[Info-vax] DFU for x86-64?

[Ian Miller]

On Thursday, April 6, 2023 at 6:58:02 AM UTC+1, Jan-Erik Söderholm wrote:
> Den 2023-04-05 kl. 15:29, skrev Arne Vajhøj: 
> > On 4/5/2023 9:21 AM, Dave Froble wrote: 
> >> On 4/5/2023 4:35 AM, Jan-Erik Söderholm wrote: 
> >>> Just heard a rumor that there is no plan for DFU on x86-64. 
> >>> Any comments on that? 
> >> 
> >> Perhaps the thought is that everyone is now using SSDs, and not so much 
> >> need for DFU? 
> > 
> > Many DFU features sounds relevant for SSD as well (just not defrag). 
> > 
> > And even for defrag then VSI has ported DFG to x86-64 per: 
> >   https://vmssoftware.com/products/disk-file-optimizer/ 
> > 
> > Arne 
> >
> We (and the source where I heard this) only uses DFU for non-update 
> tasks. There are many nice search and report features in DFU. And 
> at least my source has a strict ban against using DFU for anything 
> that updates disk data. 
> 
> My source is a major VMS user in Sweden that is in the work of their 
> IA64 to x86-64 migration. They goes through all their 3-party tools 
> and DFU has been "red-flagged". 
> 
> My source wrote: 
> 
> "DFU is unfortunately flagged red. Its a freeware and the maintainer 
> is not interested in porting this to x86-64. We have asked VSI but 
> have not got any positive answer. They are probably fully occupied 
> with their own software, and there might be parts of DFU that VSI 
> might not want to take responsability for, like DEFRAGMENT, MODIFY, 
> UNDELETE and VERIFY". 
> 
> I have no idea if they actually have been in contact with the DFU 
> maintainer, or if that is hearsay. Or if they have got any other 
> reply from VSI apart from a "positive" one. 
> 
> Probably not a show-stopper for the x86-64 migration (I think they 
> definitely will migrate), but might need rewrite of a few routines. 
> 
> So, I guess the question is if there is someone else that would like 
> to pick up the DFU sources and try a x86 build...

Such are the risks of relying on freeware maintained by one person even if it is a useful too like DFU. IIRC Jur saved DFU by taking it over from the original author and improving it. Perhaps it's time again.