[Info-vax] How do I make zip, unzip etc. available to all users?

[Steven Schweda]

   Sorry for the tardy response.  Dealing with CenturyLink is
such a joy.

> I downloaded copies of zip, unzip etc. from various
> freeware archives. How do I make these and other executables
> available to all users?

   First, what, exactly, did you download, and from where? 
Regarding the Info-ZIP programs, if you downloaded a complete
source kit instead of a bare executable, then you'd get the
documentation, which includes VMS-specific sections, which
describe the usual DCL symbol creation.

> Where should these kinds of programs be placed in the
> system

   Pretty much anywhere you'd like.  I prefer to keep my
third-party stuff away from the official VMS stuff, but most
programs don't really care.  Many of my systems don't have
multiple disks, so I typically keep my [UTILITY] directory
on the system disk, but I try not to spew stuff into
SYS$SYSTEM unless it's absolutely necessary (which it seldom
is).

ALP $ show logi utility
   "UTILITY" = "UTILITY_DEV:[UTILITY]" (LNM$SYSTEM_TABLE)
ALP $ show logi utility_dev
   "UTILITY_DEV" = "SYS$SYSDEVICE:" (LNM$SYSTEM_TABLE)
1  "SYS$SYSDEVICE" = "ALP$DKC0:" (LNM$SYSTEM_TABLE)


>  and how do I modify whatever logon proc(s) to allow
> them to be used? 

   See those Info-ZIP installation instructions?  It may be
that no one mentions the file protections, but everyone
already knows all about those, right?

> $ ZIP :== $[location]ZIP

   Just remember that the "$" in "$[location]" is a separate
character, not part of a device name, like the first one in a
device name like "$3$DIA0".  As you might notice in the
Info-ZIP documentation, I prefer to emphasize this by leaving
a space after that "$".  For example:
      ZIP :== $ dev:[dir]ZIP.EXE
where "dev:" might be "$3$DIA0:".

   For what it's worth, my UTILITY dirctory also holds
UTILITY:UTILITY.COM, which is where all the logical names and
symbols for the stuff there get defined.  Users (of which I'm
almost the only one) can choose whether or not to add
      @ UTILITY:UTILITY.COM
to their own SYS$LOGIN:LOGIN.COM scripts.