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               AN EXPERIMENT IN AUTOMATED OS/8 PROGRAM
                       DISTRIBUTION AND REVIEW



                           DOUGLAS E. WREGE
                   GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

                                 AND

                           TOM W. MCINTYRE
                       WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY



                               ABSTRACT

                    THIS WORKSHOP DISCUSSION IS  TO  BE
               CENTERED  AROUND  THE   DISCUSSION   AND
               CONSIDERATIONS  OF ESTABLISHING OS/8 SIG
               SUPPORTED   PROGRAM   DISTRIBUTION   AND
               REVIEW   CENTERS  THROUGHOUT  THE  U.S..
               THE INTENTION IS TO SUPPLY SOME  MEASURE
               OF  REVIEW OF OS/8 USER WRITTEN PROGRAMS
               SO THAT USERS WILL  BE  BETTER  INFORMED
               OF  SUPERIOR  CONTRIBUTIONS  AND KEPT UP
               TO   DATE   WITH   REGARD   TO   CURRENT
               DEVELOPMENTS.      IN     ADDITION     A
               PRELIMINARY   EXPERIMENTAL    AUTOMATION
               DISTRIBUTION      SYSTEM     WILL     BE
               DEMONSTRATED FOR  THE  PROLIFERATION  OF
               OS/8  PROGRAM  CONTRIBUTIONS.  IT IS OUR
               HOPE THAT AN ACTIVE USER  GROUP  CAN  BE
               ESTABLISHED  TO  IMPROVE  ON THIS SYSTEM
               AND THAT  MANY  INSTALLATIONS  THROUGOUT
               THE  COUNTRY  WILL  THEREFORE  FIND   IT
               CONVENIENT    TO    PARTICIPATE     MORE
               ACTIVIELY IN THE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM.

                    THE  PURPOSE  OF  THIS  PAPER IS TO
               DESCRIBE   THE   PRELIMINARY    SOFTWARE
               DEVELOPED  FOR  THE DISTRIBUTION PORTION
               OF THIS EXPERIMENT.


                         GENERAL DESCRIPTION

          TWO OS/8 SYSTEM UTILITY PROGRAMS WERE WRITTEN  TO  HELP
     SOLVE  SOME  OF  THE  PROBLEMS  ASSOCIATED  WITH MAINTAINING
     LIBRARIES OF USER WRITTEN SOFTWARE.  BEFORE  DESCRIBING  THE
     OPERATION  OF  THESE  PROGRAMS, THESE DIFFICULTIES SHOULD BE
     INDICATED.






