[Info-vax] Where to locate software

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2016-06-10 02:20:51 +0000, David Froble said:

> I have run multiple applications on a single VMS system.  I've even 
> seen multiple companies using the same VMS system.  It can be done, if 
> the people doing it have half a clue.

That this is feasible is without question feasible.   It's getting two 
(or more) arbitrary software packages with arbitrary dependencies to 
arbitrarily and repeatedly and reliably install and upgrade and to 
cleanly deinstall where this — as OpenVMS is presently implemented — 
gets interesting.  It's certainly manually possible, but that tends to 
delve far too deeply into the RTFM territory.  And we all know that 
automation beats RTFM.   Further down the road from how OpenVMS 
operates, this is also distributed updates via (for instance) RSS and 
HTTPS and signed apps, and how vulnerable or even malicious apps are 
isolated from each other with an effort toward avoiding wider breaches.

*This* is why I rant about PCSI and patch distribution and app 
isolation and certificate distributions and secure password storage and 
package management and better tools.

Because if you're doing one server, then manual processes and skilled 
dev-ops folks can and does usually does work fine.   If you're doing 
five servers or if you're working with products whose developers have 
chosen to implement RTFM and (for whatever reason) not expend the 
effort on "it just works" in their packages, this gets tedious.   If 
you're doing fifty or five hundred servers or if you need rapid updates 
due to security vulnerabilities or other serious issues, you're in deep 
sneakers.   And most everything here is only going to need to happen 
faster.

*This* is app stacking and containers and sandboxes.

-- 
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