CHAPTER VAX PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Editor's Workfile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VAX-3 On-Line Disk Compress . . . . . . . . . . . . . VAX-6 Letters to the Pageswapper . . . . . . . . . . . VAX-7 Insecurities of DZ-11 Modem Polling . . . . . VAX-11 Applying the VMS V4.4 Documentation Set Update VAX-12 VAX System SIG Committee List . . . . . . . . VAX-13 INPUT/OUTPUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VAX-16 Forms at the End INPUT/OUTPUT Submission Form . . . . . . . . . VAX-19 System Improvement Request Submission Form . . VAX-21 VAX Systems SIG Fall 1986 SIR Ballot . . . . . VAX-23 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 General material for publication in the Pageswapper should be sent (US mail only -- no "express" services please) to: Larry Kilgallen, PAGESWAPPER Editor Box 81, MIT Station Cambridge, MA 02139-0901 USA Preference is given to material submitted as machine-readable text (best is Runoff source). Line length should not exceed 64 characters. Please do not submit program source, as that is better distributed on the VAX SIG tape. Please do not submit "slides" from DECUS Symposia presentations (or other meetings) as they are generally a very incomplete treatment for those readers of the Pageswapper who are not so fortunate as to be able to travel to Symposia. Please DO write articles based on such slides to get the content across to a wider audience than is able to attend. For information about on-line submission to the Pageswapper, use a 1200 baud modem to dial (in the United States): (617) 262-6830 and log in with the username PAGESWAPPER. Change of address, reports of non-receipt, and other circulation correspondence should be sent to: DECUS U.S. Chapter Attention: Publications Department 249 Northboro Road (BPO2) Marlborough, MA 01752 USA Only if discrepancies of the mailing system are reported can they be analyzed and corrected. VAX-2 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Editor's Workfile Editor's Workfile by Larry Kilgallen, Pageswapper Editor Symposium VAXnotes - This electronic conferencing software from DEC was announced as a product at the Dallas Symposium, and use of it on the demonstration machines was quite popular. I was given a magtape of the "VAXSIG" conference at the end of the week for possible publication. There is a slight problem in that those contributing did not give explicit authorization for publication, although making one's comments available on-line to several thousand symposium participants hardly counts as keeping them secret. The middle ground I have chosen is to sanitize the file by removing references to individual names and publish the most interesting excerpts. I cannot yet easily read the tape I have received, however, since the DEC Electronic Store has not set a delivery date for the VAXnotes software. Hopefully it will be available in time for the August issue of the Pageswapper. Symposium Mail - As if to make up for the aforementioned windfall, we again had trouble with the ability to send Mail to Pageswapper at the symposium. A system management tactic chosen by those running the exhibit was to remove the MAIL command from the DCL tables. It was not too tragic, however, since now we have the ability to accept Pageswapper submissions electronically all year round. See the June 1986 Pageswapper (that's last month) for details. (Actually it would seem several people have seen the June Pageswapper; after just a few responses to the article in UPDATE.DAILY from the Dallas Symposium there have lately been quite a few inquiries now that the June Pageswapper has started to arrive around the country). Architecture manual - Free for the taking at the Dallas Symposium was the NEW architecture manual for the VAX. I'll stick with my 1981 copy, thank you, as the new one leaves out several important pieces of information, such as which registers get destroyed by various instructions and which registers contain results!!! VAX-3 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Editor's Workfile "Complete" VMS documentation set - It turns out there is one document that won't be in the "complete" set in the future. It is AI-HB12A-TE, "VAX/VMS Developer's Guide to VMSINSTAL". Now I think it is appropriate that great numbers of people not be burdened with a manual for which they have little use, but its absence from any "set" means there is no way to subscribe to updates for the document. After asking several DEC folks at the symposium, I got a letter dated May 9 from Betsy Anderson of DEC confirming that there are no plans to offer update service. She says the reason is there are no plans for changes to the book. It seems to me, however, that if the possible future license enforcement facility discussed at a birds-of-a-feather session at Anaheim last December ever came to pass it would be something whose documentation would logically be bundled with VMSINSTAL documentation and many people would want to get the news by subscription. There are two other documents not included with the "full" documentation set, but they are both for "layered" portions of VMS: AA-HP69A-TE Guide to Multiprocessing on VAX/VMS AA-HI90A-TE VAX/VMS Volume Shadowing Manual As such, I presume they can be put on subscription as the "documentation only" version of the appropriate layered VMS segments. Of course the DEC Electronic Store does not recognize any of these order numbers as being valid as of today (May 19), but it was not until the week before the Dallas Symposium that it recognized the existance of VMS version V4.3. My congratulations, by the way, to Betsy Anderson for actually sending a letter to respond to a verbal question. It is quite hard sometimes to get people (DEC or otherwise) to even respond to a letter with another letter, no matter how straightforward the question. Anderson sets a fine example for us all. VAX-4 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Editor's Workfile Trivia - Perhaps the most arcane thing I learned at the Dallas Symposium has to do with the ACCOUNT field in accounting records. Apparently the Signal Technologies chargeback product sets certain of the high order bits in that field to encode the line speed used for an interactive session. That method of making up for shortcomings in the data DEC records may be fine once you know what is going on, but at least one symposium participant who had the software installed had no idea that this was the case (and therefore had trouble sorting data based on the raw accounting records). Orange book ratings for secure systems - And now for something NOT from the Dallas Symposium, a representative of the National (DOD) Computer Security Center predicted on Tuesday May 6, 1986 that DEC would have a system approved at the A1 level by 1989. Speaking to the Ninth US Department of Energy Computer Security Group Conference in Las Vegas, Dain Gary of the N(DOD)CSC cautiously avoided mentioning particular names of products for which vendors had consulted the center on what is called "developmental evaluation". This is different that the announced product evaluations underway (and now scheduled for completion this summer) for VMS and CDC's NOS. Although Gary did not indicate which hardware architecture DEC might use to achieve an A1 rating, he earlier had mentioned the Center had no success in convincing DEC to go for DOD security ratings on their PDP11 processors. If it's going to be existing hardware on which this predicted A1 system runs, that means it must be a PDP-8 (DECmate), Rainbow, 36-bit machine, or VAX. Gary showed a chart with several vendors (including DEC) estimated to be achieving an A1 rating by 1989, but IBM was not among them. The highest rating he showed for IBM at that time was B2. VAX-5 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Letters to the Pageswapper Letters to the Pageswapper The South Australian Institute of Technology The Levels P.O. Box 1, Ingle Farm 5098 Australia 21st May, 1986 (This is a copy of a letter to:) Mr. Gary L. Grebus, Batelle Columbus Division, Room 11-6011, 505 King Avenue, COLUMBUS Ohio 43201-2693 U.S.A. Dear Gary, When you come to report on the disappointing response to the Spring 1986 System Improvement Request Ballot, spare a thought for us poor users in Australia. We were presented with a list of great ideas to vote on, and a description of the voting procedure saying THE DEADLINE IS APRIL 1. This was in the February Pageswapper, which we received today, May 20th, a mere seven weeks after the deadline. Robbed of our right to voted ten seconds after we discovered we had it! To make things worse, the March Pageswapper arrived in the same package. It contained a comment from Larry Kilgallen along the lines of "if you don't vote, I'll get my friends to thwart your desires". Grrrr! I bet he gets tacks of poison-pen letters from overseas.! Yes I know the problem is in the distribution of newsletters within Australia. I know it has nothing to do with you. But please don't regard us all as apathetic if you don't get a satisfactory response to your ballot. The last six pageswappers have arrived here an average of 10 weeks after the first of the month of issue. A letter in the March Pageswapper suggests that European readers have similar difficulties. Maybe you could make the ballot deadline a little later next time. How about it? Yours faithfully, ROLLO ROSS Network Manager VAX-6 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Letters to the Pageswapper c.c: Decus Australia Mr. Larry Kilgallen Response from Larry Kilgallen Tell you what -- you give us our Cup back, and ... No, seriously, it may pain you further to learn that those six Pageswapper issues were turned in for production one month BEFORE the first of the month of issue. So that makes it 14 weeks of transmission time, certainly unacceptable. There were changes made a year or so ago to prevent someone from being a member of a DECUS chapter other than their "home" chapter. My assumption is that the goal was to prevent other chapters from being just ancillary to the US chapter. In the process, however, it would seem appropriate communications mechanisms were not set up to provide for the exchange of information (i.e., newsletters) between chapters (this goes both ways, note that on-line disk restructuring was number 1 on the European SIR ballot before it was in the US). Technically we have the capability to allow dial-up retrieval of the Pageswapper, and I would be willing to set that up for some particular member of a faraway chapter if they were able to pay for the phone call. The obvious provision must be that they would pass it on to their normal chapter distribution mechanism. If the problem is REALLY in Australia, I don't think that would help, but I tend to believe the problem is getting the original to Australia in the first place. One difficulty with dialup is I think there may be a problem with modem compatibility (the modulation schemes I have available are Bell and Vadic). We should ask ourselves, however, whether such underground efforts are appropriate, as compared to making the mechanisms already in place work properly. In the US there is a "communications committee" with members from each of about 20 SIGs set up to worry about things like distribution mechanisms. It is clearly possible for the US DECUS staff (paid DEC employees) to express ship a photocopy of newsletter originals to their counterparts in Australia the day they get it. It is not the finished book which is required anyway, just the technical content. I have seen very much rearranged copies and excerpts of the Pageswapper come back from Europe, so I think the priority should be on moving the information rapidly. VAX-7 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Letters to the Pageswapper To: Vickie Hancock NETwords Editor 2510 Limestone Ln. Garland, TX 75040 U.S.A and Larry Kilgallen PAGESWAPPER Editor Box 81, MIT Station Cambridge, MA 02139-0901 U.S.A. 22-Apr-1986. Dear Editors: In NETwords of January 1986 there was an article from David W. Bynon entitled "Using DECnet for VAX System Management". A similar routine named "showsys.com" could be found in the PAGESWAPPER of December 1984 as part of an article entitled "What one VMS V4.0 Site is Up To" written by Stephen Simm. David's article shos very clearly how DECnet can be used for task-to-task communication, or in this case image-to-procedure