VMS Updates

dan....@cgha.com

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Mar 14, 2006, 12:17:17 PM3/14/06

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I apologize if this is posted somewhere already, but I am fairly new at
VMS administrator. I know there are updates to VMS, but is there some
notification of updates that are sent out when there are new releases
I know Microsoft had it where if there was an update, especially if it
was critical or serious, they would send out an email. However, I have
not heard if there is one from HP, that one can sign up for. I know
the updates are out on HP's ftp site, but I though I would ask if there
was an easier way.

Appreciate any advice.

Thanks,

Dan Ryan
Group Health Associates

Richard Tomkins

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Mar 14, 2006, 5:35:45 PM3/14/06

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It's generally called a maintenance contract, or at least it was when I
worked for Digital.
rtt

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Andy Bustamante

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Mar 14, 2006, 5:39:49 PM3/14/06

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Watch www.openvms.org

Don't make the mistake of signing up for itrc updates, you'll get email
every two weeks reminding you to check for patches and would you like to buy
an all-in-one scanner/photo printer.

--

Andy Bustamante
Remove the ASCII 95s for e-mail

<dan....@cgha.com> wrote in message
news:1142356637....@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

Richard Tomkins

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Mar 14, 2006, 5:47:45 PM3/14/06

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http://h71000.www7.hp.com/itrc_patch_download_faq.html

Apparently, you can register for a weekly digest that will provide the
information you require.

David J Dachtera

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Mar 14, 2006, 10:18:03 PM3/14/06

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In addition to the other posters' advice, ITRC is accessible via
anonymous FTP:

ftp://ftp.itrc.hp.com/openvms_patches/

Check this periodically on your own for ECOs.

The main OpenVMS website provides info about current releases (but no
download links): http://www.hp.com/go/openvms

As another poster mentioned, the support organization does provide
notification of urgent issues.

--
David J Dachtera
dba DJE Systems
http://www.djesys.com/

Unofficial OpenVMS Marketing Home Page
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Unofficial OpenVMS-IA32 Home Page:
http://www.djesys.com/vms/ia32/

Unofficial OpenVMS Hobbyist Support Page:
http://www.djesys.com/vms/support/

Jim Duff

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Mar 15, 2006, 10:07:56 AM3/15/06

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My attempt at a syndicated versions of the ftp.itrc.hp.com:

http://www.eight-cubed.com/patches/patches.shtml

Wouldn't it be nice if HP published an XML document with each patch
containing things such as version, reboot requirements, prerequisites,
install level, etc? Then someone could make a stab at *automating*
patch retrieval and installation...

Jim.

dan....@cgha.com

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Mar 15, 2006, 10:19:31 AM3/15/06

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I appreciate your help. This is great.

Jim, totally agree with you. Thanks to all for the advice.

Dan

R Boyd

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Mar 15, 2006, 10:34:47 AM3/15/06

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Once upon a time in the days of DSNlink I wrote just such a tool in
DCL. DSNlink made it quite easy to access the release notes. The
code to parse out the interesting bits is a bit hairy. I am sure that
an XML based version of the same thing would be much simpler.

Robert

Ian Miller

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Mar 15, 2006, 12:29:04 PM3/15/06

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A list of the latest VMS ECO kits is available in the ECO
notes conference on Encompasserve
http://www.encompasserve.org/conferences/ECO_new_1.html

You can sign up to get an email whenever there is
a new VMS patch
http://www.openvms.org/pages.php?page=Alerts

norm.r...@metso.com

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Mar 15, 2006, 12:27:22 PM3/15/06

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Graham Burley has constructed a DCL procedure to run on OpenVMS
that can be used to email about the HP OpenVMS ftp patch site(s).

The last version I have is:

$! FTP_NEW.COM - check an ftp directory for new, changed, or removed files
$!
$! Author: Graham Burley <bur...@encompasserve.org>
$!
$!<snip>
$! V0.15 10-Feb-2004 Graham Burley

This and the notification list from OpenVMS.org do it for me.
One warns me of impending ECO's and the other notifies me of changes
to the FTP site, with text.

-Norm

David J Dachtera <djesys...@comcast.net> wrote on 03/14/2006 10:18:03
PM:

> dan....@cgha.com wrote:
> >
> > I apologize if this is posted somewhere already, but I am fairly new at
> > VMS administrator. I know there are updates to VMS, but is there some
> > notification of updates that are sent out when there are new releases
> > I know Microsoft had it where if there was an update, especially if it
> > was critical or serious, they would send out an email. However, I have
> > not heard if there is one from HP, that one can sign up for. I know
> > the updates are out on HP's ftp site, but I though I would ask if there
> > was an easier way.
> >
> > Appreciate any advice.
>

Graham Burley

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Mar 15, 2006, 2:35:33 PM3/15/06

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norm.r...@metso.com wrote:
>
> Graham Burley has constructed a DCL procedure to run on OpenVMS
> that can be used to email about the HP OpenVMS ftp patch site(s).
>
> The last version I have is:
>
> $! FTP_NEW.COM - check an ftp directory for new, changed, or removed files
> $!
> $!

