Archive-Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2000 03:35:34 +0100
Message-ID: <4.1.20000101204131.0091e570@mail.earthlink.net>
Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2000 20:44:05 -0600
To: Free-VMS@lp.se
From: "David J. Dachtera" <djesys@earthlink.net>
Reply-To: Free-VMS@lp.se
Subject: Re: DCL HELP
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.10.9912311628320.14145-100000@uhuru>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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At 04:30 PM 12/31/1999 -0500, you wrote:
>-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>
>I got an account on gville.guntersville.net, a MicroVAX, thanks to John
>Ellingboe, and have decided to make a clone of DCL HELP for the Free-VMS
>project. I would like to have it be able to work with the original help
>files, although this is not really necessary. What is the format for them
>and where are they stored on a typical VAX?

Aside from the discussion in comp.os.vms, ...

Most library files can be found in the SYS$LIBRARY path with the exception
of HELP libraries which are usually found in the SYS$HELP path. The library
for the HELP command is SYS$HELP:HELPLIB.HLB by default. Other libraries
can be accessed using the /LIBRARY qualifier of the HELP command. See HELP
HELP for further information.


David J. Dachtera
dba DJE Systems
http://home.earthlink.net/~djesys/

Unofficial Affordable OpenVMS Home Page and Message Board:
http://home.earthlink.net/~djesys/vms/soho/
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2000 05:02:31 +0100
Message-ID: <16d501bf54d6$cfb45620$020a0a0a@xile.realm>
From: "John E. Malmberg" <wb8tyw@qsl.net>
Reply-To: Free-VMS@lp.se
To: <Free-VMS@lp.se>
References: <4.1.20000101204131.0091e570@mail.earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: DCL HELP
Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2000 22:06:50 -0600
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

The manual set for OpenVMS can be found at a link from
http://www.openvms.digital.com

IIRC: In the librarian manual there is a section that describes the source
format for the a help library.  You will want to use that as a guide for
building help text.

It also describes how to use the librarian to convert that text file into a
help library.

A help library is an Indexed file that has the topics as keys and subkeys.

For the purpose of Free-VMS the internal format of a help file may or may
not be important depending on your design philosophy.  As the structure of
the different Index files are documented either in the OpenVMS doc set, or

There is a defined API for retrieving information from a HELP library.  IIRC
it is documented in the utility routines manual.

You may want to start out writing that help API to work on a simple stream
format file, and then writing a HELP program to utilize that API.

When and if an RMS package for Free-VMS is developed, the API can be
modified to take advantage of it.


I would also recommend studying the "info" package from LINUX.  A method of
converting OpenVMS help files to "INFO" format files could be useful, and
the reverse, so that when a GNU or LINUX utility is ported to OpenVMS, the
documentation can be directly used.


Until a native kernel can be produced, I would recommend using LINUX,
possibly with the free DCL interpreter that some company mentioned on
comp.os.vms they were providing for personal use.

> >-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Please, Plain text only to mailing lists and news groups.  Use PGP and such
only if recipiant requires/request it.

> >
> >I got an account on gville.guntersville.net, a MicroVAX, thanks to John
> >Ellingboe, and have decided to make a clone of DCL HELP for the Free-VMS
> >project. I would like to have it be able to work with the original help
> >files, although this is not really necessary. What is the format for them
> >and where are they stored on a typical VAX?

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2000 23:04:56 +0100
Message-ID: <4.1.20000102112027.00aa8aa0@mail.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <4.1.20000102112027.00aa8aa0@mail.earthlink.net>
Date: Sun, 02 Jan 2000 16:10:19 -0600
To: Free-VMS@lp.se
From: "David J. Dachtera" <djesys@earthlink.net>
Reply-To: Free-VMS@lp.se
Subject: Re: DCL HELP
In-Reply-To: <16d501bf54d6$cfb45620$020a0a0a@xile.realm>
References: <4.1.20000101204131.0091e570@mail.earthlink.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

John,

Sorry to be contrary, but:

At 10:06 PM 01/01/2000 -0600, you wrote:
>A help library is an Indexed file that has the topics as keys and subkeys.

