APPENDIX A ADDITIONAL RELEASE NOTES FOR OPENVMS AXP VERSION 1.0 The following notes contain information that supplements the OpenVMS Alpha Version 1.0 Release Notes. A.1 Bootstrap Failure When Using Alternate System Parameter File During a conversational bootstrap, you can instruct SYSBOOT to use an alternate system parameter file. However, a known problem with the pa- rameter handling code sometimes results in a boot failure. If the bootstrap bugchecks after you enter the USE PARFILE.PAR com- mand, you can work around the problem by entering the USE command and specifying a nonexistent system parameter file, as shown in the fol- lowing example. SYSBOOT will display a message that indicates the file does not exist: SYSBOOT> USE DOESNOTEXIST.PAR %SYSBOOT-I-FLLDPARAMFILE, Failed to load parameter file, status = 00000910 At the next SYSBOOT prompt, enter the USE command and specify the cor- rect alternate system parameter file: SYSBOOT> USE ALTERNATE.PAR We expect to fix this problem in a future release of OpenVMS AXP. A.2 DECwindows Support for OpenVMS AXP Version 1.0 Note the following about required and optional DECwindows save sets: o The required DECwindows save set included with the operating sys- tem supplies the base support you need to run the DECwindows Mo- tif for OpenVMS AXP layered product, which you install separately. o The optional DECwindows workstation support save set that you can choose during the OpenVMS AXP Version 1.0 installation is required if you want to run the windowing software on a DEC 3000 AXP series workstation (provided you also install the separate DECwindows Mo- tif for OpenVMS AXP layered product). o The required DECwindows save set plus the optional DECwindows work- station support save set offered with the OpenVMS AXP Version 1.0 operating system does not constitute complete DECwindows support. You must install the separate DECwindows Motif for OpenVMS AXP lay- ered product to obtain complete support. Additional Release Notes for OpenVMS AXP Version 1.0 1 Note the following as well: o The DECwindows Motif for OpenVMS AXP layered product supports both the Motif and XUI environments. o If you want to customize aspects of the DECwindows environment, see the appendix in the DECwindows Motif for OpenVMS AXP Version 1.1 Installation Guide for instructions. A.3 EDIT Command Notes The following notes apply to the EDIT command: A.3.1 EDIT Command - Incorrect Online Help Online help for the EDIT command is incorrect in the following areas: o On OpenVMS AXP Version 1.0, online help for the EDIT/EDT command assumes that EDT is the default editor. (TPU is the default edi- tor in OpenVMS AXP Version 1.0.) As a result, the /EDT qualifier was omitted from the format line and from all of the examples. In a future version of OpenVMS AXP, online help will be revised to show the /EDT qualifier in the format line and in all examples for EDIT/EDT help. o Although the TECO editor is not supported on OpenVMS AXP Version 1.0, the online help for EDIT/TECO is included. A.3.2 EDIT Command - Restriction When you enter the EDIT command from the system console, the follow- ing error message will be returned: %TPU-E-NONANSICRT, SYS$INPUT must be supported CRT Enter the SET TERMINAL/INQUIRE command in order to work around the prob- lem. This workaround also ensures that subsequent attempts to edit a file during the session will be successful. Alternatively, you can add the SET TERMINAL/INQUIRE command to your login command procedure. We expect to fix this problem in a future release of OpenVMS AXP. A.4 Installation Procedure - Spurious Message During Phase 1 of the installation procedure, you will see the fol- lowing error message: . . . ... OPCOM AUDIT SERVER startup .... %STDRV-I-STARTUP, VMS Startup begun ... %DCL-W-IVVERB, unrecognized command .. \YOU\ This message is benign and can be ignored. 2 Additional Release Notes for OpenVMS AXP Version 1.0 A.5 Linker Utility - Problem The OpenVMS AXP Linker utility (linker) has been modified so that a new error message informs you at link time that global symbols from shareable images are being placed into byte- or word-sized fields by the linker. (Word- and byte-sized stores of globals do not generate fixup information. Fixup information is required when linking against shareable images.) When this situation occurs, an error message is printed and image production is inhibited. The following example shows this new error message: %LINK-E-NOFIXSYM, unable to perform WORD fixup for symbol TPU$_OPTIONS in psect $PLIT$ in module TEST_MODULE file USER:[ACCOUNT]TEST.OLB;1 To work around this problem, move the symbolic value into the desired location at run time rather than at link time. For example, in MACRO, rather than performing ".WORD TPU$_OPTIONS", use the instruction "MOVW #TPU$_OPTIONS,dest". A.6 MACRO-32 Compiler - Problem Using BICL3 Instruction The MACRO-32 compiler will not correctly sign-extend the result reg- ister when it encounters a BICL3 instruction in which the high order bit is cleared. For example, if R1 contains the value ^XFFFFFFFF8001234, the following instruction will place