Article 145265 of comp.os.vms:
Okay, I'll bite; here's my wish list for VMS 8.0.  Of course, some of this
stuff is actually layered products and not the OS itself.

1.  Create an entity that is like the "shared global section" but can be
paged out when no one is using it.  Then modify the image activator to create
or use such a section whenever someone runs a program using shareable images.
(This should not require privilege.)  Result:  Shareable images can actually
be shared by users, without having to be "installed" at boot time and without
wasting memory when not in use.  Unix has had this capability for a long time.

2.  Add the unix concepts of "soft links" (ln) and "permanent pipes" (mkfifo)
to the file system.  I realize that logical names were meant to do the job of
soft links, but when you try to port Unix code that uses links creatively,
the lack is a big pain.  (For one app, we wound up having to write a private
"file path preprocessor.")

3.  Make hard links (set file/enter) work safely (that is, "delete" should
actually delete the file if-and-only-if you remove its last directory entry).

4.  Have DEC C recognize the standard keyword "inline" rather than making us
use a #pragma.  And have it use the standard arrangement of which function or
struct is declared in which header file (for functions and structs not unique
to DEC).  And finally, have it search SYS$LIBRARY:SYS_C.TLB without us having
to list it on the command line!

5.  Add "environment variables" to the system.  Logical names and symbols can
be used for this, but they have side effects (logical names become candidates
for translating file paths, symbols for translating DCL commands) that can be
a big nuisance.

6.  Add an /OUTER qualifier to SET SYMBOL, so we can have DCL use local
symbols defined in the current procedure -- but NOT those of outer procedures
-- to translate commands.

7.  As much as possible, make OpenVMS VAX and OpenVMS Alpha work the same.
Make LINK /SYMBOL_VECTOR, and the upcoming pipelines, work on VAX systems as
well as Alpha systems.

8.  Make LINK's /SHARE a positional qualifier, so that simple links can refer
to shareable images without needing an options file.

John David Galt


