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BB-H348C-RM_1982
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swskit-v21/documentation/sirus.mem
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Did you know that you can dial into a Marlboro development system
and type out almost any patch that the Marlboro Support Group has made
to -10 or -20 software in the last three to four years? The program
which does this is called SIRUS, and with it you can:
1. Search through all the patches to a particular product, if
you know a problem exists but don't know what the patch is or
don't know if we've heard of the problem. If you find the
patch you want, you can then type it out.
2. Type out a particular patch to a particular product, if you
know what the edit number is.
3. Obtain the status of any SPR, including the entire answer if
it has been answered.
By using SIRUS, you can get patches whenever the system is up,
even if it's two A. M. and the Hotline is closed. You can print
patches in your local office without having to wait for a specialist
in Marlboro to mail you a copy. You can be sure that the patch you
have is correct. (Dictating patches over the Hotline is very prone to
errors.) Even if the problem you are experiencing cannot be found in
SIRUS, you can help us when you call by so stating. We immediately
know that the problem you are having is a new one.
There have been several articles about SIRUS in previous Large
Buffers, but none have been oriented towards specialists in the field.
This one is!
To use SIRUS, dial into system 1026 in Marlboro, log in, and then
run it. In more detail:
1. Dial into system 1026. Any of the following numbers will
reach system 1026 in Marlboro. They are all 300 baud lines.
231-1171 (DTN)
231-1172 (DTN)
(617)481-5606
(617)481-5632
(617)481-5635
(617)481-5636
(617)481-5637
(617)481-5638
Once the machine notices you, type "SET HOST 26" to insure
that you are connected to system 1026. If you get the
message "?Undefined Network Node", the machine is down (try
again later).
2. To login, type "LOGIN 10,#". When the machine requests a
name, type one in. You will not need a password.
3. To run SIRUS, just type "R SIRUS". SIRUS takes several
seconds to initialize itself and then prompts you with
"PRODUCT [H]*". At this point, type either "10<CRLF>" or
"20<CRLF>" depending on whether the customer of concern is
running TOPS10 or TOPS20. SIRUS then prompts you with
"[H] *". You are now at SIRUS command level.
SIRUS has many commands, but only a few are of interest to the
field specialist. They are:
1. H -- for Help. This may be typed anytime SIRUS precedes its
prompt with "[H]".
2. EX -- for Exit. Use this to exit SIRUS. Then type K/N to
logout, and hang up.
3. PP -- for Peruse PCOs. PCO stands for Product Change Order
and essentially means a patch. This command is used to look
through patches for a particular product if you aren't sure
which patch you want.
4. GP -- for Get PCO. This is used to type out a particular
patch once you know which one you want.
5. GS -- for Get SPR. Use this to retrieve information on a
particular SPR.
6. NP -- for New Product. Use this command if you type the
wrong answer to "PRODUCT [H]*" as mentioned above, or use it
in association with the PP command as described below. SIRUS
will prompt you for a product again.
The three most useful of these commands are PP, GP, and GS.
1.0 PP Command
Use this command to peruse the patches for a particular product
-- e.g. LINK or 603 (monitor) or BATCON -- if you want to find a
particular patch you know exists, or if you want to know if the
support group has heard of and fixed some problem you are experiencing
with a product. After you type "PP<CRLF>" SIRUS will prompt for a
component. Here type the program you're interested in -- LINK, BATCON
or whatever. A response of LIST will type the programs SIRUS knows
about and then prompt you for a component again.
Once you type in the component, SIRUS prompts with "[H] PCO #:".
There are two reasonable responses to this. The first is ALL. (Type
NO to the subsequent question about a file.) This will give you a
short summary of all the patches available for this product, one line
per patch. This includes a PCO number, the SPR for which this patch
was written, the edit number corresponding to the patch (for the
TOPS10 monitor this is the MCO number), a keyword describing the bug,
the maintainer who wrote the patch, and the date it was made. The
other response you might type here is simply <CRLF>. In this case
SIRUS will type out the symptom of the newest PCO, and then prompt you
with "NEXT?". By continuing to type carriage returns, you can type
all the symptoms of all the patches for this product, from the newest
to the oldest. When you have found the patch you want (remember the
PCO number), type RETURN to get back to SIRUS command level.