the value ^XFFFFFFFF00001234, in- stead of the value ^X0000000000001234, in R2: BICL3 #^XF0000000,R1,R2 This will only cause a problem if the code subsequently uses R2 in a manner which requires that the sign extension be correct, such as test- ing the sign of R2 or using R2 as an address. Since the BICL2 instruction sign-extends the result register correctly, you can work around this problem by replacing the BICL3 instruction with the following instruction sequence: MOVL R1,R2 BICL #^XF0000000,R2 We expect to fix this problem in a future release of OpenVMS AXP. A.7 Programming Consideration for Manipulation of Absolute Queues Some programming languages, such as BLISS, manipulate absolute queues using queuing instructions hidden within a macro definition found in STARLET. These macro operations are not atomic. For example, the BLISS REMQUE macro can be interrupted between the instruction that loads the entry to be removed and the instruction that removes the entry from the queue, as shown: LDL R16, n(Rn) ; pointer to element in queue REMQUEL ; remove element from queue Additional Release Notes for OpenVMS AXP Version 1.0 3 This is most notable when a specific absolute queue manipulation oc- curs at non-AST level but gets interrupted by an AST routine also ma- nipulating the same absolute queue. The appropriate instruction to use in this case is REMQUEL/D, as shown in the following example: MOV Rn, R16 ; address of pointer to element in queue REMQUEL/D ; remove element from queue This instruction performs the same operation as REMQUEL but is addressed by the longword addressed by R16. This guarantees behavior like that found on OpenVMS VAX. See the Alpha Architecture Reference Manual for further details about deferred queue instructions. The Alpha Architecture Reference Manual (order number EY-L520E-DP) can be ordered through Digital Press. A.8 SCSI Tapes Connected to DEC 4000 Systems - Configuration Suggestion On OpenVMS AXP Version 1.0, the SCSI subsystem does not support tar- get disconnects. Although there are no known catastrophic problems with this limitation, a suggestion about configuring SCSI tapes is warranted. In the absence of target disconnect capability, SCSI tape operations can severely degrade the performance of SCSI disk operations. There- fore, Digital recommends that you connect all SCSI tapes to the same DEC 4000 SCSI port. You should not connect any disks to a DEC 4000 SCSI port that is used for SCSI tapes. A.9 SUMSLP Utility - Documentation Correction The OpenVMS Alpha Version 1.0 Release Notes state that the SUMSLP util- ity does not work in OpenVMS AXP Version 1.0. The SUMSLP utility does, in fact, work. A.10 SYSGEN Help Lists Incorrect System Parameters When using SYSGEN help, the following parameters are listed as being specific to OpenVMS AXP sytems: IRPCOUNT IRPCOUNTV LRPCOUNT LRPCOUNTV SRPCOUNT SRPCOUNTV This is incorrect. These parameters were removed from the OpenVMS AXP operating system as part of the changes for automated pool management. See A Comparison of System Management on OpenVMS Alpha and OpenVMS VAX for more information about automated pool management. 4 Additional Release Notes for OpenVMS AXP Version 1.0 A.11 UETP Ethernet Test - Problem When you select all UETP phases (the default) or the device phase sub- set, the UETP Ethernet test (UETUNAS00) fails with the following er- ror message: %UETP-S-COPY_LOG, Copy of log from testing EXA follows: %UETP-S-BEGIN, UETUNAS00 beginning at 23-OCT-1992 18:05:08.70 Enet device hardware address is 08-00-2B-2B-E6-EF. ********************** * UNAS_EXA * * Error count = 1 * ********************** -UETP-E-ABORT, UNAS_EXA aborted at 23-OCT-1992 18:05:12.70 -SYSTEM-F-SSFAIL, system service failure exception, status=000 00024, PC=800002BC, PS=0000001B -SYSTEM-F-NOPRIV, no privilege for attempted operation %UETP-F-ENDED, UETUNAS00 ended at 23-OCT-1992 18:05:12.70 The failure occurs when the network is in the OFF state. The UETUNAS00 test will successfully run in normal and loop modes if you run it as a single device test. See the chapter on running UETP in the OpenVMS Alpha AXP Version 1.0 Upgrade and Installation Manual. Information on running a single device test is contained in the section that discusses UETP tests and phases. A.12 Restriction on SET TERMINAL/SPEED The DCL command SET TERMINAL/SPEED=nnnn/PERMANENT OPA1: will have no effect on the speed of OPA1. Instead, set the console environment vari- able, tta1_baud, to the desired speed. You will be able to use the SET TERMINAL/SPEED command to set the speed of OPA1 in a future release. A.13 Misleading Error Message During Installation During installation of the operating system, a line reading as fol- lows might be written into the file MODPARAMS.DAT (found in the SYS$SYSTEM directories): SYSSYSTEMID=nnnnn where nis a number between 0 and 65535. This will cause AUTOGEN to generate a warning. You should edit MOD- PARAMS.DAT to correct the misspelling. This line should read: SCSSYSTEMID=nnnnn where nnnnn is the desired value for the SCSSYSTEMID parameter. Additional Release Notes for OpenVMS AXP Version 1.0 5