I generally try VMARC UNPACK first. If it fails, I try the 'fblock 80 00' approach. It usually does solve the problem. I have had infrequent cases where dumps that I have packed using VMARC could not be unpacked by the vendor without using 'FBLOCK 80 00'. It may or may not be a horrid practice; however, it is sometimes a necessity, whether horrid or not.
Regards, Richard Schuh > -----Original Message----- > From: CMSTSO Pipelines Discussion List > [mailto:cms-pipeli...@vm.marist.edu] On Behalf Of Paul Gilmartin > Sent: Monday, December 06, 2010 10:19 AM > To: CMS-PIPELINES@VM.MARIST.EDU > Subject: Re: Reblocking a binary file > > On Dec 6, 2010, at 09:47, Schuh, Richard wrote: > > > If you want the last block to be padded with binary 0s, make that > > > > ... | Fblock 100 00 | ... > > > I rarely want the last block to be padded. I consider this a > practice that conceals failures that should be discovered as > early as possible. I shudder that some IBM VM pages > recommend "... | fblock 80 xx | ..." > > A Horrid Example: > > http://www.vm.ibm.com/download/ > > - Click on the package's v, > - Instruct your browser to save the file to disk > - Upload the file to VM in BINARY > - Run the file through this pipeline (where 'fn' is the name > of the file you uploaded): > > PIPE < fn VMARC A | fblock 80 00 | > fn VMARC A F 80 > > ... if any padding occurs, it indicates a failure in the > "save" or the "upload" operation. Padding is unlikely to repair it. > > -- gil >
