and
Archive-name: dec-faq/commonThis is the Frequently Asked Questions (and their answers) about the ULTRIX and DEC OSF/1 AXP operating systems from Digital Equipment Corporation.
This FAQ is archived in the following locations:
The archive name for this FAQ is dec-faq/common
This is part 2 of the Frequently Asked Questions posting for comp.unix.ultrix, with answers that apply to both ULTRIX and DEC OSF/1 AXP (hereafter referred to as OSF/1). It is also posted on comp.sys.dec and comp.unix.osf.osf1, but it is not a full FAQ for those groups. Companion postings have answers specific to ULTRIX and OSF/1.
A separate FAQ describes how to get information about Digital products and interacting with Digital.
To make suggestions for changes or additions to this Frequently Asked Questions list, send mail to lionel@quark.enet.dec.com. Answers are especially appreciated.
An archive of recent postings to comp.unix.ultrix can be found at ftp://ftp.cc.rochester.edu/pub/usenet/comp.unix.ultrix Thanks to folks at the University of Rochester for providing this service.
When used alone, the word "DECstation" is used to mean any of the DECstations or DECsystems that use MIPS RISC processors. Similarly, "Alpha" refers to any DEC systems that use the Alpha AXP processor.
Unless otherwise specified, these answers refer to ULTRIX 4.3, which is the current release of ULTRIX, or DEC OSF/1 AXP 3.0, the current version.
World-Wide Web Universal Resource Locator (URL) notation is used for FTP addresses.
Many people have contributed to this list, directly or indirectly. In some cases, an answer has been adapted from one or more postings on the comp.unix.ultrix and comp.unix.osf.osf1 newsgroups. Our thanks to all of those who post answers. The name (or names) at the end of an entry indicate that the information was taken from postings by those individuals; the text may have been edited for this FAQ. These citations are only given to acknowledge the contribution.
Although the editor of this FAQ is an employee of Digital Equipment Corporation, this posting is not an official statement from Digital Equipment Corporation.
Alpha AXP, AXP, DEC, DECstation, DECsystem, OpenVMS, ULTRIX, VAX and VMS are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation. Other names are properties of their respective owners.
In 1992, Digital's "European UNIX Competency Circle" produced a CDROM of free software for UNIX, but it is out of print now. Because the disk is in ISO 9660 format, it can be mounted and used on almost any UNIX system and many proprietary systems, including ULTRIX, OSF/1, Solaris, DOS, and VMS. The disk is mounted at several places on the Internet, including
/rom/euuc-freeware
Although some of the documentation on the disk is obsolete, and much of the software has been superseded by later versions, most things still work. For questions or suggestions about it, except about availability, write to
freeware@vbo.dec.com
Answer A1 in the OSF/1 FAQ says how to order the Alpha OSF/1 Freeware CD.
[Peter Kaiser, kaiser@acm.org]
The version of tcsh on the OSF/1 Freeware CD-ROM is out of date; get 6.05.
Two software packages are available to drive audio on Alpha systems:
MME implements a Microsoft-style API and comes bundled with OSF/1.
AF, developed at Digital's Cambridge Research Laboratory runs on a wide range of platforms including DECstation, Alpha, Sun, SGI, and HP. It is available in source form from
ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/AF
[Lance Berc, berc@src.dec.com]
Several different programs are available. One command line version and a Motif-based version can be found in:
ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/cdp.c.z /*command line version */ ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/xcd_source.tar.z/* Motif version */
For DEC OSF/1, sources for xcd are included in /usr/examples/motif/xcd. Another version of xcd is on the Freeware CD-ROM in both source and binary form, but that version may have been superseded by the one distributed with the operating system. Neither cdp nor xcd is supported by Digital.
Two other programs are Workman and xmcd, both of which can be found on
ftp.x.org. Of all these programs, xmcd seems to be the widest used and to
have the largest database of audio CD data.
[Anthony Baxter, anthony@aaii.oz.au]
[Peter Kaiser, kaiser@acm.org]
ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/DECinfo/DECnews-UNIX/0117.txt
and the DECmigrate for DEC OSF/1 AXP Software Product Description (SPD):
Tapes used by setld(8) consist of a number of tape files that contain the
product subsets, installation control files and other stuff. The fourth
file on the tape is an uncompressed tar(1) archive of the inventory files
(.inv), subset control programs (.scp) and control information (.ctrl).
