[HECnet] VMS file version numbers...

[gerry77 at mail.com]

On Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:24:08 +0000, you wrote:

Just out of interest, what happens when a file hits the maximum   
version number (2^15 I think)?

Nothing. It just stops creating new files with that name. Why don't you test
this yourself? :-) Look:

ATHENA::RPT$ cre test.dat;32766
Exit
ATHENA::RPT$ cre test.dat   !This will create ;32767
Exit
ATHENA::RPT$ cre test.dat   !This will bomb
%CREATE-E-OPENOUT, error opening SYS_USERS:[RPT]TEST.DAT; as output
-RMS-E-CRE, ACP file create failed
-SYSTEM-W-BADFILEVER, bad file version number
ATHENA::RPT$

BTW, the maximum version number is 32767, so it is (2^15)-1.

Cheers,
G.

P.S.: help/mess badfilever yields also the following:

  Explanation:   The file version number in a file specification is greater
                              than 32767 or contains nonnumeric characters. Or, the file
                              system may have attempted to create a file with a version
                              higher than 32767 through defaulting rules.