ted@nieland.DAYTON.OH.US (Ted Nieland) (05/25/90)
Fall 1989 VAX/L&T SIG Tape Reviews
Earle Ake
Science Apllications International Corporation
Todd Aven
COmputer Associates International
E. Loren Buhle, Jr.
Univeristy of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Geoffrey Brunkhorst
Mayo Foundation
Tom Comeau
Space Telescope Science Institute
David Hittner
Pioneer Standard Electronics
Ray Kaplan
Ted Nieland
Control Data Corporation
Mark Shannon
Carnigie-Mellon University
Ric Steinburger
SRI International
This is part of the review of the Fall 1989 VAX/L&T SIG Tape.
Due to the large amount of overlap between the L&T and VAX SIG tapes, the
Tape editors decided to combine the tapes into one large tape with no
overlap. This SIGs tape contains many useful items for people with VAX
Computers and people interested in Languages and Tools.
The reviewers have scoured through most of the tape and have jotted down the
following notes on the material that is on the tape. Not everything on the
tape is reviewed due to the shear volume of material, but it is hoped that
this review will help people in deciding what on the tape might be useful to
them.
The SIG tapes are a project started by the SIGs a while back as a method of
distributing free software that might be helpful to others. Not all of the
material on the tapes are "finished" products.
This review is sponsered by the VAX and L&T SIGs and is coordinated by
the L&T Public Domain Working Group. Anyone wishing to help with future
reviews can contact the the Public Domain Working Group Chair, Ted Nieland. He
can be contacted on DCS at NIELAND or at TED@NIELAND.DAYTON.OH.US on the
Internet.
This is the fourth SIG tape to be reviewed. The VAX and L&T SIGs are
interested in your comments on the reviews and what can be done to improve
them. Comments can be sent to DECUS_REVIEWS@NIELAND.DAYTON.OH.US or
to NIELAND on DCS. Or contact any VAX or L&T SIG Steering committee member.
The material reviewed here is included on the VAX portion of the tape.
The encapsulated reviews are rated on a 1-5 scale with 5 being excellent.
[.MEADOWS] - Joe Meadows Jr.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Ease of installation: 4
Documentation: 5
Intended audience: System programmers
Ease of use: 4
Usefulness: 5
Sources included: Yes
BASIC, C, FORTRAN, MACRO-32
Objects supplied: Yes
Included in the [.MEADOWS] submission are many useful utilities for programmers
as well as information and examples of many other VMS callable utilities. Some
of the more popular utilities included are LPUNCH (for Listserv-Punch format
file conversion), FILE (for changing file characteristics), FIND (to search for
files on the disk using multiple criteria), MAKE, MENU (a "free flow menu
program"), STATUS (a SHOW USERS type of program that works
cluster/network-wide), UAF (does for the authorization file what FIND does for
disk files), VERB (an un-SET COMMAND utility), and much more.
Many of these utilities are priceless for working on a VMS system. They all
come with MAKEFILEs (useable with the included MAKE utility) for easy
(re)building. They also include complete source and a comprehensive help file
for inclusion in your system help library. The programming examples, for
example on using NML of DECnet to retrieve DECnet information, combined with
UNSDL (for making include files from system definitions in STARLETSD) can make
life easier for programmers in many tasks.
Submission Subdirectory: [.PAVLIN]
Ease of Installation: 3
Documentation: 3
Intended Audience: Programmer, Network Manager
Ease Of Use: 4
Usefulness: 5
Sources Included: Yes; Fortran, Macro
Objects Supplied: Yes
This submission contains two parts, DISM32 and ETHERMON. DISM32 is
a VAX executable disassembler. For those who have not experienced one, a
disassembler converts an executable into assembler source code. It will NOT
convert the code back to a higher-level language source such as fortran,
basic, pascal, etc. DISM32 is an excellent tool for programmers who want
to find out how to modify a program that they do not have source for, or
as an emergency recoverer to cover an accidental loss of source. Documentation
is adequate, and it is important that you CAREFULLY read the documentation in
order to extract the maximum amount of benefit from this program. The
first disassembly will crack the executable into 'raw' macro. There are
no meaningful symbolic names available; you need to edit a symbol table file
and change the raw symbolic names to something understandable. Rerunning the
disassembler after editing the symbol tables will insert your symbols as
appropriate.
