e i g h t - c u b e d . c o m, focused on OpenVMS

18-Mar-2006

XML for patches

Recently I've been thinking about XML for patches. I commented to Josh that I thought OpenVMS could do with an automated patch system, and that releasing an XML file with each patch would be a step in the right direction.

Just the other day, I expressed that opinion in a rather more public forum, and Hoff asked me to talk to him and/or management at the Bootcamp. Well, unfortunately, I won't be at the bootcamp, so I've worked up a first stab at what I think an XML file should look like for OpenVMS patches.

Here's the XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<kit xmlns="http://www.eight-cubed.com/xml/kit" xml:lang="en-us">
 <name>VMS732_SYS-V0900</name>
 <published>2006-03-09T00:00:00-05:00</published>
 <platform>ALPHA</platform>
 <osname>OpenVMS</osname>
 <osversion>V7.3-2</osversion>
 <rating>INSTALL_1</rating>
 <size units="blocks">14912</size>
 <reboot>ROLLING</reboot>
 <link
 href="ftp://ftp.itrc.hp.com/openvms_patches/alpha/V7.3-2/VMS732_SYS-V0900.PCSI-DCX_AXPEXE"
 type="application/vnd.hp.dcx" checksum="3471306534" />
 
 <supersedes>VMS732_MQ-V0400</supersedes>
 <supersedes>VMS732_SYS-V0800</supersedes>
 <mandatory>VMS732_UPDATE-V0500</mandatory>
 <mandatory>VMS732_PCSI-V0100</mandatory>
 <optional>OPTIONAL_EXAMPLE</optional>
 
 <new>
 <title>Allow Disabling Of SCSI Error Flushing Without
 Disabling Multipath Poller</title>
 
 <description type="html">
 <![CDATA[
 The existing MPDEV_POLLER parameter is used to
 enable/disable SCSI error flushing. However, this means
 that one can not disable the poller, but allow error
 flushing to continue.
 
 This change enables the use of the SYSGEN parameter
 MPDEV_D3 as an additional control over SCSI error
 flushing. The default setting for MPDEV_D3 is 0, which
 will allow SCSI error flushing to work. Any non-zero
 value will disable error flushing. The previous
 behaviour of disabling error flushing by disabling the
 Multipath poller is preserved.
 
 ]]>
 </description>
 <file>
 <name>[SYS$LDR]MULTIPATH.EXE</name>
 </file>
 <file>
 <name>[SYS$LDR]MULTIPATH.STB</name>
 </file>
 <file>
 <name>[SYS$LDR]MULTIPATH_MON.EXE</name>
 </file>
 <file>
 <name>[SYS$LDR]MULTIPATH_MON.STB</name>
 </file>
 </new>
 
 <change>
 <title>Performance Degradation</title>
 <description type="html">
 <![CDATA[
 When a single global section contains thousands of
 pshared objects, large multiprocessor systems can
 experience poor performance and very high MP_Synch times.
 
 ]]>
 </description>
 <file>
 <name>[SYS$LDR]PROCESS_MANAGEMENT.EXE</name>
 </file>
 <file>
 <name>[SYS$LDR]PROCESS_MANAGEMENT.STB</name>
 </file>
 <file>
 <name>[SYS$LDR]PROCESS_MANAGEMENT_MON.EXE</name>
 </file>
 <file>
 <name>[SYS$LDR]PROCESS_MANAGEMENT_MON.STB</name>
 </file>
 <ticket type="cld">70-3-8448</ticket>
 <ticket type="cld">WFM3211759406-321</ticket>
 <ticket type="cld">QXCM1000282818</ticket>
 <ticket type="qar">qar example</ticket>
 <analysis type="html">
 <![CDATA[
 The method to look up a pshared object did not scale when
 there were thousands of pshared objects. This change
 modifies the method of looking up pshared objects and
 avoids the performance degradation.
 
