OpenVMS RTL General Purpose (OTS$) Manual

This document is the HP OpenVMS RTL General Purpose (OTS$) Manual, published in January 2005 for OpenVMS I64 Version 8.2 and OpenVMS Alpha Version 8.2. It serves as a detailed reference for system and application programmers using the general-purpose routines within the OTS$ facility of the OpenVMS Run-Time Library.

The manual describes various language-independent routines, originally designed to support language compilers, that perform functions such as:

• Data type conversions (e.g., integer to binary/decimal/octal/hexadecimal text, floating-point to character string, numeric text to floating-point).
• Complex and packed decimal arithmetic (division, multiplication, and various exponentiation routines for different floating-point and integer types).
• Data movement operations with and without fill.
• String manipulation, including copying source strings (by descriptor or reference) and managing dynamic string storage (allocating and freeing).
• Convenience routines related to the OpenVMS Calling Standard, such as OTS$CALL_PROC for calling procedures in native or translated images, and OTS$JUMP_TO_BPV for transferring control to bound procedures.

It also notes specific linking requirements for certain OTS$ mathematics routines on Alpha and I64 systems (requiring DPML$SHR.EXE or equivalent math$ entry points) and highlights support for 64-bit virtual addressing on these platforms, with a caveat that users must provide their own generic prototypes for 64-bit data.

The manual is structured into an overview of the OTS$ facility and a comprehensive reference section detailing each routine alphabetically.