According to OpenVMS:

$ dir/fu sys$help:helplib.hlb

Directory SYS$COMMON:[SYSHLP]

HELPLIB.HLB;2                 File ID:  (30091,8,0)           
Size:        11027/11034      Owner:    [SYSTEM]
Created:   19-NOV-1998 13:17:48.08
Revised:   27-SEP-1999 13:23:36.47 (37)
Expires:   <None specified>
Backup:    <No backup recorded>
Effective: <None specified>
Recording: <None specified>
File organization:  Sequential
Shelved state:      Online 
File attributes:    Allocation: 11034, Extend: 0, Global buffer count: 0
                    No version limit, Contiguous best try
Record format:      Fixed length 512 byte records
Record attributes:  None
RMS attributes:     None
Journaling enabled: None
File protection:    System:RWED, Owner:RWED, Group:RE, World:RE
Access Cntrl List:  None

Total of 1 file, 11027/11034 blocks.
$ dir/fu sys$library:star*.%lb

Directory SYS$COMMON:[SYSLIB]

STARLET.MLB;1                 File ID:  (31066,3,0)           
Size:         2725/2736       Owner:    [SYSTEM]
Created:   18-MAR-1999 19:07:23.00
Revised:   29-APR-1999 10:40:37.74 (3)
Expires:   <None specified>
Backup:    <No backup recorded>
Effective: <None specified>
Recording: <None specified>
File organization:  Sequential
Shelved state:      Online 
File attributes:    Allocation: 2736, Extend: 0, Global buffer count: 0
                    No version limit, Contiguous best try
Record format:      Fixed length 512 byte records
Record attributes:  None
RMS attributes:     None
Journaling enabled: None
File protection:    System:RWED, Owner:RWED, Group:RE, World:RE
Access Cntrl List:  None

STARLET.OLB;2                 File ID:  (30159,5,0)           
Size:        25988/25992      Owner:    [SYSTEM]
Created:   19-NOV-1998 13:14:37.17
Revised:   12-SEP-1999 04:11:39.70 (29)
Expires:   <None specified>
Backup:    <No backup recorded>
Effective: <None specified>
Recording: <None specified>
File organization:  Sequential
Shelved state:      Online 
File attributes:    Allocation: 25992, Extend: 0, Global buffer count: 0
                    No version limit, Contiguous best try
Record format:      Fixed length 512 byte records
Record attributes:  None
RMS attributes:     None
Journaling enabled: None
File protection:    System:RWED, Owner:RWED, Group:RE, World:RE
Access Cntrl List:  None

STARLETSD.TLB;1               File ID:  (1849,2,0)            
Size:         3226/3240       Owner:    [SYSTEM]
Created:   18-NOV-1998 20:15:30.62
Revised:   18-NOV-1998 20:15:37.12 (1)
Expires:   <None specified>
Backup:    <No backup recorded>
Effective: <None specified>
Recording: <None specified>
File organization:  Sequential
Shelved state:      Online 
File attributes:    Allocation: 3240, Extend: 0, Global buffer count: 0
                    No version limit, Contiguous best try
Record format:      Fixed length 512 byte records
Record attributes:  None
RMS attributes:     None
Journaling enabled: None
File protection:    System:RWED, Owner:RWED, Group:RE, World:RE
Access Cntrl List:  None

Total of 3 files, 31939/31968 blocks.
$ vers
Alpha V7.1-2   (AlphaServer 8400 5/440)

The organization shows as sequential and there's no mention of indexed
keys. What likely happens is that the Librarian maintains an "index" of
"module" names accompanied by pointers indicating the displacement into the
library file where the contents of that "module" (read: topic) begin. From
there, however, the library must be read sequentially to encounter the
subtopics, sub-subtopics, etc. D'ya notice that HELP ANALYZE pops up rather
quickly while just about anything under HELP SET takes a while to come up,
especially on a VAX?