 ]]>
 </analysis>
 <rollup>post V8.2</rollup>
 <workaround type="html">None</workaround>
 </change>
 
 <change>
 <title>MONITOR IO/ITEM=QUEUE_LENGTH Shows Non-existent IO on
 Mounted Disk IO Queue</title>
 <description type="html">
 <![CDATA[
 After executing a SYSMAN> IO SCSI_PATH_VERIFY command, a
 MONITOR IO/ITEM=QUEUE_LENGTH command will show items on
 the I/O queue of mounted disks when the disks are not
 doing I/O.
 
 ]]>
 </description>
 <file>
 <name>[SYS$LDR]IO_ROUTINES.EXE</name>
 </file>
 <file>
 <name>[SYS$LDR]IO_ROUTINES.STB</name>
 </file>
 <file>
 <name>[SYS$LDR]IO_ROUTINES_MON.EXE</name>
 </file>
 <file>
 <name>[SYS$LDR]IO_ROUTINES_MON.STB</name>
 </file>
 <ticket type="cld">QXCM1000226224</ticket>
 <analysis type="html">
 <![CDATA[
 Queue length is not decremented after I/O completion.
 This only happens on mounted disks, and only on the
 current path.
 
 ]]>
 </analysis>
 <rollup>post V8.2</rollup>
 <workaround type="html">None.</workaround>
 </change>
 
 <file>
 <name>[SYS$LDR]IMAGE_MANAGEMENT.EXE</name>
 <id>
 <name>IMAGE_MANAGEMENT</name>
 <version>X-10A1</version>
 <build>XA99-0060111035</build>
 <linkdate>2006-02-06T10:36:14.75-05:00</linkdate>
 <linkerid>A11-50</linkerid>
 <checksum>4049162507</checksum>
 </id>
 </file>
 
 <file>
 <name>[SYS$LDR]SYS$CLUSTER.EXE</name>
 <id>
 <name>SYS$CLUSTER</name>
 <version>X-4</version>
 <build>XA99-0060110006</build>
 <linkdate>2006-01-30T13:25:13.13-05:00</linkdate>
 <linkerid>A11-50</linkerid>
 <checksum>1762253366</checksum>
 </id>
 </file>
 
 <file>
 <name>[SYS$LDR]PROCESS_MANAGEMENT_MON.STB</name>
 </file>
</kit>

And here's a RELAX NG compact grammar to validate it. This is the first time I've worked with RELAX NG, so I'm sure there's a whole bunch wrong. I cribbed most of it from the Atom specification.

# -*- rnc -*-
   # RELAX NG Compact Syntax Grammar for the
   # Kit Specification Version 1
   # Extensive reference was made to the Atom Format Grammar by Norman Walsh
   # in writing this grammar.
 
   namespace kit = "http://www.eight-cubed.com/xml/kit"
   namespace xhtml = "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
   namespace s = "http://www.ascc.net/xml/schematron"
   namespace local = ""
 
   start = kitKit
 
   # Common attributes
 
   kitCommonAttributes =
      attribute xml:lang { kitLanguageTag }?,
      undefinedAttribute*
 
   # Text Constructs
 
   kitPlainTextConstruct =
      kitCommonAttributes,
      attribute type { "text" | "html" }?,
      text
 
   kitXHTMLTextConstruct =
      kitCommonAttributes,
      attribute type { "xhtml" },
      xhtmlDiv
 
   kitTextConstruct = kitPlainTextConstruct | kitXHTMLTextConstruct
 
   # Date Construct
 
   kitDateConstruct =
      kitCommonAttributes,
      xsd:dateTime
 
   # kit:kit
 
   kitKit =
      [
         s:rule [
            context = "kit:kit"
            s:assert [
               test = "kit:new or kit:change"
               "A kit:kit must have a kit:new or a kit:change or both."
            ]
         ]
      ]
      element kit:kit {
         kitCommonAttributes,
         (kitName+
          & kitPublished+
          & kitPlatform+
          & kitOSName+
          & kitOSVersion+
          & kitRating+
          & kitSize+
          & kitReboot+
          & kitLink+),
          ( kitSupersedes*
          & kitMandatory*
          & kitOptional*
          & kitNew*
          & kitChange*
          & kitFile*)
      }
 
   kitName =
      element kit:name {
        xsd:string { minLength = "1" }
      }
 
