topic Re: New download site for patches in Operating System - OpenVMS

New download site for patches

Willem Grooters — Tue, 12 Aug 2003 08:33:52 GMT

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It seems HP directs all it's customers to ONE download site for patches: within ITRC.hp.com In itself I have no problem here, were it not that I have quite a problem with it: I try to look for patches on openvms.compaq.com once a months or so, and by the date listed I know what patches have at least been downloaded, if not installed already.
On ITRC however, I need to know either patch_id (which tells NOTHING about it's contents, if HP-UX's type of Id will be used), or some keyword. Browsing the list tells me what patches are available (in alfabetical order) but not the date of release, nor if it's a public patch or a specific one.
The only advantage is the selection OS version.

What I would like is at least a sort on release date, and an indication whether the patch is public or for registered users only.

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Furthermore, it seems that the releasenotes are now in HTML - which causes quite a problem if your printer doesn't understand postscript. Could the releasenotes be stored in plain text again, please - ANY browser can cope with it. I'm not interrseted in nice gadgets on the screen (nor in Javascript etc).

Re: New download site for patches

John Gillings — Wed, 13 Aug 2003 01:27:46 GMT

Willem,
I've passed on your comments to those responsible for the patch release process.

Re: New download site for patches

Robert Atkinson — Wed, 13 Aug 2003 12:19:25 GMT

Willem, I don't know if it will remain, but ftp1.support.compaq.com/public/vms/axp/ will still give you a 'proper' list of patches.

Rob.

Re: New download site for patches

Art Wiens — Wed, 13 Aug 2003 13:17:13 GMT

I must agree with Willem. Why would the "date released" information have been dropped?! Alphabetical listing is nice, but not at all convenient to determine what's new "at a glance".

HP Web developers, have a look at the existing layout on http://ftp.support.com(.au)/pub...
I think it's a great presentation of the information "we - the customer" require and also flexible enough to able to sort in various ways.

Also, will there be an actual FTP site where patches will be available, or is it all just going to be "point/click/save as"? If one needs to get a whole series of patches, this will be inconvenient.

My .02,
Art

Re: New download site for patches

Rob Buxton — Wed, 13 Aug 2003 21:27:57 GMT

John,

Your Aussie site had two sort mechanisms that are lacking from the new ITRC Site.

Sort by Severity, using this I could quickly review all Level 1 Patches.
Sort by Date, used this to check if anything new has come up.

The sort I used least was Alphabetically!

On the number of stars front, I was intrigued to see the DECWindows MUP only warranted 2 stars indicating it hadn't been stress tested?

Re: New download site for patches

Willem Grooters — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 05:56:45 GMT

There seems to be another concern: on the FTP site. See any forum on www.openvms.org.
IS THIS TRUE?
Then HP is simply NOT LISTENING. Quite some users use FTP - and I know some would eventually prefer DECNet FAL if it were available - so removing teh facility is a BAD idea as well.

Re: New download site for patches

Martin P.J. Zinser — Sun, 17 Aug 2003 02:01:50 GMT

Another issue: The website from "downunder" limited the list to current patches. E.g. OpenVMS
7.3-1 Upd 1 superseeded a whole bunch of earlier patches, which are not listed since then anymore on the old site. The new site OTOH still lists everything. So it may easily happen that a customer gets confused and installs stuff on a system that already is outdated.

Re: New download site for patches

John Gillings — Sun, 17 Aug 2003 07:20:58 GMT

FTP access is via ftp.itrc.hp.com

The ability to download many patches with "one click" on the ITRC site is much better than on the Colorado or Sydney sites.

The patch distribution people are listening, and will do their best to accomodate requests.

Please feel free to send feedback and suggestions about patch distribution to MrVMS@hp.com

Re: New download site for patches

Ian Cowper — Tue, 26 Aug 2003 07:56:11 GMT

Glad to hear people are listening, I for one used the date order most of the time as a means of browsing recent patches.

Re: New download site for patches

Ian Miller. — Tue, 26 Aug 2003 13:09:38 GMT

personally I use the list by Severity option on the Sydney site mostly. I hope there is still a way to do this. Also ftp access is vital for downloading direct to a VMS system.

Re: New download site for patches

Willem Grooters — Wed, 27 Aug 2003 05:16:30 GMT

Well, if we're busy expressing ourselves ;-)
I know of sites (well, people) that prefer DecNet (FAL) access for patches. I agree with them, on a VMS machine it makes dowloading patches even more simple (though I'm more familiar with TCPIP myself)