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From: jona@iscp.Bellcore.COM (Jon Alperin)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.aix
Subject: Re: Making A request to IBM
Message-ID: <1991Mar23.144908.9009@bellcore.bellcore.com>
Date: 23 Mar 91 14:49:08 GMT
References: <96@softpro.stgt.sub.org> <1991Mar13.184439.6999@ibmpa.awdpa.ibm.com> <1991Mar19.152638.19508@athena.mit.edu> <3326@pensoft.UUCP>
Sender: usenet@bellcore.bellcore.com (Poster of News)
Reply-To: jona@iscp.Bellcore.COM (Jon Alperin)
Organization: Bell Communications Research (Bellcore)
Lines: 34

Ok....so now that we know what IBM does, and who does what at IBM let me 
post the following questions:

1. What recourse do I have if I am trying to develop code for the RS/6000/AIX
system, and am running into problems with cc,xlc,ld, etc. Most of the time,
I cannot ship source code to IBM (I.E. proprietary information), but I am at
a loss as how to get IBM to look at a particular problem. For example, I am working with a 2MB archive file (see previous postings..) and I am having
problems with the linker. I can't very well send this archive file to IBM,
and it would seem to me that level 1 and 2 support would not be able to create
a 2MB archive file just to test out what happens during the link....

2. When I call IBM and report a bug, I sometimes get a patch number. HOWEVER,
it has been my experience that the patch often "fixes" more items than the
one I was looking for. This is "great, until something that worked breaks",
and I don't know where to look....Does IBM distribute just a single fix?
How does one request just a single fix?

To be fair, SE's which I deal with usually attempt to handle problems, but 
they deal more with the operating system itself (and its utilities), that
with the low level programming parts. I am lucky enough to have access to
people who know AIX fairly well, but more often than not I call Defect Support
simply because I know that someone will be at the end of the phone, rather than
an answering machine.


-- 
Jon Alperin
Bell Communications Research

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* All opinions and stupid questions are my own *