PROGRAM FILENAMES THIS PROBLEM ARRISES FROM THE LARGE NUMBERS OF POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTORS. ONE FINDS THAT MANY SOFTWARE CONTRIBUTIONS USE THE SAME OR SIMILAR FILENAMES FOR THEIR WORK (E.G. PIPX, XPIP, FOCALX, FOCALS, ETC). THERE NEEDS TO BE SOME MANNER IN WHICH TO FILE THESE PROGRAMS UNDER AN INDEXING SYSTEM. A REASONABLE CHOISE IS TO USE SOMETHING LIKE THE DECUS LIBRARY NUMBER. ASSUMING THIS IS DONE, WE ARE LED TO THE NEXT PROBLEM: THE DOCUMENTATION PROBLEM ONCE THE FILENAME OF A CONTRIBUTION HAS BEEN CHANGED, THE DOCUMENTATION NO LONGER REFERRS PROPERLY TO THE FILE. THIS IS ESPECIALLY A PROBLEM WHERE MULTIPLE FILES IN A SINGLE CONTRIBUTION ARE INVOLVED, WHICH IN TURN REINTRODUCES THE FILENAME PROBLEM. WHAT IS NEEDED IS A WAY TO CONSOLIDATE MANY FILES INTO A SINGLE LIBRARY FILE WITH SOME METHOD TO EXTRACT THE ORIGNIAL NAMES. A SECOND AREA OF DIFFICULTY IS INVOLVED WITH THE DOCUMENTATION AREA, NAMELY THE PRODUCTION OF HARD COPY OUTPUT. BY FAR THE MOST REASONABLE WAY OF PRODUCING DOCUMENTATION IS TO DISTRIBUTE IT IN MACHINE READABLE FORM. THE ADVANTAGES OF MACHINE READABLE DOCUMENTATION IS THAT MULTIPLE COPIES MAY BE PRINTED WHENEVER THE SUBSCRIBER WHICHES, AND MORE IMPORTANT, DOCUMENTATION MAY BE MORE EASILY UPDATED TO TAKE INTO ACCOUT MODIFICATIONS OF THE ORIGINAL SOFTWARE. FLEXIBLE OUTPUT MEDIA THE MOST DIFFICULT STUMBLING BLOCK IN AUTOMATED LIBRARY DISTRIBUTION IS THE NON-UNIVERSALITY OF COMMUNICATION MEDIA IN THE OS/8 WORLD. ALMOST EVERYONE HAS PAPER TAPE CAPABILITIES, HOWEVER, PAPER TAPE IS A VERY MESSY MEDIA FOR THOSE INSTALATIONS WITH ALMOST ANY OTHER REMOVABLE MASS STORAGE MEDIA. IN FACT, MOST AUTHORS OF SOFTWARE WOULD RATHER NOT MAKE SOFTWARE AVAILABLE TO THERE COLLEGUES IF PAPER TAPE COMMUNICATION IS REQUIRED. THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE WHERE A SOFTWARE SYSTEM COMPOSED OF MANY SEPARATE PARTS (OR FILES) ARE CONSERNED. A REASONABLE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM REQUIRES DEVICE INDEPENDENCE WHICH EXTENDS ITSELF TO INDEPENDENCE FROM WHETHER THE COMMUTICATIONS MEDIA IS EVEN FILE STRUCTURED OR NOT. LIBRARY CREATION - OS/8 DUMP TO SOLVE THE LIBRARY CREATION AND FILEING PROBLEM A PROGRAM CALLED "DUMP" WAS WRITTEN. THIS PROGRAM WILL CREATE A SINGLE FILE WHICH CONTAINS MULTIPLE FILES, AND A -1-
TABLE OF CONTENTS OF WHAT IS CONTAINED THEREIN. THIS "DUMP" FILE MAY HAVE A FILENAME CONSISTENT WITH THE FILEING SYSTEM, E.G. DECUS NUMBER. ALTHOUGH DUMP REQUIRES THAT INPUT FILES MAKING UP THIS DUMP FILE COME FROM FILE STRUCTURED DEVICES, IT WILL DUMP THE FILE ONTO ANY OS/8 OUTPUT DEVICE INCLUDING PAPER TAPE. THE CONTENTS OF THIS DUMP FILE MAY BE ANY OS/8 FILE, INCLUDING CORE IMAGE FILES. TO RUN THE PROGRAM TYPE .R DUMP *ODEV:ONAME.EX<INDEV:WILDN1,WILDN2,.../OPT THE COMMAND DECODER IS CALLED IN SPECIAL MODE SO THAT WILDCARDS MAY BE USED FOR INPUT SPECIFICATIONS. (SEE DESCRIPTIONS OF OS/8 V3 FOTP OR DIRECT FOR THE DEFINITION OF WILDCARD SPECIFICATIONS). THE OUTPUT