There is a critical bug in the included versions of DECthreads of all versions of OpenVMS through V7.0. This bug will seriously impact the use of multithreaded programs in PMDF V5.1 and later. It also has a minor impact on the multithreaded SMTP server and client in PMDF V5.0.
Specifically, calls to DECthreads functions that have a timed-wait will cease to function correctly beginning 19-May-1997.
In PMDF V5.1, all multithreaded programs on OpenVMS now work with the Dispatcher. The Dispatcher makes heavy use of timed-wait functions and will not work correctly with this bug. In PMDF V5.0, the multithreaded SMTP server does make some use of a timed-wait function, but we believe that the impact will be minimal for the multithreaded SMTP server and client.
Compaq does have a patch available and we are requiring that all PMDF sites
retrieve and install this patch. Not having this patch installed will be
considered an unsupported
configuration. Note that this patch
applies to VMS V5.5 through V7.0 (it is fixed in V7.1).
More detailed information about this patch can be obtained from Compaq.
The patch is ALPLIBR05_070 (OpenVMS Alpha V6.1-V7.0) and VAXLIBR06_070 (OpenVMS VAX V5.5-V7.0). This patch corrects a number of problems, but notably:
The 10,000 day limit in LIB$CVT_TO_INTERNAL_TIME causes problems for DECthreads since it is using this routine to convert Unix times to VAX time. It will fail to work on 19-May-1997.
This patch is required for PMDF multithreaded programs and should be installed as soon as possible. If you have any questions regarding patch availability or technical specifics about these patches, please contact Compaq. If you have questions about how these patches affect PMDF, feel free to send mail to support@process.com.