There is also a file that lists the subsets, their sizes and checksums
(.image). The tapes files after the 4th are the subset files. They may or
may not be compressed. They will have a block size of 10 KB. The order of
lines in the .image file is the order of subset on the tape, with the
classic exception.
There are two flavors of tapes; Layered product tapes and ULTRIX
distribution tapes. The first three files on layered product tapes will
typically be space holders and only one 10 KB file. Distribution tapes use
the first three files for other things. The 3rd of these files is dump(8)
image of the root file system. The block size of this file will be 10 KB.
In the .image file for the distribution it would be listed ROOT:
The first two files are a primary and secondary boot program. Whether
the 2nd is necessary depends on system architecture. The MIPS-based
systems typically only use the first boot file; the VAX uses both.
The block size of the first boot program is 512 bytes.
Copying a setld tape
Use dd(1) to copy each tape file using the appropriate block size. When you
run out of tape input files you're done. For example, if you are using
two tape drives:
The two shell shell scripts below can be used to duplicate CDROM or disk
layered product distributions (note: not the base system) onto a TK50.
They are not supported by Digital.
On the other hand, you might want to consider running the WU Archive
version. The WU Archive ftpd can be configured easily and has lots of
options. You can get the WU Archive ftpd from wuarchive.wustl.edu in
pub/packages,
Note that the ftpd in DEC OSF/1 does more substantial logging than the
ULTRIX version.
For most uses, you don't need a disktab entry on OSF/1. The disklabel
command can get the default partition table and geometry from the disk
driver and will put that in the label. When the label is present, newfs
doesn't need a disktab entry either.
A collection of contributed disktab entries is in
/pub/DEC/ultrix-disktabs on the usual archive machines. Get a copy of
the file for an up-to-date list. The disktab collection may also be
used on DEC OSF/1, but not all entries have been tested on all
platforms.
When you build mtools, you need to find out which device your floppy
is (/dev/rrz2c is common). Then you can clone the SPARC definitions,
or #define SPARC and make /dev/rfd0c a symlink to the one you need.
1) On ULTRIX, use "rzdisk -c ask"
The drives do respond to the START UNIT command.
malloc(3) returns data aligned to the most restrictive alignment (8
byte boundaries on MIPS machines). If you are writing your own
malloc wrapper (say to add a reference count) and you write code like
this:
An example of dangerous casting would be something like
Now, if you're only getting a few of these messages, it might not
matter, but if you're getting pages of them (or worse, have turned off
the logger because you were getting so many unaligned access
messages), you might consider correcting your program.
You can use the uac(1) (Unaligned Acces Message Control) command to
turn off the messages.
If you want to find the the problem in the source code, you can use dbx.
Suppose the message is:
If you are running ULTRIX 4.2, and you would like to disable the automatic
fixup of unaligned accesses, use:
DEC carries four DB-to-MMJ adaptors. They are internally wired as follows
Digital had at one time announced that Bookreader would be retired and
replaced with Interleaf's WorldView, but for the forseeable future,
Digital will continue to ship the Bookreader viewer.
- NFS mount the OSF/1 bookreader directory on an ULTRIX system
ftp://bongo.cc.utexas.edu/source/util/vmsbackup
ftp://cs.tut.fi/pub/src/tape-readers/vmsbackup
ftp://emx.cc.utexas.edu:/pub/mnt/source/util/vmsbackup
(These may or may not be exactly the same program.)
[I don't know if vmsbackup runs on Alpha OSF/1 yet. --ed.]
Non-US customers may also use these contacts; information will be directed to
the appropriate corporate office.
Please include your name, organization, address, phone number and Internet
address in all correspondence.
The newsgroup will be organized so that you can use a "kill" file with
your newsreader to skip over (or ignore) classes of announcements that
are not of interest. All postings will be organized along the
following lines:
[End of FAQ]
[Russ Jones,
rjones@pa.dec.com]
S6. How can I tell what program generated a core
file?
