Technical data

Programming Release Notes
6.22 Record Management Services (RMS)
6.22 Record Management Services (RMS)
This section contains release notes pertaining to RMS.
6.22.1 Potential CONVERT-I-SEQ Error on CONVERT/NOSORT with Collated
Key
V7.3
This potential change in behavior is restricted to a CONVERT command that
specifies both the /NOSORT qualifier and a collated key type on one of the keys
in the output file.
The /NOSORT qualifier on a convert command indicates that the primary key
is already in sorted order in the input file and directs the convert utility not
to sort it. Prior to OpenVMS Version 7.3, the convert utility had a defect that
caused it to always sort the input file if some key specified for the output file
had a collated key type regardless of whether /NOSORT was specified. As of
OpenVMS Version 7.3, the convert utility has been fixed to appropriately obey the
/NOSORT qualifier on the command line, even if one of the keys in the output file
is a collated key.
This means that a convert operation that previously succeeded as a side-effect
of the collated key defect may now produce %CONVERT-I-SEQ messages if the
input file is not already in sorted order by the primary key and /NOSORT is
specified on the command line. The /NOSORT qualifier should not be used if the
input file is not already in sorted order by the primary key.
6.22.2 Circular Directory Path Detection (Alpha Only)
V7.2
Circular directory paths result when a SET FILE/ENTER command enters the
directory name of a higher-level directory into a lower directory in its subdirectory
tree. Prior to Version 7.2, such a directory tree appeared circular to RMS during
ellipsis processing (for example, when processing a specification such as [A...])
because RMS did not detect that a directory’s directory ID (DID) resulting from
a SET FILE/ENTER command had already been encountered higher up in the
path.
In earlier releases, an 8-deep directory limit inhibited RMS from looping while
following a potentially infinite circle of DIDs. With the introduction of deep
directories in OpenVMS Version 7.2, the 8-deep directory limit has been removed.
In this release, RMS has been enhanced to detect when a node in the path
initiates a circle. Instead of looping, RMS now treats such a node as if it were the
lowest element in the current branch of the path.
6.22.3 Directory Cache Limits Removed
V7.2
During most wildcard searches, RMS caches the target directory file in memory
to optimize calls to the file system. Prior to this release, the maximum size of a
directory file that RMS would cache was 127 blocks; wildcard lookups to larger
directories would go directly to the file system.
Beginning with Version 7.2, RMS attempts to cache directories of any size. If
memory or other resources are not available to cache the file, wildcard lookups
are then directed to the file system.
Programming Release Notes 6–25