communication, emulating the VMS command: $ TYPE node::"TASK=procedure" However in this case I personally prefer using a command procedure like Stephen's "showsys.com". Also, to make it easier: when the remote procedure that is executed by the above command is located in the defaut DECnet directory, then one does not need to define the procedure as a known DECnet object via the NCP utility! This feature enables us to create such remote command procedures dynamically. We use this for submitting IBM jobs via one central DECnet/SNA Remote Job Entry workstation from other VAX'es, and for doint a "REPLY" (I called it "HERALD") to remote VAX'es. I also found a very useful undocumented feature of the above construct. The remote procedure may have one single argument! Thus the complete command may be as follows: $ TYPE node::"TASK=procedure argument" VAX-8 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Letters to the Pageswapper So I adapted Stephen's procedure to a general remote show facility, where the show item may be specified as a parameter. As this feature allows only one argument, and hence qualifiers cannot be specified, I build some extra facilities around this parameter. Rienk S. Doetjes, System Manager SKF - Engineering & Research Centre P.O. Box 2350 3430 DT Nieuwegein, The Netherlands Tel. -31-3402-75975 On-Line Disk Compress by Ronald Papajcik Horsburgh & Scott Co. Cleveland, Oh The recent DECUS Symposium in Dallas showed that there is much interest in an on-line disk compress utility of some form. Note that I hve seen (but not used) a product which attempts to use the DCL copy command to create contiguous disk space. The utility will take the files that border an area and copy them to a new location on the disk. All other activity on the disk must be stopped. The utility's name is THE SHUFFLER and it is available from: Cadde Solutions Group, Incorporated 1015 E. Arrow Highway Glendora, CA 91740 VAX-9 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Insecurities of DZ-11 Modem Polling Insecurities of DZ-11 Modem Polling Indiana University Bloomington Academic Computing Services Memorial East 330 Bloomington, IN 47405 April 25, 1986 Larry Kilgallen, PAGESWAPPER Editor Box 81, MIT Station Cambridge MA 02139-0901 Larry, In the April issue of the DECUS Newletter, G.S. Bal and Andy Goldstein talked about the possibility of VMS missing a hang-up and then connecting a new user to a session owned by the previous user of that particular port (See pages VAX-15 and 16). Our article (A Concern About Security and DZ Ports) in the same issue addresses the same topic. In brief, the following scenario will cause user B to be connected to the session belonging to user A. -- User A successfully logs into a DZ port thru a port contention device -- VMS polls the DZ port for hangup and finds the port busy -- The port contention device hangs up user A (for whatever reason) -- The port contention device connects user B to the same DZ port -- VMS again polls the DZ port for hangup and finds it in use Thus, because the device must be polled, VMS missed the hangup. If the DZ had the ability to interrupt VMS on a hangup, the security breach would have been avoided. We understand that some port contention manufactures circumvent the problem by not reassigning the port until the CPU toggles DTR. Thus the hangup is never missed. Sincerely, Jean Pollock Jim Haskett VAX-10 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Applying the VMS V4.4 Documentation Set Update Applying the VMS V4.4 Documentation Set Update by Larry Kilgallen Box 81, MIT Station Cambridge, MA 02139-0901 In every case I have seen so far, the RTL manual replacement pages, contrary to their update notice, do NOT include new copies of pages RTL-647 through RTL-658. Common wisdom is to keep the old pages of those numbers. Notice that the new appendix A provided for the system services manual is DIFFERENT MATERIAL from the old one. The old one (obsolete system services) seems to me worth keeping, so I typically (i.e., at sites where I perform a documentation update) store the old appendix A in the extra binder I establish for the V4.0-V4.3 release notes. I realize that the instructions say those release notes do not need to be kept because all the information is in the V4.4 release notes, but associating with computers breeds paranoia. The four page brochure on how to update the documentation did not explain that the spine inserts are in the same package with the dividers, but on balance I would say that the V4.4 documentation update represents a significant improvement regarding ease of installation (compared to the physically smaller V4.2 update). The next step (are you listening, DEC) should be a divider for the TECO manual. Together with a spine insert entry that will ensure the manual is in the same location in every documentation set (I know, real TECO programmers don't use manuals). VAX-11 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Volume Shadowing Internals Slides Volume Shadowing Internals Slides Ralph Weber of VMS Development has provided an updated version of the slides he used for his presentation on Volume Shadowing Internals at the Dallas Symposium. (That is, the slides in the session handouts were a subset of those used in the actual presentation, due to handout publication deadlines.) Our policy is not to publish in the Pageswapper material which would require one had attended a symposium session, so with Ralph's permission we are making the slides available on a dial-up basis for those who wish to get it. Using some technique which will capture a copy (e.g., SET HOST/DTE/LOG), dial: (617) 262-6830 and log in to username SHADOWING. This will be available from June 10 through August 31, 1986. VAX-12 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests *** VOTE *** VOTE *** VOTE *** VOTE *** VOTE *** VOTE *** *** VOTE *** VOTE *** VOTE *** VOTE *** VOTE *** VOTE *** *** VOTE *** VOTE *** VOTE *** VOTE *** VOTE *** VOTE *** Gary L. Grebus HERE IT IS!! GET YOUR VOTES IN NOW!! THE DEADLINE IS AUGUST HERE IT IS!! GET YOUR VOTES IN NOW!! THE DEADLINE IS AUGUST 29. 29. You have an opinion about what is right or wrong with VAX's and VMS. Here is your chance to influence the directions of future DEC development. The VAX Systems SIG System Improvement Request (SIR) program is an important method for the VAX user community to provide input to Digital. Everyone's opinion is important, and every ballot adds to the influence of the SIR program. On the following pages, you will find the current collection of System Improvement Requests. Please take the time to review these SIR's and assess their effect on your use of VAX's. Then indicate your preferences as described below. Based on its popularity, the simplified ballot form used in the Spring ballot SEE THE "QU" SECTION OF THIS NEWSLETTER FOR has been retained. SEE THE "QU" SECTION OF THIS NEWSLETTER FOR THE FORM. THE FORM. Also, please fill out the questionnaire portion of the ballot. This information is important to DEC, as it points out which requests are important to a particular segment of the VAX community. The returns from this ballot will be totalled, and Digital will provide a formal response to the 10 items which receive the most votes. The results and DEC's responses will be given at the VAX SYSTEM SIG SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT REQUESTS session of the Fall 1986 DECUS Symposium in San Francisco. Instructions For Voting The ballot form contains two sections, a "support" section and an "oppose" section. To indicate your support for an SIR, enter its number in the "support" section of the ballot. You may list from zero to fifteen SIR's in this section. To indicate your opposition to an SIR you consider detrimental, enter its number in the "oppose" section. You may list from zero to five SIR's in this section. IMMEDIATELY Please return your ballot IMMEDIATELY. To allow time for DEC to BALLOTS RECEIVED AFTER AUGUST 29 CANNOT BE COUNTED. respond, BALLOTS RECEIVED AFTER AUGUST 29 CANNOT BE COUNTED. If there are other DECUS members at your site, feel free to duplicate the ballot and pass it around. However, any ballot VAX-13 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests not specifying a DECUS membership number will not be counted. Only one ballot per member will be accepted. VAX-14 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests ___ _________ VMS Internals SIR: F86-1 Abstract: Allow an RMS OPEN request to proceed asynchronously Description: Add the capability to have RMS OPENs proceed asynchronously and to be followed in the application by a WAITEF or AST delivery. This can be very important for time critical applications. It is clear that at the system level an OPEN is not synchronous since several disk operations and/or ACP calls may be involved in the execution of a single OPEN. SIR: F86-2 Abstract: Expand scope of wildcard characters in file specifications. Description: It would be useful to add certain pattern matching wildcards to RMS file name processing. Some suggestions: ^A match any alphabetic ^D match any decimal digit ^S match any separator ($,_) ^X match any single character (same as %) >=T match any character "greater than" (in ASCII collating sequence) or equal to "T". <=T match any character less than or equal to "T" !=T match any character not equal to "T" An example: Directory GET>=CSTRING^D^D.C would produce: Directory ... GETCSTRING32.C;1 GETDSTRING17.C;1 GETXSTRING54.C;1 SIR: F86-3 Abstract: Search list support for file creation. Description: Currently file access via search list will follow the list until a sucess is found or it will fail after the last member of the search list. Creation must succeed on the first member of the list. Generalize this so that creation will occur in the first member of the list where it is allowed. SIR: F86-4 VAX-15 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests Abstract: Allow remapping of VT200 BACKSPACE, ESCAPE, and LINEFEED keys to their "correct" values while in VT200 mode instead of getting VT200 type escape sequences. Description: The terminal driver should be optionally able to remap these keys to their correct values rather than expecting the application (over which we may have no control as with TECO) to reparse the VT200 escape sequences produced by these keys. SIR: F86-5 Abstract: Improve support for AUTOBAUDed terminals. Description: AUTOBAUD is relevant only to initial input for interactive terminal lines. It should be possible to set a speed on these units which would be relevant when the line were used as a slave output device. Thus SET TERMINAL/AUTOBAUD/SPEED=300 Would mean "Use 300 when it is allocated by another process; autobaud when used interactively". Furthermore SET TERMINAL/AUTOBAUD=(300,1200,2400) would mean "Try those 3 speeds only". SIR: F86-6 Abstract: Provide for signalling a process when it is detached from its physical terminal. Description: Allow a mechanism similar to Control-C AST, or an associated mailbox read AST, so that a process can be signalled when the phone hangs up or a DISCONNECT is issued. Certain application may then want to do some clean up and terminate due to the sensitive nature of the application. SIR: F86-7 Abstract: Make the disconnectable terminal capability available for sessions initiated by SET HOST. Description: The lack of disconnectable terminals when using DECnet SET HOST is a great hindrance. The needs for protection from loss of communication and for quick context switching are present even when SET HOST is used to accomplish a login. VAX-16 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests SIR: F86-8 Abstract: SET TERMINAL should be able to set permanent characteristics on terminals which are "cloned" from a template UCB such as LTxx, RTxx, and NVxx. Description: One needs to set characteristics on various cloned terminal types. For example, SYSPASSWORD might be appropriate for locally connected terminals, but not for LAT terminals. The default terminal characteristics should be setable by a command such as SET TERMINAL LTA0/PERMANENT/NOSYSPASSWORD applied to the template device. SIR: F86-9 Abstract: Provide a facility to flush the command line recall buffer(s). Description: The command line recall buffer (both in DCL and in the terminal driver) can contain sensitive information. A facility is required which would allow a user to insure that these buffers are