I downloaded a patch from your FTP site and installed it. I get the message "invalid block size" error. What does this mean? How do I install the patch?

Question:

I downloaded a patch from your FTP site and installed it. I get the message "invalid block size" error. What does this mean? How do I install the patch?

Answer:

The problem was probably caused by the wrong format and attributes being applied to the patch when you unzipped it. Chances are that many, if not most, of the files can produce this error

To determine if this is the problem, verify the format of the saveset file by entering:

$ BACKUP/LIST kitname.A/SAVE

kitname is the name of the patch kit with the .A extension that you extracted.

All the patch kits for MultiNet and TCPware are VMS backup savesets in ZIP format. This is so you can download a patch to any platform (VMS, NT, UNIX, etc.) and later transfer it to your VMS system.

The zip files are the same zip format as the PC, and although unzipping them using a PC-based program separates the files correctly, the program applies the wrong format and attributes to the files. Only VMS can apply these correctly to a backup saveset file.

You can use either of two methods to correctly download and unzip patch kit files. The first is the recommended method:

? FTP the VMS unzip utility from the PSC website at ftp://ftp.multinet.process.com/patches/

Set your FTP client to BINARY or IMAGE, then download UNZIP.EXE (for VAX/VMS) or UNZIP_ALPHA.EXE (for Alpha/VMS) to the SYS$COMMON:[SYSEXE] directory.

Then enter the command: $MCR UNZIP patchkit.ZIP on a VAX or $MCR UNZIP_ALPHA patchkit.ZIP on an Alpha system.

? You could change the VMS attributes by entering the following VMS command:

SET FILE/ATTRIBUTES=(LRL=32256,RAT=NONE,RFM=FIX) kitname.A

March 28, 2000