TPF Full Source APARs Available on the Web!

Kathy Dunn, IBM TPF Service Team

The TPF Maintenance Web pages are now live on the Internet! You can view the main maintenance page and download APARs at:

http://www.ibm.com/tpf/pages/maint.htm

or select Maintenance from the right-hand navigation menu on the TPF pages. Beginning with program update tape (PUT) 13, all APARs will be available in full source format. You can get APARs from previous TPF PUTs, TPFDF, and EOCF/2 APARs through your current processes. The Web page and all its pertinent files are being updated on a daily basis. In addition to APARs, we are also including additional support documents; for example:

• closenn.txt: (APAR Closure sequence file) where nn = the PUT number. This new file is comprised of a list of APARs in the sequence that they were closed and eliminates guessing when applying maintenance. A PUT 14 index will be created once PUT 14 APARs begin to close. This index replaces the R41-BETA script file, which used to contain a list of closed APARs scheduled for the next PUT.
• nupartnn.txt: (New Parts file) where nn = the PUT number. This new file is comprised of a list of new source parts and new object code for a given PUT.
• TPF41 Pre-Requisite File: This file provides a list of segments released on TPF 4.1 in the order in which APARs need to be applied and the associated PUT tape in which the APARs were released.
• TPF41 Critical APARs: This is a list of all critical APARs against a given PUT. A critical APAR is an APAR that meets the following criteria:
  • Any Sev 1 or Sev 2 APAR
  • Any APAR that is closed with a PRI answer code (which means that this type of APAR is a correcting APAR to another APAR)

  • Any other APAR that is determined to be critical (causing potential outages or data corruption).

How do I get access?

Because portions of our Web site contain sensitive information, it is protected by a user ID and password. To obtain your user ID and password, contact the TPF Customer Service Desk or else select contact the TPF Customer Service Desk for a user ID and password from the TPF Product Maintenance Page and follow the instructions provided.

How does it work?

1. Select http://www.ibm.com/tpf/pages/maint.htm or select Maintenance from the right-hand navigation menu on the main TPF page.
   • The TPF Product Maintenance Page is divided into three sections:
     • APARs
     • Supporting APAR information
     • General Information
   • APARs APARs are listed by PUT level, APAR number, and Functional Area. Each PUT level has a corresponding closenn.txt file that lists the PUT in order of APAR closure date. Each PUT also contains a corresponding nupartnn.txt file, which contains new source and object code for a given PUT. This section requires a user ID and password.
   • Supporting APAR information
     TPF41 Pre-Requisite File (downloadable flat file)
     TPF41 Critical APARs
   • General Information
     Report a Defect
     RETAIN APAR Database
     Tips for Downloading Maintenance Files
     Feedback on the TPF Maintenance Page
     Help for the TPF Maintenance Page

   We recommend that you read Tips for Downloading Maintenance Files and Help for the TPF Maintenance Pages before attempting a download.

2. Choose a TPF PUT level. APARs are categorized by PUT level. The PUT 13 category contains all the APARs scheduled to ship on the PUT 13 tapes. You will be prompted for your user ID and password at this time.
3. Locate the APAR that you want to download. APARs are downloaded one at a time. There will also be links within an APAR's APEDIT to an APAR's PREREQ list. APEDITs for prerequisite APARs can be viewed within each APAR. APARs before 1998 cannot be selected or downloaded from the Web page, but can be obtained from RETAIN.
4. Review the APEDIT information. The bottom of each APEDIT lists as many as three downloadable files in PAX format: LISTING/BINARY/SOURCE.
5. Print and follow the instructions for downloading and expanding the APAR package from the Web site. Select Tips for Downloading Maintenance Files under General Information for more information

Note: Netscape version 4.72 (and later) and Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.5 (and later) have been tested as download mechanisms. Earlier versions of these browsers may cause problems with the names of downloaded files. Select See additional information on workaround for more information.

APAR naming convention

As mentioned previously, we will provide as many as three separate downloadable files in PAX format. Previously, you were able to request these from the client support representative (CSR) that supports your account. Now, you will be able to process these yourself.

LISTING: pjnnnnn.listings.ascii.tar.Z - text format - This file will be present if there are listings available for these APARs.

BINARY: pjnnnnn.binary.tar.Z - binary format - This file will be present if there is an associated BINARY file for this APAR. A BINARY file may contain either load modules, object-code-only (OCO) load modules, and/or object code.

SOURCE: pjnnnnn.source.ascii.tar.Z - text format - This file always contains an APEDIT. It can contain any other full source files that may belong to this APAR.

Note: pjnnnnn = the APAR number.

Why PAX?

The TPF lab is using PAX format for downloading APARs because we require a solution that provides ASCII to EBCDIC and EBCDIC to ASCII character conversion for both a Windows and OS/390 UNIX System Services environment. The binary files are EBCDIC. They will be unusable if expanded on the workstation. PAX-formatted files require a tool that recognizes both character conversion and Lempel-Ziv compression. WinZip is an example of this type of tool. For more information about using and downloading PAX files, select Tips for Downloading Maintenance Files.

Partitioned data set (PDS) users

If you do not have an hierarchical file system (HFS) environment today (PDS users only), you will not be able to unpack any binary files. You will only need to download the source and/or listing options. Once these files are extracted to the workstation, you can use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to move these files into the appropriate PDS.

Feedback

Be sure to visit the TPF Customer Service Page for the latest updates, details, and download instructions. We are also asking for feedback about our new Web enhancements, future enhancements, and usability.

Third Quarter 2000 - Table of Contents