Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!nrl-cmf!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!VTCS1.BITNET!JEN
From: JEN@VTCS1.BITNET
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: RE: VMS exec question
Message-ID: <8803211603.AA01544@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 18 Mar 88 00:52:00 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 35

In a posting to INFO-VAX, MIKE@uhvax1.uh.edu writes:
>
>To VAX gurus-wizards:
>
>I'm looking into some possibilities, and need some advice on doing the
>following:
>
>If I turn off the bit EXE$V_DUMPBUG in the longword EXE$GL_FLAGS, does anyone
>know of any non-desirable side-effects?

It appears that this bit is equivalent to the SYSGEN DUMPBUG parameter.  A
reasonable assumption is that by turning the bit off, your system won't write
a dump file when it crashes (note this inclues operator requested shutdowns
via SYS$SYSTEM:SHUTDOWN).  A quick check of SYS$SYSTEM:SYS.MAP reveals that
EXE$GL_FLAGS is defined in module SYSCOMMON and referenced in:

    BUGCHECK    INIT    PAGEFAULT       PROCSTRT        SYS$IMGACT

To be completely sure of the side effects of your actions, you should examine
the source code for each of these modules to see how (or if) they reference
the EXE$V_DUMPBUG bit.

However, I have a feeling that you aren't asking the right question.  You
state that you're looking into possibilities -- for what?  If you're trying to
remove your SYS$SYSTEM:SYSDUMP.DMP file, there's a much easier (and
supported!) way:  simply rename the file (e.g., to SYSDUMP.OLD) and reboot;
you may then delete SYSDUMP.OLD.

If this doesn't help then please state the problem you want to solve, not the
solutions you're trying to explore.


Jeff E. Nelson
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
jen@vtcs1.bitnet