cleared. This should be available both from a DCL command and via program call. SIR: F86-10 Abstract: Add more formatting directives to F$FAO and SYS$FAO. Description: Useful additions: !NO includes string "NO" if argument, nothing of true. !YN same as above for "YES" !nRS Right justified string truncated at left if length > n. !nRF, !nRC, !nRD likewise !nAB insert ASCII value of character in low byte of argument n times. (equivalent of !n*c). SIR: F86-11 Abstract: Add a "trimmed string" directive to F$FAO and SYS$FAO. Description: !TS should be supported. It would insert a string with trailing blanks removed. This would be handy when using fixed length strings. SIR: F86-12 VAX-17 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests Abstract: Add Foreign language support to VMS, possible as a layered product. Description: Since the HELP file, the DCLTABLES, and the Message files are all modular, provide foreign language versions of them. This is already supported to some extent in Datatrieve. Support for foreign character sets on VT200 series terminals could be integrated with this effort. SIR: F86-13 Abstract: Support RL01 disk drives. Description: Many are still installed and software houses and OEMs in particular could use this support. Field Service has been known to support them on Vaxes. SIR: F86-14 Abstract: Provide a user callable interface to the Traceback facility. Description: It would be useful to call a traceback without having to issue a signal. This could be done from mainline code, or from a condition handler without having to resignal, so one could traceback and unwind when appropriate. SIR: F86-15 Abstract: Subprocesses of batch jobs should be flagged as batch. header. Description: For accounting consistency, all the process components of a batch job should be identifiable as belonging to a batch job. Currently, the subprocesses of a batch job do not set the bit which identifies a batch job. SIR: F86-16 Abstract: Allow the VMS scheduling quantum to be process specific. Description: Ability to allow some processes a long quantum and others a short one would make the VMS scheduling scheme much more flexible and would effectively provide an infinite set of scheduling classes within a priority class. SIR: F86-17 VAX-18 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests Abstract: Provide a LIB$PUTERROR service similar to LIB$PUTOUTPUT. Description: It would be useful to have a convenient way to write messages to the SYS$ERROR file in the same way LIB$PUTOUTPUT is used to write to SYS$OUTPUT. SIR: F86-18 Abstract: VMSINSTALL should should support simultaneous installs or prevent them. Description: After a major upgrade, it is useful to try to do multiple installs simultaneously to save time. As part of the checks VMSINSTALL does when it checks resources, it should check if an install is in progress which would preclude simultaneously operation (much as it checks for DECnet running etc.) This might be done with system logical names. SIR: F86-19 Abstract: Force users with expired passwords to set a new one at log in. Description: When a user logs in with an expired password, VMS issues a warning message. However, the user often forgets about the warning in the rush to deal with the daily crises, and is then locked out. When a password is expired, the login process should not complete until the user has successfully set a new password. SIR: F86-20 Abstract: Allow for a SYSGEN DISCONNECT command. Description: When specifying CSRs etc. one occasionally makes mistakes and one must reboot to clean things up. Add a DISCONNECT command to SYSGEN. The unavoidable loss of system pool space would be acceptable. The current tests used to support unloadable drivers would be sufficient to determine when a device were "idle" for disconnecting. SIR: F86-21 Abstract: Provide for write-only logical names. Description: Logical names provide a convenient way of "remembering" information for one or more processes. Some of this information might be sensitive, for example DECnet access control strings. A mechanism should exist which allows logical names to be defined as write-only from equal or less privileged access modes, allowing only more VAX-19 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests privileged, system components to access the information. SIR: F86-22 Abstract: Expand Usernames to have the same character set and length as File names. Description: Many sites prefer to closely tie usernames to default directories. To do this, the character set and length of user names should parallel that of file specifications, i.e. 39 characters, including "", "$", and ".". The period is particularly useful, since it allows the usernames to reflect the directory hierarchy of their login directories. For example, CHEM101.JONES --> [CHEM101.JONES] ACCOUNTING.JONES --> [ACCOUNTING.JONES] SALES.SMITH --> [SALES.SMITH] SIR: F86-23 Abstract: Allow the 2 high order digits of the year to be defaulted in time specifications. Description: Allow defaulting to allow 1-Jun-86 to be mapped into 1-Jun-1986. This could be done in all absolute time specifications. A minimum of checking would be needed to avoid meaningless cases. SIR: F86-24 Abstract: Allow 750 Clustered systems to boot completely from disk. Description: A clustered 750 (under V4.x) boots off the TU58 since certain microcode must be loaded from the TU58. The TU58 is inherently slow and unreliable and does not fit will with the "high reliability" aspects of a cluster. Some mechanism should be found to locate all necessary bootstrap components on the disk, as is currently done for non-clustered systems. VAX-20 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests SIR: F86-25 Abstract: Allow a repeat specifier in SMG$ definitions meaning "repeat the following sequence n times". Description: On an HP terminal there is a "delete single line" command but no "delete multiple line". A repeat specifier could be used to allow SMG to utilize its multiple line delete: deleteline = "!UL<$M>" (where $M is the HP control sequence). SIR: F86-26 Abstract: Allow SMG to access a particular pasteboard and terminal from multiple processes. Description: Allowing multiple processes to access a pasteboard would effectively mean there would be a multiprocess windowing system using SMG. A new process could create a screen which would be "pushed" onto the screen and later this could be "popped" off when the screen was deleted. To implement this one might conceive of classes of pasteboards, i.e. process, group, system, etc., which could be shared among the appropriate processes much like logical names or mailboxes are. An ACP or symbiont process could then "own" a physical terminal and manage the shared pasteboard and the terminal screen. SIR: F86-27 Abstract: Allow asynchronous terminal input with SMG from subprocesses. Description: The method used by SMG to allow asynchronous terminal input (SMG$ENABLEUNSOLICITEDINPUT) is incompatible with running from a SPAWNED subprocess since it uses an associated mailbox. Furthermore one cannot even interrupt a SMG session running in a main process and SPAWN a subprocess once SMG has done any asynchronous IO since there is no way to disable the associated mailbox once it is created. ___ ___ _________ DCL and Utilities VAX-21 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests SIR: F86-28 Abstract: Provide better support for CLI table editing. Description: In many cases sites desire the ability to permanently modify the distributed CLI tables in order to set up site specific defaults that are different from those provided, limit access to certain commands and add new commands to support their own software. Some mechanism is needed to support these activities, in a way that minimizes the impact of updates to VMS. It would be useful if the VMS update process could at least detect when it had replaced a command definition that contained local modifications. An additional improvement might be obtained by licensing the CLD TABLE SOURCES only to aid sites in maintaining their customizations. SIR: F86-29 Abstract: Add new types to DCL command definitions. Description: A mechanism is needed to extend the built in parameter types and qualifier entries in DCL command definitions. A possible method would be to allow existing type entries to be further qualified. For example: $HEX or $NUMBER(HEX) Expect a hexadecimal number $FILE(NOWILD) NO wild card entries in filenames $FILE(DEVICE) Allows a device name only $FILE(NODE,DEVICE) Allows a node and/or a device name SIR: F86-30 Abstract: Extend the F$FILEATTRIBUTES lexical function to include ALL file header information. Description: DCL access to all file header information is needed. The following items would be especially useful: LRL Longest record length (not the maximum record size MRS) FFB First free byte in the last block SIR: F86-31 Abstract: Provide a lexical function to compute the time lapse between two times recorded in standard form. Description: A DCL routine (and possibly run time support) that would return a standard DELTA TIME when given two valid system times would be useful. This could be used to facilitate accounting for those applications that are run from captive command procs. VAX-22 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests SIR: F86-32 Abstract: Provide LIB$FINDIMAGESYMBOL as a DCL lexical function. Description: Some Lexical functions (ie F$FAO) are implemented in DCL as a jacket routine that calls the "real" system service, in this case $FAO. A modification of LIB$FINDIMAGESYMBOL into a DCL lexical function could provide a general case interface to the run time library. Thus all parts of the run time library not specifically supported could be made accessible. A particularly useful tool to advanced DCL writers would be the SMG$ (Screen Management facility) which could be available via this interface. SIR: F86-33 Abstract: Add additional capabilities to command line editing. Description: The following enhancements to the command line recall facility would greatly reduce typing. 1. Increase the depth of the recall buffer. 2. Add a RECALL/NEXT to recall the next command matching the text string found after the currently matched command. 3. Add a RECALL/ANY to recall a command line entry that matches the text string in ANY POSITION. This would allow a search without the comparison starting in column one of the commands. SIR: F86-34 Abstract: Add a /NOCARRIAGE_CONTROL switch to the DCL write command. Description: For users wishing to control plotters, printers, auto dial modems and other strange devices that can't tolerate carriage returns or line feeds in their command string, it is impossible to do so from DCL. If a /NOCARRIAGE CONTROL switch or some other mechanism were added to the DCL write command these devices could be initialized and controlled without having to write a program to do so. VAX-23 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests SIR: F86-35 Abstract: Provide DCL debugging facilities. Description: Many command procedures are very complex and have the potential for drastic side effects if miscoded. It would be very helpful to have tools available to assist in debugging DCL procedures. A useful function would be a mechanism to check DCL syntax, without executing the images involved. A similar feature is available in the RSX world and has proven to be very valuable there. Some additional capabilities could include a reference check for labels and possibly a cross reference to their references and identification of undefined labels. Any additional tools which could be used to help debug DCL procedures would also be useful. Despite assertions that "DCL is not an applications language", many organizations (including Digital) find it appropriate to implement large DCL command procedures. Tools are needed to assist in this area. SIR: F86-36 Abstract: System managers often wish to run a DCL command procedure against a large number of files. Description: It is frequently necessary to run a DCL command procedure that applies to a large number or all of the files in a directory. Some form of enhanced open capability that supports wildcards would facilitate performing this type of task. For example, . $OPEN/SEARCH/DONE=label LOGICAL-NAME[:] .dat This command would close any file currently opened to the specified logical name and open the next file found that matched the file-spec generator. If no files remained that match