Bob Bolch wrote:
I changed the subject line to be more specific.
I caused the existing difficulty with ARCHLVL -vs- ARCHMODE
because I thought that 3.13 supported both.
And I compounded the difficulty by coding my HercGUI to summarily reject ARCHMODE (even though Hercules v4.x still accepts it (albeit with a deprecation warning)).
That was an error on my part.
And on my part as well.
However, there are more incompatibilities than just
ARCHMODE/ARCHLVL.
Indeed. New statements have been added and old ones changed or dropped altogether.
The currently available VM370CE release exposed bugs in ECPSVM
support for Hyperion only. That bug is reported as fixed, but I
have found new bugs in the operation of the CP PER command
modification, when ECPSVM YES is present in the configuration
file and Hyperion 4.4.0 is used.
Uh oh! I hope you opened a new github issue for this so we (you?) can get it fixed!
I think saying that you cannot use VM370CE with HERCGUI is not
desirable, when the change needed to allow that package to work
is trivial for the end user.
True. But what we *really* need is a foolproof(?) way of detecting which version of Hercules the user intends to use, and then using the correct (compatible) configuration file for that version.
Which of these is the most acceptable for VM370CE to supply?
1. A config file for each release.
Yes. With each clearly marked as being for what version, and separate invoking scripts for each version (e.g. "hercv3 ..." and "hercv4 ..."). Each would be identical except for which configuration file it used.
OR... perhaps some sophisticated batch file logic that determines ahead of time which version of Hercules the user has installed (is going to use) and then setting a flag telling it which config file to use.
But I agree something needs to be done.
2. One config file with tailoring instructions for other releases.
3. A small config file for each release. Each has an INCLUDE statement to
pull in the common elements. Most statements are common between releases
and would be in this common section.
That would work for Hercules since Hercules does indeed support INCLUDE statements. Unfortunately however, my HercGUI doesn't (yet). :(
4. One config file for the oldest supported Hercules release with
instructions for modifying it for other Hercules releases.
5. Same as 4, but we supply one config file for the newest release.
Between 4 and 5, I prefer 5 of course, but then I'm biased too.
A separate question is can we ever drop support for a Hercules release?
A *damn* good question!
Another question is what happens when an "old" configuration statement
like ARCHMODE stops being accepted by a newer Hercules?
Another good question.
Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Done.
--
"Fish" (David B. Trout)
Software Development Laboratories
mail: fish@...