IMO, your analysis represents a better way, however - probably how I would
have done it were RMS indexed files available at the time the utility was
first "invented".

>For the purpose of Free-VMS the internal format of a help file may or may
>not be important depending on your design philosophy.  As the structure of
>the different Index files are documented either in the OpenVMS doc set, or

It seems that the library file format is independent of RMS support.
Probably relies on block I/O at its fundamental level.

>There is a defined API for retrieving information from a HELP library.  IIRC
>it is documented in the utility routines manual.
>
>You may want to start out writing that help API to work on a simple stream
>format file, and then writing a HELP program to utilize that API.

Well, IMO, the file format should be transparent, although keeping the
Fixed-512 format might be good.

>When and if an RMS package for Free-VMS is developed, the API can be
>modified to take advantage of it.

I would actually recommend a more "bottom-up" approach. The LBR$ routines
probably underlie the HLP$ routines. So, I'd recommend first writing a
program to interface with them directly, regardless of the library type.
Then, I'd recommend writing a program to interface with the HLP$ routines,
preferably by way of the CLI$ routines. This would lay the knowledge
foundations and provide a test environment for writing and debugging a HLP$
API and the underlying LBR$ API. 

>I would also recommend studying the "info" package from LINUX.  A method of
>converting OpenVMS help files to "INFO" format files could be useful, and
>the reverse, so that when a GNU or LINUX utility is ported to OpenVMS, the
>documentation can be directly used.

I'm not familiar with "info". However, I'd recommend that, if feasible, an
"info" to .HLP conversion program be developed. Of course, if "info" is
anything like the man pages, that may not be possible, programmatically.

>Until a native kernel can be produced, I would recommend using LINUX,
>possibly with the free DCL interpreter that some company mentioned on
>comp.os.vms they were providing for personal use.

In the past, I've recommended - and been shot down for it - writing
loadable kernel modules to provide LINUX support for ODS-2 (Stick with
ODS-2 for now - that will be challenging enough. We can address ODS-5
later.) and RMS. 

I still advocate that approach. It won't be the same as "real VMS", that I
grant you. However it will, IMHO, get us over a couple of major stumbling
blocks in the perception of whether or not Free-VMS can even be done at
all. VMS purists will never be satisfied, so let's get past that and move
on toward the goal.


David J. Dachtera
dba DJE Systems
http://home.earthlink.net/~djesys/

Unofficial Affordable OpenVMS Home Page and Message Board:
http://home.earthlink.net/~djesys/vms/soho/
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 00:42:17 +0100
Message-ID: <185901bf557b$9e0c7c60$020a0a0a@xile.realm>
From: "John E. Malmberg" <wb8tyw@qsl.net>
Reply-To: Free-VMS@lp.se
To: <Free-VMS@lp.se>
References: <4.1.20000101204131.0091e570@mail.earthlink.net> <4.1.20000102112027.00aa8aa0@mail.earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: DCL HELP
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2000 17:46:35 -0600
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
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David J. Dachtera <djesys@earthlink.network> wrote:

Basically that Help and text libraries are fixed length 512 byte record
files.
<snip>

That makes some sense because their workings are so fundementally close to
early versions of VMS.
>
> I would actually recommend a more "bottom-up" approach. The LBR$ routines
> probably underlie the HLP$ routines. So, I'd recommend first writing a
> program to interface with them directly, regardless of the library type.
> Then, I'd recommend writing a program to interface with the HLP$ routines,
> preferably by way of the CLI$ routines. This would lay the knowledge
> foundations and provide a test environment for writing and debugging a
HLP$
> API and the underlying LBR$ API.
>

It would also make sense to code an implementation of it to have the HLP$
routines calling the LIB$ routines.  However this would not be required for
a first pass.  This can be fixed behind the curtain transparent to the
caller of the HLP$ routines.

Doing it that way gives you faster gratification on having something that
works now, and then optimizing it later.


