HP OpenVMS Utility Routines Manual

This document is the HP OpenVMS Utility Routines Manual, published in June 2010 (Order Number: BA554-90019). It serves as a programming guide for developers who wish to integrate OpenVMS utility functions into their applications.

The manual describes 20 sets of utility routines that provide a programming interface to various OpenVMS utilities. Each chapter is dedicated to a specific set of routines, providing an introduction, programming examples, and detailed descriptions of each routine.

Key utility routine sets covered include:

• Access Control List (ACL) Editor Routines: For manipulating Access Control Lists.
• Backup (BACKUP) API: For performing BACKUP operations programmatically.
• Command Language Interface (CLI) Routines: For processing DCL command strings.
• Common File Qualifier Routines (UTIL$CQUAL): For parsing command lines for file qualifiers and matching files.
• Convert (CONVERT) Routines: For copying records between files, changing formats, and reclaiming empty buckets in indexed files.
• Data Compression/Expansion (DCX) Routines: For compressing and expanding data records.
• DEC Text Processing Utility (DECTPU) Routines: For text processing functions.
• DECdts Portable Applications Programming Interface: For handling time representations, conversions, and calculations based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
• EDT Routines: For integrating the EDT editor into applications.
• Encryption (ENCRYPT) Routines: For programming encryption and decryption operations using AES and DES algorithms.
• File Definition Language (FDL) Routines: For defining and manipulating file characteristics.
• Librarian (LBR) Routines: For creating and maintaining various types of libraries (object, macro, text, help, shareable image, NCS, user-developed).
• Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) Routines: For C language API support to LDAPv3, including session management, authentication, searching, modifying, adding, deleting entries, and ASN.1 value manipulation.
• LOGINOUT (LGI) Routines: For implementing site-specific login security policies and custom authentication.
• Mail Utility (MAIL) Routines: For programmatic access to mail functions, including managing mail files, messages, and user profiles.
• National Character Set (NCS) Utility Routines: For defining and accessing collating sequences and conversion functions for string comparisons.
• Print Symbiont Modification (PSM) Routines: For modifying the behavior of the OpenVMS print symbiont.
• Symbiont/Job Controller Interface (SMB) Routines: For user-written symbionts to communicate with the job controller.
• Sort/Merge (SOR) Routines: For integrating sort or merge operations into applications.
• Traceback Facility (TBK) Routines: For obtaining call stack information for debugging.

The manual is intended for programmers familiar with the OpenVMS Calling Standard and Run-Time Library, providing examples in languages like VAX BLISS, VAX C, HP Fortran, and HP Pascal.