ETHERMON is a program which allows the network manager to watch the
activity of the ethernet from a VAX. Similar to PC implementations, ETHERMON
allows raw data to be stored for later analysis, and also has a MONITOR-like
display for showing current(changing) network statistics. Good for finding
a chattering etherport, and finding out where the high-traffic areas are.
Submission Subdirectory: [vax89b.potter]
Ease of installation: 5
Documentation: 5
Intended Audience: System Managers
Ease of Use: 5
Usefulness: 5
Sources included: Yes, DCL, FORTRAN, MACRO, PASCAL, C
Objects Supplied: Yes
1) DCL_PIPE A simple unix like pipe facility (resubmission).
2) DECNET_COPY A preprocessor for COPY allowing secure passwords.
3) LAT_HOST_HELP This is an example of what you can do with lat ports.
4) NET_WHAT Newest version of NETWHAT. A system status facility.
5) RENAME_BY_FID A simple utility to rename a file by its file id.
6) SETUSER The ever present SET Username facility. Works on V5.2.
7) TAIL A Fast tail utility for VMS.
8) VMS_COMPRESS VMS file compression facility based on unix "compress".
9) WHERE_AM_I Report of the machine you are on, were on, and loads.
10) ACL_SCRUB Handy utility to scrub a disk of any invalid acl entries.
This submission has ten good utilities. Most are for system
management, but a few are for general users. Tail provides a FAST look at the
'tail' end of the file. Net_what is a finger-like utility. Another version
of the infamous setuser utility. Rename_by_fid is handy for taking care of
those 'lost' files on a disk without hanging the disk by doing an
analyze/disk/repair and waiting a LONG time. Decnet_copy provides a way to
let users do a DECnet-copy without leaving their passwords out in plain-text.
Vms_compress is a port from the unix 'compress' utility that allows for
compression of many types of VMS files.
[.RANKIN] - Pat Rankin
Calif. State Legislature
Ease of installation: 3
Documentation: 3
Intended audience: System managers
Ease of use: 4
Usefulness: 4
Sources included: for all except UNO C, FORTRAN, MACRO-32
Objects supplied: for ETHERNET and SXLPS only
Included in this submission: EXTRACT - utility program to select records, or
pieces of, from parts of a file with several options for character translation
and line editing; XSHOW - "extended show" program to implement some missing
SHOW options; ETHERNET - program to monitor packets on an Ethernet network;
SXLPS - filter program to convert sixel graphics into Postscript; RC - counts
and displays the number of records in a file; SMG_SUPPORT - short program to
create a logical name "look up" table for supported terminals; UNO -
simulation of the card game "Uno".
These are some pretty good general purpose utilities. EXTRACT and XSHOW come
with their sources in VMS text libraries. (You may wish to use the
LIBRARY_EXTRACT procedure from the [.SIT] directory to extract the sources.)
ETHERNET is an enhanced version of the one shipped out over Info-VAX
several months ago and provides easier reading for the summary reports.
The programs do not come with utilities for rebuilding them from
source, although EXTRACT does include a .MAK file (which doesn't seem to be
compatible with either version of MAKE or with DEC/MMS).
Submission Subdirectory: [VAX89B.RUCKER]
Installation: 5 - simple
Documentation: 4 - good
Intended Audience: Systems Managers
Ease of Use: 4 - good
Usefulness: 4 - something for every system manager
Sources Included: 3 - in most cases
Source Languages: DCL, FORTRAN
Objects Supplied: yes
This collection of utilities was supplied by Medtronics. It is targetted for
system manager types and usually requires fairly trivial name changes within
the code to conform with your naming sequence. Alternately, you could define
logicals to point to Medtronics defined devices. I was unable to review MAINT
(a user-friendly interface for system management tasks), BACKUP/RESTORE
(user-friendly interface for BACKUP), Q (simple queue listing program), and
FTNLIB (a Fortran library of miscellaneous code).
DECnet Monitor [.DNMON] The purpose of these programs (DCL) is to gather
statistics (circuit counters) about the DECnet environment and summarize them into historical
files for later manipulation by a capacity planning. A FORTRAN source is
provided to digest the output of DECnet accounting. A sample output is
provided. This output could be useful for planning purposes. The program
appears to work for synchronous DECnet, asynchronous DECnet, or Ethernet.