> >I would also recommend studying the "info" package from LINUX.  A method
of
> >converting OpenVMS help files to "INFO" format files could be useful, and
> >the reverse, so that when a GNU or LINUX utility is ported to OpenVMS,
the
> >documentation can be directly used.
>
> I'm not familiar with "info". However, I'd recommend that, if feasible, an
> "info" to .HLP conversion program be developed. Of course, if "info" is
> anything like the man pages, that may not be possible, programmatically.

Info actually seems to act closer to hypertext.  One of the limitations on
the VMS help structure is that it is TREE structured, and can not contain
links to related topics.

Possibly having a HELP command that basically works like LYNX for a text
only system and just put all of the files in HTML may be a good idea.

One of the strengths of VMS is that it still can be used on a printing or
NON-ANSI dumb terminal, and the basic utilities for a Free-VMS should also
follow that.

Putting HTML files in a Text library format to save space and speed up link
lookups may also work out well.  Note that these would be an enhancement to
VMS help if implemented on an OpenVMS system.

> >Until a native kernel can be produced, I would recommend using LINUX,
> >possibly with the free DCL interpreter that some company mentioned on
> >comp.os.vms they were providing for personal use.
>
> In the past, I've recommended - and been shot down for it - writing
> loadable kernel modules to provide LINUX support for ODS-2 (Stick with
> ODS-2 for now - that will be challenging enough. We can address ODS-5
> later.) and RMS.
>
ODS-2 does not look too bad at a first glance, and ODS-5 does not seem like
a major extension, as long as you ignore ACLs, Distributed locks, and RMS.
>
> I still advocate that approach. It won't be the same as "real VMS", that I
> grant you. However it will, IMHO, get us over a couple of major stumbling
> blocks in the perception of whether or not Free-VMS can even be done at
> all. VMS purists will never be satisfied, so let's get past that and move
> on toward the goal.

It gives those people that are not into writing a kernel an alternative
platform.

The problem with writing a kernel from scratch, is the availability of
device drivers.  If you want device driver support with out severely
restricting the options on the devices, you are basically stuck with using
ones written for LINUX or Microsoft Windows.  Of which the LINUX ones can be
examined and tweaked where needed.

Graphic, Sound, and Network drivers seem to be the biggest problem with
compatability.  They also seem to have a very short lifespan also.

That leads me to conclude that in order to reach the widest possible
distribution, an existing host operating system must be picked.  The choices
for that are basically a Microsoft Windows one or a LINUX one.  Or run
headless with the support of a limited number of lan cards on a home grown
kernel.

Basically adding a HELP function to LINUX that also knows how to read INFO
format and MAN pages would be a good thing.

Having a program named HELPME on OpenVMS that could do handle HLP libraries,
HTML, INFO and MAN pages would also be good.

Just IMHO:

-John
wb8tyw@qsl.network


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 05:32:40 +0100
MIME-Version: 1.0
Message-ID: <v04220800b495d33eacd5@[208.210.86.219]>
In-Reply-To: <4.1.20000102112027.00aa8aa0@mail.earthlink.net>
References: <4.1.20000101204131.0091e570@mail.earthlink.net> <4.1.20000102112027.00aa8aa0@mail.earthlink.net>
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2000 23:31:50 -0500
To: Free-VMS@lp.se
From: "Andrew C. Stoffel" <acs@campus.com>
Reply-To: Free-VMS@lp.se
Subject: Re: DCL HELP
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

At 4:10 PM -0600 01/02/2000, David J. Dachtera wrote:
>
>>I would also recommend studying the "info" package from LINUX.  A method of
>>converting OpenVMS help files to "INFO" format files could be useful, and
>>the reverse, so that when a GNU or LINUX utility is ported to OpenVMS, the
>>documentation can be directly used.
>
>I'm not familiar with "info". However, I'd recommend that, if feasible, an
>"info" to .HLP conversion program be developed. Of course, if "info" is
>anything like the man pages, that may not be possible, programmatically.

