[Info-vax] Logging systartup_vms.com progress to operator.log VMS 7.3-2

[geze...@rlgsc.com]

All,

STARTUP is a multi-faceted topic, and a fuller discussion is not appropriate for the forum of a newsgroup. I will consider writing something for my OpenVMS Consultant blog (http://www.rlgsc.com/blog/openvms-consultant/openvms-consultant.html ), unless someone at VSI reanimates the OpenVMS Technical Journal.

As I have observed elsewhere, STARTUP is not a package manager. A package manager is something else, and it would certainly be useful, although probably more complicated than it might first appear. 

That said, the STARTUP mechanism is quite flexible, when used properly. Is it a perfect design? Hardly. Was the design implemented optimally? "Could have been done better" is the only fair answer. But that is besides the point. In its present form, with the existing imperfections in conception and execution, STARTUP is still a powerful tool when used properly.

In the simplest cases, STARTUP can be used as if it were the pre-Version 5 SYSTARTUP_V5.COM file, seemingly renamed  SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM. In more complex cases, STARTUP can be used more as intended, to startup phases of parallel-executing tasks, with SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM being one of the individual tasks in one of the phases. Workstations and other small systems fit into the first category; larger more complex environments can benefit from the parallelization facilitated by STARTUP.COM. In one case, I was able to reduce an over 30 minute restart to mere handful of minutes.

 - Boib Gezelter, http://www.rlgsc.com