Some trivial customization is necessary.
Batch Production Environment [.BPROD] This is a set of command files whereby
an operator, unrelated to the job inself, can submit batch jobs from other
accounts following a particular a schedule and certain order, with appropriate
chargeback the specified accounts. DCL and executables are provided. No source.
Performance Monitor [.PMON] These programs run MONITOR ALL, periodically
saving the output to a file. Most of the DCL files for setting up the
periodic jobs appear to be present. This file the rewritten to tape for a
Sperry specific accounting package. The FORTRAN source and executable for
generating such a tape is provided. While the output of this program is
of dubious value, it certainly makes reading the MONITOR files quite useful.
OPLOGEXTRACT [.OPLOG] This program provides a summary of all events in the
SYS$MANAGER:OPERATOR.LOG files, with usually 1 line per event to save space.
This is potentially useful for quickly surveying potential problems. The
ability to generate a summary is present. Versions of the DCL and FORTRAN
source appear to support VMS V4.7 and V5.1 in both a clustered and
non-clustered environment.
Operator Documentation [.OPERDOC] These files are all of the documentation
used in Medtronics. It includes information about normal system operations
as well as documentation of the utilities, all of which are included in
this saveset. The documentation is in Digital Standard Runoff format. They seem
to read quite well.
Miscellaneous [.MISC] This area includes programs that involve interchange of
data between VAX <-> IBM (S/38 and AS/400) <-> Sperry 1100 systems. Printers
are also sharable between the system, as well as an interface to a Xerox 8700
laser printer.
[.SIT]
Ease of installation: 3
Documentation: 4
Intended audience: System managers, Programmers
Ease of use: 4
Usefulness: 4
Sources included: Yes (Executables not included) C
Objects supplied: No
Many useful utilities can be found here ranging from a complete VMS library
extraction procedure, a program to warn people upon login about system status
(as well as their own expiration), a example for using PSM routines. Also
included are some general VAX C modules for creating "an easy and convenient
interface to tasks that are often required, but difficult to accomplish." A
Queued Mail System for Jnet, DECnet (SMTP and Mail-11), and CMU TCP/IP is in
this submittion as well.
While executables aren't included, DEC/MMS description files are included for
the two C based programs. (A quick note - the description files assume that
you have the VAX C Run-Time Library included in your LNK$LIBRARY list.) The
cluster utilities included are especially useful for heterogeneous clusters in
providing SYSTARTUP_V5 simplicity and user/node permission checks. The
NET_COPY procedure can help users who do not feel comfortable with the
access strings required to access remote files.
Submission Subdirectory: [.SJBROWN]
Ease of Installation: 4
Documentation: 4
Intended Audience: General, System Manager
Ease Of Use: 5
Usefulness: 5
Sources Included: Yes; C
Objects Supplied: No
This submission contains two parts, QUEUE and SWING. QUEUE is a
vt100 screen-based program that allows the system manager to control the
system queues. Online help is available, and the program windowing makes
getting help and changing things easy. SWING is a general-purpose file
control system. The program will show a disk structure graphically, allow
the user to enter a directory and do maintenance of various types (edit,
delete,rename,create,purge, etc). Online help is also available here.
Easy to use with a very nice graphic/windowing interface.
Submission Subdirectory: [vax89b.snap]
Ease of installation: 5
Documentation: 5
Intended Audience: System Managers
Ease of Use: 5
Usefulness: 5
Sources included: Yes, MACRO, FORTRAN
Objects Supplied: Yes
SNAP is a very fancy SHOW USERS. it gives a useful screen of
information about each user process on the system. (Optionally, it
also gives the same stuff about system processes.) You can get a
bunch of statistics on the process, you can view what is going on on a
terminal or write to that terminal's buffer, you can delete a process,
force an image exit on a process, change priority, suspend or resume a
process.
SNAP and WATCH are two useful programs for system management. You can get a
very good overall picture of who is running what on your system. It is also
handy for helping a remote user with problems. The VIEW portion of SNAP
allows you to view everything going on at another terminal. You can also
'attach' your keyboard to their's to aid in debugging. I have found this to
be very handy and use it daily.
