OpenVMS Runtime library

 Set of language independent procedures used

by application programs.

Features
 These RTL procedures perform a wide range of
general-utility operations.
 Results returned are same irrespective of which
language calls them.
 Uses record management services for file I/O.
 Library procedures can be updated without
revising programs that call shared modules.
 Organization of the RTL
 LIB$ - General purpose procedures
 MTH$ - Mathematics procedures
 SMG$ - Screen management procedures
 STR$ - String manipulation procedures
 OTS$ - language independent procedures
 BAS$ - BASIC specific support procedures
 COB$ - COBOL specific support procedures
 FOR$ - FORTRAN specific support procedures
 PAS$ - PASCAL specific support procedures
 PLI$ - PL/I specific support procedures
 RPG$ - RPG specific support procedures
 LIB$ some commands
 LIB$GETJPI
– The Get Job/Process Information routine provides a simplified interface to the
$GETJPI system service. It provides accounting, status, and identification
information about a specified process.
– LIB$GETJPI obtains only one item of information in a single call.

 LIB$SPAWN
– The Spawn Subprocess routine requests the command language interpreter (CLI)
of the calling process to spawn a subprocess for executing CLI commands.
LIB$SPAWN provides the same function as the DCL command SPAWN.

 LIB$CONVERT_DATE_STRING
– The Convert Date String to Quadword routine converts an absolute date string
into an OpenVMS internal format date-time quadword. That is, given an input
date/time string of a specified format, LIB$CONVERT_DATE_STRING converts
this string to an OpenVMS internal format time.
 SYS$GETJPI vs LIB$GETJPI
The differences among these procedures are as follows:

 SYS$GETJPI operates asynchronously.

 SYS$GETJPIW and LIB$GETJPI operate synchronously.
 SYS$GETJPI and SYS$GETJPIW can obtain one or more pieces of
information about a process or kernel thread in a single call.
 LIB$GETJPI can obtain only one piece of information about a process or
kernel thread in a single call.
 SYS$GETJPI and SYS$GETJPIW can specify an AST to execute at the
completion of the routine.
 SYS$GETJPI and SYS$GETJPIW can use an I/O status block (IOSB) to test
for completion of the routine.
 LIB$GETJPI can return some items either as strings or as numbers. It is
often the easiest to call from a high-level language because the caller is not
required to construct an item list.

 Example: In document 
 LIB$SPAWN,
LIB$CONVERT_DATE_STRING
 The Spawn Subprocess routine requests the
command language interpreter (CLI) of the
calling process to spawn a subprocess for
executing CLI commands. LIB$SPAWN provides
the same function as the DCL command SPAWN
 There are some issues with this RTL call, it is
advised to use the SYS$CREPRC instead

 LIB$CONVERT_DATE_STRING document 
 OpenVMS System Services
 Control resources available to processes
 Provides for communication between
processes
 Perform basic operating system functions
(I/O co-ordination)
 Grouping of System services
 Security – Provides mechanisms to enhance and control system
security
 Event-Flag – clear, set, read event flags can place a process in wait
state pending the setting of these flags
 AST – Asynchronous System Traps, these are provided so a process
can control the handling of these interrupts
 Logical names – Logical name services provide a generalized
technique for maintaining and accessing character string logical
name and equivalence name pairs
 I/O – To provide for input and output operations directly at the
device driver level
 Process-control – Create, delete and control execution of processes
 Timer and Time conversion – Timer services schedule program
events for a particular time of the day. Time conversion routines
allow you to obtain and format binary time values for use with timer
services
 Grouping of System services
 Condition handling – Handlers that receive control when
hardware or software exception occurs
 Memory management – Give you control over an
application program’s virtual address space.
– Allow an image to increase/decrease the amount of virtual
memory available
– Control the paging and swapping of virtual memory
– Create and access files that contain shareable code and data
 Lock management – Makes it possible for co-operating
processes to synchronize access to shared resources.
 Security System services
 Provides the system manager or
application programmer with security-
based resources of the VMS OS
– Create and maintain a rights database
– Create and translate access-control entries
– Modify a process-rights list
– Check access protection
– Provide a security-erase pattern for disks
– Control access to magnetic tapes
 Event-flag system services
 Programs can use event flags to perform a
variety of signaling functions.
 Each event flag has a unique decimal number,
event-flag arguments in system-service calls
refer to these numbers
 Groups of event flags are manipulated by
organizing them into event-flag clusters, each
cluster is made up of 32 flags

– Example: If you specify event flag 1 in a call to the

$QIO system service then event flag number 1 is set
when the I/O completes
 AST (Asynchronous System Trap)
 Allow a process to request that it is interrupted when a particular
event occurs
 The trap provides a transfer of control to a user-specified procedure
that handles the event
 The system services that use the AST mechanism accept the
address of the AST service routine as an argument
– Declare AST ($DCLAST)
– Enqueue Lock Request ($ENQ)
– Get Device/Volume Information ($GETDVI)
– Get Job/Process Information ($GETJPI)
– Get System Wide information ($GETSYI)
– Queue I/O Request ($QIO)
– Set Timer ($SETIMR)
– Set power recovery AST ($SETPRA)
– Update section file on disk ($UPDSEC)
 Logical name service
 This service provides a technique for
manipulating and substituting character string
names.
 Logical names are commonly used to specify
devices or files for input or output operations
 Logical names can be used to communicate
information between processes by creating a
logical name in a logical name table that is
accessible by another process
 I/O System service
 Provides for basic input/output services
available to the application developer
 VAX Record Management Services (RMS)
provides a set of routines for general
purpose, device independent functions
such as data storage, retrieval and
modification
 I/O services permit you to use the I/O
resources of the OS directly
 Process control service
 When you login, the system creates a process
for the execution of program images.
 Creation of another process to execute an image
by issuing the RUN or SPAWN command
– Create sub processes and detached processes
– Control the execution of a process
– Facilitate control and communication between
processes
– Control the hibernation or suspension of a process
– Control image-exit and exit handlers
– Control process deletion
 VMS Timer and Time conversion
 To schedule, convert or cancel event
– Schedule the setting of an event flag or the queuing of an AST
for the current process, or cancel a pending request that has not
yet been honored
– Schedule a wake-up request for a hibernating process, or cancel
a pending wake-up request that has not yet been honored
 Obtain the current date and time in ASCII String
 Convert an ASCII string into the system time format
 Convert a system-time value into an ASCII string
 Convert the time from system format into integer values
 Condition handling services
 Condition handler is a procedure given
control by the OS when an exception
occurs
 An exception is an event, detected by the
hardware or software and that interrupts
the execution of an image
– Examples are arithmetic overflow and
reserved opcode or operand faults
 Memory management
 Control the relationship between physical
memory to a processes virtual address
space
 These activities are transparent to the
user as well as the programs
 Lock management
 This allows synchronization and access to
shared resources
 Accomplished by providing a common data
area in which processes can lock a
specified resource by name
 It provides a queuing mechanism that
allows processes with in a queue to access
a particular resource when it is available