the file-spec generator the /DONE=label would be branched to. It would be the users responsibility to insure that any logical names or search lists that exist do not cause this command to go into an infinite loop. SIR: F86-37 VAX-24 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests Abstract: VMS should provide some assistance in DCL to allow the operator response to a REQUEST/REPLY to be easily accessed. Description: Currently a user is forced to define SYS$OUTPUT in a command procedure to be a temporary file, then OPEN that file and search for the operator response text. This is complicated by continuing changes to the response format as each new version of VMS comes out. A reliable solution to this problem would be to provide some mechanism to receive the text and only the text typed by the operator. A possible mechanism for this would be to add a reserved symbol $TEXT to the permanent symbol table (like $STATUS etc) in which REQUEST/REPLY could deposit the answer text. This could also be useful with many other commands as well as user programs. An alternative method would be to add a switch to the command which would declare a symbol to receive the answer text. I.E. REQUEST/REPLY/TO=TAPES/ANSWER_SYMBOL=WAYBILL - "What courier waybill number will be used to ship the tape?" Examination of the DCL symbol WAYBILL would show the answer. WAYBILL = "NONE, The TU81+ just ate the darn thing" SIR: F86-38 Abstract: Provide a mechanism to set the creation and modification dates for files. Description: Sometimes it is necessary for configuration management or for distribution of software to ensure that all files have a certain date and time. It is understood that any user who uses this feature is running the risk of creating problems by setting file dates in the future or messing up audit trails by invalidating past creation dates. The user of this facility would be responsible for any inconsistencies introduced by a BACKUP of files that had future creation dates. This feature if implemented might be better done as a utility program available in SYS$MANAGER than as an extension to the SET FILE command. SIR: F86-39 VAX-25 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests Abstract: SHOW PROCESS/CONTINUOUS is inadequate for large images. Description: When watching a large process the actual memory that is in use by the process is frequently outside of the address range supported by SHOW PROCESS/CONTINUOUS. Some form of specification that allows the user to specify the address range for the display or an automatic mechanism to properly select the window address range is needed. While this may seem like a trivial request, SHOW PROCESS/CONTINUOUS is a useful tool for diagnosing poor paging behavior in applications. It is the only such tool available on a standard VMS system. SIR: F86-40 Abstract: Allow TYPE to access a file that is currently open for write. Description: The TYPE command should have an option which allows read access to a file no matter what sharing options are allowed by other accessors of the file. BACKUP/IGNORE=INTERLOCK is not an acceptable solution if a very large file is involved. Such a function would be used primarily for troubleshooting, and with the realization that the file contents displayed might be inconsistent or incomplete. Hopefully, this function could be accomplished through the cooperation of the file system. If that is not possible, TYPE should be able to directly process the disk blocks and interpret the record (at least for non-indexed files). SIR: F86-41 Abstract: Give DIRECTORY an easy way to list only the oldest n versions of files. Description: It is currently very difficult to find out what files have more than n versions. It is possible by use of the ;-2, ;-3 version numbers to find out which files have 3 or 4 versions respectively but if you have a version limit on the order of 99 this becomes very boring. A better approach would be to parallel the PURGE/KEEP=n form and support a DIRECTORY/EXCLUDE=LATEST:n or DIRECTORY/VERSIONSAFTER=n to give all files that have more than n versions. VAX-26 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests SIR: F86-42 Abstract: Enhance RENAME and COPY to allow additional wildcard name modification for the output filespec. Description: This feature would make it very easy to rename or copy large numbers of files with similar names For example: . D . RENAME ABC.BAS; DEF.BAS; S Some restrictions on the pattern formations would obviously have to apply, but the ability to do partial substitutions across corresponding fields of the filespecs would be a good start. SIR: F86-43 Abstract: Eliminate potential problems in the treatment of synonym directories by DELETE, PURGE and DIRECTORY. Description: When a DELETE or PURGE is issued in a directory that is a synonym an error should be returned and the user encouraged to use the command SET FILE/REMOVE. Directory needs a switch i.e. DIRECTORY/SYNONYM to identify those directories and files that have two directory entries but only one file. It is understood that this feature may require extensive processing time to accomplish or not be supportable until the file system is modified to facilitate support. SIR: F86-44 Abstract: DCL doesn't support VT2xx shifted function keys. Description: There should be a supported way to define the contents of the VT2xx shifted function keys. This might be done with DEFINE/KEY, although the definition would be stored in the terminal, rather than in the host. The user would have to be responsible for ensuring that the terminal memory was not overfilled, and not use the setup reset function which deletes these keys! It would be useful to also have an option which cleared all such definitions, reducing the chances that sensitive information would be left stored in the keys. SIR: F86-45 VAX-27 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests Abstract: Support general file system access to VMS text libraries. Description: Text libraries provide a very convenient way of grouping large numbers of small, related files. However, their usefulness is limited because the library elements cannot be edited, copied, etc. directly. VMS should be enhanced to provide direct read and write access to library contents. An elegant use of this concept would be to provide a form of filespec that supported a notation identifying which entry in the library filespec was wanted. I.E. EDIT/EDT NODE::DEVICE::[DIRECTORY]FILENAME(entry).EXT;VERSION Ideally, it should also be possible to store executable programs in the library and run them directly. SIR: F86-46 Abstract: Document the protocol interface to MAIL. Description: Many large sites have a need to integrate mail systems on diverse computer systems. MAIL.EXE as of VMS 4.0 contains hooks for external mail systems. This interface should be documented. This should be done independently of any efforts involving the Message Router layered product. SIR: F86-47 Abstract: Provide support for non printable attachments to messages in MAIL. Description: A needed extension to MAIL would be an ability to send mail that is not directly printable to a user. This could be a file that is set up for a word processor with embedded control sequences or possibly an object or execute file. The most important reason for having such a facility is that it allows files to be transferred between network users without the need for coordinated proxies, exchange of passwords, or undue relaxation of file protections. The desired features of this enhancement would be some form of switch to indicate that a file was being attached, and a way for mail to indicate this to the user on receipt of the mail. The indication should also be kept in the database to be shown on the mail directory. Note it should not be possible for the user to directly view the attachment VAX-28 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests within MAIL, to avoid accidental or malicious transmission of terminal control Escape sequences. SIR: F86-48 Abstract: Enhance VMS Mail. Description: There are many enhancements to VMS MAIL that would increase its functionality and ease of use. DEC should consider incorporating the following features (found in the TOPS-10/20 MS mail utility) into VMS MAIL, particularly the user interface commands: - Prompt for a list of users to be cc'd on the message. It is often useful to distinguish these users from the primary recipients of the message. - Allow the message to be manipulated before it is sent. In particular, allow the text, "to" and "cc" lists and subject to be edited or changed. - Allow the user to perform a directory of messages based on search criteria, including - before a specified date - since a specified date - from a certain user - subject (a subset of the subject string) - forward and reverse chronological order - Make the DELETE command accept a range or list of messages. - Allow one or more VMS files to be inserted into the text of the message at the place the user is typing. - Add a qualifier to the FORWARD command to allow retention of a copy of the message for future reference. - Allow the specification of an EDT startup command file specifically tailored for use in mail, to allow easy entry of signature blocks etc. A means of preventing users from spawning out of MAIL is required for MAIL to be used in a captive account. Perhaps a MAIL/NOSPAWN qualifier. When a distribution file is specified, the expanded names should optionally be listed so that all recipients can see to whom the message was sent. VAX-29 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests There is strong user interest in seeing improvements in VMS MAIL, as shown by volume of SIR's received, and the presence of a MAIL SIR in the Spring 86 Top-10. MAIL has high visibility within most sites, and is becoming increasingly important as organizations come to depend on electronic communications. Therefore, we believe Digital should consider improvements to VMS Mail as a high priority item. SIR: F86-49 Abstract: Support indirect entries for help libraries. Description: Add support for synonym and indirect entries in a HELP library in a fashion similar to RSX. This would save space and aid maintenance by reducing the number of entries to modify for similar changes. For example, a synonym could be defined as: 1 NAME #OTHER_NAME When you type NAME or OTHERNAME both entries give the same text response (multiple keys). An indirect reference might look like: 2 SUB_TOPIC @SUB_TOPIC.TXT or @HELPLIB/EXTRACT=SUB_TOPIC_TEXT When you type SUBTOPIC HELP either gets the text from the indirect file SUBTOPIC.TXT (@ option) or from the module SUBTOPICTEXT in library HELPLIB.HLB (@HELPLIB option) SIR: F86-50 Abstract: Improve the performance of HELP by changing the structure of help files. Description: The performance of HELP could be improved by changing the structure of the HELP file. The current LIBRARY files, ISAM files or some other file format could be used. ISAM files would allow for system wide shared buffers. A suggested method is to have the contents of each record or member be the text to be displayed, and the key or module name be constructed from the keys of all of the "parent" records. SIR: F86-51 VAX-30 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests Abstract: Enhance support for RT11 media in EXCHANGE. Description: Some additions to EXCHANGE would improve support for those users who need to move files between VMS and RT11 based systems. 1. Support for RT11 tape formats. 2. INITIALIZE/BADBLOCKS should write bad block information in the form that RT-11 needs. This is needed to safely create RT-11 volumes. 3. A SQUEEZE option would be useful when insufficient contiguous space is available to create a file on an RT-11 disk. 4. [UN]PROTECT should be implemented. SIR: F86-52 Abstract: Add the ability to copy part of a file to COPY. Description: Provide the COPY command with the ability to copy parts of a file such as the first n blocks, the last n blocks, the first n records or the last n records. The choice of copying records or blocks will depend on the file itself. This feature if applied to any keyed file may be restricted in such a fashion that rebuilding of the key information would be the user's responsibility or it may produce a sequentially accessible file only. SIR: F86-53 Abstract: Add additional capabilities to the DUMP utility. Description: The following are useful features to add to the DUMP utility: 1. Suppress repeated lines that are identical, i.e. all zero or contain exactly the same pattern when printed. 