Digital PDFs

AA-KL99A-TC

June 1987

64 pages

Original

2.3MB

Document:	RSTS/E Release Notes
Order Number:	AA-KL99A-TC
Revision:	0
Pages:	64
Original Filename:	http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/rsts_e/V09/1_General_Information_and_Installation/AA-KL99A-TC_RSTS_E_V9.4_Release_Notes_Jun87.pdf

OCR Text

RSTS/E
Release Notes
Order No. AA-KL99A- Te

June 1987
These Release Notes describe new features of the RSTS/E system and explain the differences between this version and previous versions of RSTS/E.
System managers and system maintainers should read this document prior to
system installation.

OPERATING SYSTEM AND VERSION:

RSTS/E

V9.4

SOFTWARE VERSION:

RSTS/E

V9.4

digital equipment corporation, maynard, massachusetts

The information in this document is subject to change without notice and
should not be construed as a commitment by Digital Equipment Corporation. Digital Equipment Corporation assumes no responsibility for any errors
that may appear in this document.
The software described in this docurnent is furnished under a license and
may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such license.
No responsibility is assumed for the use or reliability of software on equipment that is not supplied by DIGITAL.. or its affiliated companies.

. The postage-paid READER'S COMf'vIENTS form on the last page of this
document requests your critical evaluation to assist us in preparing future
documentation.

The following are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation:

momoDmo™
DATATRIEVE
DEC
DEC mail
DECmate
DECnet
DECsystem-10
DECSYSTEM-20
DECtape

DEC US
DECwriter
DIBOL
FMS-11
LA
MASSBUS
PDP
P/OS
Professioncll
Q-bus

Rainbow
ReGIS
RSTS
RSX
RT
UNIBUS
VAX
VMS
VT
Work Processor
WPS-PLUS

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
CONTENTS
1

1.1
1 .1 .1
1.1.2
1.2
1.2.1
1.2.2
1.3
1.3.1
1.3.2
1 •3•3
1.4
1.4.1
2
2.1
2.2
2 .. 2.1
2.2.2

2.2. 3
2.2.4
2.2 • 5
2.2.6
2.3
2.3.1
2.3.2
2.3.3
2.3.4
2. 3 . 5
2.3.6
2.4
2.4.1
2.4.2
2.5
2.6
2.6.1
2.6.2
2.6.3
2.6.4
2.6.5
2.6.6
2.6.7
2.6.8
2.6.9
2.7
2.8

New Features of RSTS/E V9.4
..........
..........
New Device Support . . . .
New VT330 and VT340 text and graphics terminals
supported
. . . . . ..
..........
DEUNA, DEQNA, DELUA support enhanced .
.
Monitor
. . . . .' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Terminal Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Context Switching Performance Improvements . . .
DeL

•

•.

..•••••

1
1
1
2
2
2
3
3
3
4
4
5
5
6

. . . . ..
.
New GOSUB and RETURN Commands
New /CODE=DATA_SPACE Qualifier for LINK command
New /STANDARD qualifier for DIBOL command . . .
RSX Emulator . . " . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.
RSX Utilities Include PSW in Register Dump
..
Differences Between V9.4 and v9.3
.........
Changed Support for Devices, Programs, and
Software Features
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Initialization Code (INIT.SYS) . . . .
. ... 6
Additions to INIT Hardware List option . . . . . 6
Changes to INIT"SYS Autosizing Code for DU and
MU Devices . . " . . . . . . .
. ...... 6
Error Messages .' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Check for missing DEQNA ECO
...... 7
SAVRES Corrections . . . . . . .
...... 8
MSCP Sizing Algorithm Corrected
...... 9
Monitor
.... " . . . . . . ..
. ..... 9
Terminal Service Corrections . .
. ..... 9
Message Send/Receive Corrections .
. . . . 10
Set Terminal Characteristics SYS Call
10
Device Driver Corrections
. . . . . . . . . .
10
File Name String Scan (.FSS) Corrections.
11
Cache Correction . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 12
Installation . . " . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 12
RMS Modules Included in Standard SYSLIB Library 12
Corrections
. . . . ..
. . . . . . . 12
Error Package
. " . . . . . . . ..
. . . . 13
DCL
. • • • . •
13
Enhancements to SET PROMPT Command . . . . . .
13
SHOW FILE/OPEN/JOB Command Changes . . . . . .
14
DIBOL Command Length Extended
. . . . . .
14
/EXTEND_SOURCE Qualifier for FORTRAN/FOR
Command . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 14
15
GOTO Command Changes . . . . . . . . .
15
Changes to INITIALIZE Qualifiers .
15
PBS Command Length Extended
DCL Makes More Efficient Use of Memory . . . .
16
16
DCL Corrections
. . . . . . . . . .
18
Help Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
22
Commonly Used System Programs (CUSPs)
.....
I'

iii

•

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
2.8.1

Supporting Disks with Unit Numbers Greater Than

2.8.2

ANALYS.TSK . . .
corrections . . . . . . . . . . . • . .
BUILD.TSK
...
DSKINT.TSK . .
. ........ .
print/Batch Services (PBS)
Corrections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ODT.TSK Corrections
... .
OPSER BATCH PACKAGE
. . . . . . . . .
PIP
Open Next Directive
. . . . . ~ ..
Corrections
. . .
. . . . . . .
QUE.TSK Corrections
. . . . . . ..
~ ..
RESTOR PACKAGE
. . . . . .
SHUTUP.TSK Corrections
....... .
SYSTAT. TSK . . . . . . . . . . . .
... .
HOOK.SAV Correction
...... .
BACKUP.TSK . . . . .
. .......... .

2.8.3
2.8.4
2.8.5
2.8.6
2.8.7
2.8.8
2.8.9
2.8.10
2.8.11
2.8.12
2.8.13
2.8.14
2.9
2.9.1
2 .9.2
2.9.3
2.10
2.10.1

2.10.2
2.10.3
3
3.1
4
4.1
4.1.1
4.1.2
4.1.3
4.2
4•3

4.4
4 • 4 •1
4 •4 •2
4.5

•

RM S -11

•

••

•

•••••••••

•

()

•

RMS-11 Access Methods
. . . . . .
RMS-11 Utilities. . .
. ..... .
RMSDES . . . . . . . .
.... .
RMS-11 Documentation . . .
RMS-11 USER'S GUIDE
RMS-11 UTILITIES GUIDE
Layered Products . . . . .
...
DECnet/E V4.0
. . . . . •
• ..... .
Upda t i ng DECne t/E
. ..
.... .
SET HOST Command Corrections .
..... .
RSTS/E Network File Transfer program (NFT)
Corrections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
DECnet/E File Access Listener (FAL)
Corrections . . . . . . . . . . . .
DECnet/E Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . .
DECnet/E Utilities Guide
....... .
DECmail-11 V3.0
. . . . • • • .
. ..
Updates on RSTS/E V9.4 . . • . . . .
Corrections
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Documentation Changes in RSTS/E V9.4 . . • . . . .
Corrections
. . . . . . . . • • .
Known Problems and Restrictions with RSTS/E V9.4
Installation . . • . . . . . .
. . .
Boot from TU10 . . . . . . . .
..... .
Booting Magnetic Tape
.. . . . . . . . .
Flag Files .
...
....
. ...
DEUNA Ethe rnet Dr i VE! r
. ..
... .
Initialization Code (INIT.SYS) . . . . . . . . . .
Moni tor
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
DB and DR Disk Drivers . . . • . . . .
MSCP Disk Driver . . . . . . . . . . .
Commonly Used System Programs (CUSPs)
.. .
iv

22
23
23
23
24
24
24
25
25
25
25
26
27
27
28
28
28
29
29
29
30
30
31
31
32
35
35
35
35
36
36
37
37
37
37
40
42
42
44
44
44
44
44
44
45
46
46
46
46

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
4.5.1
4.5.2
4.5.3
4.5.4
4.5.5

ANALYS package . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
LOGIN.TSK and LOGOUT.TSK
.........

46
47

PIP

4.6
4.6.1
4.6.2
4.7
4.8
4.8.1
4.8.2

Print/Batch Services (PBS) . . . .
48
Supporting Disks with Unit Numbers Greater Than
DeL

•••••

•

• •

• • • • •

• •

•

• •

•

ON severity THEN path Not Taken
Log File Corruption
. . . . .
RSX and RMS Tasks
. . . . . . .
Layered Products .
. ..
DECmail-11 V3.0
.
DECnet/E . . . .
. . . . .

•

••

49
49
50
50
50
50
51

. . .
. . . . ..
. . . .
....
. . . . . .
. . . .

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Preface
The RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes describe new features in RSTS/E for this
release as well as differences between this and the previous release,
RSTS/E V9.3.
The procedure to install a new RSTS/E V9.4 system or to upgrade an
existing RSTS/E system to v9.4 follows the same general process
developed for V9.0.
Because of the V9.0 changes to the installation process, users of
earlier versions of RSTS/E should read the RSTS/E System Installation
and Update Guide prior to attempting an installation of RSTS/E V9.4.
If you are installing a new RSTS/E V9.4 system, refer to PART I of the
RSTS/E System Installation and Update Guide.

If you are upgrading a pre-V9.0 system to V9.4, refer to PART II of
the RSTS/E System Installation and Update Guide.
If you are updating a RSTS/E V9.0 or later system to V9.4, refer to
PART IV of the RSTS/E System Installation and Update Guide.
In addition, users and programmers familiar with RSTS/E V9.3 should
read the!se notes to learn about changes and new features in RSTS/E
V9.4. The v9.4 Release notes are divided into four sections:
1.
2.
3.
4.

