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I've had a lot of fun installing and running VAX/VMS on a simulated VAX 11/780. Automatic versioning of files is still a very nice idea. The general format is

I've had a lot of fun installing and running VAX/VMS on a simulated VAX 11/780. Automatic versioning of files is still a very nice idea. The general format is FileName.Ext;1 FileName.Ext;2 Etc.

tgv 3y ago
Sounds like a good idea, but it had little value in practice (for me). Since disk space came at a premium back then, it led to constant manual/auto purging.
- Tor3 3y ago
  It's so long since I was using VMS, but one thing I do remember is the constant purging. It was necessary.
- hulitu 3y ago
  There are areas (CAD) where it made a lot of sense.
- mikewarot 3y ago
  You could set the number of versions to keep on a per directory level.
  - ngcc_hk 3y ago
    No one told me then and keep on purging it. Any command to do that just for old time sake?
    - mikewarot 3y ago
      for a single file (or directory, the syntax is the same). I've forgotten how much I love the HELP command on DEC systems. Having the old versions there saved my bacon more than once back in my student days. SET FILE /VERSION_LIMIT /VERSION_LIMIT[=n] Specifies the maximum number of versions for the specified file. If you do not specify a version limit, a value of 0 is used, indicating that the number of versions of a file is limited only to the Files-11 architectural limit of 32,767. When you exceed that limit, the earliest version of the file is deleted from the directory without notification to the user. For example, if you set the version limit to three when there are already five versions of that file in your directory, there will continue to be five versions of the file unless you specifically delete some or purge the directory. Once the number of versions is equal to or less than the current version limit, the version limit is maintained.
boringalterego 3y ago
Same, got it emulating an old tape recovery image of a vax 3100 m76.
mikewarot 3y ago
Ugh... I can't get it to build under Termux on my phone.... I need gcc, and don't know how to get it installed. Walking around with a running VMS system in my pocket would be soooo cool. ;-) My netbook has plenty of horsepower to run it... the phone should too.
- mikewarot 3y ago
  Update.... I've got it running... and can telnet into the VAX/VMS 7.2 system in my pocket. ;-)

I've had a lot of fun installing and running VAX/VMS on a simulated VAX 11/780. Automatic versioning of files is still a very nice idea. The general format is FileName.Ext;1 FileName.Ext;2 Etc.

tgv 3y ago

Sounds like a good idea, but it had little value in practice (for me). Since disk space came at a premium back then, it led to constant manual/auto purging.

Tor3 3y ago
It's so long since I was using VMS, but one thing I do remember is the constant purging. It was necessary.
hulitu 3y ago
There are areas (CAD) where it made a lot of sense.
mikewarot 3y ago
You could set the number of versions to keep on a per directory level.
- ngcc_hk 3y ago
  No one told me then and keep on purging it. Any command to do that just for old time sake?
  - mikewarot 3y ago
    for a single file (or directory, the syntax is the same). I've forgotten how much I love the HELP command on DEC systems. Having the old versions there saved my bacon more than once back in my student days. SET FILE /VERSION_LIMIT /VERSION_LIMIT[=n] Specifies the maximum number of versions for the specified file. If you do not specify a version limit, a value of 0 is used, indicating that the number of versions of a file is limited only to the Files-11 architectural limit of 32,767. When you exceed that limit, the earliest version of the file is deleted from the directory without notification to the user. For example, if you set the version limit to three when there are already five versions of that file in your directory, there will continue to be five versions of the file unless you specifically delete some or purge the directory. Once the number of versions is equal to or less than the current version limit, the version limit is maintained.

boringalterego 3y ago

Same, got it emulating an old tape recovery image of a vax 3100 m76.

mikewarot 3y ago

Ugh... I can't get it to build under Termux on my phone.... I need gcc, and don't know how to get it installed. Walking around with a running VMS system in my pocket would be soooo cool. ;-) My netbook has plenty of horsepower to run it... the phone should too.

mikewarot 3y ago
Update.... I've got it running... and can telnet into the VAX/VMS 7.2 system in my pocket. ;-)