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swskit-v21/certification/nft-fal-ascii-certification-v2.mem
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! d i g i t a l ! I N T E R O F F I C E M E M O R A N D U M
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TO: DECNET-20 Users
DATE: 1 Feb 80
FROM: NCSS
LOC: MR1-2/H22
EXT: HOTLINE (6492)
SUBJ: TOPS-20 NFT/FAL ASCII Certification Results
(DECnet-20 2.0)
1.0 GENERAL NOTES
1. All files transfered by NFT20 to any of the tested
systems were either implicitly or explicitly ASCII;
i.e. either the /ASCII switch was used or the file
characteristics defined the file mode as ASCII.
This format for ASCII files on TOPS-20 is always
stream ASCII. However, on other Digital systems,
ascii files can be kept in a number of different
formats.
The most frequently used is variable length
records with implied carriage return line feed.
The NFT switch which describes this format is
/ASCII/VARIABLE. Copying files in this format to
or from a TOPS-20 system requires conversion by
NFT/FAL; carriage return line feed is
automatically added or removed at the end of each
logical record.
Note that a TOPS-20 file which contains no
carriage return line feeds or carriage return line
feeds only after very very long logical records
cannot be copied to a variable length file with
implied carriage return line feeds. Such a file
must be copied as a fixed length record file with
imbedded carriage control. The /FIX switch is used
to specify this. Some utilities on the target
system may not process an ASCII file in this
format. It may be necessary to preprocess the file
on the TOPS-20 system to allow NFT to copy it as a
variable length record ASCII file.
TOPS-20 NFT/FAL ASCII Certification Results (DECnet-20 2.0)
Some ASCII file formats on non-TOPS-20 systems
cannot be copied directly (for example ISAM files
which contain ASCII records). These files must be
converted first to variable length ASCII files with
implied CRLF or fixed length ASCII files with
imbedded CRLF before they are copyed.
Some file formats can only be copied from VMS
systems to TOPS-20, such as Fortran Carriage
Control ASCII files, or sequenced files (batch log
files). NFT automatically does conversion for
these file types.
2. NFT20 strips away all nulls before transferring a
file.
3. The line numbers in a file produced by EDIT will
not be transferred by NFT20.
4. The DIRECTORY command to NFT20 will return some
suspicious looking numbers when doing the directory
of a remote, non-TOPS-20 system. The number of
characters in the file will be some multiple of
512! The other systems return the number of blocks
in use, not the number of bytes. NFT20 will list
the maximum number of bytes that could be in that
number of blocks.
5. Remember to limit the length of your TOPS-20
password. Most systems only allow a password up to
8 characters in length.
6. Code exists to perform image mode transfers, but is
not supported.
2.0 TOPS-20
All files were transferred correctly and the following NFT
commands were tested: COPY, DIRECTORY, TYPE, SUBMIT, and
DELETE.
3.0 VMS
When using NFT20 to copy an ASCII file to VMS the /FIXED:n
switch must be used for a file with no CRLFs; "n" must be
an even divisor of the number of bytes in the file. For
reasons of efficiency you should make "n" as large as
possible, but 1 will work. Note that the resulting VMS file
will be a fixed file with imbedded carriage control. Some
VMS utilities may not be able to process this file.
TOPS-20 NFT/FAL ASCII Certification Results (DECnet-20 2.0)
The VMS COPY command has a bug. There are cases where an
extra CRLF gets put on the end of a file. It will be fixed
in the next release.
The following NFT20 commands were tested: DIRECTORY, COPY,
DELETE, SUBMIT, AND TYPE.
The following VMS commands were tested: COPY, SUBMIT,
DELETE, and TYPE.
4.0 RSX-11M+ PHASE III
When using NFT20 to copy an ASCII file to M the /FIXED:n
switch must be used for a file with no CRLFs; "n" must be
an even divisor of the number of bytes in the file. For
reasons of efficiency you should make "n" as large as
possible, but 1 will work. Note that the resulting M file
will be a fixed file with imbedded carriage control. Some M
utilities may not be able to process this file.
