VSI Community License Program Update

VMS Software Inc.

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Aug 12, 2020, 9:39:06 AM8/12/20

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Dear community members,

After the community license was officially released, we saw many questions regarding the license agreement and decided to review the agreement once again and answer the questions before sending out any licenses to avoid misunderstanding. Today we published the amended agreement and answered the most frequently asked questions here: https://forum.vmssoftware.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=116&p=426#p426

We are now replying to license requests.Thank you for your patience.

Yours respectfully,

VMS Software Community License Team

Bill Gunshannon

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Aug 14, 2020, 9:43:14 AM8/14/20

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Got home from vacation to find mine waiting in my INBOX. Downloaded
the stuff from the Community page. Now I just need to figure out
what a .ZIPEXE is. Somehow I have a feeling it isn't going to do
anything on my Ubuntu system. :-(

bill

John H. Reinhardt

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Aug 14, 2020, 10:06:42 AM8/14/20

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The ZIPEXE are self extracting ZIP files. They only run on VMS unfortunately. Which is a bootstrapping problem if you don't already have one running.

That is probably another thing we may have to ask VSI change and have them put plain "ISO" disk images in the download area that can be written to disk or used as a virtual disk.

--
John H. Reinhardt

Bill Gunshannon

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Aug 14, 2020, 10:27:47 AM8/14/20

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Good that I got an explanation, but bad in that I have no working
VMS that can do it. I doubt they would run on my VAX. :-)

bill

John H. Reinhardt

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Aug 14, 2020, 10:34:36 AM8/14/20

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They might.. I did not try as I had a running DS10 with OpenVMS

--
John H. Reinhardt

John H. Reinhardt

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Aug 14, 2020, 10:42:46 AM8/14/20

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I received notice from Maxim on the VSI OpenVMS Forum that the Integrity PAK file had been updated with PAKs for the VMS Languages. You just use the same link that came in your email (You saved that email, right?) and re-download the ZIP file. I verified and see that the BASIC, C, C++, Cobol, Fortran and PASCAL PAKs had been added at the end. If there are any missing languages (Ada, I know) then join the VSI OpenVMS Forum (http://forum.vmssoftware.com) and make your comments known. Maxiim seems to be the best conduit to VSI for the CLP related activities.

--
John H. Reinhardt

Arne Vajhøj

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Aug 14, 2020, 10:43:28 AM8/14/20

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On 8/14/2020 10:06 AM, John H. Reinhardt wrote:
> On 8/14/2020 8:43 AM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>> On 8/12/20 9:39 AM, VMS Software Inc. wrote:
>>> Dear community members,
>>>
>>> After the community license was officially released, we saw many
>>> questions regarding the license agreement and decided to review the
>>> agreement once again and answer the questions before sending out any
>>> licenses to avoid misunderstanding. Today we published the amended
>>> agreement and answered the most frequently asked questions here:
>>> https://forum.vmssoftware.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=116&p=426#p426
>>>
>>> We are now replying to license requests.Thank you for your patience.
>>>
>>> Yours respectfully,
>>>
>>> VMS Software Community License Team
>>>
>>
>> Got home from vacation to find mine waiting in my INBOX. Downloaded
>> the stuff from the Community page. Now I just need to figure out
>> what a .ZIPEXE is. Somehow I have a feeling it isn't going to do
>> anything on my Ubuntu system. :-(
>

> The ZIPEXE are self extracting ZIP files. They only run on VMS
> unfortunately. Which is a bootstrapping problem if you don't already
> have one running.
>
> That is probably another thing we may have to ask VSI change and have
> them put plain "ISO" disk images in the download area that can be
> written to disk or used as a virtual disk.

.ZIPEXE may be self extracting, but aren't they still ZIP
compatible meaning that UNZIP can still process them?

Arne

Jan-Erik Söderholm

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Aug 14, 2020, 10:44:48 AM8/14/20

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Or a ZIP'ed ISO, if that saves any measurable file space.

Jan-Erik Söderholm

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Aug 14, 2020, 10:47:00 AM8/14/20

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I can open a ZIPEXE using 7-Zip, so I guess that other tools that
can read a ZIP archive also can open them. Didn't try to extract
the files...

Arne Vajhøj

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Aug 14, 2020, 10:50:50 AM8/14/20

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On 8/14/2020 10:42 AM, John H. Reinhardt wrote:
> I received notice from Maxim on the VSI OpenVMS Forum that the Integrity
> PAK file had been updated with PAKs for the VMS Languages. You just use
> the same link that came in your email (You saved that email, right?) and
> re-download the ZIP file. I verified and see that the BASIC, C, C++,
> Cobol, Fortran and PASCAL PAKs had been added at the end. If there are
> any missing languages (Ada, I know) then join the VSI OpenVMS Forum
> (http://forum.vmssoftware.com) and make your comments known. Maxiim
> seems to be the best conduit to VSI for the CLP related activities.

