[Info-vax] list.h porting question

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2018-02-24 20:47:04 +0000, seasoned_geek said:

> Thanks Hoff. I was looking in the manuals, not the customer letters.

As I've commented on various previous occasions, the OpenVMS manuals 
were good for their time but have become pretty badly dated.  They're 
missing content from release notes and new features and from what 
enhancements were shipped in patches, the content navigation and the 
tool integration is stuck in the 1990s or older, and they're missing a 
whole lot of what's happened in the last twenty years around networks 
and security and authentication, and frameworks and protocols.

> I have what I have for this machine. If I'm not using it, it's not 
> running. Much of its life is/was spent on an internal network which has 
> no access to the outside world. I live on a farm and they have to be 
> within range of the 12 gauge to get access.

So?   You're going to want to test with current software, and 
network-related connections as far back as you're using can or will 
have SSL-related issues, among other details.

> Is there really much difference between V7.3-20 and what I have? I mean 
> other than perceived security issues.

Not perceived.  Actual security issues.  You're far enough back that 
you'll have connectivity issues with secure protocols.  As well as 
known security vulnerabilities, some of which have been addressed in 
patches after OpenVMS V8.3 and the associated TCP/IP Services version.

> I just can't envision a .2-05 difference being oceans apart from what I 
> have. From a source perspective, anyone with a newer compiler shouldn't 
> have trouble compiling this.

We've already had discussions of folks with compilation problems from 
-19 fixed in -20.
> 
> I can tell you the version of the C compiler I have isn't long in the 
> tooth, it's ready for the gummer home.
> 
> As far as choosing syslog vs other options. Not my choice.
> 
> I can tell you that rsyslog's code isn't any (*&^(*&^(*&ing better. In 
> a post Y2K world someone deliberately coded a Y2K99 bug.

OpenVMS has a 2057 pivot, and testing for 2038 bugs was outside of the 
Y2K testing range, and installation-related software checks will fail 
after midnight on 31-Dec-2028 UTC.  Etc.

> http://www.logikalsolutions.com/wordpress/information-technology/and-still-we-learn-nothing/ 
> 

Ayup.  Some of those pesky kids today.   They never learn, do they.   
Some of them are still running software that's from the same era as 
Windows XP, and they can't be bothered to upgrade even once or twice a 
decade, and they don't test with current software.  Darned kids.





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