Defining Logical Names [PREVIOUS] [TOP] [NEXT]

5.4 Defining Logical Names

Once the tape or CD has been read and the files created on disk, the definitions needed for VICAR to run must be set up. In addition, they should be installed permanently on the system by the system manager. Two command procedures are provided with the VICAR system to accomplish this task for you. Both reside in the [VICAR] directory, and are called VICSET1.COM and VICSET2.COM.

An effort has been made to ensure that VICSET1.COM and VICSET2.COM are as system independent as possible, but there are still a few places in which it may be necessary to change some definitions for your local site. These names are listed below, and all apply to VICSET1.COM.

V2$SCRATCH: V2$SCRATCH is a logical name which points to a scratch area to be used by VICAR applications that need it, for example to write an intermediate data set. In general, it should point to a directory on a disk with plenty of space, to avoid errors while running programs which take advantage of it. If no such scratch area is available on your system, you should have V2$SCRATCH point to the individual's login directory (SYS$LOGIN).

Example:

If the disk OURDISK had sufficient room, you could create the directory [SCRATCH] with world read/write access, and replace the definition of V2$SCRATCH in VICSET1.COM with the following:

$ assign OURDISK:[SCRATCH] V2$SCRATCH

Or, if you have nowhere to create the scratch directory, replace the definition of V2$SCRATCH with:

$ assign sys$login: V2$SCRATCH

to ensure that each user will use his or her login directory for scratch space.

VICSET1.COM defines only logical names, and can be invoked from the system startup procedures (SYS$MANAGER:SYSTARTUP_V5.COM or a procedure it calls) to define VICAR logical names system wide. It takes two arguments: the name of the VICAR root (top-level) directory, and the logical name table on which to define the logical names. The root directory name is the name of the top directory on which the VICAR system was installed, usually diskname:[VICAR]. The logical name table may be either SYSTEM or PROCESS. The default is PROCESS. The SYSTEM keyword will define the names systemwide and requires the user privilege SYSNAM (see the VMS documentation for a discussion of privileges). Unless VICAR is to be hidden from some of the users on the system, or you have more than one version of VICAR active at the same time, it is best to define VICAR systemwide. To do this, put the line:

$ @diskname:[VICAR]VICSET1 diskname:[VICAR] SYSTEM

in the system startup command procedure, and also type it in interactively in order to define the logical names right away, for the rest of the installation process. If you do not wish VICAR to be available systemwide, individual users may put the above command without the SYSTEM keyword in their personal LOGIN.COM files.

VICSET2 defines some additional logical names, and also some global symbols. Since it defines symbols, it may not be installed in the system startup, but must be executed by each user as he/she logs into the system. If VICAR is available systemwide, VICSET2 may be invoked from the system login procedure which is pointed at by the logical name SYS$SYLOGIN. If VICAR is not available systemwide, VICSET2 may be invoked from the individual LOGIN.COM files. In either case, the command to invoke it would be:

$ @diskname:[VICAR]VICSET2

You should also interactively issue the above command, so the definitions are available for the rest of the installation.

Modifying TAE's slogon.pdf

The startup file slogon.pdf, in the directory VICSYS:[VICAR161.TAE52_AXP-VMS.PDF] is run every time a user starts up TAE, i.e. types VICAR. It's not run when starting SAGE. The commands in slogon.pdf are in the TAE Command Language (TCL). You can get help on TCL by typing HELP at the VICAR prompt.

You may want to modify slogon.pdf to change VICAR's behavior. As an example, you may want to run most of VICAR from a CD, but substitute a few more recent executables from hard disk. In this case you want VICAR to look for a PDF first on hard disk, then on the CD. To do this:

  1. Copy the VICSET1.COM from the CD to a convenient hard disk directory:
    $ COPY V2$TOP:VICSET1.COM SYS:[VICAR]
  2. Create a logical name in SYS:[VICAR]VICSET1.COM that points to the directory on hard disk where you're keeping your revised PDFs/executables:
    $ assign/nolog/'table' SYS:[VICAR.REVISE] v2$revise
  3. Edit the liblst logical name in SYS:[VICAR]VICSET1.COM.
    $ assign/nolog/'table' v2$revise, v2$lib,vids$lib,r1lib,r2lib,$taeutil,gui$lib,mpf$lib liblst
  4. Edit the SYSLOGIN.COM or equivalent command procedure so that the modified SYS:[VICAR]VICSET1.COM is used when starting VICAR.

Next: Finding Programs' Dependence on OpenVMS Shareable Libraries
Previous: Command to Check OpenVMS User Requirements
Top: VICAR Installation Table of Contents
Updated Tue May 6 11:09:02 1997 by Larry Bolef