Specifications

Software
Product
Description
PRODUCT NAME: OpenVMS VAX Operating System, Version 5.5-2 SPD 25.01.37
Note: Digital bases a great deal of software develop-
ment on national and international standards. To em-
phasize this commitment to software standards, Digital
has revised the name of the VMS Operating System.
OpenVMS VAX is the new title for the VMS software
that runs on Digital’s VAX processors. All references
to VMS in this SPD pertain to the new title OpenVMS
VAX.
DESCRIPTION
VMS is a general-purpose multiuser operating sys-
tem that supports VAX, Micro/VAX, VAXstation, and
VAXserver series computers in both development and
production environments. VMS can be tuned to perform
well in a wide variety of applications, including compute-
intensive, Input/Output (I/O)-intensive, real-time, and
combinations of those and other environments. (Ac-
tual performance depends on the type of VAX computer,
available physical memory, and the number and type of
disk and tape drives on the system.)
VMS has well-integrated networking, distributed com-
puting, multiprocessing, and windowing capabilities.
VMS contains extensive features that promote ease-
of-use, improve the productivity of programmers, and
facilitate system management.
POSIX Support
VMS also supports a large number of industry stan-
dards, facilitating application portability and interoper-
ability. This standards support now extends to POSIX
(Portable Operating System Interface). POSIX defines
a set of interface standards for various parts of an oper-
ating system. The POSIX standards and draft standards
have been generated by the Institute of Electrical and
Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and are supported by or-
ganizations such as the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO).
"Licensee agrees to only execute Display PostScript® on those Digital computer
systems identified as licensed systems in this Software Product Description, and
that in any event licensee agrees not to make use of the software directly or in-
directly, to print bitmap images with print resolutions greater than 150 DPI, or to
generate fonts or typefaces for use other than with the Digital licensed system."
(Terms and Conditions for Display PostScript can be found in Appendix C of this
Software Product Description (SPD).)
The VMS Version 5.5-2 environment with VMS POSIX
installed includes support for the standards and draft
standards for the system application programming inter-
face (POSIX 1003.1), shell and utilities (P1003.2), and
real-time programming (P1003.4).
VMS POSIX V1.0 was granted National Institute of Stan-
dards and Technology (NIST) certification in January
1992. This means that VMS POSIX has passed the
POSIX Conformance Test Suite (PCTS) that tests for
conformance to NIST’s Federal Information Process-
ing Standard (FIPS 151-1), which is based on POSIX
1003.1-1988. VMS POSIX conforms to the POSIX
1003.1-1988 standard as required by FIPS 151-1.
XPG3 BASE Branding
The VMS V5.5-2 environment with VMS POSIX Version
1.1 and VAX C Version 3.2 installed extends the sup-
port for POSIX standards and draft standards to include
the X/Open BASE specifications defined in the X/Open
Portability Guide, Issue 3 (XPG3). The XPG3 BASE
specifications extend the system application program-
ming interface and shell and utilities offered in the IEEE
POSIX standards and draft standards. XPG3 also in-
cludes standards-based internationalization support.
The VMS environment with VMS POSIX and VAX C
installed has been awarded the X/Open XPG3 BASE
brand. Platforms and components that successfully
complete the branding process and pass X/Open Veri-
fication Test Suite for XPG3 (VSX3) are awarded the X
/Open XPG3 brand. Components must pass a series of
more than 5500 tests in VSX3 to earn the X/Open BASE
Brand. These tests ensure users that the VMS environ-
ment with VMS POSIX and VAX C installed supports the
essential set of interfaces necessary in an open system.
The inclusion of XPG3 BASE support in the VMS envi-
ronment gives application developers a broader set of
standards-based portability features to incorporate into
their applications. Most applications that strictly con-
form to the POSIX and XPG3 specifications can be de-
veloped on a VMS system with VMS POSIX and the
VAX C compiler, and then ported without modification to
any other platform that also supports the same POSIX
standards, draft standards, and XPG3 specifications.
November 2014
AE-PT7JA-TE
Important:
Please read the HP Software Technical Support section before you proceed further.