Submission subdirectory: [89BVLT.SWAN]
Installation: 4.
Documentation: 4. Good text files. No .hlp files.
Intended audience: General programmers who use DATATRIEVE.
Ease of use: 4.
Usefulness: 4. With the exception of the BANNER utility, this
is for DATATRIEVE users/programmers only.
Sources Included: Yes. Fortran, CLD script. Executables present too.
This package includes DFI, DMI, BANNER, and MAGIC. DFI is an FMS-like
interface for DATATRIEVE, primarily for sites without an FMS license.
Supports screen-based forms, field editing, and print-to-form with user-
definable forms. DMI is a menu driver for DATATRIEVE. Each menu item
brings up another menu or translates to a DATATRIEVE command. Banner is a
tool to produce textual banners, primarily for inclusion in other source
codes. Anyone could use this. MAGIC is the text for two magic session
submissions (DTR/4GL and VMS). Fortran sources, documentation, and
build procedures are included
DATATRIEVE is not licensed at our site, so I didn't get much chance to use
the entire package. The banner program runs well and the code demonstrates
good techniques of using full CLI parsing (avoiding the overhead of SET
COMMAND invocation). DMI and DFI are well documented and seem like they
would be valuable tools for DATATRIEVE programmers/users, especially for
sites without DEC's FMS.
Submission Subdirectory: [.SXES_SOURCE]
Ease of Installation: 3
Documentation: 1
Intended Audience: General
Ease Of Use: 3
Usefulness: 4
Sources Included: Yes; Fortran
Objects Supplied: Yes
This directory contains an update to the previous submission, DTC.
DTC is an electronic desktop calendar program, much like the decwindows
desktop calendar that dec provides. The difference here is that DTC uses a
VT100-type terminal to display on. Functions allow setting of appointments
in half-hour increments, seaching for the next available time slot, printing
of appointments, week/month/year at-a-glance, and setting of an alarm to
remind the user of appointments. Documentation is sparse, and the cli
is rather terse with syntax errors, but a very useable program once over
the learning hump.
Submission Subdirectory: [vax89b.tedder]
Ease of installation: 5
Documentation: 4
Intended Audience: System Managers
Ease of Use: 5
Usefulness: 5
Sources included: Yes, COBOL
Objects Supplied: Yes
These programs are used as a handy way to find either the holders of a specific
Identifier, or to find the Identifiers held by a certain user. They are
written in COBOL, and make use of calls to $FIND_HELD and $FIND_HOLDER.
The two programs are called FIND_HOLDER and FIND_HELD.
How many times have you wanted to know what usernames hold what rights
identifiers? How about what identifiers does a specific username hold? If so,
then these two utilities are for you. By defining a foreign command or running
from DCL, it will list all rights identifiers held by a specified username or
all the usernames that hold a specific identifier. FIND_HOLDER tends to be a
little more useful than FIND_HELD.
Submission Subdirectory: [VAX89B.XMODEM]
Installation: not performed
Documentation: (4) present in large quantities
Intended Audience: users of XMODEM
Ease of Use: not performed
Usefulness: (3) communication using X modem protocol
Sources Included: stored in ZOO format
Source Languages: FORTRAN
Objects Supplied: yes, along with EXEs
This is the distribution XMODEM V5.70 which is capable of running on VMS
V3.X or higher. Much of the code has been transfered to FORTRAN, though C
sources are mentioned. A file called SOURCES.ZOO is present on the
distribution, but I do not have ZOO to unpack this file and further
investigate. This directory seems to be a compendium of recent XMODEM updates.
The code was not tested by this reviewer.
Submission Subdirectory: [VAX89B.YMODEM]
Installation: looks very simple and compilable, not tested
Documentation: whatever is in the code, no .DOC or .TXT files
Intended Audience: users of YMODEM
Ease of Use: not tested
Usefulness:
Sources Included: yes
Source Languages: DCL and C
Objects Supplied: yes
A file in the distribution states:
"This is a modified version of the YMODEM program that has appeared on past
tapes. This version uses a command procedure to parse out the commands and
decide whether to send or receive and then start the proper program. It looks
more like the old XMODEM.EXE program. " [Earle Ake, SAIC]
I take his word for it!