🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Sep2.022201.1@sejnet.sunet.se>, ERIC@SEARN.SUNET.SE writes...
>A long time ago I used to be able to get patches on the phone from my vendor,
>or short "updates" (basically source code patches). ...
>I now need hours to
>do what I used to do in 5 minutes and reliability was MUCH better back then.

	Mercifully I'm not generally involved at this now, but I once was,
	in the early days of RSX on 11s. I remember one series of patches.

	Patch I		Reported to fix a problem that odd parity did not work
			right on a single line DC interface.

	Patch II	Fixed the problem that patch I fixed odd parity, but
			broke even parity.

	Patch III	Fixed the problem that patch II fixed even parity, but
			broke no parity.

	Point is, I soon developed an attitude that I had to become intimately
	involved with the workings of the operating system, so that I really
	understood what the problem was, and how the patch was going to fix it.
	(I also tended to stay a month or so behind patches, on purpose.)

	However, -sigh- due to the size and complexity, being intimate with VMS
	is much more of a job than with PDP11 systems, so perforce we must
	rely on the ability of the supplier. Caveat Emptor.

   Frank R. Borger - Physicist    __       Internet:  Frank@rover.uchicago.edu
Michael Reese - Univ. of Chicago |___      Phone : 312-791-8075 fax : 567-7455
  Center for Radiation Therapy   | |_) _   
    2929 South Ellis Avenue        | \|_)  I used to be Snow White, but I
    Chicago, Illinois 60616           |_)  drifted. Mae West