RSTS/E V9.4 New Features
Differences Between RSTS/E V9.3 and RSTS/E V9.4
RSTS/E V9.4 Documentation Changes
Known Problems and Restrictions with RSTS/E V9.4

NOTE
If you last used a version of RSTS/E older than V9.3,
you should read the release notes for any intermediate
versions.

vii

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
New Features
1

1.1

New Features of RSTS/E v9.4

New Device Support

1.1.1

New VT330 and VT340 text and graphics terminals supported

RSTS/E V9.4 includes support for the new VT330 and VT340 text and
graphics terminals.
Some of the main feature$ of these terminals are:
o

Ability to run two terminal sessions at the same time

Display information from two sessions in separate windows
(split vertically or horizontally) on the screen

Multiple-page display memory

25th status line (for use by applications)

Use r--defined keys

ReGIS and Sixel graphics

Tektronix 4010/4014 terminal emulation

Display 16 colors from a palette of 4096 colors (VT340 only)

RSTS/E supports dual sessions on these terminals using the two data
ports located at the rear of the VT330 and VT340' terminals.
These
ports can be connected to the same system or to different systems.
The DCL command SET TERMINAL/INQUIRE properly sets the software
characteristics of these new terminals.
The SET TERMINAL command qualifier /DEVICE_TYPE now accepts the
keyword arguments vT330 and VT340.
The SHOW TERMINAL command displays the new terminal types VT330 and
VT340.
The terminal type code for the VT330 is 48; the type code for the
VT340 is 49.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
New Features
1.1.2

DEUNA, DEQNA, DELUA support enhanced

In RSTS/E V9.3 the Ethernet devices were only supported for use under
DECnet/E V4.0. In RSTS/E V9.4, the three Ethernet Controllers
(DEUNA,DEQNA, and DELUA) have been enhanced to include a direct user
interface. For details on the use of this interface from BASIC-PLUS,
see the RSTS/E Programming Manual. For details on using Ethernet
Special Functions with MACRO-II programs or subroutines, see the
RSTS/E System Directives Manual.

1.2
1.2.1

Monitor
Terminal Service

Previously, RSTS Terminal Service scanned each line output to your
terminal, looking for the special prefix characters %, ?, and ??
If
a line beginning with the % character was found, the monitor set the
job's severity level to WARNING; if the? prefix character (followed
by a non-blank) was found, the monitor set the level to ERROR; if the
?? prefix characters were found, the monitor set the level to
SEVERE ERROR. DCL used this information to correctly set the
$SEVERITY and $STATUS symbols. While executing a command file, DCL
also used this information to take the necessary action based on the
command file's ON severity-level THEN command.
This checking was provided in v9.0 to provide compatibility with the
OPSER-based batch package and ATPK, which also performed similar
checks.
Unfortunately, there was considerable overhead involved in these
checks. This action within Terminal Service was the major reason why
Terminal Service since V9.0 used more CPU overhead than in previous
versions.
Terminal Service for V9.4 performs severity-level checking on terminal
output lines only when a DCL command file is executing. This
increases the performance of Terminal Service for jobs that are not
executing command procedures. Because of this change, the DCL symbols
$STATUS and $SEVERITY will not be updated when a program running
interactively (not within a command procedure) outputs lines beginning
with any of the special severity prefix characters.
The preferred method for correctly setting a program's exit status
(severity level) is via the RSX EXST$ directive. Doing so sets the
job's severity level both interactively and within a command
procedure. All of the RSX-based and RMS-based utilities currently use
this method for setting exit status.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
New Features
This change was made because a program's exit status is only
meaningful within a DCL command procedure; it is not necessary to
update and maintain the $SEVERITY and $STATUS symbols at the
interactive level.

1.2.2

Context Switching Performance Improvements

The context switching function of the RSTS/E monitor, used to transfer
execution between users, has been re-written for RSTS/E V9.4 to
improve overall performance of RSTS/E systems.
This change will be
most noticeable on systems which have a large number of users runnable
at the same time.

1.3
1.3.1

DCL
New GOSUB and RETURN Commands

The GOSUB command transfers control to a labeled subroutine in a
command procedure.
It behaves similarly to the Basic-Plus GOSUB
statement and is fully compatible with the VMS DCL GOSUB command.
Note that a command procedure's severity and CONTROL_C settings are
not reset or otherwise changed when control is passed to or from a
subroutine.
The format of the GOSUB command is:
$ GOSUB label

where label is the label of the first line of the subroutine to be
executed.
The RETURN command terminates a subroutine and returns control to the
command following the calling GOSUB command.
The format of the RETURN
command is:
$ RETURN [severity_code]

where severity_code is an optional argument (a DCL expression) that
sets the exit status of the subroutine.
If no expression is present,
the subroutine's exit status is set to the most recent command exit
status.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
New Features
The following example demonstrates the use of GOSUB and RETURN in a
command procedure:
$ _Inquire SCORE "Enter test score"
$ Gosub CHECK RANGE
$CHECK RANGE:
$ _If (SCORE .ge. 0) .and. (SCORE .le. 100) Then Return
$ Wr i te a "?Score not in r'ange a - 100"
$ Exit

1.3.2

New /CODE=DATA_SPACE Qualifier' for LINK command

The /CODE=DATA_SPACE and /CODE=NODATJI~_SPACE qual i fie r s have been added
to the DCL LINK command for V9.4.
These qualifiers are valid only
with RSX-based languages such as BASIC-PLUS-2 and FORTRAN-77u
Use the /CODE=DATA_SPACE qualifier to instruct the task builder to
create an instruction and data (I & D) space task.
Use the
/CODE=NODATA_SPACE qualifier to instruct the task builder not to
create an I & D space task.
The default is /CODE=NODATA_SPACE.

1.3.3

New /STANDARD qualifier for DIBOL command

The /[NO]STANDARD[=type] qualifier allows you to specify which syntax
type the DIBOL compiler will a~cept.
/STANDARD=D83 tells the compiler to accept only DIBOL-83 syntax.
/STANDARD=ANSI tells the compiler to accept only ANSI DrBOL syntax.
The default is /NOSTANDARD.
However, if /STANDARD is specified
without an argument, then /STANDARD=ANSr is assumed.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
New Features
1.4

RSX Emulator

1.4.1

RSX utilities Include PSW in Register Dump

The Processor status Word is now displayed along with the General
Register Set. Previously, when a program running under the RSX
emulator aborted abnormally, the emulator displayed the contents of
registers RO-RS, SP and pc. The emulator has been updated in V9.4 to
include the contents of the PSW (processor status word) in the
display. For example:
??Odd address trap
000000 000015 012664

010110

001346

122000

002000

002030

174010

PSW

The registers displayed are in the order:
RO

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
2

2.1

Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3

Changed Support for Devices, Prc)grams, and Software Features

The following hardware and software will be supported on RSTS/E V9.4
only for systems upgrading from V9.2 or V9.3.
RSTS/E support for
these devices, programs, or software features will be stopped in
December 1988.

Device/Program/Feature

Suggested Replacement

RPR02
RP03
Tu56
PCll (paper tape)
Card readers
DJll terminal multiplexer
SAVRES
FLINT
Terminal Service support
for 5 and 6 bit character
lengths

RA60
RA60
TK50
Other form of I/O
Other form of I/O
DHUll terminal multiplexer
BACKUP
None
None

2.2
2.2.1

Initialization Code (INIT.SYS)
Additions to INIT Hardware List option

Additional comments have been included in the INIT hardware list for
DMR-ll and DMP-ll devices.
This information will aid in verification
of proper hardware installation and diagnosing of networking problems.
Also, INIT now detects the presence of a DT07 bus switch.
If this
device is present on the bus, the hardware list option displays the
device BS: (Bus Switch) and its CSR address.
There is no vector
information displayed for the bus switch.

2.2.2

Changes to INIT.SYS Autosizin9 Code for DU and MU Devices

The autosizing code that INIT.SYS uses to determine the number and
types of DU and MU devices on the system has been enhanced to perform
faster, and to provide better detection and reporting of controller
errors.
These changes result in shorter boot times for systems with
DU and MU devices (as much as 20% shorter on large systems).

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
252.3

Error Messages

In previous versions, the error message "RUx: Unit nn is too
large" printed if INIT.SYS encountered an MSCP disk with a
unit number larger than 15. This message was misleading, as
it implied that the actual unit, rather than the unit number,
was too large. The wording of this message has been changed
to read "RUx: unit nn - Unit number is too large".

Several new error messages have been added to INIT.SYS.
These messages occur during the autosizing of MSCP/TMSCP
devices, and indicate a hardware failure or bus configuration
problem.
"RUx: controller type is UNSUPPORTED by RSTS/E - Device
disabled".
This message indicates that the controller has given an
invalid model ID code to INIT.SYS.
"RUx: does not respond to disk or tape connects - Device
disabled".
This message indicates that the controller says it is
incapable of handling either disk or tape devices.
"RUx: timeout during disk initialization, step nnnnnn Device disabled".
"RUx: timeout during tape initialization, step nnnnnn Device disabled".
"RUx:

timeout during SCC - Device disabled".

These messages indicate that the controller did not
complete a step of the initialization process within an
allocated amount of time.

282.4

Check for missing DEQNA ECO

AS stated in the RSTS SPD, all DEQNA devices must be at revision E or

later. However, there is no way in software to determine if the DEQNA
is at revision "E". Another ECO is coming for machines with 4Mbytes
of memory, or machines using DECOM hardware to a broadband Ethernet.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
This ECO can be detected in software.
INIT now checks for the
presence of this latest ECO, and issues the following message if the
ECO is not found:
WARNING - Device XHx:

is missing ECO(s), but will still function.

This message indicates that your DEQNA may be revision E or lower, but
that it is NOT higher than E.
If your DEQNA is already at revision E,
then no action is necessary.
If your system contains 4 Mbytes of
memory, or is connected via a DECOM to a broadband Ethernet, then INIT
will use a software workaround to these problems until the ECO can be
obtained.
If your DEQNA is NOT at revision E or higher, then you MUST
contact Field Service for a replacement DEQNA, and reference FCO
DEQNA-R-OOI or EQ-014l8-0l.

2.2.5

SAYRES Corrections

The following problems have been corrected in both the SAYRES option
of INIT.SYS and the online version of SAYRES for V9.4:
o

Prior to V9.4, the SAYRES option displayed an error message
if you specified a DU disk unit number greater than seven
(for example, DUll:).
Now, SAYRES lets you specify any DU disk unit between 0 and
15.

Error messages printed by online SAYRES for DU device unit
numbers over 9 now properly identify the device unit.