1. Use the dbx debugger.
2. Use the "file" program (e.g., file
3. Use "strings" to find clues in the core file (e.g., strings
I1. How do I copy a setld(8) tape?
First, a few words about the format of a setld tape.
44419 12720 ROOT
01690 12080 UDTBASE420
47187 14340 UDTBIN420
etc...
So, on this distribution tape ROOT is 3rd, the installation control
archive (INSTCTRL) is 4th, UDTBASE420 is 5th and so on.
dd bs=512 if=/dev/nrmt0h of=/dev/nrmt1h
dd bs=10240 if=/dev/nrmt0h of=/dev/nrmt1h
dd bs=10240 if=/dev/nrmt0h of=/dev/nrmt1h
...
mt -f /dev/nrmt0h rew
mt -f /dev/nrmt1h rew
I2. How do I copy a CDROM installation kit to TK50?
[Note: an alternative to using tape is to copy the distribution to a spare
SCSI disk and use that to install onto a local disk.]
--------------------------cut here--------------------------------------------
#!/bin/sh5
# cdrom_kitcap
# This script is based on one from "Guide for Preparing Software for
# Distribution" (but this one really works). This script prepares the
# /etc/kitcap file which is needed by the gentapes script to create,
# in this specific case, a copy of cdrom software (layered product only)
# to TK50...
# note: this script uses tmp space, insure $TMPDIR is pointing to a file
# system with enough space to copy files...
# Original author: John R. Frandsen, Digital Equipment Corporation
TMPDIR=/usr/tmp
KITCAP=$TMPDIR/kitcap
CURVOL=1
BINDIR=`pwd`
touch $TMPDIR/space
tar cf $TMPDIR/SPACE $TMPDIR/space
cd instctrl
I=`expr *.image : '\(.*\).image'`
echo "Your product code is $I"
tar cf $TMPDIR/INSTCTRL *
echo "${I}TK:$TMPDIR:SPACE:SPACE:SPACE:INSTCTRL:\\" >> $KITCAP
for S in `awk '{print $3}' *.image`
do
[ $S = ROOT ] && continue
. $S.ctrl
set -- `(IFS=:;echo $MTLOC)`
VOL=$1
LOC=$2
[ $VOL -ne $CURVOL ] &&
{
echo ":%%$VOL CURVOL=$VOL" >> $KITCAP
}
echo ":$S\\" >> $KITCAP
cp $BINDIR/$S $TMPDIR
done
echo >> $KITCAP
mv $TMPDIR/kitcap /etc
cd $BINDIR
--------------------------cut here--------------------------------------------
#!/bin/sh5
# disk_kitcap
# This script is based on one from "Guide for Preparing Software for
# Distribution" (but this one really works). This script prepares the
# /etc/kitcap file which is needed by the gentapes script to create,
# in this specific case, a copy of disk software (layered product only)
# to TK50...
# Original author: John R. Frandsen, Digital Equipment Corporation
KITCAP=/tmp/kitcap
CURVOL=1
touch space
tar cf SPACE space
cd instctrl
I=`expr *.image : '\(.*\).image'`
echo "Your product code is $I"
cp $I.image ..
tar cf ../INSTCTRL *
cd ..
echo "${I}TK:`pwd`:SPACE:SPACE:SPACE:INSTCTRL:\\" >> $KITCAP
cd instctrl
for S in `awk '{print $3}' *.image`
do
[ $S = ROOT ] && continue
. $S.ctrl
set -- `(IFS=:;echo $MTLOC)`
VOL=$1
LOC=$2
[ $VOL -ne $CURVOL ] &&
{
echo ":%%$VOL CURVOL=$VOL" >> $KITCAP
}
echo ":$S\\" >> $KITCAP
done
echo >> $KITCAP
mv /tmp/kitcap /etc
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------
N1. How do I set up anonymous FTP?
The manual page for ftpd(8) tells you what you need to know.
[Mike Iglesias, iglesias@draco.acs.uci.edu]
[Win Treese, treese@lcs.mit.edu]
D1. Where can I get a disktab entry for the XXX
disk?
newfs is smart enough to get the geometry of the disk from the drive,
although this feature is not documented for all versions. Use
newfs /dev/rrz#x /dev/rrz#x
to do this.
