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Executable image file attribute corruptions?

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The Question is:

 
Under the Hobbyist program, I have Vaxstation 4000 VLC that I need to move
 files to from my Windows NT and Sun Solaris machines. I do not have the
 Vaxstation hooked into my home network yet due to headaches with my dhcp only
 dsl connection. So instead I d
ownload the zip files in binary to one of the other machines, burn them to an
 ISO-9660 cdrom, and mount the cd on the VaxStation.
 
Two of these files is the Unzip distribution and the sfx_vax.exe file. After I
 have copied the files to the system disk, I try to copy the two files together
 and get an error that the zip file is not the expected length and the
 resulting sfx file will not
 run. I  do not have the exact error text handy as I am at work and the
 Vaxstation is at home.
 
I am very new to OpenVMS and am not sure what's happening. Any ideas on how to
 fix or avoid this damage would be greatly appreciated. I need to be able to
 get Multinet loaded to fix the network issues.
 


The Answer is :

 
  What is likely happening is a "corruption" of the file attributes on
  the executable file.  Executable files have specific file attributes,
  use DIRECTORY/FULL to examine the attrributes of an OpenVMS image and
  of the failing image, and use SET FILE/ATTRIBUTES to reset the file
  attributes to match.  The SET FILE command is most commonly:
 
    SET FILE/ATTRIBUTES=(RFM:FIX,LRL:512,MRS:512,RAT:NONE) filename.exe
 
  It might well be easier to temporarily configure DHCP or static IP
  addresses and use FTP network transfers, as the current approach
  injects several additional layers of potential complexity -- getting
  OpenVMS to participate on an existing IP network is likely going to
  easier for a user inexperienced with OpenVMS than is a multiple-step
  mixed-media mixed-file-structure heterogeneous file transfer.  (Both
  are, of course, quite possible.)
 
  That said, you will want to use current Zip and Unzip tool versions
  on OpenVMS (see the OpenVMS FAQ and OpenVMS Freeware), and you will
  initially want to use standard Zip and Unzip archives (and not the
  self-extracting mechanism).  The Freeware media itself is available
  for a replication charge, see the FAQ for ordering information.
 
  In addition to the third-party Multinet package, the Compaq TCP/IP
  Services package -- which supports DHCP client and server -- is
  available on the Hobbyist program.
 
 

answer written or last revised on ( 23-AUG-2001 )

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