Again very clear proof that VSI *is* listening.

Arne

Steven Schweda

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Aug 14, 2020, 11:24:53 AM8/14/20

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> ZIPEXE may be self extracting, but aren't they still ZIP
> compatible meaning that UNZIP can still process them?

They are, and Info-ZIP UNZIP (and other unzip programs) can.

Of course, the maker failed to use "zip -a"
(/ADJUST_OFFSETS) after appending the archive to the
unzipsfx executable, so you tend to get complaints like the
followinf (on a Mac):

proa$ unzip -l I640842L1U1.ZIPEXE
Archive: I640842L1U1.ZIPEXE
warning [I640842L1U1.ZIPEXE]: 220160 extra bytes at beginning or within zipfile
(attempting to process anyway)
Length Date Time Name
--------- ---------- ----- ----
3009609728 08-01-2019 13:56 I640842L1U1.ISO
540 08-01-2019 14:01 I640842L1U1.ISO_VNC
--------- -------
3009610268 2 files

John H. Reinhardt

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Aug 14, 2020, 11:49:29 AM8/14/20

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They are and Maxim seems to be the conduit. I just got an email from him that probably also went to everyone that was accepted into the CLP:

> On Fri, Aug 14, 2020, at 10:19 AM, Maxim Megalinskiy wrote:
>
> Dear OpenVMS community,
>
>
>
> Due to an oversight, the license PAKs for the compilers were missing on OpenVMS for Integrity. We have generated them for you and reuploaded the archive. To get it, just follow the link from the previous email, redownload the zip, unpack it, and run the script on the system again.
>
>
>
> Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your support,

>
>
>
> VMS Software Community License Team

So not only are they listening, but they are proactive in communication as well.

Thank you VSI and Thank You Maxim

--
John H. Reinhardt

John H. Reinhardt

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Aug 14, 2020, 11:53:12 AM8/14/20

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That's good to know. I tried unzipping them on my Mac using "The Unarchiver" but it complained that it was a non-standard format and quit. I wrongly assumed that they were not unzippable on other platforms than VMS. I didn't try Stuffit nor plain old zip on the command line.

--
John H. Reinhardt

Steven Schweda

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Aug 14, 2020, 1:03:48 PM8/14/20

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> [...] I tried unzipping them on my Mac using "The Unarchiver" but it
> complained that it was a non-standard format and quit. [...]

Trust no one, I always say. Even after changing ".ZIPEXE"
to ".zip", "Archive Utility(.app)" seems to think that you
want to zip it, not unzip it.

On the bright side, the Finder's (control/mouse2) "Burn
Disk Image "X" to disc..." function (whatever that actually
runs) seems to create usable DVDs.

An adventurous soul might try an attack using "zip -a" to
see if that might help, but if these programs look at the
front of the archive instead of its tail (where the "Central
Directory" lies), then I'd expect the leading unzipsfx
executable to be just as confusing to them, even if the
offsets are right.

Everything's complicated.

Simon Clubley

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Aug 14, 2020, 1:44:44 PM8/14/20

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On 2020-08-14, John H. Reinhardt <johnhre...@thereinhardts.org> wrote:
>
> If there are any missing languages (Ada, I know) then join the VSI OpenVMS
> Forum (http://forum.vmssoftware.com) and make your comments known. Maxiim
> seems to be the best conduit to VSI for the CLP related activities.
>

On Alpha and Itanium, the replacement for DEC Ada was an AdaCore
product and not a HPE/VSI product.

That's why the situation around Ada is so complicated for x86-64 VMS.

Simon.

--
Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.

Bill Gunshannon

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Aug 14, 2020, 5:21:11 PM8/14/20

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How could a VAX run an Alpha executable? Sounds like a feature
I never ran into before. :-)

bill

Bill Gunshannon

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Aug 14, 2020, 5:23:50 PM8/14/20

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You may be right. I just ran "unzip -v" against them on my Ubuntu
machine and it listed an ISO contained in the ZIP file.

bill

John H. Reinhardt

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Aug 14, 2020, 5:26:41 PM8/14/20

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Good point. Anyway, see the other emails apparently zip on Linux will probably unzip them even if there is a warning message.

--
John H. Reinhardt

Jan-Erik Söderholm

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Aug 14, 2020, 5:28:49 PM8/14/20

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Den 2020-08-14 kl. 17:49, skrev John H. Reinhardt:
> On 8/14/2020 9:50 AM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>> On 8/14/2020 10:42 AM, John H. Reinhardt wrote:
>>> I received notice from Maxim on the VSI OpenVMS Forum that the Integrity
>>> PAK file had been updated with PAKs for the VMS Languages. You just use
>>> the same link that came in your email (You saved that email, right?) and
>>> re-download the ZIP file. I verified and see that the BASIC, C, C++,
>>> Cobol, Fortran and PASCAL PAKs had been added at the end. If there are
>>> any missing languages (Ada, I know) then join the VSI OpenVMS Forum
>>> (http://forum.vmssoftware.com) and make your comments known. Maxiim
>>> seems to be the best conduit to VSI for the CLP related activities.
>>
>> Again very clear proof that VSI *is* listening.
>>
>> Arne
>>
>>
>
> They are and Maxim seems to be the conduit. I just got an email from him
> that probably also went to everyone that was accepted into the CLP:
>

Yes, I also got that one with the download information.

