonymous ftp. (the WHOLE tape, no parts!). Be
> ready for a lot of transfer time and a lot of pieces, though.
>
> If you do use FTP on any of the above sites, PLEASE be kind.
> DECUS UUCP is kind of big, so transfer it during non-peak hours.

[Ed. note: for those of you without FTP AND without a direct UUNET
connection AND you are unwilling to use UUNET’s 900 number service,
try FTPMAIL. For details, see the discussion of FTPMAIL, above.]

>
>3) Via “anonymous uucp”.
> [thanks to Jamie Hanrahan who arranged for this….]
>
> UUNET also has the package available for pickup via anonymous uucp.
> (any DECUS UUCP site running at least V1.2 can make use of this!)
>
> DOCUMENTATION ON USING ANONYMOUS UUCP IS *IN* YOUR EXISTING (V1.2+)
> DECUS UUCP DOCUMENTATION (USRGDxx.MEM).
>
> You can use uunet even if you are not a “subscriber” (they have
> a 900 number! At the time of writing, connect charges via 900
> access is about $0.40 a minute) (be forwarned: uunet
> charges rates based on connect time used…. based on a V.32 modem
> (etc), the BASE kit would cost about $10-$12. The ENTIRE kit can
> probably be retrieved for under $50.) Although long distance is
> the “next best thing to being there”, it isn’t cheap….
>
> (If all you have is a 2400-baud modem, don’t even consider this…..)
>
> The directory to get the files from is ~/systems/vms/uucp and
> the very first file to retrieve is “aaareadme.txt”. That file
> will then document for you everything else you have to do. (what
> files to get, how to uncompress them, etc.).
>
> This method, therefore, is probably preferable for those sites who
> aren’t a long ways away from uunet, or who are already using it
> as their main feed.
>
> The following is a reference to the file names and sizes. You
> can be the judge as to what it would cost to transfer knowing
> your system’s capabilities, modem speed, and connection rate:
>
>
> directory “/systems/vms/uucp”:
> total 14174
> * -rw-rw-r– 1 3 21 10198 Jul 20 19:52 aaareadme.txt
> -rw-rw-r– 1 3 21 4787679 Jul 10 05:01 devel.bkp-z
> -rw-rw-r– 1 3 21 2112011 Jul 10 05:17 newsdevel.bkp-z
> * -rw-rw-r– 1 3 21 85666 Jul 17 00:15 preboot.vms_share
> * -rw-rw-r– 1 3 21 2460500 Jul 10 05:24 run.bkp-z
> -rw-rw-r– 1 3 21 900149 Jul 10 05:27 suppdoc.bkp-z
> -rw-rw-r– 1 3 21 3591934 Jul 10 05:37 suppnews.bkp-z
> * -rw-rw-r– 1 3 21 498411 Jul 17 00:22 uu20boot.bkp-z
>
> Files marked with a “*” are the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM required. (note:
> the files here are a bit different from the FTP or MAGTAPE distribution)

[Ed. note: the command I used to fetch devel.bkp-z was:

uucp -v “uunet!~/systems/vms/uucp/devel.bkp-z” uucp_public:devel.bkp-z

and it worked just fine.]

