On Friday, 06/02/2006 at 07:08 AST, Jim Bohnsack <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
wrote:
> I gave up on trusting IBM "black boxes" for S/W maintenance when I found
> instructions in a program directory, back in the mid-80's, that 
included,
> after linking the MAINT or CMS 19E disk in write mode, the next line 
that
> said "FORMAT 19E G".  Even tho I was working for IBM at the time, I 
never
> quite was willing to place blind trust in S/W installs after that.  Note
> that this was not, fortunately, contained within some long installation
> exec, but was printed in the product directory.  If I remember 
correctly,
> it was not an Endicott product, so Chuckie would not have done it.

Of course, a PD that has FORMAT 19E G in it would be in error.  Nothing 
has changed since the Olden Days: Application developers have a distorted 
view of their applications' importance and of the system as a whole.

The Linux Standards Base is helping to proactively allieviate some of that 
problem in Linux, but that ship has sailed in VM.  We just handle poor 
installation instructions via APARs.

But without you Old Timers :-) actually using the "new" tools we provide 
(how long has PUT2PROD been around?), and calling in the problems and bad 
ideas, improvements are slowed to a snail's pace.  PUT2PROD is intended to 
put service into production.  If it isn't doing that correctly, causing 
more harm than good, let us know.  (Call it in.)  But please don't just 
turn away from it and ignore it.  If OTs won't use it, what hope do 
newbies have?

Alan Altmark
z/VM Development
IBM Endicott

Reply via email to