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diff --git a/tandem/HISTORY b/tandem/HISTORY new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fc74776 --- /dev/null +++ b/tandem/HISTORY @@ -0,0 +1,97 @@ +Tandem Port History +=================== + +Hi, I'm Dave Smith and I work at BP Oil UK, looking after their European card +processing system since 1992. We need to send lots of files via FTP to other +BP machines (Novell, NT, Sun...). Sending large files was frowned upon, so the +search for a zip product was on. + +We tried the GZIP product from Twinsoft Netherlands but it was complicated to +use and it was not widely known by other arts of BP. + +What we really wanted was a PKZIP compatible product, as this is a widely known +product. By chance when surfing the web I discovered the Info-ZIP web site. +This claimed PKZIP 2.04g compatibility and had a number of ports, was free, and +even had source code, but unfortunately no Tandem version :-( + +Thus in the autumn 1996 I bit the bullet and took on the job of porting the +code to Tandem NSK (Guardian). This meant dusting off my circa 1985 'C' +programming skills and firing up the Tandem 'C' compiler - not known for its +ease of use, especially debugging 8-; This was all on D30 by the way. + +To start this off I had to choose an existing port to base te Tandem one on. +Nearest (?) was the VM-CMS/MVS port by George Petrov. The main similarity +being that these machines are record based, and have a similarish filing system +to Guardian. + +First to be tackled was ZIP. By the end of 1996 I had a version which compiled +and ran (giving the program banner) - which seemed like a major acheivement at +the time. + +In December 1996 I forwarded a version of ZIP to Info-ZIP which wor +ked only on Edit files, and had no concept of directories. Became ZIP 2.1 + +By March 1997 I had improved ZIP so that it could cope with Unstructured files +as well (Became ZIP 2.2). I also had ported a version of UNZIP which could +create Unstructured files (not Edit) - UNZIP 5.20 + +At the start of September 1997 I sent UNZIP with Edit file support to Info-ZIP +(incorporated into 5.32) + +In March 1998 I submitted file I/O improvements (SBB) for ZIP (2.3a) + +In August 1998 I added Tandem DEFINE processing for ZIP (2.3e). This was a +feature required by BP to allow them to store files with a different internal +name than the physical file being zipped (without renaming it). +Also added storing of proper UTC timestamps which allow for DST & timezone. + +Also in August I added the same file I/O improvements for UNZIP (5.33f) + +I then added the ability to update the unzipped files last modified and last +open timestamps - this required help from TNSC to allow me access to the +priviliged procedure call. Also can give the files back to the original user +by use of the '-X' flag. + +At the end of 1998 I was given the go ahead to add the zipping of Enscribe +files. This first version stores all Enscribe file attributes EXCEPT SQL, alt +key and partition information. + +ZIP now uses its own Guardian I/O (rather than the 'C'library) for the reading +of files to be zipped. + +Unstructured files use Large Transfer mode and READ (56K or 30K reads) +Edit files use IOEdit routines +Enscribe files use READ and SBB and add LF to the end of each record. + +UNZIP has the ability to update the filecode of files restored to ther original +value (Unstructured only) + + +To Do ZIP +=========== +1. Change I/O to use NSK/Large Transfer mode in fwrite of ZIP file itself- this + will dramaticaly speed up updating an existing zipfile. When updating an + existing zipfile it copies it to a temporary file currently using only SBB. +2. Add raw binary mode to allow storing of raw data in zip file - e.g. only to + be unzipped on Tandem ! This is simplest/fastest way to provide full + Enscribe support for Tandem platform - with no cross-platform support. +3. Add SQL support !! + +To Do UNZIP +=========== +1. Re-write the I/O routines to use NSK to recreate the original Enscribe file + structure. +2. Use NSK Large Transfer mode I/O for reading/writing of ZIP file +3. Add raw binary mode to allow restoration of Tandem file from previous raw + data ZIP (see above) +4. Add SQL support !! + + + +Current Versions on Website +=========================== + +ZIP 2.2 +UNZIP 5.32 + +As of December 21 1998 |