>
>4) Lastly, the final method of getting a copy is via your local friendly
> mailman. I provide free distribution of the DECUS UUCP package,
> but only if you pay the freight.
>
> Package the following:
>
> 1 tape (TK50, TK70, or 9-track) ** TK85 coming soon…**
> 1 self-addressed, STAMPED envelope to fit the tape **required**
>
>
> Mail it all to:
>
> DECUS UUCP
>c/o Kent Brodie
> Faculty Physicians & Surgeons
> 11200 West Plank Court, Suite 160
> Wauwatosa, WI 53226
>
>
> (If you send me a 9-track tape, I can handle 1600 or 6250bpi.)
> If you use 6250, it will all fit on a 600-foot reel. If you need 1600,
> then you must send a 2400-foot reel)
>
> U.S. Postage for mailing a TKxx cartridge is something like $2.90.
> (thus, for both ways, the total cost is $5.80)
>
> A few notes. I provide this service free of charge, but at the
> same time, The Medical College of Wisconsin didn’t hire me to make
> tape copies either. As I get tapes to make, I make them when I can.
> Usual turnaround time is about a week. (“your mileage may vary”).
>
> Finally, when it comes to the self-addressed “stamped”
> envelope, you can use normal US postal mail, Federal Express, or UPS.
> Our office does not normally deal with any other couriers, so please
> don’t go using DHL or something.
>
> Questions? email me or gimme a call.
>
>—————————————————————————–
>Kent C. Brodie – Sr. Systems Manager InterNet:
>Faculty Physicians & Surgeons uucpNet: fps.mcw.edu!brodie
>Medical College of Wisconsin MaBellNet: +1 414 266 5080
——————————————————————————–
,VI
>From:
>Subject:Summary: vi editor for VMS
>
>Hi everyone!
>
>Here is a summary of answers to my query for a vi clone for VMS
>
>From: (Jim Whitfill – Los Alamos)
>
>>get [.vi]vi.sav or [.vi]vi.sav_z from anonymous on meediv.lanl.gov. vi.sav is
>>a VMS backup saveset and vi.sav_z is compressed. Get lzdcmp.exe from top level
>>on meediv.lanl.gov and decomp vi.sav_z.
>
>From: (Ulli ‘Framstag’ Horlacher)
>
>info.rz.uni-ulm.de pub/VMS/editors/elvis.zip
>
>From: (Luke Brennan)
>
>> you should use ELVIS – it works fine. If you can’t find it
>> closer to home, try here at coco.cchs.su.oz.au ( cd [.elvis])
>>
>> The version here is one rev behind the current one apparently –
>> but I haven’t bothered to find the latest one, as nobody has
>> complained about anything!
>
>Original_From: (Testa Andrea SI-DP EPFL)
>Host ftp.uni-kl.de (131.246.9.95)
>Last updated 00:47 27 Sep 1992
>
> [Andrea suggests Elvis, and points to the DECUS distribution,
> or the listed ARCHIE-generated locations.
> I translate here because he wrote to me in Italian…]
>
>Host ftp.uni-kl.de (131.246.9.95)
>Last updated 00:47 27 Sep 1992
>
> Location: /pub2/packages/linux/sources/usr.bin
> FILE r–r–r– 341883 Apr 6 14:29 elvis-1.5.tar.Z
> Location: /pub2/packages/linux/binaries/usr.bin
> FILE rw-r–r– 333727 Apr 2 18:09 elvis-1.5.tar.Z
>
>Host guardian.cs.psu.edu (130.203.1.3)
>Last updated 00:25 27 Sep 1992
>
> Location: /pub/src/gnu
>Last updated 00:25 27 Sep 1992
> FILE rw-rw-r– 333727 Apr 6 18:33 elvis-1.5.tar.Z
>
>Host ftp.uu.net (137.39.1.9)
> Location: /systems/unix/linux/binaries/usr.bin/Editors
> FILE rw-r–r– 166363 Apr 30 16:24 elvis-1.5.tar.Z
>
>From: (STEVEN FISHBACK)
>
>> Yes, I have ported it the vax here at my work place and it
>>works great for me. FTP anonymously to the following site:
>
> Host: gatekeeper.dec.com (16.1.0.2)
> Location: pub/VMS/vitpu-v5
>
> DIRECTORY r-xr-xr-x 1024 Oct 31 1990 vitpu-v5
>
>>It’s written in TPU and it comes with documentation to install and use.
>>The creator is Gregg Wonderly, Mathematics Department of Oklahoma
>>State U.
>
>From:
>
>>Try Elvis v1.5 or later, it is supposed to work under VMS. The TPU version of
>>vi should be avoided.
>
>
>Thanks also to:
> Larry Henry
>
>[editor’s note: like we say here in Lombardia,
> there are 32 different tastes!
> pick your choice! BTW, I am writing this message with vi by
>
> which happened to arrive first to me!
>]
>
>Many thanks to everybody. Hope this is useful….
>
> Andrea Spinelli
——————————————————————————–
,ZMODEM

