COPY/RECORDABLE_MEDIA Unavailable in OpenVMS 8.3 for Alpha?

[jachrist]

I have an ES45 running OpenVMS 8.3 fo Alpha and I have been researching hwo to burn CDs and DVDs.  I believe I foudn the necessary info on how to accomplish this but I noticed that the guidence from HP indicates that you must use the COPY/RECORDABLE_MEDIA command.

This is not a valid command on my system.  There is nothign about it in the help file.  I cannot seem to find any indication that I need to download this or install it from a freeware disk.

Can anyone advise me as to how to obtain the necessary software or to activate the use of this command switch?

Many thanks.

[Hoff · Accepted solution]

It appears that the standard HELP library (or an upgrade or a patch?) might have an issue or an omission, as I note another OpenVMS Alpha V8.3 system that lacks this text.  (That's fodder for further discussion with the HP support folks, if you're inclined.  Regardless, this tool and this command is present in OpenVMS V8.3 and later.)

It's certainly possible that somebody's messed with the COPY CLD file, if your "This is not a valid command on my system. " indicates that you've tried the COPY /RECORDABLE_MEDIA command and it's not in the command tables or otherwise tossing an error.  There's a "saved" copy of the COPY.CLD that gets loaded with OpenVMS, and you can search it for details and syntax:

$ search sys$update:copy.cld recordable

(You can type that file out; it's plain-text.)  

And watch out for somebody that's set up a COPY symbol within DCL.  Aliasing commands is common, and can cause various command errors.

Here's a more detailed write-up on this tool and on the general topic: LabsNotes: Recording CD and DVD Media on OpenVMS  (What is in the VMS manuals here is pretty limited.)

Stephen Hoffman

[jachrist]

Many thanks for both replies! It seems that this command was there. I cannot say how this happened; perhaps a touch of confusion in the fingers.