Just a bit of trivia.... the "Info" format predates Linux by a number
of years (It's mentioned in a 1987 GNU Emacs manual I happen to have.)
See the following for more info:

	http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/texinfo.html

No idea if it has been ported to VMS though it is mentioned
as being ported at:

http://vms.gnu.org/

-Andy-
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 20:16:11 +0100
Sender: christof.zeile@ins.uni-stuttgart.de
Message-ID: <3870F55E.5F25@ins.uni-stuttgart.de>
Date: Mon, 03 Jan 2000 20:15:42 +0100
From: Christof Zeile <christof.zeile@ins.uni-stuttgart.de>
Reply-To: Free-VMS@lp.se
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Free-VMS@lp.se
Subject: Re: DCL HELP
References: <4.1.20000101204131.0091e570@mail.earthlink.net> <16d501bf54d6$cfb45620$020a0a0a@xile.realm>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

John E. Malmberg wrote:
> 
[...]
> 
> I would also recommend studying the "info" package from LINUX.  A method of
> converting OpenVMS help files to "INFO" format files could be useful, and
> the reverse, so that when a GNU or LINUX utility is ported to OpenVMS, the
> documentation can be directly used.
>

HTML would also be possible, for some reasons:

1. There are both text-based (Lynx) and GUI based Browsers
2. Most people know how to operate a browser, less know how to use
texinfo
3. Browsers are available for all kinds of operating systems
4. Use the same file for help files on the net
   (good for maintenance of the help files)

No need, of course, to use all those HTML features like tables, frames,
etc.
Simple text with links helps a lot.
On the other hand, help files for using GUI programs could include
images.

However, there is a drawback: HTML files are a bit difficult to read
without a browser.
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2000 00:47:24 +0100
Message-ID: <013901bf5645$87df1720$020a0a0a@xile.realm>
From: "John E. Malmberg" <wb8tyw@qsl.net>
Reply-To: Free-VMS@lp.se
To: <Free-VMS@lp.se>
References: <4.1.20000101204131.0091e570@mail.earthlink.net>           <16d501bf54d6$cfb45620$020a0a0a@xile.realm> <3870F55E.5F25@ins.uni-stuttgart.de>
Subject: Re: DCL HELP
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 17:52:00 -0600
MIME-Version: 1.0
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From: Christof Zeile <christof.zeile@ins.uni-stuttgart.de>
> However, there is a drawback: HTML files are a bit difficult to read
> without a browser.

A bit less difficult than reading .HLB files with out the HELP program :-)

I like the idea of an HTML reader, but it must work on a dumb non-ansi or
printing terminal.

And the HLP$ routines should be able to be used to display the text.

-John
WB8TYW@QSL.NET

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2000 10:51:06 +0100
Sender: christof.zeile@ins.uni-stuttgart.de
Message-ID: <3871C27C.2769@ins.uni-stuttgart.de>
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 2000 10:50:52 +0100
From: Christof Zeile <christof.zeile@ins.uni-stuttgart.de>
Reply-To: Free-VMS@lp.se
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Free-VMS@lp.se
Subject: Re: DCL HELP
References: <4.1.20000101204131.0091e570@mail.earthlink.net> <16d501bf54d6$cfb45620$020a0a0a@xile.realm> <3870F55E.5F25@ins.uni-stuttgart.de> <013901bf5645$87df1720$020a0a0a@xile.realm>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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John E. Malmberg wrote:
> 
> 
> I like the idea of an HTML reader, but it must work on a dumb non-ansi or
> printing terminal.
> 
> And the HLP$ routines should be able to be used to display the text.
> 

Agreed. Perhaps a HTML subset could be defined so that the help
files could be read by any ordinary browser, but should contain
only text and links and little formatting.
Making the HLP$ routines work should then be easier than with
full-featured HTML.
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2000 14:02:09 +0100
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2000 08:02:26 -0500
From: vmsman@norse.myths.com
Reply-To: Free-VMS@lp.se
Message-ID: <200001041302.IAA16157@norse.myths.com>
To: Free-VMS@lp.se
Subject: Re: DCL HELP


Christof Zeile wrote:

>John E. Malmberg wrote:
>> 
>> I like the idea of an HTML reader, but it must work on a dumb non-ansi or
>> printing terminal.
>> 
>> And the HLP$ routines should be able to be used to display the text.