Previously savesets for DU disks could only be restored under
the same environment in which they were created.
Savesets of
DU disks created by SAVRES.SAV (online SAYRES) could only be
restored online, and not by the SAYRES option. Also,
savesets of DU disks created by the SAVE option of INIT
(offline SAYRES) could only be restored offline, and not by
the SAVRES.SAV program (online SAYRES).
This problem was
caused by different size calculations made by INIT, and
SAVRES.SAV.
Both SAYRES environments have been changed to allow these
savesets to be restored.
However, due to the difference in
size, the restored disk must be left "dirty".
This means
that the pack must be "rebuilt" by the "Refresh" option,
ONLCLN, or Mount/Rebuild, prior to its use.
The incorrect
size calculation that originally caused this problem has also
been fixed.
See section 2.2.6 for additional information.

RSTS/E v9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and v9.3
2.2.6

MSCP Sizing Algorithm Corrected

In previous versions of RSTS/E, the algorithm that was used to
the unit size in device clusters for MSCP disks with a
device cluster size greater than one, was incorrect. The algorithm
has been corrected for V9.4.
determin«~

2.3

Monitor

2.3.1

Terminal Service Corrections

The following Terminal Service problems have been corrected in source
for V9. 4::
o

The system could crash if you specified an illegal byte count
value when issuing the .SPEC directive to set a private
delimiter mask. This problem was corrected by a Software
Dispatch article (Seq. 3.3.11 M).
Now if you specify an illegal value, the error "?Illegal byte
count for I/O" will be returned as documented in the RSTS/E
System Directives Manual.

If a job logged into a captive account and became detached
while running under a command procedure (either by issuing
the DETACH command or by loss of modern signals) the job was
killed. This problem was corrected by a Software Dispatch
article (Seq. 3.3.12 M).
Terminal service now places such jobs in a hibernation state.

Excessive hardware errors on a DHUll or DHVll multiplexer
could crash the system. This problem was corrected by a
Software Dispatch article (Seq. 3.3.13 M) and has been
corrected in source for V9.4.

Terminal service was incorrectly computing the number of
spaces to send to a device when encountering a TAB. This
problem occurred if the current line contained invalid
eight-bi t ch,aracters. Thi s problem has been corrected in
source for V9.4.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3

2.3.2

Message Send/Receive Corrections

The 'Send local data message' and 'Send local data message with
privilege mask' subfunctions of the .MESAG system call have been
corrected to return the receiver job number in byte 5 (byte 4 if using
the Basic-Plus SYS() call) as documented.
RSTS V9.3 returned the data
incorrectly in byte 4 (byte 3 if using the Basic-plus SYS() call).

2.3.3

Set Terminal Characteristics SYS Call

The Set Terminal Characteristics SYS call (UU.TRM directive) has been
changed to return the error "?Device not available" if the terminal
port has been disabled by INIT.
Issuing the call to set or obtain
terminal characteristics for lines disabled by issuing the DCL SET
DEVICE/DISABLE command or the Set Device Characteristics and System
Default SYS call (UU.CFG directive) works as in previous versions of
RSTS/E.

2.3.4

Device Driver Corrections

The following problems associated with device drivers have been
corrected for V9.4:
o

When printing data to line printer devices, using both the
"Delay until output complete" and "No stall" write modifiers
(RECORD 4% and 8192%, respectively), the monitor would not
return an error if the device was offline.
print/Batch Services (PBS) uses both of these modifiers to
determine when a line printer device has finished printing a
file.
If a file was completely buffered by the system before
the printer went offline, PBS would not recognize that the
server was offline.

ANSI magnetic tape files that were created on MS
(TSll/TU80/TSV05/TK25) or MU (TU8l/TK50) tape drives using
anything except the COpy command or the PIP utility had an
invalid EOFI trailer record.
The block count field of this
record always contained zeroes, regardless of how many
records were actually written to the tape.

The MS tape driver (for TSll, TU80, TSv05 and TK25 tapes)
incorrectly handled timeouts that could occur durin9 some
long tape operations; most frequently, this was seen when
using 3600' tapes on TSII drives.
The most common symptom of
this problem was a BACKUP hang, in an FP(MTA) state.

RSTS/E v9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
o

In RSTS/E V9.3, the
many errors.
These
reflected transient
instead of hardware

XE:
devices (DEUNA and DELUA) logged
errors were hard to interpret, but
conditions (such as buffer shortages)
errors requiring investigation.

For RSTS/E V9.4, these errors are no longer logged.
The
DECnet/E V4.0 Event logger records all of these transient
events, and Ethernet device Line and Circuit counters can be
accessed to keep track of excessive transient problems, so
that they can be addressed ~~ith more careful resource
management.
o

Prior to V9.4, if software formatting mode (MODE 512%) was
specified on the open of a line printer device that had the
eight-hit characteristic set, the open failed as expected but
the device remained assigned to the job even if it wasn't
explicitly assigned.

In V9.3, systems that included support for TMSCP tape drives,
but did not include support for MSCP disks, crashed if any
attempt was made to access the TMSCP tape.
This problem is
fixed in V9.4.

2.3.5

File Name String Scan (.FSS) Corrections

The following problem has been corrected in the File Name String Scan
(oFSS) directive for V9.4:
o

previously, if you placed a protection code value in the
FIRQB before issuing an .FSS directive, the monitor would not
use that value as the default when no protection code was
specified in the file string being scanned.
NOw, if no protection code is specified in the file string
passed to .FSS, then the protection value found in the FIRQB,
if any, is returned.
If no value is found in the FIRQB, then
the job's default protection code is returned.
If no default
protection code is defined for the job, then no protection
code value is returned.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
2.3.6

Cache Correction

In Versions 9.0 through 9.3 it was possible for some
non-file-structured write operations to a mounted disk to corrupt
block I of that disk. If the disk had a cluster size greater than the
cache cluster size, and the pack label of the disk was contained in
the cache, and the boot block of the disk was written to, then the
data for the pack label within the cache became corrupt. 1f a read
was done to the pack label while this data was still in the cache, the
block would be read with the corrupted data. If the data was then
modified and written back to the disk (as in the case of dismounting a
disk or system shutdown), the pack label became corrupt. This problem
was occasionally encountered when a mounted disk with a cluster size
greater than the cache cluster size was hooked immediatly after a
backup or restore operation involving that disk.

2.4

Installation
RMS Modules Included in Standard SYSLIB Library

2.4.1

Previously, the installation procedure inserted several RMS modules
into the SYSLIB object library if you selected any packages that
required RMS. Now, the RMS modules are included in the standard
SYSLIB object library as shipped; there is no longer any need to
reinstall RMS aftar installing a new SYSLIB library.

Corrections

2.4.2

The following problems have been corrected in the RSTS/E installation
procedures for V9.4:
o

Prior to V9.4, if you answered NO to the Proceed? prompt of
the system package section of the installation procedure, it
may have caused disk space to be wasted by leaving
unnecessary files on the disk until they could be cleaned up
by another installation.
Now the installation procedure performs its standard cleanup
procedure if you answer NO to that prompt.

Previously, the installation procedure displayed an error if
you specified the patch account logical name PATCH$ without a
trailing colon. It now allows the patch account name to be
specified without the trailing colon.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
o

In V9.3, DeL did not terminate a command procedure if it was
unable to write to its work file.
This affected the
installation procedure when upgrading RSTS/E vs.o or earlier
systems to V9.3.
This problem was documented in the RSTS/E V9.3 Release Notes,
which included a workaround to the problem.
This problem has been corrected in V9.4.
The upgrade
procedures documented in step 4 of the Upgrade section of the
RSTS/E System Installation and Update Guide now correctly
describe the upgrade sequence during installation.

Prior to V9.4, the installation procedure did not calculate
the number of TU16/TE16/TU45/TU77 magtape drives on your
system; it always used S as the default.
The installation procedure now calculates the actual number
of drives on your system and uses that value as the default.

2.5

Prior to V9.4, it was possible that SYSLIB.OLB was installed
contiguously.
This caused failures in some layered product
installations which required that the object library be
extended.
SYSLIB.OLB is no longer installed contiguously.

Error Package

The ERRDIS program no longer displays MU device errors if /NOTAPE is
specified.

2.6
2.6.1

DCL
Enhancements to SET PROMPT Command

The SET PROMP~r command can now create prompt strings up to 255
characters long.
This change was made possible by creating two new
reserved global symbols:
$PROMPT and $LOGFILE_PROMPT.
The $PROMPT symbol contains your regular prompt string (when no log
file is active).
The $LOGFILE_PROMPT symbol contains your prompt string when a log file
is active.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
Use the SET PROMPT command as before to store your prompt strings in
these symbols.
The values of these prompt symbols cannot be changed by an assignment
statement, since all $-symbols are treated as reserved symbols.
However, they can be used like normal symbols in all other respects.
For example, you could enclose your current prompt string in
parentheses by issuing the command:
$ SET PROMPT "(" + $PROMPT + ")"
($

2.6.2

)

SHOW FILE/OPEN/JOB Command Changes

You can now issue the command SHOW FILE/OPEN/JOB[=n] to display all
files opened by the job specified by its number n.
If a device name parameter is also specified (i.e,
SHOW FILE/OPEN/JOB=n dev:) then the display is restricted to files
opened on that device by the job specified.

2.6.3

DIBOL Command Length Extended

The maximum command length that the DIBOL command accepts has been
increased from 80 to 255 characters.

2.6.4

/EXTEND_SOURCE Qualifier for FORTRAN/FOR Command

The /EXTEND_SOURCE qualifier allows FORTRAN IV statements to extend
beyond column 72.
This qualifier was documented incorrectly as applying to both the
FORTRAN/FOR and FORTRAN/F77 commands in the online help files, and was
not documented anywhere else.
Also, the qualifier was not recognized by the FORTRAN/FOR command
prior to V9.4.
The FORTRAN/FOR command now accepts the /EXTEND_SOURCE
qualifier and the RSTS/E Quick Reference Guide is being updated to
include the qualifier.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3

286.5

GOTO Command Changes

Prior to V9.4, if you issued a GOTO command with a label that was not
defined in the command procedure, DCL would issue an error message and
immediately STOP the procedure.
In some instances this was undesirable.
For example, if a command
procedure wanted to dispatch to a routine based on a user-supplied
command name, it might do so as follows:
$ _Inquire COMMAND "Enter command"
$ Goto 'COMMAND'

This worked properly as long as the user supplied a defined command
keyword (one that matched a defined label).
If not, there was no way
for the command procedure to trap the GOTO error and re-prompt.
Now, if the GOTO command includes an undefined label, DCL will
redisplay the command line, issue an error message and take whatever
ON severity THEN action is in effect at the time.
This allows the
command procedure to handle the error in the normal manner.
This same action is taken if an undefined label is included with the
new GOSUB command.