If you did not find your symptom while perusing, and your product
exists on both TOPS10 and TOPS20, you should also search the PCOs for
the alternate operating system. To do this, type NP to SIRUS command
level, and then type in the other product number when SIRUS asks for
it. Then peruse PCOs for your product as you did before.
2.0 GP Command
This is used to print out a patch once you know the PCO number.
The PCO number is printed while you are perusing PCOs and is of the
form 10-product-nnn or 20-product-nnn. After typing GP to SIRUS
command level, SIRUS prompts for a PCO number. The leading "10-" or
"20-" is supplied by SIRUS, so your response should be of the form
"product-nnn".
In response, SIRUS types out information about the patch. The
two most useful data are labeled VLD and SAE. VLD stands for validity
and is the version of the software to which the patch applies. SAE is
Source After Edit and is the edit or MCO number of the patch. To get
the actual text of the patch, respond YES to SIRUS's question "Show
Write-up File?".
3.0 GS Command
This is used to get the status of an SPR. SIRUS will prompt for
an SPR number, and then will provide you with info about the SPR you
specified. This includes the site that submitted the SPR, the
specialist responsible for the SPR, and date received and the date
closed, if the SPR has been answered. If answered, it will also say
whether or not an auxiliary file was written for the SPR and what PCOs
(if any) were included. The aux file is an introductory paragraph
which is written for most SPR answers. For SPRs which do not require
patches, the aux file constitutes the entire answer. The aux file can
be typed by responding YES to "SHOW AUXILIARY FILE?". The PCOs can be
typed out with the GP command.
Finally, if SIRUS begins to give you error messages such as "File
not found", EX from SIRUS and mount a special disk pack with the
monitor command "MOUNT SIRS:". Then try again. This gives you access
to more PCOs and aux files than are normally available.
For more information, see the example run of SIRUS below, in
which user input is shown underlined, or the article on SIRUS
published in volume 409 of the Large Buffer. Finally, SIRUS is for
use by DIGITAL personnel only. DO NOT give out instructions for its
use or the system 1026 phone numbers to customers.
.R SIRUS
- -----
SIRUS...3(3)
[WHEN '[H]' APPEARS YOU MAY TYPE 'HELP' FOR ASSISTANCE]
PRODUCT [H]* 20
--
[H] *PP
--
[H] COMPONENT TO PERUSE: D60SPL
------
[PCO LIMIT FOR 'D60SPL' IS 15]
[H] PCO #:<CR>
----
[20-D60SPL-015]
DATE: 09-JUL-79 BY: BENCE
VLD:
[SYMPTOM]
Jobs sent to the LPT queue from D60SPL are given a random
file name and are billed to OPERATOR.
NEXT?<CR>
----
[20-D60SPL-014]
DATE: 09-JUL-79 BY: WEISBACH
VLD:
[SYMPTOM]
If the spooler is pausing, typing a GO can result in an
illegal instruction.
NEXT? ALL
---
DO YOU WANT A FILE? NO
--
PCO 015 SPR 12355 (6,022) KEY= LNAME BENCE 09-JUL-79
PCO 014 SPR 12225 OUTOUT (6,020) KEY= PAUSE WEISBACH 09-JUL-79
PCO 013 SPR 11660 LODVFU 6013(6,014) KEY= VFU WEISBACH 09-JUL-79
PCO 012 SPR 13244 D60CRE 103 (6,032) KEY= CARD L.NEFF 06-JUL-79
PCO 011 SPR D60CR4 103 (6,015) KEY= CARDS L.NEFF 03-JUL-79
PCO 010 SPR REQUEU 103 (6,030) KEY= CTQMFQ L.NEFF 14-JUN-79
PCO 009 SPR 12588 INTCTC 1 (6,026) KEY= CONTROL C TEEGARDEN 17-MAY-79
PCO 008 SPR 12881 OUTE.6 103 (6,025) KEY= REQUEUE NEFF 17-APR-79
PCO 007 SPR 12139 103 (6,019) KEY= ILLEGAL WEISBACH 27-OCT-78
PCO 006 SPR 12005 (0) KEY= SIMULTANEO BENCE 22-SEP-78
PCO 005 SPR 11672 ENDJOB 103 (6,018) KEY= QUASAR BENCE 18-SEP-78
PCO 004 SPR 11841 D60STK 103 (6,016) KEY= BAD WEISBACH 23-AUG-78
PCO 003 SPR 11476 TTYOUT 103 (6,010) KEY= OVERWRITE WEISBACH 12-MAY-78
PCO 002 SPR 11431 OUTE.6 (6,007) KEY= INTERRUPTS WEISBACH 12-APR-78
PCO 001 SPR 11456 D60SPL (6,006) KEY= BLANK WEISBACH 03-APR-78
[H] PCO #: RETURN
------
[H] *GP
--
[H] PCO #: 20-D60SPL-8
[20-D60SPL-008 RETRIEVED]
PROG: NEFF
COMPONENT: D60SPL
SER/SPR:20-12881
KEYS: REQUEUE /
ROUTNS: OUTE.6 /
VLD: 103(2304)
SBE %103 (6,024)
SAE %103 (6,025)
CRIT: N
DOC: N
F/D: F
TEST FILE: : [ ]
P-IND: 10
SHOW WRITE-UP FILE? YES
---
[WRITE-UP FILE]
008 NEFF
[SYMPTOM]
If a job is requeued because of a communications failure, with
D60SPL reporting that the station has signed off, then, when the
station signs on again, the print file will be restarted from its
beginning, not from the last checkpoint.
