Conference 7.286::digital

5245.0. "OpenVMS 10,000 day (10K) Delta-Time ECO Information" by XDELTA::HOFFMAN (Steve, OpenVMS Engineering) Fri Apr 18 1997 18:59

  This topic is write-locked -- this ECO information is posted here for
  wide visibility within DIGITAL.

  For further details and for a questions and answers, and for information
  for system managers and application programmers, please see the OpenVMS
  (customer-visible) http://www.openvms.digital.com website.

  Also, for extensive DIGITAL-internal discussions, please see note 238.*
  in the VAXAXP::VMSNOTES notes conference.

   --

                      [Digital Equipment Corporation]

                             [OpenVMS Products]
                                    [HR]
          OpenVMStm Delta-Time Limit Notification Cover Letter

          February 1997

          Dear OpenVMS Customer,

          The OpenVMS operating system has a documented delta-time limit
          that may cause a serious error in some applications and OpenVMS
          components beginning on or around 19-MAY-1997. DIGITAL has
          provided ECOs (Engineering Change Orders) that remove the
          delta-time limit.

          Applications and OpenVMS components most likely to experience
          errors are those that pass delta-time arguments with values
          exceeding 9999 days on system-supplied date routines. The most
          likely date that these errors will occur is 19-MAY-1997:00:00,
          which is 10,000 days after the common UNIX time origin of
          1-JAN-1970.

          DIGITAL strongly recommends that all customers running the
          affected versions of OpenVMS install the appropriate ECO, as
          follows:

             * For OpenVMS Alpha Version 6.1 through Version 7.0:
               ALPLIBR05_070
             * For OpenVMS VAX Version 5.5 through Version 7.0:
               VAXLIBR06_070

          Systems running OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.1 and OpenVMS VAX Version
          7.1 are not affected and do not need to install the ECO.

          The following OpenVMS components and software products are known
          to be affected by the delta-time limit. The ECOs correct the
          problems observed in these products.

                          Product                      OpenVMS Version
           OpenVMS SECURITY Server                 OpenVMS Alpha V7.0 only
           DECwindows Motif for OpenVMS            OpenVMS Alpha V7.0 only
           Distributed Computing Environment (DCE)
           for OpenVMS                             OpenVMS Alpha V6.2 only
                                                   OpenVMS Alpha and
           OpenVMS DECthreads                      OpenVMS VAX V5.5
                                                   through V7.0
           (OSU) DECthreads HTTP Server (freeware  OpenVMS Alpha and
           provided with the OpenVMS Internet      OpenVMS VAX V5.5
           Product Suite)                          through V7.0

          Other software products running on OpenVMS might also experience
          errors stemming from this delta-time limit. Contact the
          appropriate software vendor for more information.

          Impact on Application Developers

          Application developers and their customers must install the
          appropriate ECO.

          If an application developer uses OpenVMS shareable images, there
          is no required code change and relinking is not necessary;
          installing the ECO on the customer system corrects the problem.

          If an application developer does not use OpenVMS shareable images
          (that is, links using STARLET) and the application is subject to
          the 10,000 day restriction, no code change is required. However,
          the developer must relink the application after installing the
          ECO and might need to redistribute the software. The application
          developer's customers must also install the ECO on their systems.

          If your application calls the following OpenVMS RTL Library
          (LIB$) routines, you may encounter errors due to the 10,000 day
          delta-time limit.

           LIB$CVT_TO_INTERNAL_TIME    LIB$SUB_TIMES
           LIB$CVT_FROM_INTERNAL_TIME  LIB$MULT_DELTA_TIME
           LIB$CVTF_TO_INTERNAL_TIME   LIB$MULTF_DELTA_TIME
           LIB$CVTF_FROM_INTERNAL_TIME LIB$CONVERT_DATE_STRING
           LIB$CVT_VECTIM              LIB$ADD_TIMES

          Applications that are written in DEC C and contain portable code
          that calls only ANSI time functions are not impacted.

          Distribution Channels

          DIGITAL is distributing the ECOs only through the following
          channels. Customers should obtain the ECOs from:

             * DIGITAL Electronic Service Delivery Tools (such as DSNlink,
               Web Information and Support Service (WIS), and DIGITAL
               Dial-In Access (DIA))

             * the World Wide Web at:

               http://www.service.digital.com/html/patch_main.html

               To download the Alpha ECO, access the following URL:

               http://www.service.digital.com:8031/
               ?categories=All_Databases&query_string=ALPLIBR05_070

               To download the VAX ECO, access the following URL:

               http://www.service.digital.com:8031/
               ?categories=All_Databases&query_string=VAXLIBR06_070

               If you installed VAXLIBR05_070 on OpenVMS V5.5 through
               V5.5-2, you must install VAXLIBR06_070 on your system to
               correct a problem reported in the earlier kit. All other
               OpenVMS versions do not need the ECO reapplied.

             * the following FTP address:

               ftp://ftp.service.digital.com/public/vms/

          If you need further information, please contact your normal
          DIGITAL support channel.

          DIGITAL appreciates your cooperation and patience. We regret any
          inconvenience applying this update may cause.

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          tm Copyright Digital Equipment Corporation. 1997. All rights
          reserved.

          The following are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation:
          OpenVMS, VAX, VMS, and the DIGITAL logo.

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