2.6.6

Changes to INITIALIZE Qualifiers

The DCL INITIALIZE qualifiers /MFD_CLUSTER_SIZE, /CLUSTER_SIZE and
/EXERCISE have been modified to accept only valid values as arguments.
These values are:
/MFD_CLUSTER_SIZE
/CL,USTER_SI ZE
/EXERCISE

2.6.7

4,8, and 16
1,2,4,8, and 16
0,1,2, and 3

PBS Command Length Extended

DCL commands which perform Print/Batch Service operations such as
PRINT, SUBMITv SHOW ENTRY, INITIALIZE/QUEUE, etc.
can now be up to
255 characters long.
The previous limit was 127 characters.

RSTSjE V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
2.6.8

DCL Makes More Efficient Use of Memory

In previous versions, when a command procedure was invoked, DCL
allocated an extra lK words of memory for the local symbol table.
This caused all jobs to begin with a job size of 5K words.
Now the initial job size of DCL is 4K words. DCL can create its local
symbol table within the initial 4K words of memory, and does not need
to allocate additional memory until local or global symbol assignments
require it.

2.6.9

DeL Corrections

The following problems have been corrected in DCL for V9.4:
o

Several problems relating to passing parameters to a command
file have been corrected. It is now possible to pass
parameters to a command file by putting the parameters into
core common and chaining to the command file with a non-zero
line number.
NOTE
Digital recommends that you use line number
30000 to indicate the presence of parameters
in core common when chaining to a command
file. The use of other non-zero line numbers
may conflict with possible new features in
the future.
For example, the following BASIC-PLUS program segment passes
three parameters to the command file UPDATE. COM:
1000
\

JUNK$ = SYS(CHR$(8%)+"ONE TWO THREE") &
CHAIN "UPDATE. COM" LINE 30000 &
Load name into core common &
! Chain to the command file &

Chaining with a zero line number continues to work as before;
no parameters are passed to the command file.
Chaining with a non-zero line number when core common is null
no longer produces the error "?Can't find file or account."

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
Defining a system command (CCL) to execute a command file now
correctly passes all parameters to the command file.
In
previous versions, DCL would ignore a parameter if there was
no space separating the command from the parameters (i.e.
FOO/BAR) .
o

In previous versions certain commands which took an explicit
device name as an argument (such as SET DEVICE) would ignore
leading underscores on the device name.
DCL no longer ignores leading underscores on device names.

Previously, if the first character of the first parameter to
the @ command was a plus sign (+) or a comma (,) it was
ignored.
Now these characters are passed correctly to the command
procedure.

DCL no longer corrupts DCL I/O channel 1 if you attempt to
nest command procedures more than 14 levels deep_

Previously, if you specified too many parameters or arguments
in a command (for example, specifying more than six file
names in a DELETE command), DCL displayed the confusing
message, "?Unexpected character."
Now DeL reports the error "?Too many elements in list" when
you have exceeded the parameter or argument limits within a
command.

In previous versions, if you specified a parameter qualifier
more than once in a command, DCL failed with an odd address
trap.
For example, the following command would cause an odd
address trap in DeL:
$ PRINT ~ILE_DAT/DELETE/NODELETE

Now DeL properly parses such commands, applying only the
rightmost occurrence of the qualifier.
o

Previously, if you assigned a disk or a tape to a system
logical name which contained more than 7 characters, you
could not INITIALIZE, MOUNT, or DISMOUNT the device using the
logical name.
DCL would fail with "?Not a valid device".
These commands now support full 9-character logical names.

RSTS/E v9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
o

Prior to V9.4, if you used the DCL function F$PARSE with a
valid device name in the file specification, but the default
file specification contained an untranslatable logical name,
the resulting device returned was incorrect.
For example:
$ WRITE 0 F$PARSE("SY:[1,2]FOO.BAR u ,"JUNK:","DEVICE")
NK$:
DCL no longer returns invalid information in the F$PARSE
device field.

2.7

Help Files

The Help Files have been extensively changed in V9.4 of RSTS.
The
following list represents all of the technical changes made to the
help files:
ASSIGN command
The command format indicates an optional device name or
optional PPN.
ASSIGN/SYSTEM command
The command format indicates an optional device name or
optional PPN.
BACKUP command
The /GROUP_SIZE qualifier accepts arguments in the range 1
to 100.
The /LIST FILE qualifier can be specified without a
file specification~
BROADCAST command
The destination field can take an optional list of PPNs,
terminals, or both.
COpy command
The command format indicates an optional node can be
specified.
The required privilege list includes TMPPRV and
SYSIO when the /PROTECTION qualifier is specified. Also,
the /CLUSTER_SIZE qualifier accepts arguments in the range
-256 to 256.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and v9.3
CREA'I'E command
The required privilege list includes TMPPRV and SYSIO when
the /PROTECTION qualifier is specified. Also, the
/CLUSTER_SIZE qualifier accepts arguments in the range -256
to 256.
CREAT'E/ACCOUNT command
The command format indicates that the device is optional.
The /RIB QUOTA qualifier accepts arguments in the range 0 to
256.
The /SIZE qualifier accepts arguments in the range 1
to 7.
DEFINE/COMMAND/SYSTEM command
The /IJINE_NUMBER qualifier accepts an argument in the range
o to 32767.
DELET'E command
The command format indicates that an optional node name can
be specified.
DELETE/SYMBOL command
The command format indicates that the symbol name is not
optional.
DIBOL command
The /STANDARD qualifier has been added.
DIFFERENCES command
The default for the /MAXIMUM_DIFFERENCES qualifier, which is
300 differences, has been added.
EDIT command
The /OUTPUT qualifier requires a file specification
argument.
FORCE command
The command format indicates that the destination field
accepts a list of PPNs, terminals, or both.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
FORTRAN/F77 and FORTRAN/FOR commands
The qualifier lists have been updated to reflect the current
state of DCL.
All qualifiers listed are correct for these
commands.
GOSUB command
This is a new DCL command, for which on-line help is
available.
GOTO command
The GOTO command will no longer abort a command procedure if
the label is not defined.
The error message "?Undefined
label" is printed and the command procedure continues with
the next DCL command, or may be trapped with an ON severity
THEN command.
INITIALIZE (disks) command
WREAD privilege has been removed from the list of required
privileges.
The /EXERCISE qualifier accepts arguments in
the range 0 to 3.
The /MFD_CLUSTER_SIZE qualifier accepts
arguments 4, S, and 16.
INITIALIZE/QUEUE command
The /PAGE_LIMIT qualifier accepts arguments in the range 1
to 4,294,967,295.
INSTALL/RUNTIME_SYSTEM command
The /PREFIX qualifier does not require an

argument~

LINK command
The qualifiers have been arranged in alphabetical order.
MOUNT (disks) command
The /SHARE and /NOSHARE qualifiers have been expanded to
their full form /SHAREABLE and /NOSHAREABLE.
MOUNT (tapes) command
The /OVERRIDE qualifier accepts an argument =IDENTIFICATION,
which is optional and does not change the meaning of the
qualifier.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
RENAME command
The required privilege list includes TMPPRV and SYSIO when
the /PROTECTION qualifier is specified.
RESTORE command
The /LIST_FILE qualifier indicates that the file
specification argument is optional.
RETURN command
This is a new DeL command, for which on-line help is
available.
SET ENTRY command
The privilege list indicates that PBSCTL is required to
specify /PRIORITY, /HOLD and /RELEASE for any entry you do
not owno
You may specify these qualifiers on your own print
or batch jobs. Also, the /PAGE_LIMIT qualifier accepts an
argument in the range I to 4,294,967,295.
SET PROMPT command
The optional prompt parameter can be an expression as well
as a quoted string.
SET PROTECTION command
The required privilege list includes TMPPRV and an expanded
explanation of the SYSIO privilege.
SET TERMINAL command
The /DEVICE_TYPE qualifier accepts the VT330 and VT340
terminal type keywords, and the LA75 keyword. Also, an
explanation has been added that the EXTA and EXTB keywords,
used with the /SPEED qualifier, are valid only on terminals
connected to DH interfaces.
SHOW ACCOUNTS command
The required privileges include GACNT or WACNT to display
data for accounts other than your own, or to reset the
accounting data for any account. Also, help text for the
/ALL and /RESET qualifiers have been added.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
SHOW DEVICE/ALLOCATED command
The Examples subtopic was incorrectly placed, and appeared
in the main help text.
This has been corrected.
SHOW DISKS command
Help for the /OUTPUT qualifier has been added.
SHOW ENTRY command
Help for the /PRINT qualifier has been added.
SHOW FILE/OPEN command
The /JOB qualifier accepts an optional job-number argument.
SHOW QUEUE command
The queue name parameter is optional.
SHOW QUEUE defaults
to all queues if a queue parameter is not specified.
SHOW TERMINAL command
The Examples subtopic has been corrected.
problems have been fixed.

Indentation

SUBMIT command
The optional node name in the command format has been
removed.
TYPE command
The command format indicates that an optional node name can
be specified.

2.8
2.8.1

Commonly Used System Programs (CUSPs)
Supporting Disks with Unit Numbers Greater Than 9

Prior to V9.4, there were a number of system utilities that did not
correctly parse disks with unit numbers greater than 9.

RSTS/E v9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
The following is a list of the system utilities that have been updated
to properly handle disk unit numbers greater than 9:
DSKINT.TSK
ONLCLN.TSK
REORDR.TSK
SYSTAT.TSK
RTIl.RTS (RT-ll run-time system)
PIP.SAV
All utilities that run under the RT-Il run-time system
This problem still exists for LINK.SAV, LIBR.SAV, and MACRO.SAV.
section 4.5.5 for additional information.