>Agreed. Perhaps a HTML subset could be defined so that the help
>files could be read by any ordinary browser, but should contain
>only text and links and little formatting.
>Making the HLP$ routines work should then be easier than with
>full-featured HTML.

in what way is Lynx insufficient?

ok
dpm
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2000 15:51:06 +0100
Sender: toddc@a.mx.net-link.net
Message-ID: <387208C5.938B231@net-link.net>
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 2000 14:50:45 +0000
From: "Todd C. Campbell" <toddc@net-link.net>
Reply-To: Free-VMS@lp.se
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Free-VMS@lp.se
Subject: Re: DCL HELP
References: <200001041302.IAA16157@norse.myths.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

vmsman@norse.myths.com wrote:
> 
> Christof Zeile wrote:

> >Agreed. Perhaps a HTML subset could be defined so that the help
> >files could be read by any ordinary browser, but should contain
> >only text and links and little formatting.
> >Making the HLP$ routines work should then be easier than with
> >full-featured HTML.
> 
> in what way is Lynx insufficient?

I don't see where Lynx would not be perfect for this. Heck VMS and Lynx
were my first browsing experience.

-Todd
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2000 17:59:53 +0100
Sender: christof.zeile@ins.uni-stuttgart.de
Message-ID: <387226DB.2C12@ins.uni-stuttgart.de>
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 2000 17:59:07 +0100
From: Christof Zeile <christof.zeile@ins.uni-stuttgart.de>
Reply-To: Free-VMS@lp.se
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Free-VMS@lp.se
Subject: Re: DCL HELP
References: <200001041302.IAA16157@norse.myths.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
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vmsman@norse.myths.com wrote:
> 
> 
> in what way is Lynx insufficient?
> 

I don't think Lynx is insufficient for use as a standalone Help
Browser.
There is another question about the help-related library functions
like LBR$GET_HELP and LBR$OUTPUT_HELP.
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 18:11:37 +0100
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 05:09:45 +0000
From: Edward Brocklesby <ejb@klamath.demon.co.uk>
Reply-To: Free-VMS@lp.se
To: free-vms@lp.se
Subject: FreeDCL
Message-ID: <20000120050945.A8318@klamath.demon.co.uk>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hi all,

In an effort to actually get something done, I have started writing a
free implementation of DCL for Unix systems, called FreeDCL. I hope
to be able to release a beta version in a week or so.

Perhaps some people might like to start working on other parts of the
OS. Things that are needed to be written include a new filesystem
(probably ext2 based), the rest of the VMS library functions (Kevin
Handy's library includes most of STR$), and kernel support for various
things.  Any volunteers?

Diolch, Edward.
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 21:21:50 +0100
Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000120152134.007d7ae0@pop.ultranet.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 15:21:34 -0800
To: Free-VMS@lp.se
From: noahp@altavista.net
Reply-To: Free-VMS@lp.se
Subject: Re: FreeDCL
In-Reply-To: <20000120050945.A8318@klamath.demon.co.uk>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I can help write this and port to VMS (if porting is in order)

At 05:09 AM 1/20/00 +0000, you wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>In an effort to actually get something done, I have started writing a
>free implementation of DCL for Unix systems, called FreeDCL. I hope
>to be able to release a beta version in a week or so.
>
>Perhaps some people might like to start working on other parts of the
>OS. Things that are needed to be written include a new filesystem
>(probably ext2 based), the rest of the VMS library functions (Kevin
>Handy's library includes most of STR$), and kernel support for various
>things.  Any volunteers?
>
>Diolch, Edward.
>
>