2. A summary dump giving only the length and first line of information. 3. A scan mode that would provide a summary of the number of records of each length that were found in the file. I.E. LENGTH OCCURRENCES FIRST OCCURRENCE 80 3450 1 VAX-31 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests 81 1 387 Total Records Found = 3451 4. Support more data types like RADIX50 for RSX compatability, /FLOATING /DOUBLE, /G_FLOATING and /H_FLOATING for binary data. SIR: F86-54 Abstract: Provide a page header on printed MAIL messages that clearly identifies the username requesting the print. Description: When MAIL messages are PRINTed by mail and the TO list was a distribution list, there is no way to tell who is printing the message on a queue which has neither flag nor burst pages enabled. Because of this it would be helpful to add a qualifier /HEADER to the MAIL PRINT command. Also provide a MAIL characteristic PRINTHEADER or something similar for setting this up as the default for any user. __________ Commercial SIR: F86-55 Abstract: Provide for dependency networks of print and batch jobs. Description: Large production shops often have the need to specify the interdependencies of related batch and print jobs. For example Job A must run first, then jobs B and C can start; D follows B; E follows D and C; F and G follow E as shown in the example below. The network relationships should be established at the time the jobs are submitted, not after they start executing. In many cases process slots cannot be afforded just to synchronize. Jobs should be networkable independent of the specific queues they are submitted to. An example job dependency network diagram /--> B --> D -\ /--> G A-> -> E -> \--------> C -/ \--> F VAX-32 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests SIR: F86-56 Abstract: Increase the completeness, accuracy and level of detail in VMS accounting records. Description: Examples include the following: 1. Stock name for print jobs 2. Physical device name(s) for Virtual and LAT terminal sessions 3. QIO counts, by device, for each ALLOCATED device and each SHARED device. 4. Report the terminal maximum speed (larger of TRANSMIT and RECEIVE) 5. Record the number of logical and physical mounts for each tape and disk drive (if any) 6. Record the name of the queue a job was submitted to as well as the device or specific queue it executed on. SIR: F86-57 Abstract: Provide improved support for terminal auxiliary printer ports so that printer output can be interleaved with screen and keyboard I/O Description: This facility must provide configurability of: 1. Device independent I/O at driver characteristic level 2. Same level of support as a "normal" printer 3. Terminal driver should know how to "turn on" the printer, and should be able to interleave I/O 4. The sphere of influence of this capability is "process local" as opposed to system wide SIR: F86-58 Abstract: SHOW QUE/BRIEF should display the currently mounted form and a list of forms required by pending jobs. VAX-33 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests Description: It would be helpful for operators and users to have current and pending forms displayed by the /BRIEF qualifier. Currently only the "pending" status is displayed. This makes it necessary for operators to wade through the output of /FULL in order to find out what forms are being waited on. SIR: F86-59 Abstract: Provide flag page formatting capabilities separate from the job formatting. Description: Many printers and queue forms are set up so that the formatting (particularly width) allows for proper printing of jobs such as 13 Characters/in. on an LA100. Unfortunately, usually it is desired that the flag and burst pages be controlled by a different width setting than the user's job form specifies. It is not enough to have a flag page setup module capability. A flag page width parameter is needed. This parameter should probably be a queue specific parameter and not controlled by a flag page specific form. SIR: F86-60 Abstract: VMS Mount services should include "For READ" or "For WRITE" or "WITH RING" or "WITHOUT RING" in messages to the operator when requesting a tape be mounted. Description: MOUNT/NOWRITE should generate a request for "WITHOUT RING" or "For READ ONLY" and MOUNT/WRITE the opposite so that operators can quickly determine what is needed. SIR: F86-61 Abstract: Enhance RMS to provide capability to have an ISAM file with optional secondary keys. Description: For example, only 20% of the records of a file have a need for secondary keys. Other records should not have secondary keys. Null keys are not appropriate as the other records have random data in the field that would be used as secondary key. SIR: F86-62 Abstract: Provide disk management tools to aid in discovery of fragmentation and file disorganization problems. VAX-34 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests Description: Provide utilities for measuring the degree of fragmentation of a disk drive and for measuring the level of disorganization of RMS ISAM files. This will aid System Managers and Users in knowing when they have situations that call for corrective action. If a users suspects that an ISAM file has gotten out of hand, they could easily check how bad it is without going to the expense of running CONVERT. Instead users now are stuck with "If it's not broke don't fix it, but I can't tell if it's broke, so I guess I better fix it just in case.") SIR: F86-63 Abstract: Provide a fast file scan. Description: The CONVERT utility can scan through an RMS ISAM file at lightning speed. It would be helpful in many instances to have a utility with a callable interface that would provide a high speed scan capability. This capability would be satisfactory with a random record order as long as it's fast. To avoid locking at the record level, the scan could be granted exclusive access to the whole file. This scan capability would be useful for building sub- datafiles from large ones(for Datatrieve) and for standard financial batch jobs such as bill/report generation. SIR: F86-64 Abstract: A spooled device and utilities that support spooling should provide a capability for specifying a form name. Description: In many cases use of the DEFAULT form on a print queue is not desirable in cases where no form can be specified. Any utility that allows printing through a QUEUE specification should support a FORMNAME specification. Similarly, SET DEVICE/SPOOLED should permit the specification of a FORMNAME to use with spooling. SIR: F86-65 Abstract: All references to forms in displays of any kind should show the form name in preference to the number. Description: There is very little use for the form number to the system manager or user once the names have been defined. All displays relating to forms - SHOW QUEUE and SHOW/FORM - should display the name only unless /FULL is specified. It should not be necessary to see or to know the form number except when deleting one. Also commands related to forms definition and management should be consistent. DEFINE/FORM and SHOW/FORM rather than SHOW VAX-35 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests QUEUE/FORM. All of these requirements apply equally to queue Characteristics as well as forms. SIR: F86-66 Abstract: Expand the number of form names beyond 127. Description: In some environments there are a variety of different small printers on the same cluster. Because of the many variations in font, pitch, etc. it is easy to get up to a large number of forms in a hurry. This is especially important in an environment where there are many printers with different forms mounted on each one so as to enable queueing to a single SYS$PRINT and the proper printer will be determined by the specified form. SIR: F86-67 Abstract: Provide a capability to set operator notification on selected print queues. Description: A facility that looked something like INITIALIZE/QUEUE/NOTIFY queuename would cause each job completion to log a message to PRINTER operator consoles as well as OPERATOR.LOG via the OPCOM facility. This facility would be useful for security reasons and to help locate "lost" listings. SIR: F86-68 Abstract: Provide SORT with a simple way to put a sequential file into descending order. Description: For sorting sequential variable length record files it would be helpful for SORT to have a capability to specify a "rest of record" SIZE parameter in the /FIELD or /KEY qualifier. Another alternative would be to provide a global qualifier /DESCENDING. SORT is difficult to use on variable length record files since it may be impossible to correctly specify a key length. You can not usually know that you won't exceed the size of some record in the file by specifying any particular SIZE value. Also SORT should be enhanced to provide user selected TAB expansion for comparison purposes. Spacing in text files is often a combination of blanks and tabs. This capability would enhance sorting of variable length records as well. VAX-36 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests ________ Security SIR: F86-69 Abstract: Support ACL's on print and batch queues. Description: ACL's are needed to control the usage of print devices, print queues, and batch queues. The UIC-based protections are now available on queues, but ACL's are not, so the system manager does not have sufficient granularity in granting access to the system queues and print devices. There are some system managers who would like to set up batch or print queues that could only be accessed by users holding a particular identifier. ACL's can be placed on physical devices, but they only control the ability of users to allocate the devices and do not control their ability to use shared devices such as printers. SIR: F86-70 Abstract: Better control over DECnet remote file access. Description: The RMS file protection defines WORLD access to include all those outside the owner's group. It would be useful to define several classes of users as follows: 1. All WORLD users on the local node. 2. All users local to this VAXcluster. 3. All users on nodes within this DECnet area. LOGINOUT currently gives a process the Identifier NETWORK if that process is being created in response to a network request. It would be useful to get greater granularity of access control for network processes by having additional identifiers created based up the node, cluster, and area from which the access is being attempted. This capability might possibly be achieved by having the File Access Listener, LOGINOUT, or some other privileged image set up the additional process Identifiers. SIR: F86-71 Abstract: Support secondary passwords in DECnet access control strings. Description: VMS 4 allows user accounts to have two passwords. However, DECnet does not allow the secondary passwords to be used in access control strings. The only way such accounts can be used through DECnet is via proxy logins. VAX-37 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests SIR: F86-72 Abstract: Enhance COPY to copy ACL's. Description: The COPY utility does not currently handle ACL's. It should be enhanced to propagate any ACL's from the source file to the destination file. However, there may be many times when a user is copying another user's file in order to modify it for his/her own purpose. It is likely that in such cases the user would not want to propagate ACL's from the original file. Therefore, this capability should be available via an additional qualifier to COPY, e.g., /PROPAGATE. SIR: F86-73 Abstract: Allow different system password for each terminal. Description: VMS 4 currently supports a single system password that must be entered before VMS identifies itself. There are times when the system manager would like to set up different system passwords for several different classes of terminals. VMS should support a different system password for each terminal, perhaps via a command of the form SET TERM/SYSPWD=xxxxxx, so that the system manager will have maximum flexibility in setting up many classes of terminals with each having a different system password. SIR: F86-74 Abstract: End-to-end DES encryption should be provided within DECnet-VAX. Description: The VAX/VMS system should support end-to-end DES encryption within DECnet-VAX with a separate DES key being used for each DECnet logical