[Info-vax] Home-grown application process dumps

[David Froble]

cmexec at gmail.com wrote:
> On Tuesday, January 6, 2015 1:05:20 AM UTC-5, David Froble wrote:
> 
>> I agree with what you wrote, until this paragraph.  Maybe I don't 
>> understand what you wrote, but, my impression is that when working with 
>> a descriptor, VMS will not write past the defined length of the data.
> 
> That depends on the descriptor and the routine.  Descriptors can indicate
> variable length, and many LIB routines will change the allocated size to
> match the data size (check out the STR$ routines).  No VMS routine will
> change the allocated size if the descriptor indicates fixed length.  Many
> VMS routines will not change the size even if the descriptor indicates
> variable length, but a lot of those take separate length and address
> arguments instead of a descriptor.

Just that.  Most of the SS rountines I've used, where appropriate, have 
a length parameter.  Now, if the programmer puts a value too large in 
the SS call, things could get dicy.  But, that is the programmer's 
fault.  Nothing in an OS can dictate what code is written.