[DIAGNOSIS]
When the error is detected, routine OUTE.6 calls IBACK to
backspace the file five pages. IBACK zeroes the page counter,
J$RNPP(J), and rewinds the file, in the belief that the forward
spacing code will update the page count as it skips to the correct
page. However, D60SPL discovers the error is not recoverable and it
requeues the job immediately. Since the page count is never updated,
DOREQ requeues the job to start at the beginning of the file.
[CURE]
Preserve the page at which to resume printing over the call to
IBACK. if the job is to be requeued immediately, restore J$RNPP(J) so
that the job will be requeued and checkpointed five pages back from
its current position.
[FILCOM]
File 1) DSK:D60SPL.MAC[4,1022] created: 1724 09-Apr-1979
File 2) DSK:D60SPL.MAC[4,417] created: 1625 10-Apr-1979
1)1 LPTEDT==6024 ;EDIT LEVEL
1) LPTWHO==1 ;WHO LAST PATCHED
****
2)1 LPTEDT==6025 ;EDIT LEVEL
2) LPTWHO==1 ;WHO LAST PATCHED
**************
1)4 ;*****End of Revision History*****
****
2)4 ;6025 If a job printing on a remote printer is interruped by
2) ; a communications failure, requeue to start five pages ba
ck
2) ; instead of at beginning of file. LLN, SPR # 20-12881,
2) ; 10-APR-79
2) ;*****End of Revision History*****
**************
1)179 PUSHJ P,IBACK ;BACKSPACE THE FILE
1) PUSHJ P,INTON ;[6007]TURN INTERRUPTS B
ACK ON
1) PUSHJ P,D60NRY ;PERFORM "NOT READY" DIA
LOG
1) JRST OUTE.7 ;ERROR IS UNRECOVERABLE
1) TELL OPR,[ASCIZ /![LPT... continueing!]
****
2)179 ;**;[6025] ADD SEVERAL LINES AT OUTE.6 + 13L. LLN, 10-APR-79
2) MOVE T1,J$RNPP(J) ;[6025] CALCULATE THE NE
W
2) SUB T1,N ;[6025] DESTINATION PAG
E
2) PUSH P,T1 ;[6025] AND SAVE IT
2) PUSHJ P,IBACK ;BACKSPACE THE FILE
2) PUSHJ P,INTON ;[6007]TURN INTERRUPTS B
ACK ON
2) PUSHJ P,D60NRY ;PERFORM "NOT READY" DIA
LOG
2) JRST [POP P,J$RNPP(J) ;[6025] RESTORE PAGE NO.
FOR REQUEUE
2) JRST OUTE.7] ;[6025] ERROR IS UNRECOV
ERABLE
2) POP P,(P) ;[6025] THROW AWAY DESTI
NATION
2) ;[6025] PAGE - FORWARD S
PACING
2) ;[6025] CODE WILL HANDLE
IT
2) TELL OPR,[ASCIZ /![LPT... continueing!]
**************
[END OF WRITE-UP FILE]
[H] *EX
--
EXIT
.