I would not support releasing the source of any version of MPE to the
general public, for more than one reason :

1) It is not THAT easy to make a change, with just the source and no
extensive knowlege of the compile/link process, the structure of include
files, etc. For that purpose, MPE without all associated documentation looks
about like a gas-factory asembly of hundreds (if not more) files.

2) If the source of any version of MPE is made available to the general
public, we would probably see a babel-tower profusion of different MPE
flavors. Having a "red-hat" MPE, a "Turbo" MPE, a
"whatever_its_name_can_possibly_be" MPE would probably make the remaning
users turn up their noses and go anywhere else, due to lack of consistency.
I hate the idea.

3) Concerning the choice of an obsolete version, I do not support the idea.
There are enhancements we need to be able to get further along with MPE.
IIRC, one of the stated objectivfes of OpenMPE is to move FORWARD with MPE,
not BACKWARD. Among the enhancements I would rate as needed would be
anything even loosely related to hardware, such as the support for big
disks, ldev 1 beyond 4 gigs, etc.

4) Whether we like it or not, STM is here to stay. My team uses STM for
"other" platforms, and, were it only for consistency's sake, it's not such a
bad idea to have just one utility and one user interface to support several
platforms.

Christian Lheureux
Responsable du Département Systèmes et Réseaux / Head of Systems and
Networks Department
APPIC R.H.
business partner hp invent
Tel : +33-1-69-80-97-22   /   Fax : +33-1-69-80-97-14 / e-mail :
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
AIM nickname : MPE Evangelist
"Le Groupe APPIC recrute, contactez nous !"



> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : OpenMPE Support Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]]De la part de
> VANCE,JEFF (HP-Cupertino,ex1)
> Envoyé : jeudi 3 octobre 2002 23:29
> À : [log in to unmask]
> Objet : Re: MPE source (was: POSIX on MPE)
>
>
> ...
> > Perhaps HP would consider releasing the source to an earlier
> > version of MPE?
> > Version 5.5 or 6.0 would be a great starting point for future
> > development
> > and would take care of eliminating STM and some of the other
> > "enhancements" we have seen of late.
> ...
>
> At this time HP has no plans to release the source code for any
> version of MPE to the general public. There are many reasons,
> and others on this list are aware of at least some of the
> reasons.
>
> But, even if we did offer MPE source to the public, how easy
> do you think it would be to make a change in MPE and verify
> that the change is correct and does not have any negative
> side effects?
>
> regards,
>  Jeff Vance, "CSY"
>