D2. How can I read/write MS-DOS floppy disks?
If you have a floppy disk drive on your ULTRIX or OSF/1 system, get
"mtools", a set of MS-DOS utilities for UNIX. The package can be
copied from
ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/mtools-2.0.7. It works on
both DECstations and Alphas.
[Win Treese,
treese@lcs.mit.edu]
D3. How can I make an RZxx disk spinup on power-on?
In order to conserve power, the builtin disks on VAXstations,
DECstations, and Alpha workstations do not spinup when the power is
turned on, but do so under software control. If you need to change this
to use an RZxx disk on another system, there are several ways to do it:
2) Move a jumper. The location of this varies from drive to drive.
3) Use the SCSI console diagnostics on a DECstation.
4) Use the VAXstation service diagnostics (tricky)
5) On a Macintosh, use the "Silverlining" program.
6) On a DOS PC, use the shareware program SPINUP.
[William Jackson, jackson@pravda.enet.dec.com]
[David Burren,
davidb@otto.bf.rmit.oz.au]
P1. What does "unaligned access" mean, and how can I fix it?
Unaligned accesses typically come up when programs use malloc(3) or
other memory allocation routines in atypical ways, or when programs do
certain (hazardous) kinds of type casts.
char *mymalloc(int size)
{
short *newmem;
newmem = (short *) malloc(size + sizeof(short));
*newmem = 1; /* initialize reference count */
return (char *) (newmem + 1);
}
you are then returning a pointer that is no longer 8-byte aligned. Now, code
like
int *i;
i = (int *) mymalloc(sizeof(int));
*i = 10;
will generate unaligned access messages whenever *i is used.
char buffer[100];
int i;
i = (int)*((int *)&buffer[3]);
The program will usually still run correctly, because an exception
handler in the kernel performs an unaligned read. There are some rare
cases, however, where the fixed read yields incorrect results. The
messages are printed by default because one usually wants to know when
a program is generating the unaligned accesses.
Fixed up unaligned data access for pid 2337 (bozo) at pc 0x5ad364
This tells you that the problem occurs in the program "bozo". In dbx,
you would type, for example:
% dbx bozo
(dbx) 0x5ad364/i
*[main:206, 0x0x5ad364] lw r0,40(sp)
dbx prints the offending instruction, along with its location: line 206
in main().
If you need to do unaligned accesses, you might find the following useful:
int unaligned_load_word(int *src);
int unaligned_load_half(short *src);
unsigned int unaligned_load_uhalf(unsigned short *src);
float unaligned_load_float(float *src);
double unaligned_load_double(double *src);
void unaligned_store_word(int *dst,int val);
void unaligned_store_half(short *dst,int val);
void unaligned_store_float(float *dst,float val);
void unaligned_store_double(double *dst,double val);
These unaligned access routines are an unsupported component of the
standard C library on RISC/ULTRIX. They provide for alignment-safe
access to the primitive data types (short,int,float,double). They are
fairly fast as they use the special MIPS unaligned instructions
(LWL,LWR,SWL,SWL) for doing the complicated part of the work.
#include
The above code fragment will disable address fixups for your process,
and this will be inherited by any children. Where a fixup would have
occured, you will get a SIGBUS.
P2. What about "unaligned access" in FORTRAN
programs?
Certain common block arrangements can cause this error, particularly if
integers are mixed with real or double precision numbers. One workaround
is to create separate common blocks for each data type.
[Marc Day,
day@fusion.ucla.edu]
L1. Where can I get a printcap entry for the XXX
printer?
A collection of contributed printcap entries is in
ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/ultrix-printcap. Get a copy of the file for an
up-to-date list. Despite the name, these are good for OSF/1 as well.
H1. What are the pinouts of the MMJ jacks on the back of various DECstations
and VAXstations?
This describes the 6-pin modified modular jack (MMJ) used for serial ports
on various DECstations and VAXstations, as well as on other DEC equipment.
