Vpix bugs (long)

[Michael D. Mondy]

In article <1991Jan30.185831.220 at vort.uucp> mike at vort.uucp (Mike Nemeth) writes:
[ various bugs mostly related to vp/ix deleted ]

Here's some more vp/ix bugs which I am reporting in the hope that this post
will cause ISC to get them fixed.

[ Background: All of these bugs seen under various releases of ISC's and
Dell's products. (Dell at one time did not have a source license to vp/ix;
they were re-distributing binaries.  This may or may not still be true.)

=== VPIX PATH =============================================================
Vpix will start up with root (/) as the current dir on Z: if your unix
current directory has any directories whose names are not dos names.
That is, if my current dir is /u/mdm, then firing up vpix will result
in a vp/ix current dir of \u\mdm.  However if the current dir is
/usr/local/CC (note caps), then firing up vpix will yield a current dir
of \.
Reported to Dell months ago

=== VPIX WANDERING IO =====================================================
  If vpix is started up on a virtual terminal that is not the current
virtual terminal, screen output becomes confused.  I saw this when
invoking dos compilers from unix makefiles.  Try issuing "sleep 5; vpix
-nc dir" and then switching to another virtual terminal.  The screen output
will follow you.  Just like a dog!
   WORK AROUND: Pipe the output of vpix into cat or redirect to a file (using
tty device files won't work.)
   On January 23 1990, I reported this to Ron at Dell tech support.  That's
well over a year ago.  Problem tracking report (PTR) # AUS1921 was submitted
by Dell.  Would someone from Interactive inform us as to why this hasn't this
been fixed?

=== VPIX PATH =============================================================
Behavior:
   Dot (".") must be explicitly in bourne shell's PATH if you want the shell
to search the current directory for dos executables.  If a null path (ex a
leading colon) is used to specify the current dir, then the current dir will
only be searched for unix executables, not dos executables.  Similarly,
DOSPATH must use a dot, not a null path.
Bug:
   A leading colon should be sufficient in PATH to execute dos files in the
current dir; an explicit dot should not be required.  Same for DOSPATH.
WORK AROUND: Use dot.
Note:
   If the cshell has its own path (not bourne's PATH) why doesn't it have
its own dospath?
Reported to Dell months ago

=== VPIX exit codes =======================================================
   Vpix does not return the exit code of the dos process to the unix shell.
WORK AROUND: Create a tmp file from unix.  Do dos command from a batch file
that checks the exit status and deletes the file is exit is zero.  Upon
return to unix, check for tmp file existence instead of exit code.
Reported to Dell months ago

=== VPIX environment space and quick boot ==================================
   The quick boot image file retains a record of env vars set in autoexec,
but the amount of space available for environment vars is not recorded
correctly.  (The amount of space is specified as an option to command.com 
via the config.sys entry for SHELL.)  For example, suppose you want to quick
boot run a batch file xxx and you need some env vars set.  Method 1 where
you set the vars in the auto exec will work.  Method 2 where you don't set
the vars in the autoexec, but instead set them in xxx.bat, will yield an out
of environment space message.
   WORK AROUND: Set some env vars in autoexec (envspace1, envspace2, ...)
to long strings.  In batch files, reset these vars to empty to free up
space..
Reported to Dell months ago
===========================================================================

   In general, I find vp/ix to be the single buggiest subsystem in the
os.  I'm planning on upgrading to Dell's R4 which will have Dos Merge
(by Locus Computings?) instead of vp/ix.
   If any of these bugs have been fixed, please post as it would only be
fair to correct any out-of-date information.
   Anybody want to start a bug list?  Does ISC publish its known bug
list or make the submitted PTRs available?