I also got another mail on Monday this week (since I had asked about
what's happening). Probably making no harm to post it now, when the
information is out and the licenses are being distributed, since it
also shows that things *was* going on behind the scenes.

"Hi Jan-Erik,

Thank you for your question and interest in the program.

You have not missed anything as we haven't started sending any licenses
yet. At the moment we are working on rephrasing the license agreement
so that it is more clear and answers the questions asked by the community
since the program was officially announced. As soon as these changes are
approved by our higher management, we will publish a short FAQ along with
a new announcement and then will send the PAKs to those who we think are
allowed to use them (of course, your name is on the list, so no worries,
you will be one of the first to get access to the license).

We would also like to ask you to refrain from publishing this info anywhere
on the Internet as we don't want to make any more official statements and
thus cause any confusion until we have everything prepared.

Kind regards,

Maxim Megalinskiy"

Bill Gunshannon

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Aug 14, 2020, 5:30:30 PM8/14/20

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I just successfully extracted them on Ubuntu using plain old unzip.
The two DOC files apparently contain the same thing.

bill

Bill Gunshannon

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Aug 14, 2020, 5:32:54 PM8/14/20

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It appears they are zipped ISO's.

bill

Jan-Erik Söderholm

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Aug 14, 2020, 5:37:01 PM8/14/20

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In a way. They are ZIP'ed ISO's having an Alpha EXE preamble to make
them self-executable (on Alpha, of course).

Of cource I meant clean ZIP files that you could unpack anyware.
On VMS, you'll need UNZIP also, but you could extract the files on
any environment and just FTP them over to your target system.

Dave Froble

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Aug 14, 2020, 8:30:00 PM8/14/20

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It seems you have Alpha distribution. On what will you be running the
CL stuff?

--
David Froble Tel: 724-529-0450
Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc. E-Mail: da...@tsoft-inc.com
DFE Ultralights, Inc.
170 Grimplin Road
Vanderbilt, PA 15486

Bill Gunshannon

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Aug 14, 2020, 9:03:30 PM8/14/20

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ES40, I hope. I still need to get the networking to work.

bill

Phillip Helbig (undress to reply)

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Aug 15, 2020, 2:31:28 AM8/15/20

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In article <rh6vmf$hc6$4...@dont-email.me>,
=?UTF-8?Q?Jan-Erik_S=c3=b6derholm?= <jan-erik....@telia.com>
writes:

> Den 2020-08-14 kl. 17:49, skrev John H. Reinhardt:

> We would also like to ask you to refrain from publishing this info anywhere
> on the Internet

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jan-Erik Söderholm

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Aug 15, 2020, 3:22:08 AM8/15/20

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Den 2020-08-15 kl. 08:31, skrev Phillip Helbig (undress to reply):
> In article <rh6vmf$hc6$4...@dont-email.me>,
> =?UTF-8?Q?Jan-Erik_S=c3=b6derholm?= <jan-erik....@telia.com>
> writes:
>
>> We would also like to ask you to refrain from publishing this info anywhere
>> on the Internet
>

> !...
>

Yes, before it was made public, which it was later the same week.
So then "this info" was already old and public.

John H. Reinhardt

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Aug 15, 2020, 10:25:06 AM8/15/20

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That's also a bad copy/paste on my part as it refers to the credentials for accessing the HP FTP server to download the various software and CD images. It does not refer to the PAK information.

--
John H. Reinhardt

John H. Reinhardt

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Aug 15, 2020, 10:26:39 AM8/15/20

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Never mind. I didn't read far enough back into the email chain. A similar phrase was attached to the HP emails but it is not in referent to them.

--
John H. Reinhardt

Timothy Stark

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Aug 15, 2020, 10:30:06 AM8/15/20

to comp.os.vms to email gateway

Yes, I got VSI community license too and downloaded zipexe files. I was able open archives showing ISO files on Windows by using 7-zip without any problems.

Tim

-----Original Message-----
From: Info-vax <info-vax...@rbnsn.com> On Behalf Of John H. Reinhardt via Info-vax

The ZIPEXE are self extracting ZIP files. They only run on VMS unfortunately. Which is a bootstrapping problem if you don't already have one running.

That is probably another thing we may have to ask VSI change and have them put plain "ISO" disk images in the download area that can be written to disk or used as a virtual disk.

--
John H. Reinhardt
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