The following is the official word form Chuck Forsberg, the developer of ZMODEM:

>From: >
>Subject: Re: Pointer to VMS implementation of ZMODEM needed
>
>There are two versions of VMS ZMODEM available.
>
>RZSZ.TLB is available on TeleGodzilla, GEnie, and Compuserve,
>and supports dial-in callers with ZMODEM-90(Tm) programs.
>
>A commercial version that also supports Crosstalk, Telix, Procomm
>et al is available for $495.00 from Omen Technology.
>
>Both of these programs support the popular VMS record formats.
>
>Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX …!tektronix!reed!omen!caf
>Author of YMODEM, ZMODEM, Professional-YAM, ZCOMM, and DSZ
> Omen Technology Inc “The High Reliability Software”
>17505-V NW Sauvie IS RD Portland OR 97231 503-621-3406
>TeleGodzilla:621-3746 FAX:621-3735 CIS:70007,2304 Genie:CAF

I logged into TeleGodzilla just to see what was there. For those of you who
want source code, here’s the official pointer to the “official source code”:

“ZMODEM protocol information and royalty free C source code for
developers is available in Omen’s “ZMODEM Developer’s
Collection” which may be ordered by voice at 503-621-3406.”

The following is the help file from TeleGodzilla:

>Yam-Host(C):help
>*************** Yam-Host Command Summary Rev 04-24-87
>
>File(s) Ambiguous Path Name or names: [dir/]file.exe …
> A directory name expands to all files in that directory,
> An empty File expands to all files in the current directory.
>
>file1 Unambiguous single filename
>
>cd directory change to directory
>cd change to login (home) directory
>pwd print working directory
>BYE stops the hemorraging of your phone bill
>chat opens a link to the console (chat with SYSOP)
>message leave a public message (file=MESSAGES)
>private leave a private message for sysop
>dir File(s) alphabetized directory listing
>dirr File(s) long form directory with transmission time printout
>dird File(s) sorted by date
>dirt File(s) sorted by date in reverse order
>dirl File(s) sorted by file length
>dirs File(s) sorted by file length in reverse order
>rb receive files FROM YOU with YMODEM batch protocol
>rx file1 receive one file FROM YOU using XMODEM protocol
>kermit rb receive files FROM YOU with Kermit protocol
>type File(s) type files (one or more ambiguous file names)
>sx -k file1 send 1 TO YOU, XMODEM protocol (-k gives 1k blocks)
>rc file1 receive one file FROM YOU with CRC-16 error checking
>sb -k File(s) send one or more files with YMODEM batch protocol
>sz File(s) send one or more files with ZMODEM batch protocol
>sz -r File(s) Recover/resume ZMODEM file transfer(s)
>kermit sb File(s) send files TO YOU with Kermit protocol
>EXAMPLES: sx yamdemo.arc (XMODEM)
> kermit sb yamdemo.arc (Kermit)
>
>Keyboard “type info.txt” for more information on this particular system.

RZSZ.TLB is, I believe, also available from most of the VMS software archives
(cerritos.edu carries it). I checked to see if there were other copies of
ZMODEM around.

UUNET has [at least] the following, most of which SHOULD be in source form:

>systems/unix/linux/sources/usr.bin/Communications:
>total 1310
>-rw-r–r– 1 archive 713 Aug 11 07:20 rzsz.README.Z
>-rw-r–r– 1 archive 3784 Aug 6 17:13 rzsz9202.dff.Z
>-rw-r–r– 1 archive 81407 Aug 6 17:14 rzsz9202.tar-z.Z

>networking/terms:
>total 1165
>-rw-r–r– 1 revell 59565 Jul 2 23:24 zmodem.tar.Z

>systems/mac/info-mac/unix:
>total 1810
>-rw-r–r– 1 archive 52736 Feb 12 1992 zmodem-part1.shar
>-rw-r–r– 1 archive 42589 Feb 12 1992 zmodem-part2.shar
>-rw-r–r– 1 archive 54140 Feb 12 1992 zmodem-part3.shar
>-rw-r–r– 1 archive 47368 Feb 12 1992 zmodem-part4.shar