connection. This should be implemented at the NSP level, so that it is transparent to the user. The system manager should be able to activate or deactivate DES encryption between his VAX and any other VAX (that supports that feature). Privileged users on intermediate nodes can read and/or modify data being routed through their nodes or observe data in transit across an Ethernet, and not all nodes in a large DECnet network are equally trustworthy. End-to-end DES encryption would serve to protect this data in transit. Also, DES might be used to protect need-to-know access to classified data in a network. SIR: F86-75 VAX-38 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests Abstract: Provide a prompting mechanism for DECnet passwords. Description: There should be an automatic mechanism by which password prompting would occur when a DECnet access control string is specified with only a username. At the minimum, the COPY command should provide this prompting capability. This is an important security feature for heterogeneous DECnet's where some nodes do not support proxy logins. ___ _________ ___ _____ VMS Languages and Tools SIR: F86-76 Abstract: DEC should provide a CMS/MMS toolkit that is compatible between VMS and ULTRIX. Description: Some software projects are developed on VMS and UNIX systems. It is desired to have a compatible CMS/MMS toolkit, to make development easier. SIR: F86-77 Abstract: Provide a "date" data type in high level languages. Description: Many CDD/Datatrieve database systems contain data with date and time information. Accessing this data based on date and time can be difficult from a high-level language, if the "date" data type is not supported. Date arithmetic should be supported, perhaps with the Run-Time Library. SIR: F86-78 Abstract: DSR needs the capability to include graphics in documents. Description: DSR should be enhanced to be able to include graphics in documents. Other text-formatting products that have this capability. However, it might be expensive to purchase such a product, and it would be expensive to convert RUNOFF files to a new format. SIR: F86-79 Abstract: Enhance RUNOFF to provide special device features. VAX-39 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests Description: Many printers, DEC as well as non-DEC, have features like pitch control, alternate character sets, proportional spacing, etc. RUNOFF should have commands to include the necessary escape sequences to drive these devices. There should be ways to simulate these features on devices which don't support these features. Non-DEC devices should be supported, perhaps through the SMG$-like definitions. SIR: F86-80 Abstract: RUNOFF should provide the capability to define user-escape sequences for highlighting on non-DEC printers. Description: RUNOFF should provide the capability to define user-escape sequences for highlighting on non-DEC printers. A possible syntax is: RUNOFF/HIGHLIGHT=(BOLD="...",UNDERLINE="...",ITALIC="...") RUNOFF/NOHIGHLIGHT=(BOLD="...",UNDERLINE="...",ITALIC="...") SIR: F86-81 Abstract: The Fortran OPEN statement should support setting file protections. Description: It should be possible to set the protection on a file as it is created. The value for this keyword would be a standard VMS specifier ("S:REW,..."). INQUIRE should be able to return the current protection of a file. SIR: F86-82 Abstract: Fortran should support intrinsic functions in DATA statements. Description: The Fortran compiler should accept the following statements: DATA IDWORD /ISHFT(10,16)/ DATA PI /2.*ACOS(0.)/ The first data statement is useful for generating double-word entries for system services. The second data statement demonstrates a precision-independent way to generate PI. SIR: F86-83 Abstract: The /SHOW qualifier should default to "NOMAP" for Fortran compiler listings. VAX-40 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests Description: There are few uses for the storage map in the Fortran listing. This should be suppressed, by default, to save paper. SIR: F86-84 Abstract: The Fortran compiler should be able to generate code to perform a "read with prompt" terminal I/O. Description: The Fortran compiler should be able to generate code to perform a "read with prompt" terminal I/O, so that typing a Control-R will cause the prompt string to be re-displayed. SIR: F86-85 Abstract: The addresses shown in a MACRO-32 listing should be the same as those displayed in the debugger. Description: MACRO-32 listings show addresses relative to the base of the PSECT. DEBUG shows them relative to the last label it knows about. Once you step past the label, it's difficult to determine where you are. Finding breakpoints is also difficult. It should be possible for DEBUG to display addresses relative to the lowest address in the current PSECT in the current module. SIR: F86-86 Abstract: SPM should be able to report "high-priority" processes separately. Description: On a busy system with batch jobs and time-sharing processes, the CPU is almost always busy, and disk I/O is occurring. It is currently impossible to determine how much of the machine is being used for "high-priority" processes (interactive processes, symbionts, job controller, etc.). SPM should be able to report when a "high-priority" process has the CPU, and the time each "high-priority" process spent waiting for disk I/O, system pool space, or locks. SIR: F86-87 Abstract: Provide an SOS interface for TPU. Description: An SOS interface should be developed for TPU. There are still many non-ANSI terminals used for program development. Full screen editing tends to be more expensive, and many users resist learning another editor. VAX-41 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests SIR: F86-88 Abstract: The EDT interface to TPU should provide full EDT emulation. Description: The EDT interface to TPU should include support for EDT line-mode commands and the "no-keypad" mode operation. SIR: F86-89 Abstract: TPU needs to be made more intelligent about updating the screen. Description: TPU unnecessarily redraws portions of the screen, after deleting marked text in EDT emulation mode. Also, TPU updates the screen during the middle of executing a LEARNed sequence, instead of just at the end. It would be desirable if TPU took advantage of the SMG facility that is in VMS to perform screen updating. Foreign terminals would be better supported as a result. SIR: F86-90 Abstract: DEC should provide more useful TPU primitives. Description: TPU provides just enough support to implement only the EVE and EDT interfaces. A user who tries to use TPU to implement another editor encounters too many problems, due to a lack of TPU primitives. Note that both LSE and NOTES required additions to the TPU Bliss modules, so that they could be implemented in TPU. DEC needs to commit a budget and/or staff to expand the horizons of the TPU builtins. SIR: F86-91 Abstract: Provide sources of all example programs and command procedures. Description: The sources of all example programs and command procedures which appear in the VMS documentation set should be supplied in SYS$EXAMPLES. The exceptions would be examples that are incomplete or are less than a few lines long. This would save everyone considerable typing, and perhaps insure that the examples work correctly. SIR: F86-92 Abstract: Provide a standard way to pass Unix-style argument vectors under VMS. VAX-42 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests Description: There are several mechanisms for obtaining Unix-like features under VMS. These include true UNIX emulators (like EUNICE), the DECshell, and VAX-11 C, each providing a different set of functionality. It would be useful if Digital would document a standard interface for passing fork()/exec() argument vectors. This would allow easier integration of these similar facilities. It is very likely that third-party vendors would adopt any DEC standard. ______ __________ System Management SIR: F86-93 Abstract: Accounting Utility should display all active processes as well as those completed in any time interval. Description: When attempting to track a specific event in a given time interval, which may include the present, the accounting utility will display only those processes that have completed, not those that are currently active. Without active processes included, it is easy to overlook the desired event. SIR: F86-94 Abstract: Printer "fallback" mode should use backspace and overprint where possible, on a hardcopy device. Description: Many "multinational" characters are simply accented, and can be reproduced by overprinting with a backspace and another character. This would be more useful than just printing o's for the characters. SIR: F86-95 Abstract: More detail about the benefits of installing executables should be included in the Guide to VAX/VMS Performance. Description: Managers should not have to "blindly" experiment with installed images. SIR: F86-96 VAX-43 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests Abstract: Provide an tool to dump SYSUAF.DAT in a textual form which can be used to regenerate the SYSUAF.DAT. Description: Often, the System Manager needs to recreate the SYSUAF.DAT with the same entries but different characteristics. It would be great if there were a mechanism, (perhaps an AUTHORIZE LIST option) that would dump the UAF contents as a set of AUTHORIZE directives which could be edited and used to regenerate the UAF. Some mechanism of dumping and resetting passwords in encrypted form would be necessary. SIR: F86-97 Abstract: Enhance DCL command SET LOGINS to allow a UIC specification. Description: It would be useful to be able to set login limits for users by groups. On a CAD/CAM system there are times we want to control which group has access to the computer at specific times. SIR: F86-98 Abstract: Enhance SYS$SYSTEM:SHUTDOWN.COM to include an option to continue the shutdown if all interactive and batch processes are stopped. Description: Many times a system manager needs to give 15 minutes notice before a shutdown, and finds that 5 minutes later all users have logged off and there is no batch activity. In these cases, the system will not shutdown until the remaining ten minutes has elapsed. An option to shutdown immediately after all user processes have logged out would save time. SIR: F86-99 Abstract: Support for the changing requirements of applications is needed in user validations. Both AUTHORIZE and DISKQUOTA should be enhanced to permit placing a user in one or more classes of unique combinations of quotas and privileges. Description: It should be possible to designate a user as a member of at least one class that has associated with it certain quotas and privileges that are automatically inherited by that user. This would permit the UAF entries of all users of a package to be changed by a single change to the class prototype, instead of the current method of changing one user at a time. A class prototype would specify only those extraordinary quotas and privileges needed by the users of a particular software package. A VAX-44 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests user entry in more that one class would inherit the maximum setting for a parameter. SIR: F86-100 Abstract: Provide backup output logging of the first and last file name on a tape save-set. Description: In most BACKUP operations, the files on the tape are in alphabetical or some reasonably known order. If the first and last file name on the tape were known, then all of the files on that tape would also be known. This would speed up the file recovery time on a multi-volume tape save-set. SIR: F86-101 Abstract: Load all of stand-alone backup into memory for operation, and enhance stand-alone backup to always respond promptly to Control-Y at the console, and allow the entry of another backup command. Description: Loading all of stand-alone backup into memory would avoid rewinding a TU58, or slow floppy accesses. These contribute to a much slower method of backing up a system. Stand-alone backup should respond promptly to a control-Y, and then should allow another command to be entered, rather that having to reload stand-alone backup when an error in typing the command occurs. _____ _______ Large Systems SIR: F86-102 Abstract: Provide a callable interface to the operator messaging services that permits query calls to OPCOM or its replacement. Description: The current OPCOM interfaces are inadequate