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Conference bulova::decw_jan-89_to_nov-90

Title:DECWINDOWS 26-JAN-89 to 29-NOV-90
Notice:See 1639.0 for VMS V5.3 kit; 2043.0 for 5.4 IFT kit
Moderator:STAR::VATNE
Created:Mon Oct 30 1989
Last Modified:Mon Dec 31 1990
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:3726
Total number of notes:19516

500.0. "TTY_DEFCHAR2 bad value cause file view to hang" by CSC32::G_JOHNSON (Just a nickle's worth of dreams) Wed Mar 29 1989 17:57

    Can someone explain this problem, please?
    
    A user (two calls, now this same problem) has reported that trying
    to start up and application from file view, the app goes into pause
    state and never starts, and they have plenty of prclm.
    
    The problem turns out ot be a sysgen parameter TTY_DEFCHAR2.  If
    they have an "illegal" value in the hundreds place (only documented
    value legal is 100 - they had a value of 200) then this file view
    problem occurs.  Fix the sysgen param, reboot, and alls well.
    
    So, anyone know why file view cares what TTY_DEFCHAR2 is set to
    anyway?  And why an unsupported value causes this behavior?
    
    Thanks!
    
    Greg...
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name		DateLines
500.1STAR::BENSONWed Mar 29 1989 18:3721
    FileView itself doesn't care about TTY_DEFCHAR2, but it does create
    a terminal device for each sub-process it creates to run tasks.
    
    I'm hoping this is the explanation for a bug we were trying to track
    down, which we weren't able to reproduce locally. The problem was
    that sub-process creation would fail with a "terminal has associated
    mailbox" error on the terminal device. I just checked the system on 
    which the problem occurred, and they do indeed have an illegal value in 
    TTY_DEFCHAR2... I've asked them to correct it and let me know if the
    FileView problem "heals up."
    
    SO, the reason the task is marked "pending" is that the subprocess
    creation fails with something other than a quota error. (FileView will
    be corrected to report the error.) However, the jury is still out on
    why subproc creation fails when TTY_DEFCHAR2 contains an illegal
    value...
    
    Thanks for pointing this out,
    
    Tom
500.2STAR::BENSONThu Mar 30 1989 10:489
    According to Forrest Kenney, that flag in TTY_DEFCHAR2 (200 hex) is
    used by the TTY driver to indicate an associated DCL mailbox. So
    subprocess creation fails when it tries to assign the device, and it
    appears there is already an associated mailbox. Forrest says the driver 
    should be changed to ignore it when the illegal value is set in your 
    sysgen params. But for now, keep TTY_DEFCHAR2 legal...
    
    Tom
500.3Thanks!CSC32::G_JOHNSONJust a nickle's worth of dreamsThu Mar 30 1989 17:234
    Thanks for the info!
    
    Greg...