OpenVMS CSCPAT_1181 VAXRMS01_061 Mail/Convert VAX V6.0-V6.1 ECO Summary

 
Copyright (c) Digital Equipment Corporation 1994.  All rights reserved.

PRODUCT:    OpenVMS VAX

COMPONENT:  MAIL Utility
            CONVERT Utility

SOURCE:     Digital Equipment Corporation

ECO INFORMATION:

     CSCPAT Kit:  CSCPAT_1181 V1.0  (CSCPAT_1181010)
     ECO Kit Approximate Size:  144 Blocks
     Engineering Cross Reference:  VAXRMS01_061
     ECO Kits Superseded by This ECO Kit:  None
     Kit Applies To:  OpenVMS VAX V6.0 - V6.1
     System Reboot Necessary:  No
                                          

NOTE:  It is strongly recommended that this kit be applied immediately
       after any system is upgraded to OpenVMS VAX V6.1 before
       production activity begins on the system.  


ECO KIT SUMMARY:

An ECO (patch) kit exists for the MAIL and CONVERT Utilities on 
OpenVMS VAX V6.0 - V6.1.  This kit addresses the following problems: 

  o  Sometime after upgrading to OpenVMS V6.1, a user tries to
     access their mail file (named MAIL.MAI by default) and finds
     that it is corrupted.  Any of the following errors may be
     returned when the corruption is encountered:

       - RMS-F-IRC, illegal record encountered; VBN or record number = nn
       - MAIL-W-WRITERR, error writing 'file-spec'
       - MAIL-F-CODERR, internal coding error. Please submit an SPR.

     An ANALYZE/RMS of the mail file returns the following errors:

       ***  VBN nn:  Data record spills over into free space of bucket.
       Unrecoverable error encountered in structure of file.

     Prior to noticing the corruption a CONVERT/RECLAIM has been
     performed on the mail file via one of the following methods:

       +  If AUTO_PURGE is enabled or a PURGE command issued and more
          than 32767 bytes of deleted messages have accumulated, Mail 
          will automatically perform a CONVERT/RECLAIM on the user's 
          behalf.
 
       +  The user issues a PURGE/RECLAIM in Mail.

       +  A CONVERT/RECLAIM MAIL.MAI command is issued at DCL.

     Any new mail messages received after the corruption occurs may
     be orphaned.  This occurs because the external mail file
     (MAIL$xxx.MAI) is created before the entry into the mail file
     (MAIL.MAI) fails.

  o  The CONVERT/RECLAIM Utility 1 may cause a secondary index data
     (SIDR) bucket to be left in a state which may subsequently
     cause the file to become corrupted.  This occurs only under
     certain circumstances.  

     An attempt to read or add another record to an indexed
     sequential (ISAM) file returns the following error:

       RMS-F-IRC, illegal record encountered; VBN or record number = nn

     An ANALYZE/RMS of the above file or another ISAM file reports
     the following errors:

      ***  VBN nn:  Data record spills over into free space of bucket.
      Unrecoverable error encountered in structure of file.

     The file has multiple keys with at least one of the secondary
     keys allowing duplicates.  Prior to these errors, a
     CONVERT/RECLAIM has been performed on the file.

  o  When converting a record from any record format without FORTRAN
     carriage control (in any type of file organization) to a
     fixed-length record format with FORTRAN carriage control, the
     last character from the input record may be overwritten by the
     pad character if the record is short and requires padding.


INSTALLATION NOTES:

The system/cluster does not need to be rebooted after this kit is 
installed.  

It is strongly recommended that this kit be applied immediately
after any system is upgraded to OpenVMS V6.1 before production
activity begins on the system.  Once the kit is applied, no data
files thereafter using Convert/Reclaim will be left with unreclaimed
buckets with a freespace of hex '0E'; therefore, this problem will
not occur.

If the kit is applied after there has been some production activity
on a V6.1 system, the remedial images do not correct any files that
already contain any buckets with a freespace of hex '0E'.   A full
convert (CONVERT infile outfile) is needed to take care of  this. 
In other words, once the kit is applied, a file can experience the
same corruption thereafter if Convert/Reclaim was used on it prior
to applying the kit and it was not converted after the kit was
applied.  Users should not rely on an ANALYZE/RMS revealing an error
since the right conditions leading to the corruption may not have
occurred yet.

For those who are already using OpenVMS V6.1, once the remedial kit
has been applied, they should recommend to all their users that
performing a full convert at a convenient time is advisable on any 
MAIL.MAI files or any other data files with which Convert/Reclaim
may have been directly used since upgrading to OpenVMS V6.1.  A
precautionary convert will preclude the possibility of an untimely
occurrence at some future time.

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cscpat_1181010_mail_convert_rms.README
cscpat_1181010.CHKSUM
cscpat_1181010.a-dcx_vaxexe