> $!<snip>
> $! V0.15 10-Feb-2004 Graham Burley

Readme - http://www.encompasserve.org/~burley/ftp_new.txt
"Kit" - http://www.encompasserve.org/~burley/ftp_new.zip

R Boyd

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Mar 15, 2006, 3:40:34 PM3/15/06

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Thanks Graham!

I have a complementary DCL script for processing patch kits and release
notes files for maintaining collections of patches, including culling
superseded kits.

I am going to try out setting up a job that uses FTP_NEW to pull in
updated kits and then invokes SUPERSEDE_SCAN to run through them. I
used to have something similar set up at another site using DSNLINK_NEW
years ago.

My compliments on FTP_NEW -- I'm wondering if you used DSNLINK_NEW as
an inspiration -- it looks like your configuration file format is
somewhat similar.

I enjoyed looking through your MATCH_WILD implementation to compare it
with the one I used for FINDJOB (viewable on DCL.OpenVMS.org).

Robert

Hoff Hoffman

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Mar 15, 2006, 5:38:14 PM3/15/06

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Jim Duff wrote:

> Wouldn't it be nice if HP published an XML document with each patch
> containing things such as version, reboot requirements, prerequisites,
> install level, etc? Then someone could make a stab at *automating*
> patch retrieval and installation...

I slipped some of the first XML bits found within OpenVMS itself into
the distro for V8.3 (VMSKITBLD.XML), and ported over a version of
libxml2 over as part of that work. (No, libxml2 itself is not in the
OpenVMS distro, but you can get a copy of the port via the staging area
for the OpenVMS Freeware V8 distro.)

The use of XML for the ECO announcements is certainly a good one.
Our existing OpenVMS process for software kits and for ECO kits is not
where I'd personally like it to be, in terms of its end-to-end
automation, and in terms of the tools and formats in current use. XML
is the logical implementation choice here for at least for the kit
information -- and possibly as far as a mechanism for the ECOs themselves.

If you want to see XML or other such enhancements within the ECO
process, you'll want to formally request it via the customer support
center, ambassador or official contacts -- if you're expecting to attend
the bootcamp, we can certainly discuss this, and you can also directly
discuss this or other enhancement requests with the OpenVMS management team.

If you have specific feedback on this matter (and you're not planning
on the bootcamp), you can send it along to me, and I'll forward it on to
the appropriate folks within the OpenVMS management team.

Graham Burley

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Mar 15, 2006, 6:24:13 PM3/15/06

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R Boyd wrote:
>

> I am going to try out setting up a job that uses FTP_NEW to pull in
> updated kits and then invokes SUPERSEDE_SCAN to run through them. I
> used to have something similar set up at another site using DSNLINK_NEW
> years ago.

>From experience on DECUServe using it for the ECO conference it's a
good idea to pick one of the ITRC ftp servers, e.g. dux418.den.hp.com,
and stick to it, otherwise you might see some phantom file changes.

> I enjoyed looking through your MATCH_WILD implementation to compare it
> with the one I used for FINDJOB (viewable on DCL.OpenVMS.org).

I hope I don't have to debug mine ;-)

Kevin Handy

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Mar 16, 2006, 12:58:25 PM3/16/06

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dan....@cgha.com wrote:

> I know Microsoft had it where if there was an update, especially if it
> was critical or serious, they would send out an email. However, I have

Are you talking about those bogus "critical update" emails
from MicroSoft, which would install a virus if you clicked
on them?

Those didn't come from Microsoft...

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Jim Duff

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Mar 18, 2006, 8:23:01 PM3/18/06

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Hoff Hoffman wrote:
>[snip]

>
> If you want to see XML or other such enhancements within the ECO
> process, you'll want to formally request it via the customer support
> center, ambassador or official contacts -- if you're expecting to attend
> the bootcamp, we can certainly discuss this, and you can also directly
> discuss this or other enhancement requests with the OpenVMS management
> team.
>
> If you have specific feedback on this matter (and you're not planning
> on the bootcamp), you can send it along to me, and I'll forward it on to
> the appropriate folks within the OpenVMS management team.
>

Unfortunately I won't be at the bootcamp. Therefore, I've had a stab at
marking up (an edited) VMS732_SYS_V0900.TXT and have constructed a RELAX
NG grammar to validate it (which I'm sure is full of errors as it's the
first one I've ever written).

You can see the results at:

http://www.eight-cubed.com/blog/archives/000328.html

Jim.