2.8.2

See

ANALYS.TSK
o

In the SYSTAT/D (disks) display of ANALYS, the notations DLA
(Date of Last Access) or DLW (Date of Last Write) now prints
only for file-structured disks.

DEUNA/DELUA/DEQNA DECnet annotations have been added to show
XEDCTL/XHDCTL Region and receive and transmit buffer
information.

corrections
The following problem has been corrected in ANALYS.TSK for V9.4:
o

2.8.3

The bug that caused the error "?Subscript out of range at
line 4300" has been fixed.
This bug occurred whenever the
symbol lookup routines could not find a symbol, such as when
FMS was not selected at installation time.

BUILD.TSK

Prior to V9.4, BUILD.TSK required the privileges SETPAS, GACNT and
WACNT.
Because SETPAS and GACNT privileges are implicit in the WACNT
privilege, the BUILD.TSK program for RSTS/E V9.4 no longer requires
SETPAS or GACNT privileges.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
2.8.4

DSKINT.TSK

DSKINT.TSK now checks to verify that the user has WRTNFS and RDNFS
privileges before it executes.
This also affects the DCL INITIALIZE
command when used with disk devices.

2.8.5

Print/Batch Services (PBS)

Previously, when you issued a command to PBS that required an
acknowledgement message from PBS, (PRINT, SUBMIT, SET, etc.) the
PBSMGR utility would wait up to 60 seconds for a response.
If a
response was not received in that time, PBSMGR would abort with the
following error message:
??Program failure in RECV
?No acknowledgement received
This was a severe error message, even though the request may actually
have succeeded.
In some cases, on heavily loaded systems, PBS could
not complete the request and return an acknowledgement in the
60-second time limit.
Also, PBSMGR gave no indication that it was waiting for a response
from PBS.
PBSMGR now prints an informational "Waiting for acknowledgement"
message approximately every 15 seconds while waiting for a response
from PBS.
If no response is received after approximately 90 seconds,
PBSMGR exits with the warning message, "%No acknowledgement received."
Note that the command issued by the user may have succeeded, even
though no acknowledgement message was returned within the time
allotted.
Use a corresponding SHOW command (SHOW ENTRY, SHOW QUEUE,
etc.) to confirm the status of your command.
Corrections
The following problems have been corrected in PBS.TSK for V9.4:
o

PBS could send the wrong number of spaces to an output device
while translating a tab character if the device had both the
NOTAB and FILL characteristics set.
This would occur at the
top of a new page while skipping over perforations.

RSTS/E v9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
o

2.8.6

Prior to V9.4, you needed SWCFG and TUNE privileges to change
the priority and/or the run burst of a server.
Because a
user who has TUNE privilege, but does not have SWCFG
privilege, can change the priority and run burst of the batch
job, it is not reasonable to require that users have SWCFG
privilege to change the priority and run burst of a server.
In RSTS/E V9.4, you only need TUNE privilege to accomplish
this.

ODT.TSK Corrections

The following problem has been corrected in ODT.TSK for V9.4:
o

2.8.7

Previously, the ODT.TSK utility would return %Integer error
when you attempted to display an address greater than
300377772(8).

OPSER BATCH PACKAGE

BAT RUN no longer goes into HB state if the OPSER BATCH PACKAGE is run
from a private disk (a disk other than SY:).

2.8.8

PIP

Open Next Directive
PIP has been enhanced in RSTS/E V9.4 to take advantage of the Open
Next monitor directive (UU.ONX).
This causes file lookups for
directory listings and other file operations to be much faster than
before, IOn the order of four times faster.
This is especially
noticeable when accessing large directories.
This enhancement also corrects a long-standing problem in PIP.
Before, if you copied files "into themselves" using a wildcard file
specification (for example, PIP *.*=*.*), PIP would not copy every
file.
This happened because the file lookup directive used by PIP
located the next file in a directory by counting files from the
beginning of the directory; that count was constantly changing as
files were relocated within the directory during the copy operation.

2 ~r

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
By using the Open Next directive, this problem has been corrected;
every file in a directory will now be copied.
This works for disks
initialized as "New Files First" (NFF') and "New Files Last" (NFL).
There is one new restriction with this change.
If you are copying
files "into themselves" on the system disk initialized as NFL, and you
specify that disk's device name diffe·rently on the input and output
side of the command line, PIP will continue copying files in an
endless loop; it will not properly detect the last file in the
directory.
Under such circumstances, you must type CTRL/C to
terminate the operation.
For example, if your system disk is DU1:
and you issue the command:

$ PIP _SY:[1,2]=_DU1:[1,2]*.*/LOG
PIP will loop endlessly copying files.
To prevent this, do not specify a device name for the system disk, or,
specify the same device name on both the input and output side of the
PIP command line (_SY:
SY:,
SYO: = _SYO:, _DU1: = _DU1:, etc.).
corrections
The following problems have been corrected in PIP.SAV for V9.4:
o

PIP would hang in an RN state if it tried to read an ANSI
magtape file with a blocksize greater than 2048.
PIP now reads ANSI magtapes with blocksizes greater than
2048, such as VAX/VMS backup sets, properly.

PIP can now transfer ANSI files with fixed length record
sizes greater than 4095 from tape to disk or from disk to
tape.
The higher order bits of the record size are no longer
ignored.

When PIP transfers an ANSI file with implied carriage control
and with a fixed length record size not evenly divisible into
512 from tape to disk or from disk to tape, it no longer
drops characters at the end of each 5l2-byte block.

PIP no longer hangs in an RN state when transferring an ANSI
file with a block size greater than zero and with a record
size of zero from tape to disk or from disk to tape.

PIP now transfers the ANSI file carriage control attribute
(Fortran, implied, embedded) from disk to tape correctly.

RSTSjE v9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
o

PIP no longer accepts a non-space character in byte 16 of
HDR2 of an ANSI file as the only indication that there are
valid DEC attributes in bytes 16-36 and 38-50.
On non-DEC
tapes, PIP used to assign invalid attributes to the file
after a transfer from tape to disk.
PIP now ignores bytes
16-36 and 38-50 unless the characters "DEC" appear in HDRl in
positions 61-63.

When run from an account without TMPPRV privilege, PIP now
erases and deletes a file with a <232> protection code
properly.

When PIP is asked to rename a file's protection code to a
value including the <128> bit from an account without TMPPRV,
the <128> bit will not be set, but PIP issues a warning
message to indicate that the requested protection does not
match the one actually set.

2.8.9

QUE.TSK Corrections

The following problem has been corrected in the OPSER-based QUE.TSK
utility for V9.4:
o

2.8.10

previously, the JAF (AFTER) switch did not handle the date
format "YY.MM.DD" properly when the month field (MM) was 01
(January).

RESTOR PACKAGE

A problem existed in the RESTOR package if you attempted to RESTOR a
backup set under the following conditions:
o

You first loaded the backup set's work index to disk;

You restored the backup set using the pre-loaded index;

Your system no longer contains the same tape controller as
that used in the original backup.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
Under the above conditions, the RESTOR option failed by prompting you
to mount a tape volume on device "_
:" (the device name was
missing), and it refused to accept any device you specified.
Please
see the June 1987 issue of the RSTS/E Software Dispatch for further
details.
This problem has been corrected in V9.4.

2.8.11

SHUTUP.TSK Corrections

The following problems have been corrected in SHUTUP.TSK for V9.4:
o

SHUTUP would send a shutdown message to an EMT logging
utility (like EMTCPY) by issuing a "send by job number" SYS
call.
This failed if the EMT receiver was declared using a
non-zero RIB.
SHUTUP has been corrected to use the "send by local object
type" SYS call properly.
This correctly sends the shutdown
message to the EMT receiver, regardless of its RIB number.

2.8.12

2.8.13

If PBS was running when you ran SHUTUP, and the OPSER package
was not, SHUTUP would not allow you to back up to the PBS
prompt from the "Minutes until system shutdown" prompt.

SYSTAT.TSK
o

In the SYSTAT/D (disks) display of SYSTAT, the notations DLA
(Date of Last Access) or DLWr (Date of Last Write) now print
only for file structured disks.

SYSTAT displayed the UP time "???:??:?" when the hours
exceeded 999.
Now, SYSTAT displays up to 9,999 hours, and
"????:??:??" when the hours exceed 9,999.

HOOK.SAV Correction

A problem where HOOK.SAV appeared to corrupt the pack label of a disk
has been fixed.
See section 2.3.6 for additional details.

RSTS/E v9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3

2.8.14

BACKUP.TSK

Previously, when BACKUP produced a multi-volume backup set, it
duplicated detail information about the source of the backup on each
volume.
This was done so that proper volume defaults could be applied
when doing a restore, even if the first volume of the backup set was
lost.
Unfortunately, VMS BACKUP was not coded to handle this duplication of
information, and caused the file that was being restored at the time
of the volume split to be restored incor~ectly.
For RSTS/E V9.4, BACKUP no longer writes the volume detail information
on each volume.
This means that the RESTORE command will be unable to
provide meaningful defaults for initializing output disks when the
first volume is not restored.

2.9.1

RMS-11 Access Methods
o

RMS-II allowed an indexed file to be created that had
incompatible maximum record size and bucket size.
Subsequent
attempts to access the file returned ER$MRS.
RMS-II has been
modified to disallow this create.
This correction involved module R3WPLG of RMSLIB.OLB and the
RMS resident libraries.

RMS-II allowed temporary files to be created with a
declaration of shared write access.
These programs would
enter a sleep state in RMS during a subsequent record access.
Since temporary files are not intended to be write shared,
RMS-II now overrides this request by clearing the write
sharing request from the user's File Access Block (FAB).
This correction involved module ROCRFL of RMSLIB.OLB and the
RMS resident libraries.

The RMS-ll macros XBDOF$ and $GNCAL did not work correctly.
XBDOF$ attempted to use octal values for field lengths (they
are decimal), and $GNCAL did not bring in the ORG$ and GSA$
macros as documented.
RMSMAC.MLB has been modified to
include these changes.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3

RMS-ll utilities

2.9.2

RMSDES
o

DES did not prompt correctly for packed decimal keys.
It
failed to request the key length.
It now prompts for this
value.