   kitPublished =
      element kit:published {
        kitDateConstruct
      }
 
   kitPlatform =
      element kit:platform { "VAX" | "ALPHA" | "IPF" }
 
   kitOSName =
      element kit:osname { "OpenVMS" }
 
   kitOSVersion =
      element kit:osversion {
        xsd:string { minLength = "1" }
      }
 
   kitRating =
      element kit:rating { "INSTALL_1" | "INSTALL_2" | "INSTALL_3" }
 
   kitSize =
      element kit:size {
        attribute units { "bytes" | "blocks" },
        xsd:integer
      }
 
   kitReboot =
      element kit:reboot { "YES" | "NO" | "ROLLING" }
 
   kitSupersedes =
      element kit:supersedes {
        xsd:string { minLength = "1" }
      }
 
   kitMandatory =
      element kit:mandatory {
        xsd:string { minLength = "1" }
      }
 
   kitOptional =
      element kit:optional {
        xsd:string { minLength = "1" }
      }
 
   kitLink =
      element kit:link {
        attribute href { kitUri },
        attribute type { kitMediaType }?,
        attribute checksum { xsd:integer },
        undefinedContent
      }
 
   kitNew =
      element kit:new {
        element kit:title { xsd:string { minLength = "1" } }+
        & element kit:description { kitTextConstruct }+
        & element kit:file { kitFileConstruct }*
        & element kit:analysis { kitTextConstruct }*
        & element kit:ticket { kitTicketConstruct }*
        & element kit:rollup { xsd:string { minLength = "1" } }*
        & element kit:workaround { kitTextConstruct }*
      }
 
   kitChange =
      element kit:change {
        element kit:title { xsd:string { minLength = "1" } }+
        & element kit:description { kitTextConstruct }+
        & element kit:file { kitFileConstruct }*
        & element kit:analysis { kitTextConstruct }*
        & element kit:ticket { kitTicketConstruct }*
        & element kit:rollup { xsd:string { minLength = "1" } }*
        & element kit:workaround { kitTextConstruct }*
      }
 
   kitFile =
      element kit:file {
        kitFileConstruct
      }
 
   # File Construct
   kitFileConstruct =
      element kit:name { xsd:string { minLength = "1" } }
      & element kit:id {
          element kit:name { xsd:string { minLength = "1" } }
          & element kit:version { xsd:string { minLength = "1" } }
          & element kit:build { xsd:string { minLength = "1" } }
          & element kit:linkdate { kitDateConstruct }
          & element kit:linkerid { xsd:string { minLength = "1" } }
          & element kit:checksum { xsd:integer }
        }*
 
   # Ticket Construct
   kitTicketConstruct =
        attribute type { "cld" | "qar" },
        xsd:string { minLength = "1" }
 
   # Low-level simple types
 
   # Unconstrained; it's not entirely clear how IRI fit into
   # xsd:anyURI so let's not try to constrain it here
   kitUri = text
 
   # Whatever a media type is, it contains at least one slash
   kitMediaType = xsd:string { pattern = ".+/.+" }
 
   # As defined in RFC 3066
   kitLanguageTag = xsd:string {
      pattern = "[A-Za-z]{1,8}(-[A-Za-z0-9]{1,8})*"
   }
 
   undefinedContent = (text|anyForeignElement)*
 
   undefinedAttribute =
     attribute * - (xml:base | xml:lang | local:*) { text }
 
   anyElement =
      element * {
         (attribute * { text }
          | text
          | anyElement)*
      }
 
   anyForeignElement =
      element * - kit:* {
         (attribute * { text }
          | text
          | anyElement)*
      }
 
   # XHTML
 
   anyXHTML = element xhtml:* {
      (attribute * { text }
       | text
       | anyXHTML)*
   }
 
   xhtmlDiv = element xhtml:div {
      (attribute * { text }
       | text
       | anyXHTML)*
   }
 
   # EOF

I could see this extended to other operating systems other than OpenVMS with a few minor tweaks.

Comments about all this are of course most definately welcome.

Posted at March 18, 2006 4:02 PM

Comments are closed