for a commercial environment with lots of tape mounts and other requests coming up on cluster consoles. In order to improve on what exists, it would be helpful to have a mechanism to ask OPCOM for outstanding requests of a particular or a subset of operator classes. This would lend to the building of an interactive request management tool which would run on a video or hardcopy terminal. Pending forms should generate requests to PRINTER operators so that this mechanism will cover 99% of the requests an operator needs to handle. Any functionality that crosses the boundaries of SYS$SNDJBC and SYS$SNDOPR should be VAX-45 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests consistent between them. If this is not possible due to compatability problems, invent a new call that will complement and/or eventually replace these. SIR: F86-103 Abstract: Enhance the ALLOCATE command to allow requests to be queued. Description: Enhance the ALLOCATE command to enable a user to optionally queue the allocation request when all qualifying devices are busy. Device allocation should be handled by a queue manager similar to the VMS V4.0 print queue manager, and the allocation request queues should be made cluster wide to support cluster-visible devices. User functions should include the ability to specify characteristics required of a generic device, the automatic notification of allocation, the ability to delete an allocation request, the ability to examine the allocation request queue, and the ability to do other interactive processing while waiting for an allocation request to be granted. Operator functions should include the ability to mark failing devices as unavailable and the ability to force a deallocate. Manager functions should include the ability to define device characteristics and specify physical devices as possessing those characteristics. Device allocation and deallocation should place records in the accounting file so that charge back accounting can be done for allocated devices. A mechanism for avoiding deadlocks when multiple devices are allocated should be provided. Examples: $ ALLOCATE/QUEUED/WAIT TAPE$CLASS:- /CHARACTERISTICS=(DENSITY:6250) LOGICAL_TAPE (Queue an allocation request for a tape drive with 6250 bpi capability and wait until the allocation has completed.) $ ALLOCATE/QUEUED/NOWAIT/NOTIFY DISK$CLASS:- /CHARACTERISTICS=(RA60) MY_DISK_PACK (Queue an allocation request for an RA60 disk drive and return control to my terminal. Notify me when the allocation has completed.) $ ALLOCATE/NOQUEUED TERMINAL$CLASS:- VAX-46 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests /CHAR=(AUTODIAL,BAUD:1200 DIAL_OUT_MODEM (Allocate a terminal device with a 1200 baud autodial modem but don't queue the request. Give an error if all such devices are allocated.) SIR: F86-104 Abstract: VMS should implement tape automatic volume recognition and provide the security normally associated with volume labeling. Description: VMS should provide a complete implementation of automatic volume recognition for tapes, that may be enabled/disabled by the operator on a per drive basis. This means that (with AVR enabled), when a tape is mounted, the system checks possible labels and honors mount requests without operator intervention, if possible. If a job needs 4 tapes, the operator can mount them all if enough drives are available and then forget about them until somebody else needs the tape drives. It should also be possible for a user to request a tape mount based solely on the tape's label and density. The user should not be required to know what physical devices implement a particular tape density on a particular system. VMS should also support a "visual id" or "slot number" which is displayed in all operator messages related to the mount. It should be possible to operate a VMS system in a mode where all tapes are under system/operator control. This means that they are pre-initialized and users are not allowed to change the labeling on the tape without special privilege. The BACKUP utility must also conform to such labeling restrictions, thereby insuring that the BACKUP data is written onto the proper reels. VMS should require explicit operator intervention for unlabeled tapes. It is not acceptable that an unlabeled tape which happens to be on a drive be automatically assigned. SIR: F86-105 Abstract: Provide a BACKUP/OPERATOR capability. Description: Currently, when the BACKUP command is run interactively, request for additional tape volumes are directed to the interactive terminal. In a large systems environment, users are typically not encouraged to enter the machine room. All tape requests are handled by system operators. It should be possible to specify that all BACKUP tape requests be directed to the system operator. VAX-47 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests SIR: F86-106 Abstract: Support TCP/IP on VMS. Description: The TCP/IP protocol is one of the most widely supported network protocols for interconnection of workstations and mid-sized computers. It is frequently necessary to incorporate VAXs into such a mixed-vendor network. The TCP/IP protocol should be supported by DEC under VMS to allow such connections. SIR: F86-107 Abstract: All utilities should use a standard format for printable output. Description: Printable output generated by VAX utilities and compilers comes in a great variety of record formats and carriage control conventions. A particularly awkward convention is the use of embedded ASCII control characters to generate multiple print lines from a single record. There appears to be no standard for this or any other mechanism. As a result it is very difficult to print "printable" output on non-DEC printers or transmit it through heterogeneous networks. Digital should document a standard record format and carriage control convention and modify all facilities to conform to this convention. As a alternative, Digital should provide a utility which converts all currently used formats into a standard format. It seems that this functionality currently exists, distributed between the print symbiont, device driver, and "DEC standard" printers. SIR: F86-108 Abstract: Provide an in-line help facility in VMS Description: Help is available in VMS, but it would be very useful to have this information available as the command is being typed, where it could be used to get a list options for the next portion of the command. Frequently users cannot remember the name of the particular qualifier they want, so they must abort the command, and run the HELP program to find the qualifier. VMS would be much easier to use if the user merely had to type a special character (such as a question mark) and a RETURN to have DCL display a list of what it was expecting to see and retype the command line up the point where the user requested help. (This is similar to the in-line help provided by the TOPS-20 operating system.) VAX-48 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests SIR: F86-109 Abstract: VMS should provide filename completion on user request Description: With the advent of long filenames, it has become a chore to type in the entire file specification. VMS should provide a facility similar to TOPS-20 filename recognition in which the operating system will fill out the rest of the filename when the user enters the ESCape key. For example, if a directory contained files MARCHDATA.INPUT and MYMESSAGES.LIS, and the user typed "MA", VMS should fill out "RCHDATA.INPUT". SIR: F86-110 Abstract: VMS should implement an UNDELETE command. Description: Users frequently delete files by mistake. VMS should provide an UNDELETE command which allows them to be retreived. VMS should also provide an EXPUNGE command, which causes deleted files to be removed and their space reclaimed. When the user DELETEs a file, the file should be marked for deletion, but not actually removed from the file system. The DIRECTORY command should not display the file, except when a /DELETED qualifier is used. When the user (or system operator) issues an EXPUNGE command, all files matching the file specification that are marked for deletion should be removed. The /VERSION_LIMIT qualifier would indicate how many versions of a file should be kept (in both a deleted and undeleted state) before automatic EXPUNGing occurs. A new qualifier (perhaps /KEEP_LIMIT) would indicate how many versions should remain undeleted. /KEEP_LIMIT=1 would mean that as new versions of the files are generated, all previous versions would be marked as deleted. Only as many versions as specified by /VERSION_LIMIT would be allowed before the oldest version was expunged. The system should perform an automatic expunge of the connected directory and login directory complex when the LOGOUT command is issued. SIR: F86-111 VAX-49 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests Abstract: Provide a separate file "date last read" from "expiration date". Description: VMS provides the ability to maintain a pseudo "date of last access" for files by using a volume wide file retention period to update an expiration date. It would be desirable to have the ability to maintain the date a file was last read, as well as maintain an explicit expiration date for a file. Knowing for certain the date and time a file was last read can be an important security tool. The date the file was last read should be separate from the date the file was last created and the date the file was last modified. SIR: F86-112 Abstract: Allow a privileged user the ability to link one terminal to another. Description: VMS should support a facility which would allow a privileged user to link his terminal to another terminal. This link would at minimum allow the privileged user to issue commands as if they were typed from the other keyboard. This capability would be useful to "cleanup" whatever was running on the remote terminal before its process was deleted. Ideally, the facility should also allow the privileged user to see all output directed to the target terminal. This would allow for fully interactive "hand-holding" or consulting for user problems. SIR: F86-113 Abstract: Provide for single command initiation of the compile, link, execute sequence. Description: VMS should implement the TOPS-10/20 COMPILE, LOAD and EXECUTE commands. The COMPILE command invokes the appropriate compiler based on filetype (e.g., .FOR for FORTRAN, .MAR for MACRO). The specific compiler can also be explicitly specified by a qualifier (/FORTRAN, /MACRO). The COMPILE command examines the date on the .OBJ file with the same name as the source file to determine if a recompilation is necessary. The LOAD command adds a LINK invocation to the COMPILE. The EXECUTE does the COMPILE and LOAD, and then runs the resulting executable image. These three commands are a great aid to users doing program development, and help to eliminate unnecessary recompiles of modules in large programs. VAX-50 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests SIR: F86-114 Abstract: "Unbundle" the functions of the CAPTIVE login flag Description: The login flag CAPTIVE is currently the only way to enforce the execution of the command file specified in the /LGICMD field. Unfortunately, CAPTIVE also disables the use of the login /DISK qualifier and implies the flags DEFCLI, DISCTLY, and LOCKPWD. This is not necessary when the /LGICMD field contains a full file spec for the procedure. Control of the /DISK qualifier and of the /LGICMD should be available as separate flags. SIR: F86-115 Abstract: Maximum length of account strings should be increased. Description: The VMS account string field associated with a process should be expanded to 39 characters to provide increased flexibility. SIR: F86-116 Abstract: Provide support for simple project accounting. Description: The Spring 1985 VAX SIR Ballot contained a request for project accounting in VMS. Digital's response was "We also feel that project accounting is very important...We feel that this is a reasonably complex area and, as such, some of the enhancements that we intend to make in this area will appear over time." Project accounting is something that is desperately needed at large sites. In its simplest form, project accounting should provide a SET PROJECT command that would write a process accounting record, and start recording a new record with a new account string specified by the user. The account string should be verified before these actions take