There was no capability for superseding a file design.
There
are now two commands:
SAVE SUPERSEDE and EXIT SUPERSEDE.
See the section on RMS-ll Documentation for detailed
descriptions of these new commands.

Indexed file alternate key data area assignments were
sometimes incorrect when user defaulted areas. When there
was more than one alternate key, the data area for all
subsequent keys would still be the same as for the first
alternate key.
This was not as documented (RMS-ll utilities,
Appendix B).
RMSDES has been corrected to function as
documented.

Alternate Index allocations were too large in many cases.
The calculations have been improved to match the expected
needs of the file more closely.

Indexed file allocations were not correct when duplicates
were allowed and the anticipated number of duplicates would
result in continuation buckets on alternate keys. As an
enhancement, RMSDES now issues a warning message when
continuation buckets are required.
These buckets are a
performance drain when the user requires deletion within the
duplicate pointer array, or repositioning once having lost
record context on this key.
Further, a new informational
message will be issued if overflow occurs during calculations
in this area, and the prompt "number of duplicates" has been
expanded to read "number of duplicates per record on this
key" to increase clarity.

A user-friendly error message is now issued if the help file
(LB:RMSDES.HLP) is not found.
This is a feature for small
systems that are extremely tight for disk space.

DES displays the error message "Value out of legal range" if
you attempt to use a file cluster size of 256. A workaround
to this problem is to use a file cluster size of 255.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3

2.9.3

RMS-ll Documentation

RMS-ll USER'S GUIDE
o

Add new section 3.5.3.5 Block Mode versus Record Mode
Block I/O is recommended for file transfer applications.
It
provides a performance advantage over record mode due to a
simplified code path for RMS-ll, less internal data movement
and elimination of RMS-ll internal I/O buffer allocation.
However, in this case RMS-ll relies on the application to be
responsible for End of File (EOF). Applications should write
the last block of the file so that the Record Size field
indicates the valid bytes in the block, and ensures that the
record buffer is padded with nulls beyond EOF.
NOTE
File transfer applications will observe that
the READ operation returns the size of the
valid portion of the last block in the RSZ
field for all record formats except stream
files.
For compatibility purposes this value
is rounded up to the block boundary and,
therefore, is not to be trusted as EOF.
The
EOF attribute can be obtained from the RFA
field at the time of the block I/O CONNECT
operation.
Current RMS-ll implementations performing
record operations to stream files do not use
the EOF attribute to determine the end of the
file.
However, future implementations may
use it; therefore, applications should not
rely on access to data beyond the logical
EOF.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
o

Correction to section 5.4 paragraph 3, adding last sentence
for increased clarity:
For FIND operations, RMS-ll uses the next record pointer to
identify the target bucket.
For GET operations, RMS-ll uses
the next record pointer, if the GET operation was not
immediately preceded by a successful FIND operation.
The
current record pointer is used if the GET operation was
immediately preceded by a successful FIND operation. An
intervening FREE operation will cause RMS-ll to lose current
record context.

Add new section 7.4.5 RFA Access
This method can yield a record in one or two disk I/O's
(providing no duplicates on primary key).
FIND and GET will
report the unique address of each record.
A table kept by
the user in program space enables optimization of subsequent
accesses.
NOTE
WARNING - RFA's are only valid for the life
of the file.
Invalid RFA's may cause RMS-ll
to abort or return erroneous data.

RMS-ll UTILITIES GUIDE

Additions for new commands
section 2.2.5 should be expanded to add the following:
EXIT SUPERSEDE
The EXIT_SUPERSEDE command stores your file design in the
description file specified in the command string,
superseding any existing file by the same name.
Then, it
terminates RMSDES, and the system prompt is returned.

RSTSjE V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
Format
EXIT_S[UPERSEDE] filename[.typ]
filename[ .typ]
Names the description file in which the file design will
be stored.
The default file type is .DES.
If you do not wish to supersede an existing description
file you must use the EXIT command.
In section 2.2.5 add to the discussion of the EXIT
command:
To supersede an already existing description file, use
the EXIT SUPERSEDE command.
Section 2.2.9 should be expanded to add the following:
SAVE SUPERSEDE
The SAVE SUPERSEDE command stores the file design in the
descriptIon file specified in the command string,
superseding any existing file by the same name.
If you
have not defined areas when you issue the SAVE command,
you will be prompted as to whether you want RMSDES to
define areas.
Format
SAVE_S[UPERSEDE] filename[ .typ]
filename[ .typ]
Names the description file in which the file design will
be saved.
The default file typ is .DES.
If you want to design another file, you should issue a
CLEAR ALL command to restore the attribute values in the
design buffer to their defaults.
If you do not wish to
supersede an existing description file use the SAVE
command.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
In section 2.2.9 add to the discussion of the SAVE
command:
To supersede an already existing description file, use
the SAVE SUPERSEDE command.
The above items should also be added to Table 2-1.
o

Other additions
Section 2.8 RMSDES MESSAGES - expand the description of
?DES-F-VOR by adding the following:
Or the values you entered resulted in a calculation which
caused an overflow for RMSDES.
Section 2.6.2 File Section
o

Modify paragraph 3 of the ALLOCATION field discussion
to read as follows:
If you intend to create a single-area indexed file
and do not request file placement, RMS-Il will use
the allocation from the file section if no area
section exists in your design buffer.
If you are
allowing RMSDES to define areas for an indexed file

Modify paragraph 4 of the EXTENSION field discussion
to read as follows:
If you intend to create a single-area indexed file
and do not request file placement, RMS-Il will use
the extension from the file section if no area
section exists in your design buffer.
If you are
allowing RMSDES to define areas for an indexed file

Modify paragraph 5 of the BUCKET SIZE field
discussion to read as follows:
If you intend to create a single-area indexed file
and do not request file placement, RMS-ll will use
the bucket size from the file section if no area
section exists in your design buffer.
If you are
allowing RMSDES to define areas for an indexed file

RSTS/E v9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
by default, RMSDES will assign a bucket size value
for each area it defines.
However, if you choose to
define areas explicitly and specify a bucket size
value for each area, you should accept the default in
this section and set the bucket size attribute in
each area section.

2.10

Layered Products

2.10.1

DECnet/E V4.0

Updating DECnet/E
To update DECnet/E to include changes on the RSTS/E V9.4 kit, run the
DECnet/E: installation procedure after the RSTS/E V9.4 update is
complete.
See the DECnet/E Installation and Update Guide for details
on the installation process. When the installation completes, all new
DECnet/E: components will exist in the appropriate accounts.
No
network conversion or configuration procedures need to be carried out
when updating existing DECnet/E V4.0 installations.
SET HOST Command Corrections
The following problems have been corrected in NET.TSK for RSTS/E V9.4:
o

Under previous versions of RSTS/E, pressing CTRL/C while
attempting to SET HOST to another node could cause the
following message to be displayed:
Connection Established to 10 Node
1 Unsupported Remote Terminal Protocol - 0
This message no longer displays.

Previously, if a logical link failure occurred during a
network session, no reason for the failure was indicated.
In
RSTS/E V9.4, the NSP reason code for the failure displays in
the abort message.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
RSTS/E Network File Transfer program (NFT) Corrections
The following problems have been corrected in NFT for RSTS/E V9.4:
o

Remote copies involving a wildcarded ULTRIX file
specification would fail.
This was due to NFT's incorrect
handling of the ULTRIX directory symbol when parsing the
resultant file specification.

NFT did not correctly write the attributes of stream files
transferred in block mode.
It erroneously rounded up the End
of File attribute.

DECnet/E File Access Listener (FAL) Corrections
The following problems have been corrected in FAL for RSTS/E V9.4:
o

The DECnet/E FAL incorrectly handled repetitive use of a
DECnet/E link to access more than one file on a RSTS/E node.
This problem could occur on i~ wildcard COpy command issued
from a VAX/VMS V4.4 or later system, when three or more files
were involved.
In such cases, COpy would report an error
(ER$ORD) when accessing the second file matching the wildcard
specification and abort the operation.
NOTE
The re-use of a DECnl~t link by VAX/VMS V4.4
and V4.S can still cause problems with other
types of remote RSTS/E a~cesses.
For
example, a VMS COpy command referencing more
than one explicit file on RSTS/E will report
"DAP CODE = OlF7AOOl", referring to a
synchronization error related to an
unexpected Configuration Message sent by VMS.
In this case, the link is re-used following a
search operation by VMS.
This problem is under investigation by both
RSTS/E and VMS development.

Remote accesses and remote directory operations would
occasionally result in FAL inappropriately setting the p-bit
on a file.
This caused the file to be non-deleteable
(protected).
To restore files to their original state you
previously had to use the DCL command "SET FILE/DELETE".

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3

2.10.2

DECnet/E Documentation

DECnet/E utilities Guide
o

Add to discussion of /ASCII switch, p.4-36:
NOTE
This switch is useful for copying ASCII text
files from systems which have a different
concept of non-attributed stream files than
RSTS/E (e.g.
DECnet-ULTRIX and DECnet-DOS
use Line Feed as the standard record
delimiter, while RSTS/E non-attributed files
use Carriage Return followed by Line Feed).
When this switch is applied, only the data
portion of a record is transferred, so that
RSTS/E can apply its own record delimiter.