>usenet/comp.sources.unix/volume12/zmodem:
>total 62
>-r–r–r– 1 archive 22356 Oct 18 1987 part01.Z
>-r–r–r– 1 archive 12759 Oct 18 1987 part02.Z
>-r–r–r– 1 archive 27191 Oct 18 1987 part03.Z

The protocol documentation is in:

>doc/literary/obi/Standards/FileTransfer:
>total 109
>-rw-r–r– 1 archive 45213 Oct 28 1991 ZMODEM8.DOC.1.Z

In addition, the VAX Software list (see SOFTWARE-LIST, above) mentions the
following:

SZ Shell SZ Shell gives the Z-Modem program SZ a host of new features
including wildcards and various others. Both SZ and RZ are
provided in the archive.
Availability: F47

F47 AB20.LARC.NASA.GOV

and

ZMODEM File transfer between Vax and Unix/PC/Amiga computers.
Availability: S14, F15

S14
F15 WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL

F = FTP
S = Mail Server

That’s all I could find with a quick look.

Dick Munroe
——————————————————————————–
,ZOO

>Subject: Where to get ZOO v2.10 for MS-DOS, Unix and VMS
>From: (Keith Petersen)
>
>It seems that no matter how often this information is posted, someone
>will ask for it again in 2 or 3 days. PLEASE save this article!
>
>SIMTEL20:
>=========
>ZOO version 2.10 (needed for extracting files posted in Usenet
>newsgroup comp.binaries.ibm.pc) is available via anonymous FTP from
>WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL (192.88.110.20) or mirror sites OAK.Oakland.Edu
>(141.210.10.117), wuarchive.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4), ftp.uu.net
>(137.39.1.9), nic.funet.fi (128.214.6.100), src.doc.ic.ac.uk
>(146.169.3.7) or archie.au (139.130.4.6), by e-mail through the
>BITNET/EARN file servers, or by uucp from UUNET’s 1-900-GOT-SRCS.
>See UUNET file uunet!~/info/archive-help for details.
>
>Garbo:
>======
>If you do not know how to go about getting this material, users
>are welcome to email (Timo Salmi) for the prerecorded
>garbo.uwasa.fi instructions (long, circa 29Kb). North American users
>are referred to the garbo mirror on wuarchive.wustl.edu. Australian
>users are referred to the archie.au mirror. The mirrors may lag
>occasionally, or might not have all the files. If you do not receive
>Timo’s reply within five days, please ask your own site’s system manager
>to construct a returnable mail path for you.
>
>Directory PD1:
> Filename Type Length Date Description
>==============================================
>ZOO210.EXE B 55721 910712 Dhesi’s make/extract/view ZOO archives, 910712
>
> 73461 Jul 12 1991 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/arcers/zoo210.exe
>
>Directory PD8:
> Filename Type Length Date Description
>==============================================
>ZOO210.TAR-Z B 246115 910714 Dhesi’s make/extract/view ZOO archives, C src
>
>237093 Aug 8 1991 garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/arcers/zoo210.tar.Z
>
>Directory PD8:
> Filename Type Length Date Description
>==============================================
>ZOO210.ARC B 289193 910801 Dhesi’s make/extract/view ZOO archives, C src
>
>289193 Jul 5 1991 garbo.uwasa.fi:/vms/arcers/zoo210.arc
>647168 Jun 24 13:42 garbo.uwasa.fi:/vms/arcers/zoo210.tar
>
>Keith
>–
>Keith Petersen
>Maintainer of the MSDOS, MISC and CP/M archives at SIMTEL20 [192.88.110.20]
>Internet: or
>Uucp: uunet!umich!vela!w8sdz BITNET: w8sdz@OAKLAND
—
Dick Munroe Internet:
Doyle Munroe Consultants, Inc. UUCP: …uunet!thehulk!munroe
267 Cox St. Office: (508) 568-1618
Hudson, Ma. USA FAX: (508) 562-1133

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