place. The system manager should be allowed to set up a file which specifies which UIC's are permitted to use individual account strings. Many sites have immediate government or internal security requirements for "one username per user" level of accountability. DEC should provide this form of project accounting until their full-blown system is available. SIR: F86-117 VAX-51 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 Fall 1986 System Improvement Requests Abstract: VMS should record the account string on files. Description: VMS should record the user's account string in the file header when the file is created. The string could then be used at user sites to do some form of disk space accounting. SIR: F86-118 Abstract: VMS should checkpoint its process accounting records so entire login sessions are not lost when the system crashes. Description: When the system crashes, no accounting records for logged in processes are written. VMS should provide a mechanism for periodic checkpointing of the records it is collecting so that when the system comes up after a crash, partial records may be written to the accounting file that reflect the information up to the last checkpoint before the crash. SIR: F86-119 Abstract: SHOW USERS, SHOW SYSTEM should optionally display the image names. Description: It is often useful to be able to see the name of the image a user is running. Presently only users with WORLD privilege can get this information. The SHOW USERS and SHOW SYSTEM commands should have a qualifier which would make them return this information. Output might look like this: VAX/VMS V4.3 20-MAY-1986 23:21:54.00 Uptime 3 08:27:11 Pid Process Name Image State Pri CPU 00000080 NULL (DCL) COM 0 3 06:35:37.11 00000081 SWAPPER (DCL) HIB 16 0 00:00:23.34 00000084 ERRFMT ERRFMT HIB 8 0 00:00:08.99 00000085 OPCOM OPCOM LEF 8 0 00:00:02.24 0000008E OPNS_OPA0 (DCL) LEF 7 0 00:00:05.51 000001CB SMITH_VTA58 (DCL) CUR 4 0 00:00:22.31 000001CC TPU_SMITH TPU LEF 7 0 00:00:13.03 Availability of this option might be controlled by a system logical name for the benefit of sites which consider the image name to be sensitive information. VAX-52 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 VAX System SIG Committee List VAX System SIG Committee List As of January 8, 1986 Osman K. Ahmad - Large Systems Integration Working Group Association of American Railroads Technical Center, Research and Test Department 3140 South Federal Street Chicago, IL 60616 Joe Angelico - Assistant Symposium Coordinator US Coast Guard CCGD8(DT) Hale Boggs Federal Building 500 Camp Street, New Orleans, LA 70130 Elizabeth Bailey - Volunteer Coordinator 222 CEB Tennessee Valley Authority Muscle Shoals, AL 35660 June Baker - Advisor Computer Sciences Corporation 6565 Arlington Boulevard Falls Church, VA 22046 Joe L. Bingham - Librarian Mantech International 2320 Mill Road Alexandria, VA 22314 Bob Boyd - Commercial Working Group GE Microelectronics Center MS 2P-04 Post Office Box 13409 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 C. Douglas Brown - Security Sandia Labs Division 2644 P.O. Box 5800 Albuquerque, NM 87185 Jim Caddick - VAXcluster General Datacom Strait Turnpike Middlebury, CT 06762-1299 Jack Cundiff - Symposium Coordinator Horry-Georgetown Post Office Box 1966 Conway, SC 29526 VAX-53 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 VAX System SIG Committee List Tom Danforth - Handout Editor Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Woods Hole, MA 02543 Jim Downward - Migration and Host Development, VAXintosh Working Group KMS Fusion Incorporated 3941 Research Park Drive Ann Arbor MI 48106 Jane Furze - Campground 3830 West Cochise Phoenix, AZ 85064 Dennis Frayne - Real Time/Process Control Working Group McDonnell Douglas 5301 Bolsa Avenue Huntington Beach, CA 92646 Carl E. Friedberg - Internals Working Group In House Systems 165 William Street New York, NY 10038 Don Golden - Communications Committee Representative c/o Shell Oil Company Westhollow Research Center Post Office Box 1380, Room D2132 Houston, TX 77001 Gary Grebus - System Improvement Request Battelle Columbis Labs Room 11-6011 505 King Avenue Columbus, OH 43201-2693 B. Hancock - Network Working Group Dimension Data Systems, Incorporated 2510 Limestone Lane Garland, TX 75040 (214) 495-7353 Jeffrey S. Jalbert - Historian J C C Post Office Box 381 Granville, OH 43023 614-587-0157 Ray Kaplan - MicroVAX Working Group Pivotal Incorporated 6892 East Dorado Court Tucson, AZ 85715 VAX-54 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 VAX System SIG Committee List Lawrence J. Kilgallen - Newsletter Editor Box 81, MIT Station Cambridge, MA 02139-0901 Margaret Knox - Chair Computation Center University of Texas Austin, Texas 78712 Art McClinton - Advisor MITRE 1820 Dolley Madison Boulevard McLean, VA 22102 Ross W. Miller - Vice Chair and Working Group Coordinator Online Data Processing, Inc. N 637 Hamilton Spokane, WA 99202 Eugene Pal - Multiprocessor Working Group US Army CAORA (ATOR-CAT-C) Fort Leavenworth, KA Susan Rehse - System Management Working Group Lockheed Missiles 3251 Hanover Street Palo Alto, CA 94301-1187 Bob Robbins - Advisor Array Computer Consultants 5364 Woodvale Drive Sarasota, FL 33582 Larry Robertson - Real Time/Process Control Working Group Bear Computer Systems Inc. 5651 Case Avenue North Hollywood, CA David Schmidt - LUG Coordinator, Hardware Working Group Management Sciences Associates 5100 Centre Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15232 Al Siegel - Advisor Battelle Memorial Institute 505 King Avenue Columbus, OH 43201-2693 D. Slater - Artificial Intelligence Working Group Institute for Defense Analysis 1801 North Beavregard Street Alexandria, VA 22314 VAX-55 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 INPUT/OUTPUT INPUT/OUTPUT A SIG Information Interchange A form for INPUT/OUTPUT submissions is available at the back of the issue. INPUT/OUTPUT 500 Caption: SET HOST/DTE TTxx/DIAL=(NUMBER=#,MODEM=DF224) - Reply to I/O # 499 Message: A Pageswapper article is in the works regarding SET HOST with the "Scholar". Bob McCormick of Video Communications Incorporated in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts has sent me a manuscript but I need to get it in machine-readable form as it contains numeric data for patches etc. Contact: Larry Kilgallen Box 81, MIT Station Cambridge, MA 02139-0901 Date: April 29, 1986 INPUT/OUTPUT 501 Caption: RK05 driver neede for VAX750 (VMS V4.3) Message: We would very much like to connect our old RK05 disk drives presently on our 11/70 system to the VAX750. If anyone has a driver available and has successfully done this, we would love to hear from you. Contact: Sheila Taylor National Institues of Health National Institute of Dental Research Building 30, Room B23 Bethesda, MD 20892 Telephone (301) 496-1621 Date: March 27, 1986 VAX-56 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 INPUT/OUTPUT INPUT/OUTPUT 502 Caption: SET HOST/DTE on RACAL/VADIC 3451-PA Message: I would appreciate any help anyone could offer on using the DCL command SET HOST/DTE to dial out from our VAX (VMS V4.1) via a RACAL/VADIC 3451-PA (programmable, autodial) modem connected to a DZ11 port. Contact: Roger Van Dok Energy Fues Nuclear, Incorporated 1200 17th Street, Suite 2500 Denver, CO 80202 (303) 623-8317 Date: May 6, 1986 INPUT/OUTPUT 503 Caption: File Transfer to IBM Message: At the present time we are trying to transfe files from a VAX 11/750 to an IBM mainframe. We don't have DECnet on our system. We do have a software package called Linkware, which will transfer the files for us. What we would like to be able to do is to transfer the files through our synchronous port. In order to get our synchronous port operational we would have to write a device driver, which we don't have the resources or the time to do. We are wondering if anyone out there has done this and if they could send us any information. We would appreciate anything we could get. Contact: Cheryl Kowalik and Nancy McGuire Programmer/Analysts Monroe Orleans 2 Board of Cooperative Educational Services 3599 Big Ridge Road Spencerport, NY 14559 (716) 352-2400 Date: May 9, 1986 VAX-57 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 INPUT/OUTPUT INPUT/OUTPUT 504 Caption: Datatrieve record definition for MONITOR Message: I would like to know if anyone knows of a Datatrieve record definition for the binary recording file created by the MONITOR utility. I have read the MONITOR supplement doc, but am hoping someone else has already created DTR definitions. This would be useful for using DTR for data reduction and to make simple plots like USERMODE vs. TIME, etc. Contact: John F. Priebe Edison State College 1973 Edison Drive Piqua, OH 45356 Telephone (513) 778-8600 Date: May 16, 1986 VAX-58 PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 INPUT/OUTPUT Submission Form INPUT/OUTPUT Submission Form A SIG Information Interchange Please reprint in the next issue of the Pageswapper If this is a reply to a previous I/O, which number? ________ Caption: ______________________________________________________ Message: ______________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Contact: Name _______________________________________________________ Address ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Telephone ____________________________ Signature _____________________________ Date ________________ Mail this form to: Larry Kilgallen, PAGESWAPPER Editor Box 81, MIT Station, Cambridge, MA 02139-0901, USA For information about on-line submission, dial (in the United States): (617) 262-6830 and log in with the username PAGESWAPPER. PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 INPUT/OUTPUT Submission Form Tear out or photocopy reverse to submit an I/O item Larry Kilgallen, PAGESWAPPER Editor Box 81, MIT Station Cambridge, MA 02139-0901 USA PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 System Improvement Request Submission Form System Improvement Request Submission Form Page 1 of _____ ________________________________________________________________ Submittor: Firm: Address: Phone: ________________________________________________________________ How to write an SIR: Describe the capability you would like to see available on VAX systems. Be as specific as possible. Please don't assume we know how it's done on the XYZ system. Justify why the capability would be useful and give an example of its use. If you wish, suggest a possible implementation of your request. ________________________________________________________________ Abstract (Please limit to four lines): ________________________________________________________________ Description and examples (use additional pages if required) PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 System Improvement Request Submission Form Tear out or photocopy reverse to submit an SIR Gary L. Grebus Battelle Columbus Division Room 11-6011 505 King Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43201-2693 USA PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 VAX Systems SIG Fall 1986 SIR Ballot VAX Systems SIG Fall 1986 SIR Ballot DECUS membership number __________________ (six digits) Our site uses the following VAX models (check all that apply) 8800 ___ 8600/8650 ____ 8500 ____ 8300/8200 ____ MicroVAX ____ 11/780,11/782,11/785 ____ 11/750 ____ 11/730,11/725 ____ We use VAX's in the following applications (Check all that apply) Business EDP ____ Software Development ____ Education ____ Computer Science Research ____ Data Acquisition/Control____ CAD/CAM ____ Service Bureau ____ Hardware Development ____ Scientific/Engineering ____ Office Automation ____ Telecommunications _____ Other ____________________________ I support the following as the most important System Improvement Requests. (List from zero to fifteen SIR's): SIR Number: ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- I oppose the following SIR's as detrimental. (List from zero to five SIR's): SIR Number: ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- Mail to: Gary L. Grebus Battelle Columbus Division Room 11-6011 505 King Avenue Columbus, OH 43201 To be counted, you ballot must be received by August 29. PAGESWAPPER - July 1986 - Volume 7 Number 12 VAX Systems SIG Fall 1986 SIR Ballot Tear out or photocopy reverse to vote on SIRs Gary L. Grebus Battelle Columbus Division Room 11-6011 505 King Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43201-2693 USA