Creating Images Using INSTALL utility in OpenVMS Alpha 8.2??

[Manesh Sasankan]

I'm experiencing a different problem with Install utility in OpenVMS Alpha 8.2. I used the follwoing command:

$INSTALL CREATE XX01:[DIR]XIMAGE.EXE/OPEN/SHARED/PROTECT

& when i run the image, it comes up with the following error:
---->
%SYSTEM-F-ACCVIO, access violation, reason mask=00, virtual address=000000000064
00C4, PC=FFFFFFFF804355E8, PS=0000001B

Improperly handled condition, image exit forced.
Signal arguments: Number = 0000000000000005
Name = 000000000000000C
0000000000000000
00000000006400C4
FFFFFFFF804355E8
000000000000001B

Register dump:
R0 = 0000000000000001 R1 = 0000000000000001 R2 = 000000007B61D5D0
R3 = 000000007B65A000 R4 = 00000000006400C0 R5 = 000000007B65A008
R6 = 000000007BB9A398 R7 = 000000000000004A R8 = 0000000000000160
R9 = 000000000058BDFF R10 = 0000000000000025 R11 = 0000000000000002
R12 = 0000000000032000 R13 = 0000000000000000 R14 = 0000000000000000
R15 = 0000000000000000 R16 = 000000007B65A28C R17 = 000000007B65A008
R18 = 0000000000000001 R19 = 000000000000FDE0 R20 = 0000000000000001
R21 = 000000007AD7D615 R22 = 0000000000000000 R23 = 00000003DB2D0040
R24 = 0000000000000001 R25 = 000000007B65A8E0 R26 = 0000000000000000
R27 = 0000000000640220 R28 = FFFFFFFF80432EC0 R29 = 000000007AD7D290
SP = 000000007AD7D290 PC = FFFFFFFF804355E8 PS = 100000000000001B
<-------

and if i remove the /protect option, it image works fine..

what may be the problem out here?

/Manesh

[Ian Miller.]

looks like a bug that should be reported to HP.

[Hein van den Heuvel]

It the image supposed to be installed protected? Apparently not!

What makes you believe it should be installed/protected?

Does it work /protected on an other box?
(which version?)

If this is an official applicaton, then you might want to identify it as others may know more, knowing the application/product.

$ help install create /prot
INSTALL
CREATE
/PROTECTED
/PROTECTED
/NOPROTECTED (default)

Installs the file as a known image that is protected from
user-mode and supervisor-mode write access. You can write into
the image only from executive or kernel mode. The /PROTECTED
qualifier together with the /SHARE qualifier are used to
implement user-written services, which become privileged
shareable images.

Before we cry wolf (report bug to HP), with the info prsented so far, and the help text above we have to assume /protec is doing its job and protecting the images from being stomped on.
That PC is a bit high though...
Not regular user code.
May run with debugger, set watc /excep and look around? oh wait... can that be done with a protected image in play?

Hope this helps some,
Hein van den Heuvel (at gmail dot com)
HvdH Performance Consulting

[Manesh Sasankan]

Thanks for ur replies!!!

The same thing worked in a OpenVMS Alpha 7.3-2 box and also it is working in a OpenVMS ia64 8.2-1 box.

May run with debugger, set watc /excep and look around? oh wait... sorry i didn't understand what u meant!!!

[Hein van den Heuvel]

COuld still be an application problem, but it sounds more and more like a real bug.

Best invoke HP support asap.

Cheers,
Hein.

[Hoff · Accepted solution]

Look at the running system and find out what OpenVMS code is executing at 804355E8, as it appears that is trying to reference an area that is protected against access. That can help you track down the system service involved here. (If you have the source listings, this effort is rather easier.)

It's pretty easy for a system service to get tangled with a bad address or a stomped stack, and that address 0006400C4 looks mildly suspect. (It could easily be two words, for instance.)

Before calling in HP support, I'd run the code forward with tracing statements or other techniques, and find out where the code blows up at run-time. (If and when you call in HP, they're either going to have to sort out how to do that, or they'll ask you to do it -- and you can do it faster, and narrow down the search area significantly.)

Also ensure you have current ECOs loaded. There are a number of mandatory ECOs for OpenVMS Alpha V8.2 at ftp://ftp.itrc.hp.com/openvms_patches/alpha/V8.2/

Oh, and having the application work correctly on OpenVMS I64 V8.2-1 and OpenVMS Alpha V7.3-2 is interesting and useful, but is hardly conclusive. Some latent bugs -- whether lurking in OpenVMS or in application code -- are rather good at hiding themselves. Silent run-time corruptions might not be noticed, for instance. For decades.

Stephen Hoffman
HoffmanLabs LLC

[Hein van den Heuvel]

From a reliable, anonymous source....

"Very likely no bug in VMS INSTALL/image activation. It is likely that
the PC is in a resident image like DECC$SHR or friends. It is possible
that the protected image tries to call out during image initialization
and (other than in the other environment) an address is no longer mapped.

It is also possible that the protected shareable image was incorrectly
linked so that now the image calls out during image initialization.

It is possible that the protected image allocated memory during image
initialization in an inner mode which now can't be accessed from user mode."

Hein.

[Manesh Sasankan]

This same problem was reported by one of our customer in OpenVMS 8.2 Alpha & thats when i started to reproduce the same error with our application.

Thanks for sending that link of ECO's. I'll take a look at it.

Here i don't know how to do the code forward with the tracing statements to find out the problem in code. Could anyone help me to do that? First of all, i don't have the source code in this box. If i had the code, i would have used the C debugger to find the problem!!!

Thanks,
Manesh