[HECnet] "illegal record size" in RSX?

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2015-04-15 12:43, Brian Schenkenberger, VAXman- wrote:
> Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se> writes:
>
>> On 2015-04-15 06:58, Dave McGuire wrote:
>>> On 04/14/2015 12:24 PM, Johnny Billquist wrote:
>>>> On 2015-04-14 04:53, Dave McGuire wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>      Hey folks.  I'm moving some text files to an RSX system via DECnet
>>>>> under Linux.  The files on the RSX system are not readable; I get
>>>>> "illegal record size" when trying to type them.
>>>>>
>>>>>      Has anyone hit this?  I assume there's a simple solution..
>>>>
>>>> I have never had any luck at all transferring files from Linux to RSX.
>>>>
>>>> That said, what do you see if you do a DSP <file> under RSX?
>>>
>>>     Just got back from road trip #1, only have a moment, will get back to
>>> this in the morning.  Here is the DSP output:
>>>
>>> $ dsp forth.mac
>>>
>>> DU:[10,1]FORTH.MAC;1
>>>                           Size:    139./144.       Created: 15-APR-2015 00:54
>>>                           Owner:   [001,010]       Revised: 15-APR-2015 00:55
>>>                           File ID: (5601,10,0)     Expires: <none_specified>
>>>     File protection:      System:RWED, Owner:RWED, Group:RWED, World:R
>>>     File organization:    Sequential
>>>     File attributes:      Allocation=144, Extend=0
>>>     Record format:        Stream, maximum 255 bytes
>>>     Record attributes:    Carriage return
>>
>> Cool. So the first, and most obvious, problem, is that the file is
>> indeed in stream format. So no ordinary RSX tool will touch it with a
>> five foot pole...
>
> Really?  So, we surely HAVE come a long way baby with VMS RMS!  Still, any
> stream format is a ridiculously lame way to differentiate records IMHO.

Yes. Good and bad - RMS is very much embedded within VMS.
In RSX, RMS is a library that you link in to any programs that wants it. 
And it's not the only kid in town. You also have FCS, which is a 
simpler, smaller library. The file formats are compatible between FCS 
and RMS, as far as FCS capabilities cover them. FCS do not handle 
indexed files, nor stream files.

And all RSX tools use FCS. (Long story, but FCS was around before RMS 
even existed, and RMS is an optional component, so it might not even 
exist on all RSX systems.)

>> Had you been pulling it from Linux to RSX, and initiated to transfer
>>from the RSX side, you can tell NFT exactly what format you want for the
>> file on the local side, when the remote side is a stream format file.
>> Not sure Linux can do that if you do the transfer from the Linux side.
>>
>> My next suggestion is to read up on RMSCNV, on how to convert the file.
>> I can never remember exactly how to use it, so I have to read every time
>> I want to, but it can convert the file to another format for you.
>
> I can't comment there either; however, if VMS CONVERT help is needed, I'm
> available.

I believe that VMS CONVERT is pretty much the same deal as RMSCNV, but I 
bet the exact syntax differs. :-)

> And now, back to RMS CDC.

I know "RMS", and I know "CDC", I just can't place them in the same 
sentence. I must be missing something...

	Johnny