2.10.3

DECmai1-11 v3.0

Updates on RSTS/E V9.4
This release of RSTS/E contains updates for DECmail-ll V3.0.
NOTE
Due to a change in RSTS/E V9.4, installation of the
update is mandatory.
If this update is not installed
you may get n?Device not available" errors when
attempting to send mail.
Transfer" the DECmail-ll V3.0 update components to the PATCH account
during the system upgrade from V9.3 to v9.4.
Refer to the RSTS/E
System Installation and Update Guide, Part IV:, Phase:3, Task:4, page
178 for more information about transfering updates for Layered
Products.
If you do not transfer DECmail-ll updates during the system upgrade,
you will need to mount your RSTS/E Installation media during the
DECmail-ll update.
The RSTS/E Layered Product Update Procedure will
transfer the DECmail-ll updates.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
Requirements for this update:
Privileges:
Refer to the DECmail-ll Installation and System Manager's
Guide for information about t~e privileges needed.
Programs:
SY:[1,2]LBR.TSK
SY:[1,2]STK.TSK
SY:[1,2]TKB.TSK
SY:[1,2]MAKSIL.TSK
Disk space:
960 blocks for update files in PATCH$:
5350 blocks for update work files in WORKS:
NOTE
The 5350 blocks of disk space in WORKS: will
be returned to the system as free space after
the update has completed.
1350 blocks for updated tasks in MAIL$:
NOTE
The tasks in MAIL$:
should be contiguous for
optimum performance.
The total number of free blocks needed to do this update is
7660 of which 1350 blocks should be contiguous.
In order to
reduce the need for disk space the MAIL update procedure
deletes files as soon as they are no longer needed.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
NOTE
Use of DECmail-11 during the update may cause
unpredictable errors to occur.
Updating your DECmail-11 V3.0 software can be accomplished by invoking
the RSTS/E software update procedure.
The following is an example of
a DECmail-11 update.
$ @[O,I]UPDATE LAYEREDPRODUCT MAIL
Deleting all global symbols
Patch account <PATCH$:> :
The following will be updated:
MAIL
Proceed?

<yes>

please enter the name and unit number of the disk to which you
want to update the software.
This disk should be physically
mounted and write-enabled.
Target disk?

<SY:>:

Assigning system logicals
01-Dec-86 09:49 AM
01-Dec-86 09:49 AM
Please mount the MAIL Library media and enter the name and unit
number of the device.
Valid device types are:
'MM', 'MS', 'MT', 'MU', 'DM' or 'DL'
MAIL Library device?

<MMO:> DLO:

The update procedure will complete without user intervention from this
point.
UPDATE. LOG is a log file of this update procedure, created in
your account, and should be checked for possible update errors.
Disregard multiply defined symbol errors during the task rebuild
phase.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
The update should take between 3 and 4.5 hours, depending on your CPU
and system disk.

Corrections
The following problems have been fixed in this update:
o

Date and time values specified to the /AFTER qualifier were
ignored when sending a message using the /EDIT qualifier, or
if AUTO EDIT was enabled.

The From:
and Subject:
fields are cleared out when sending
a message with /EDIT or AUTO EDIT enabled.

Batch Mail messages having To:
and CC:
lines greater than
255 characters would result in a "?Line too long" error and
abort MAILQ.

Entering PRINT<return> with no current message aborts MAIL
with an "?Arguments don't match" error.

DECmail-ll displays "?Integer error" when sending a message
greater than 64 blocks in length via Message Router.

MAILQ aborts with "?No room for user on device" when it
encounters zero free blocks.
MAILQ will now wait for blocks
to become available before re-attempting the delivery.

Users would sometimes receive multiple copies of the same
mail message when sent via Batch Mail.

Entering "NI" at the Send Menu replaces the CC:
field with
the To:
field contents, if a CC:
line had been entered.

Files having records with trailing carriage returns, such as
RNa and DSR files, do not print correctly when sent to users
on other nodes.

Users intermittently receive messages with an incorrect To:
field when sent via Batch Mail.

DECmail-ll would abort with a Maximum Memory Exceeded error
when attempting to send or FETCH Message Router mail to a
large number of users.

4fJ

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Differences Between V9.4 and V9.3
o

Two errors which caused Batch Mail to send duplicate messages
were corrected.

Mail would not be delivered to a user who had exceeded logged
out quota.

The SELECT keyword was not properly cleared after
unsuccessful SEARCH commands.

RSTS/E v9.4 Release Notes
Documentation Changes
3

Documentation Changes in RSTS/E V9.4

The following documents have been revised or updated for V9.4:

3.1

The RSTS/E Quick Reference Guide (AA-EZ13B-TC) has been
revised to incorporate all changes that have occurred since
V9.1 and to correct all known errors.

The RSTS/E Programming Manual (AD-EZ09A-T2) has been updated
to describe the Ethernet interface.

The RSTS/E System Directives Manual (AD-EZ10A-T2) has been
updated to describe the Ethernet interface.

Corrections

The following documentation errors will be corrected in a future
version of RSTS/E:
o

The RSTS/E System User's Guide incorrectly states on page
1-23 that the SHOW NETWORK command will display all nodes to
which connections may be established.
This is not the case,
since the command simply expands to NCP SHOW ACTIVE NODES,
which includes a subset of all nodes in the local area only.

On page 8-20 of the RSTS/E System User's Guide, add the
following description for the /[NO]EXTENDSOURCE qualifier to
the FORTRAN command:
/[NO]EXTENDSOURCE
[Does not] allow source lines to contain significant
characters in columns 73 throught 80.

On page 16-11 in the RSTS/E System Manager's Guide, change
[*.*] to [*,*] in the last two rows of Table 16-2: BACKUP
Quick Reference Table.

On pages 16-7 and 16-15 in the RSTS/E System Manager's Guide,
add the following text to the /END qualifier for the BACKUP
and RESTORE commands:
You can use the /END=QISMOUNT qualifier for both tapes and
disks.
The default is /END=DISMOUNT for disks.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Documentation Changes
You can use the /END=REWIND qualifier for tapes only.
default for tapes is /END=NOREWIND.

The

In the RSTS/E Programming Manual, page 1-44, under the
heading "Reading a File During Processing: 4096%", it should
be noted that users no longer need privileges to open a file
in 'read regardless' mode.

In the RSTS/E Installation and Update Guide, page 250, in the
first bulleted item on the page, replace the words "a minimum
of 4K words" with "a minimum of 16K words initialized with an
MFD cluster size of 4"

On page 137 in the RSTS/E Installation and Update Guide, add
the following text after the note at the bottom of the page:
You must estimate the number of volumes required for the
backup and then initialize these disks before starting the
backup. You can initialize the disks either on a RSTS/E VS.O
system or in INIT on the V9.n system you are installing. The
important factor is that if you run out of volumes during the
backup, you must either initialize other disks (assuming
another RSTS/E system is available) and continue, or stop the
backup and initialize other disks in INIT and then restart
the backup. The disks can be either RDSl.l or RDSl.2.
You'cannot use the /INITIALIZE qualifier with the BACKUP
command because the software required has not been installed
at this point.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Known Problems and Restrictions
4

4.1

Known Problems and Restrictions with RSTS/E V9.4

Installation

4.1.1

Boot from TUlO

RSTS/E 9.4 cannot be booted from the 'Option:' BOOT command on a TUlO
magnetic tape drive.
T~e tape can be booted on this drive using a
hardware boot ROM.

4.1.2

Booting Magnetic Tape

Magnetic tape distributions of RSTS/E V9.3 or any bootable recovery
tapes of V9.3 must be booted from unit zero.
This problem affects MM
and MT drives.
This problem will be corrected in a future release.

4.1.3

Flag Files

The installation or update of RSTS/E leaves several zero length flag
files - files used by the installation procedure to determine what
parts of the installation have been completed - in various system
accounts after installation.
Deleting any of these files may cause unpredictable results~
In
particular, deleting the flag file [l,2]VER093.SYS breaks certain
layered product installations and updates.

4.2

DEUNA Ethernet Driver
o

Under some conditions, it is possible to hang a user job in
an XE state when attemptingr a transmit command to a DELUA
controller which was initialized successfully during system
start up, but which was subsequently rendered inoperable due
to a simple failure like cable removal.
The command SET
DEVICE XEO:/DISABLE frees up the job to continue normal
processing.
The DELUA should be disabled until such time as
the cabling is repaired.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Known Problems and Restrictions
o

4e3

In RSTS/E V9.4, there is a problem with the DEUNA/DELUA
Ethernet driver which can cause a system crash should the
Ethernet controller become disabled during normal use. A
patch is included in the August 1987 Software Dispatch which
corrects the conditions that can cause this crash for both
RSTS/E V9.3 and RSTS/E V9.4

Initialization Code (INIT.SYS)
o

If your installed monitor has a Virtual Disk defined (DV:),
and you START a monitor that has no Virtual Disk defined, and
then START your original monitor containing the Virtual Disk
again, you will get "?Device unavailable" errors when you
attempt to use the Virtual Disk.
The workaround is to use the DEFALT option of INIT.SYS to
remove and then redefine the Virtual Disk for your original
monitor.

If account [1,2] on a system disk has been created as a
NOUSER account, system startup will be aborted with a "?Can't
find file or account" error, followed by a register dump.
The solution is to insure that account [1,2] is created as a
USER account on all system disks.
If the documented
installation or update procedure is followed this will be
done automatically, and the problem will not occur.

An unnecessary error message prints when an 800 BPI magnetic
tape on a TE16 subsystem that uses a TM02 formatter is booted
from the "Option:" prompt of INIT.SYS.
For example:
MMO Err.or

MTCS1 MTWC
MTFC
MTCS2 MTDS
MTER
MTTC
144270 000000 001007 000100 154640 102100 102300

The err.or message you receive may be different.
This message
prints as a result of the density autosizing process that
occurs on TM02 formatters, and does not represent a true
hardware error.
o

If the INSTAL option of INIT.SYS is used to install a
monitor, and the installation process aborts or is stopped
for any reason, invalid information will be left in the

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Known Problems and Restrictions
configuration tables and INIT.SYS will be unable to
successfully configure the monitor and system memory. Any
attempt to start timesharing will be aborted after several
random error messages are printed.
The workaround is to make sure that the INSTAL process is not
aborted, and that it completes without error.

4.4
4.4.1

Monitor
DB and DR Disk Drivers

The DB and DR disk drivers may count or log errors for the wrong disk
unit if there is heavy DB/DR disk activity and an attempt is made to
mount a unit that is spun down or offline.
This problem will corrected in a future release of RSTS/E.

4.4.2

MSCP Disk Driver

On systems having multiple UDASO-A MSCP controllers, a system crash
may result if disk unit numbers are swapped between two drives on
different UDASO-A controllers during timesharing.
The preferred workaround is to only swap drive numbers when
timesharing is not up. The best method is to shut the system down,
and swap the unit numbers when the "start timesharing" prompt appears.
After swapping the unit numbers, reboot the system disk and restart
timesharing.

