On Thu, 14 Apr 2022 11:37:32 +0000, Seymour J Metz <sme...@gmu.edu> wrote:
>I'm editing the wikipedia [[Operating system]] article, and another editor has
>challenged the sentence "The logic manuals for their
>contemporary descendants, z/VM, z/VSE and z/VM, are not available to the
>general public." What are the relevant URLs for IBM's
> policy? Thanks.
I've never heard of such a policy.
z/VM stopped publishing its PLMs because the effort to maintain them exceeded
their value. A vendor who needs information about z/VM internals uses their
PartnerWorld relationship to obtain it. That said, for historical reasons the
PLM for CP still exists internally. I know because I made a large update to it
just a handful of years ago, but it's already out of date again. But it's
nice to hand it to a new hire and point to the parts that are still good.
Even though z/VM doesn't publish a PLM, it still publishes most of the source
code for CP and CMS. Not surprisingly, we exclude any source code that uses
unpublished elements of z/Architecture ("not otherwise described in this
publication"), uses unpublished device interfaces, or that contains other
protected intellectual property.
Tied to that are source code updates that are included with PTFs, but that's
really shipped only because we'd have to stick our fingers in the spinning fan
blades of the long-established maintenance process to stop it. If we ever
change the way we maintain the system in the field, those source code updates
may well end. But that's again a case where the only people who care are a few
vendors, and they have other resources at their disposal.
z/VM customer sysprogs in 2022 do not modify or extend CP or CMS, and the
customers do not want their IT managers to also be in the software development
business. Governance rules related to off-the-shelf hardware and software have
moved to the forefront, and you can't hold the vendor liable if you have broken
the warranty seal.
And we don't want sysprogs wasting time trying to shoot a dump. That's what
they pay IBM to do and the sooner they get the dump to us, the sooner we can
fix the problem.
Alan Altmark
IBM
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