🚀 go-pugleaf

[please don't eat this line]

We have an 11/780 running VMS, and have experienced a very strange problem
lately.  Every now and then, while running a command file, the system just
goes out and deletes the process doing the reading.  The problem is 
reproducible -- if it happens once with a given command file, it will
happen again the next time the file is invoked.  Using "set verify", I
have noticed that the deletion occurs on just about any command, real
examples are "PRINT", "TYPE", and "INSTALL".  Editing the file will
eventually fix the problem, but sometimes 3 or more new versions need
to be created before the things work.  This gremlin just struck our
SYS$MANAGER:SYSTARTUP.COM file, which, needless to say, adversely 
affects the bootstrap process (not to mention my thanksgiving break
when the early morning phone calls come in).

Running ACC on the dead processes yields an exit status implying that
access violations have taken place.  It seems that the error must occur
in executive mode, since it causes instant termination of the process.

Has anybody seen this problem before?  Any suggestions?

Many thanks,

Jonathan Corbet
National Center for Atmospheric Research
{seismo|hplabs}!hao!boulder!jon		(Thanks to the CU CS department)

P.S.  Please, no messages telling me to run UN*X.  That is simply not
a viable option for us.  Thanks.