FILENAME MUST NOT CONTAIN WILDCARDS AND MAY BE OMMITTED FOR OUTPUT TO NON-FILE STRUCTURED DEVICES. THERE IS CURRENTLY A RESTRICTION THAT ALL OF THE INPUT FILES MUST EXIST ON THE SAME INPUT, FILE STRUCTURED MEDIA. THE ONLY OPTION CURRENTLY IMPLEMENTED IS THE "/V" INVERSION OPERATION (AS IN FOTP). LIBRARY EXTRACTION - OS/8 LOAD THE PROGRAM TO EXTRACT THE PROGRAMS FROM A "DUMP" FILE IS CALLED "LOAD". LOAD IS OPERATED VIA: .R LOAD *OUDEV:<IDEV:DUMPFILE/OPTIONS WHERE THE OUTPUT DEVICE ONLY IS SPECIFIED, AND INPUT IS A FILE PREVIOUSLY CREATED WITH THE "DUMP" PROGRAM. THE INPUT DEVICE MAY BE NON FILE STRUCTURED, IN WHICH CASE THE FILENAME MAY BE OMITTED. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THE INPUT MEDIA BE PROPERLY POSITIONED FOR THE CASE OF NON FILE STRUCTURED DEVICES. FOR PAPER TAPE, THE FIRST FRAME OF THE DUMP FILE IS A 377. THIS FRAME MUST BE POSITIONED SUCH THAT IT IS THE FIRST CHARACTER READ. THE OPTIONS AVAILABLE ARE: /L LIST TABLE OF CONTENTS ONLY ON CONSOLE. /Q QUERY FILES INDIVIDUALLY /S LOAD SPECIFIED FILES THE /L OPTION WILL PREFORM NO TRANSFERS BUT ONLY LIST THE TABLE OF CONTENTS OF THE "DUMP" FILE. THE /Q OPTION WILL PREFORM TRANSFERS ONLY ON FILES WHICH ARE REQUESTED WITH A -2-
"Y" RESPONSE TO THE "?". ALL EXTRACTED FILES WILL BE TRANSFERED WITH THE FILENAME INDICATED IN THE TABLE OF CONTENTS. THE /S OPTION IS USED TO SELECTIVELY EXTRACT FILES FROM THE LIBRARY. IF THIS OPTION IS GIVEN LOAD WILL PREFORM A SEQUENCE OF SPECIAL MODE COMMAND DECODES, IN WHICH THE OPERATOR MAY SPECIFY UP TO 5 FILENAMES WITH WILDCARDS OF FILES HE WISHES EXTRACTED. THIS PROCESS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL ONE OF THE LINES IS TERMINATED WITH AN ALTMODE. THE INPUT DEVICE FOR THESE COMMAND DECODES IS IGNORED. UPON CONCLUSION OF THIS SEQUENCE OF EVENTS THE APPROPRIATE FILES WILL BE LOADED ONTO THE OUTPUT DEVICE. SUGGESTED FUTURE EXPANSION THESE PROGRAMS ARE OBVIOUSLY ONLY AN EXPERIMENT IN AUTOMATED COMMUNICATION BETWEEN OS/8 USERS. SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR EXPANSION OF THE DUMP PROGRAM INCLUDE OPTIONS: /U UPDATE A DUMP FILE /R REPLACE A FILE IN A DUMP FILE AND FOR THE LOAD PROGRAM: /D CHECK OUTPUT DEVICE FOR CONFLICTING FILENAMES AND USE THE ONE WITH THE MOST RECENT DATE IF THERE IS A NAME CONFLICT. /N DO NOT USE PREDELETION ON OUTPUT MEDIA. /F ALLOW MULTIPLE OUTPUT VOLUMES. CONCLUSIONS IT IS HOPED THAT THESE PROGRAMS WILL BE OF MORE GENERAL USE THAN MERELY AUTOMATED LIBRARY DISTRIBUTION IN THE OS/8 COMMUNITY. ALSO, THAT THEY WILL INSPIRE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT IN THIS DIRECTION TOWARD STANDARDIZATION AND IMPROVED FLEXIBILITY OF USER COMMUNICATIONS. THE CURRENT DEVELOPMENT REQUIRES THAT USERS HAVE AN OS/8 SYSTEM ON WHICH TO RUN THE ASSOCIATED PROGRAMS, HOWEVER, IT SHOULD NOT BE UNREASONABLE TO CREATE A PAPER TAPE VERSION OF THE "LOAD" PROGRAM TO PRODUCE INDIVIDUAL PAPER TAPES FROM A "DUMP" PAPER TAPE. -3-



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