4.5
4.5.1

Commonly Used System Programs (CUSPs)
ANALYS Package

In the Monitor Memory dump section of the ANALYS report, the Virtual
Disk area of the Memory Layout is shown as locked out memory_ This
will be changed to correctly annotate the Virtual Disk in a future
release of RSTS/E.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Known Problems and Restrictions

4.5.2

The LOGIN and LOGOUT programs control when to drop the carrier on a
dial-up line.
If you access the system from a captive account over a
dial-up line and the command procedure aborts abnormally, carrier will
not be dropped.
A workaround to this problem is to trap all possible
errors within the command procedure and exit by using the LOGOUT
command.

4.5.3

PIP

The following problems have been reported and will remain as
restrictions for V9.4, while they are being investigated for
resolution in a future release:
o

There is a conflict between DV:
and DUIO:
device names
which can occur when you address one which is not mounted.
For example, the DCL command "DIR DV:" can result in the
error "?Disk pack is not mounted - file
DUIO:[p,pn]?????????" if "DV" is not assigned as a system
wide logical and "DUIO" is.

If a directory contains only files which are SET
FILE/NODELETE, a PIP [p,pn]/ZE of that account fails to zero
the account, and also fails to indicate that it did not zero
the account.

PIP does not handle RMS RF:VFC formatted files correctly.
Currently, PIP can copy these files from disk to disk, but
cannot output them to a printing device or a terminal.

PIP cannot access files that are on a tape created on an RTII
system.
This problem will be fixed in a future release of
RSTS/E to allow access to RTII tapes.

There is a restriction using the Open Next directive with PIP
when copying files "into themselves".
See section 2.8.8 for
information on this restriction.

If you change both the name and protection code of a file
with the RENAME command, the confirmation message will be
incorrect.
For example:
PIP TEST.NEW<I04>=TEST.OLD/RE/LO
DBI:[249,I]TEST
.NEW renamed to TEST

.NEW<I04>

This problem will be fixed in the next release of RSTS/E.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Known Problems and Restrictions
4.5.4

Print/Batch Services (PBS)
o

If the last line of PBS$:FORMS.SYS ends with the continuation
character, the SET SERVER command will go into an infinite
loop.
To fix this, remove the continuation character from
the last line of PBS$:FORMS.SYS.
This problem will be corrected in the next Release of RSTS/E.

Under certain circumstances, the Print/Batch Services package
will go into a steady run state, locking out jobs that have a
lower priority.
These circumstances are:
1.

A print job has been started for a keyboard server on a
dialup line that is not connected or has lost carrier.

Another print job starts on a local keyboard server.

PBS will enter a steady run state until the job finishes on
the local print server, or the dialup connection is
established.

4.5.5

Supporting Disks with unit Numbers Greater Than 9

The following utilities will not correctly print the disk name and
unit number in error messages, for disks with unit numbers greater
than 9:
LINK.SAV
LIBR.SAV
MACRO.SAV
For example, if the source file TESTOI does not exist on DUI5:
$ run $macro
*DUI5:TESTOI=DU15:TESTOI
?MACRO-F-File not found DVE:TESTOI.MAC
DUI5:TESTOl=DUI5:TESTOI
This problem will be fixed in a future release of RSTS/E.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Known Problems and Restrictions

4.6
4.6.1

DCI.

ON severity THEN path Not Taken

In one instance, DCL does not take the ON severity THEN path if an
error is encountered in a command file.
This only happens when you
issue a CCL command (including "$") which points to DCL from a runtime
system other than DeL, and there is an error on that command line.
For example, consider the following command procedure:
$ SET VERIFY
$ ON ERROR THEN GOTO ERROR HANDLER
$ SET JOB/KEYBOARD_MONITOR=BASIC
$ FOO
$ SET JOB/KEYBOARD_MONITOR=DCL
$ WRITE 0 "No error was seen by DCL"
$ EXIT
$E:RROR HANDLER:
$ SET JOB/KEYBOARD MONITOR=DCL
$ WRITE 0 "An error was hit"
$ EXIT
A run of: this command procedure would produce the following:
$ ON ERROR THEN GOTO ERROR HANDLER
$ SET JOB/KEYBOARD_MONITOR=BASIC
Ready
$ FOO
FOO
?Invalid command

$ SET JOB/KEYBOARD MONITOR=DCL
$ WRITE 0 "No error was seen by DCL"
No error was seen by DCL
$ EXIT
Notice t.hat the error "?Invalid command" was not trapped and the error
handler routine was not performed.
This problem will be fixed in a
future release of RSTS/E.

RSTS/E v9.4 Release Notes
Known Problems and Restrictions
4.6.2

Log File Corruption

If the disk on which a DCL or BATCH log file is being written becomes
full, then as space becomes available, the resultant log file may
contain one or two ending blocks of random data.

4.7

RSX and RMS Tasks

Typically you are allowed to omit one or both of the PPN
(project,programmer number) fields whfen specifying a file or account.
You are also able to use logical names longer than 6 characters, and
logical names containing dollar signs.
The following is a list of RSX
and RMS tasks which do NOT allow you to specify one or more of these
new features.
Task
Name

------

TKB
MAC
PAT
LBR
RMSDEF
RMSDSP

4.8

Handles Logical
names longer than
6 characters

----------------YES

Handles Logical
names containing
dollar (:$ ) signs

--------,--------

YES
Cannot Handle
Cannot Handle

YES
YES
YES
YES

YES
YES

Cannot ~andle
Cannot Handle

Handles omitted
field(s) in PPN

--------------Cannot Handle

Cannot Handle
Cannot Handle
Cannot Handle
Cannot Handle
Cannot Handle

Layered Products

4.8.1

DECmail-ll V3.0

The following restrictions apply to DECmail-ll V3.0 on RSTS/E V9.4:
o

Sending a message via combined MROUTER and MRGATE pathways is
not valid.
For example, To: MROUTER::MRGATE::FAGEN or To:
MRGATE::MROUTER::BECKER.
The workaround is to choose one method of delivery or the
other (Message Router or normal DECmail-II).
If the addressee is an ALL-IN-I user, send the message to
node::AI::username.
If the addressee is a VAX DECmail user, send to
node::DECMAIL::name.

RSTS/E V9.4 Release Notes
Known Problems and Restrictions
If you wish to send a message to another DECmail- 11 user
via Message Router, send to node::MROUTER::username.
otherwise, let DECmail-ll handle the delivery by not
using any alternate delivery mode keywords (MRGATE,
MROUTER, DECMAIL, or AI.) in the address.
o

SET TERM/WIDTH=l32 does not set the terminal hardware to wide
screen mode.
It only sets the software column count that
determines where to wrap the header fields when reading a
message.

DECnet/E

4.8.2

The NCP command to SET EXECUTOR SEGMENT BUFFER SIZE <n> does
not work when the EXECUTOR STATE is ON.
The command should
fail with an appropriate error, but instead it appears to
succeed without taking any action.
This will be corrected in
a future release of RSTS/E.

When attempting to issue a command such as SHOW NODE <number>
COUNTERS and the node <number> isn't in your volatile
database, NCP will report that the node does not exist, even
though you may have an active link to it.
The workaround is
to ensure that all of the nodes you normally access are
defined in your volatile parameter file.
This will be
corrected in a future release of RSTS/E.

Occasionally the number of Total Bytes Sent on a DEQNA
circuit will be excessive and display invalid counters for
DECnet event 3.2 or from the NCP command SHOW NODE COUNTERS.
This is a known problem which can be ignored.
This will be
corrected in a future release of RSTS/E.

HOW TO ORDER ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION
DIRECT TELEPHONE ORDERS
In Continental USA
and Puerto Rico
call 800-258-171 0

In Canada
call 800-267-6215

In New Hampshire,
Alaska or Hawaii
call 603-884-6660

DIRECT MAIL ORDERS (U.S. and Puerto Rico*)
DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION
P.O. Box CS200a
Nashua, New Hampshire 03061

DIRECT MAIL ORDERS (Canada)
DIGITAL EQUIPMENT OF CANADA LTD.
100 Herzberg Road
P.O. Box 13000,
Kanata, Ontario, Canada K2K 2A6
Attn: DECDIRECT OPERATIONS

ELECTRONIC ORDERING
Dial aOO-DEC-DEMO with any VT100 or VT200
compatible terminal and a 1200/2400 baud modem.
If you need assistance, call aOO-DEC-INFO.

INTERNATIONAL
DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION
P&SG Business Manager
c/o Digital's local subsidiary
or approved distributor

Internal orders should be placed through the Software Distribution Center (SDC),
Digital Equipment Corporation, Westminster, Massachusetts 01473-0471
*Any prepaid order from Puerto Rico must be placed
with the Local Digital Subsidiary:
809-754-7575

RSTS/E
Release Notes

AA-KL99A-TC

Reader's Comments
Note: This form is for document comments only. DIGITAL will use comments submitted on this form at
the company's discretion. If you require a written reply and are eligible to receive one under
Software Performance Report (SPR) service, submit your comments on an SPR form.
Did you find this manual understandable, usable, and well-organized? Please make suggestions for
improvement.

Did you find errors in this manual? If so, specify the error and the page number. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Please indicate the type of user/reader that you most nearly represent.

[J
[J
[J
[J
[J
[J

Assembly language programmer
Higher-level language programmer
Occasional programmer (experienced)
User with little programming experience
Student programmer
Other (please specify)

Name

Date

Organiza1jon
Street
City

State

Zip Code
or
Country

I
I
I
I
I

------Do Not Tear - Fold Here and Tape - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _____ -1

I11111

No Postage
Necessary
if Mailed in the
United States

BUSINESS RE~PL Y MAIL
FIRST CLASS PERMIT NO.~13 MAYNARD MASS.
POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE

ATTN: Office Systems Documentation MK01-2!E02,
DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION
Continental Boulevard
Merrimack N.H. 03054

111 ••••• 11.1111 •• 1.1 •• 1•• 11.1 •• 1.1 •• 1.111111.11.1 •• 1
,------Do Not Tear - Fold Here and Tape - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -