Gentle readers,
I have just finished a most discouraging exercise in
tracing, debugging, correcting, and finally abandoning a command
file provided to me by HP though their Electronic Support
Centre.
In the end I discovered that the entire 460+ lines of command
file could be adequately replaced by the following three
commands issued from MPE:
:COPY FTPFD17A,UUFD17A (RENAME will do just as good)
:RUN /BIN/UUDECODE;INFO=' UUFD17A'
:MOVER635.UTIL;INFO='-R /SYS/PATCHXL -t FTPFD17A'
However, to learn this took me four days working on and off to
trace the execution of the command file and to to painfully
discover which version of MOVER was required. It also took the
help of two members of this list, Chris Bartram for pointing out
that I was dealing with a UUENCODED file and Keven Miller for
sharing the information that the 635 version of MOVER is
required.
The reason that I am sharing this story with you all is not
simply because I am besides myself with anger. That was
yesterday. No, I am writing to express my extreme
dissatisfaction with the shoddy nature of patch support for the
HP3000 provided through the ESC.
Anything that is shipped from HP that purports to be a part of
my support services I expect to work, the first time and every
time, without error and without modification on my part. I also
expect that EVERY component that forms part of that support
service will be a fully functioning, SUPPORTED, piece of
software.
The problem is that MOVER fits non of these criteria, and
further, it is NOT listed as a software requirement on the MPE
Patch Installation Guide. However, you are not going to get
very far if you do not have a copy on your system.
Additionally, MOVER comes in at least 3 distinct varieties, all
of which have exactly the same banner, down to the version
number, date, and time of creation, but none which can read
all the others' files. This makes finding the A.00.02 version
of the program that YOU need somewhat of a challenge.
Thirdly, even though a version of MOVER is shipped as part of
the TELESUP account (MOVER.PRVXL.TELESUP) this is NOT the
version that the person creating the TRUCK file for the FTP
patch used. It is however the version referred to in the
UNPACKP command file.
Fourthly, I personally find the mixture of MPE and POXiX sh
commands in a command file a most questionable practice. There
is a point at which trying to make a "one size fits all"
solution fails to provide an adequate answer to anybody's needs.
I feel that UNPACKP falls into this category. If you are
already using PATCHIX then the three commands given above will
do all that UNPACKP will, if you use AUTOPAT instead then only
the last line needs to be altered to:
:MOVER635.UTIL;INFO='-R /TELESUP/PATCHXL -t FTPFD17A'
If you have never used PATCHIX then you will need to create a
new group called PATCHXL.SYS. If you can't figure this out and
do it manually then I am of the opinion that you should NOT be
patching your OS.
These three MPE commands seem to me to be much easier to
understand, and a lot less effort to carry out, for everybody.
Certainly they are far simpler than trying to
maintain a convoluted command script, 99% of which only will
apply to a first time user on a new system, and which doesn't
work in any case.
There are references in UNPACKP to PATCHMKR. I presume that
PATCHMKR is obsolete as I cannot find any reference to this
script on the ESC. But then again, maybe not, since the
ESC is notably silent on the need for MOVER as well.
The Jazz site makes the point rather clearly that MOVER is
FREEWARE and IS NOT SUPPORTED. Of course you would have to know
that JAZZ existed to begin with and that MOVER (all THREE
A.00.02 versions) is available there since the ESC doesn't
mention it anywhere on its documentation regarding patches.
This entire situation is really quite intolerable.
Sincerely,
Jim
---
James B. Byrne Harte & Lyne Limited
vox: +1 905 561 1241 9 Brockley Drive
fax: +1 905 561 0757 Hamilton, Ontario
mailto:[log in to unmask] Canada L8E 3C3
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