[Info-vax] OpenVMS - file selection abnormally with Copy / Rename or user ignorance?

[mcleanjoh at gmail.com]

On Monday, March 30, 2015 at 8:22:10 PM UTC+11, hb wrote:
> On 03/30/2015 06:31 AM, mcleanjdh at xmail.com wrote:
> > Yes, the dates are stored in the header block (i.e. in INDEXF.SYS)
> and a file that's open for write is likely to modify the data, so
> I'm not surprised that COPY/SINCE= and RENAME/SINCE= object and
> that omitting the /SINCE works fine.
> 
> Doesn't make sense to me, but what do I know. Do you expect 
> dir/date/since= to work for files that are open for writing?
> 
> > A question for IanD, are you sure they are errors?
> >
> > I think you are more likely to get %W messages (i.e. warnings),
> rather than "%E" (error), at least that's the way I would have
> written COPY and RENAME.
> 
> He didn't show them but it is easy to reproduce (OpenVMS/I64 V8.4):
> $ cre/dir [.saved]
> $ open/write out x.tmp
> $ write out "hello
> $
> $ copy /before=today *.tmp [.saved]
> %COPY-E-OPENIN, error opening DISK$USER:[USER]x.tmp;1 as input
> -RMS-E-FLK, file currently locked by another user
> $
> $ backup /before=today *.tmp [.saved]
> %BACKUP-E-OPENIN, error opening DISK$USER:[USER]x.tmp;1 as input
> -SYSTEM-W-ACCONFLICT, file access conflict
> $
> $ delete [.saved]*.*;*
> $ backup /ignore=inter/before=today *.tmp [.saved]
> $ dir/date=all/since *.tmp
> 
> Directory DISK$USER:[USER]
> 
> x.tmp;1              30-MAR-2015 10:59:36.78  30-MAR-2015 10:59:36.78 
> <None specified>   <No backup recorded>   <None specified>   <None 
> specified>  30-MAR-20
> 15 10:59:36.78  30-MAR-2015 10:59:36.78  30-MAR-2015 10:59:36.78
> 
> Total of 1 file.
> $
> $ close out

So you think there's no difference between copying (or whatever) the data within a file and simply reporting what's in the header block?

RENAME would work most of the time but I believe there's a file type that has the file name in the first record of the file, which means that needs to be modified during a rename.