A normal copy requires the /ASCII switch for both file specs
and the /VAR switch on the 11M file spec. If no switches
are used NFT attempts to send the file as an ascii stream
file first, and if that fails as an ascii variable length
file. Unfortunately, 11M's FAL hangs after the ascii stream
file attempt. You can patch NFT to cause it to attempt /VAR
first by changing MODTB2. At MODTB2+10 replace 424000,,0
with 520000,,0. Remember that file transfers to RSTS may
now fail if no attribute switches are used because RSTS
expects stream ascii files.
The /A (for ASCII) in M's NFT causes CRLFs to be added to
files when they are copied from TOPS-20 to M. If the file
is less than 512 characters, the CRLF is added at the end;
if the file is greater than 512 characters, the CRLF is
added every 512 characters and at the end.
The following NFT20 commands were tested: COPY, TYPE,
SUBMIT, DELETE, and DIRECTORY. The SUBMIT command to 11M
requires the following patch: At SNDACC+2 replace the CAMN
instruction with a JFCL instruction.
The following RSX-11M switches were tested: /DE, /EX, and
copying.
5.0 RSX-11M PHASE II
The SDC-released Phase II implementations of NFT/FAL on M
will not communicate with TOPS-20. It may be possible to
develop patches which fix the problems but we have not
tested with a system which had these patches installed.
TOPS-20 NFT/FAL ASCII Certification Results (DECnet-20 2.0)
6.0 RSTS
RSTS's NFT will not transfer a file to TOPS-20 if the file
has no CRLFs.
RSTS's NFT will not transfer a file to TOPS-20 if the
logical records in the file are longer than 256 bytes.
When using NFT20 to copy an ASCII file to RSTS the /FIXED:n
switch must be used for a file with no CRLFs; "n" must be
an even divisor of the number of bytes in the file. For
reasons of efficiency you should make "n" as large as
possible, but 1 will work. When this file is copied back to
the TOPS-20 system from the RSTS system NFT20 gives the
warning message "%file attributes don't match processing
mode". The file which is returned is identical to the file
which was sent, however, the format of the intermediate file
on the RSTS system is unknown.
The following NFT20 commands worked successfully: COPY,
TYPE, DELETE, SUBMIT.
The following RSTS NFT commands worked successfully: COPY,
EXECUTE, APPEND, DELETE.
When using RSTS NFT the /NA switch must be used with all
TOPS-20 file specifications used in the COPY and APPEND
commands.
7.0 RT
RT does not support indirect files so SUBMIT in NFT20 is not
useful.
When using NFT20 to copy an ASCII file to RT the /FIXED:n
switch must be used for a file with no CRLFs; "n" must be
an even divisor of the number of bytes in the file. For
reasons of efficiency you should make "n" as large as
possible, but 1 will work. The format of the resulting file
on the RT system is unknown. However, if the file is copied
back to the TOPS-20 node it will be identical to the
original file.
The following NFT20 commands were tested: COPY, TYPE,
DIRECTORY, and DELETE.
The following RT11 switches were tested: /DE, /EX, and
copying.
If a file exists on the RT system that has no CRLFs, that
file cannot be copied to TOPS-20 with either NFT20 or RT's
NFT.
TOPS-20 NFT/FAL ASCII Certification Results (DECnet-20 2.0)
8.0 IAS
When using NFT20 to copy an ASCII file to IAS the /FIXED:n
switch must be used for a file with no CRLFs; "n" must be
an even divisor of the number of bytes in the file. For
reasons of efficiency you should make "n" as large as
possible, but 1 will work. The resulting IAS file will be a
fixed length record file with imbedded carriage control.
Some IAS utilities may not be able to process this file
format.
The /A (for ASCII) in IAS's NFT causes CRLFs to be added to
files when they are copied from TOPS-20 to IAS. If the file
is less than 512 characters, the CRLF is added at the end;
if the file is greater than 512 characters, the CRLF is
added every 512 characters and at the end.
The following NFT20 commands were tested: COPY, TYPE,
SUBMIT, DELETE, and DIRECTORY.
The following IAS switches were tested: /EX, /DE, and
copying.