Rdy Out TX+ TX- RX- RX+ Rdy In
Adaptor Gender 1 2 3 4 5 6 Use with:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
H8575-A F 20 2 7 7 3 6&8 VTxxx terminal
H8571-C M 6 3 7 7 2 20 DEC printer
H8571-D M 6 3 7 7 2 20 Modem
H8571-E M 20 2 7 7 3 6&8 Female terminal
or LaserWriter
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
RS-232 using DB-25 connectors:
DTE DCE
Terminal Modem
or computer
Pin Number Signal Name
2 TD Transmit Data -->
3 RD Receive Data <--
7 GND Ground ---
6 DSR Data Set Ready <--
8 DCD Data Carrier Detect <--
20 DTR Data Terminal Ready -->
H2. How do I set the SCSI ID on an RZ25?
Back by the power connector are a row of 3 jumpers. These set the scsi
id. The one closest to the power connector is bit 2, and you install a
jumper to get a "1". The default id is 7, which conflicts with the
controller. Note that the mounting bracket on the drive covers these
jumpers, so they are not immediately obvious.
M1. How do I get a list of available patches for my release of
Ultrix?
At this time, Digital does not publish lists of available patches.
The Customer Support Centers will inform you if you call about a
problem for which there is a patch.
M2. How can I get files available by anonymous FTP if I'm not connected
to the Internet?
One way is to use the DECWRL ftpmail server. To find out how to use
it, send a one-line message to ftpmail@pa.dec.com (or
...!uunet!decwrl!ftpmail or decwrl::ftpmail). The subject line can be
anything you want since it will be ignored. The text of the message
should be one unquoted lowercase word: "help".
M3. How can I write documentation in Bookreader
format?
On ULTRIX and VMS, DECwrite will produce Bookreader files. On VMS,
VAX Document will also produce Bookreader files. Digital will provide
information about the format of Bookreader format files upon request,
although it is apparently difficult to work with (most have concluded
that it's not worth the trouble).
[Patrick Stephens, stephens@galvia.enet.dec.com]
[Win Treese, treese@lcs.mit.edu]
[Steve Lionel, lionel@quark.enet.dec.com]
M4. How can I print documents from BookReader?
BookReader on ULTRIX has a print command. BookReader on OSF/1 1.3
does not, but it does in OSF/1 2.0. Some workaround suggestions
include:
- Use DECmigrate to translate the ULTRIX version of BookReader
(DECmigrate is a separate product)
M5. How can I read VMS BACKUP tapes on a UNIX
machine?
There is a utility called vmsbackup to do this. Available by FTP from
[Timothy Williams,
williams@nvl.army.mil]
M6. How do I contact Digital Customer Relations?
If you are having a problem dealing with Digital that you cannot satisfactorily
resolve through your local Digital office, please contact US Customer Relations
at:
Internet: response@mkots3.enet.dec.com
Phone: 800-DEC-INFO or 603-884-0915
FAX: 603-884-4692
Mail: US Customer Relations
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Drive, MKO2-2/D15
P.O. Box 9501
Merrimack, NH 03054-9501
M7. How do I get an ESC (escape) character on a DEC
keyboard?
[Castor Fu, castor@drizzle.Stanford.EDU]
M8. Where can I read announcements from Digital?
biz.digital.announce is Digital Equipment Corporation's newsgroup for
posting business information on products, services, significant
contracts, organizational announcements, cooperative marketing
agreements, alliances, seminars, promotions, etc.
Subject: Press/... Digital Press Releases
Subject: Fact Sheet/... - Supporting Fact Sheets
Subject: Backgrounder/... - Supporting Editorial Backgrounders
Subject: Partner/... Press Releases from Digital's Partners
Subject: Seminar/... Seminars offered by Digital
Subject: Promotion/... Sales Promotions offered by Digital
Subject: Show/... Digital Tradeshow Activities
Subject: Training/... Digital Education & Training
The new biz.digital hierarchy is:
biz.digital.announce News and Announcements
biz.digital.articles Newsletters, Catalog, and Journal Articles
M9. Where can I get performance information about Digital
products?
World-Wide Web:
http://www.digital.com/info/performance.html
FTP:
ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/Digital/info/performance
M10. How do I report security problems to Digital?
Security problems or questions should go to your normal Customer Support
Center.
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