From:	CSBVAX::CSBVAX::MRGATE::"SMTP::CRVAX.SRI.COM::RELAY-INFO-VAX"  3-FEB-1989 01:43
To:	MRGATE::"ARISIA::EVERHART"
Subj:	VMS subprocess command execution 0/2


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Date:    Fri, 3 Feb 1989 0:57:10 EST
From:    GENTZEL @ B.PSC.EDU (Dave Gentzel)
Message-Id: <890203005710.21001b51@B.PSC.EDU>
Subject: VMS subprocess command execution 0/2
To:      INFO-VAX @ KL.SRI.COM
X-Vmsmail-To: SMTP%"INFO-VAX@KL.SRI.COM"

The accompanying 2 posts constitute some code which I wrote about a year ago
to execute multiple commands in a subprocesses and pass the status of each
command back to the caller.  It was written with an eye toward enhancing one
of the various VMS versions of MAKE that have floated by to give it better
command execution.  All of the (free) versions I've seen either 1) build a
.COM file and execute it (*Yech*) or 2) LIB$SPAWN each command
(*Double*Yech*).  This code uses a scheme very similar to that used by MMS.
It uses a status mailbox to write status of each command back to the parent
process.

Unfortunately, as often happens, time dried up and I never got around to
doing the MAKE enhancements.  The subprocess code was finished, however, and
has been sitting around ever since.  I'm passing it on in the hope that
someone may find it useful (and maybe even finish the job that I didn't!).

The documentation is fairly sparse, but there is an example program which
shows its use pretty well.

If you find any bugs in the code, make any improvements, or even just find it
particularly useful, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

					Dave Gentzel
					Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
					  gentzel@godot.psc.edu
					  or gentzel@morgul.psc.edu
					  or gentzel@cpwpsca.bitnet
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``To purge a patient's rectum, nurses sometimes administer an enema.  The
  process consists of inserting a tube into the rectum and using gravitational
  force to cause liquid to flow into the rectum from a container held at a
  higher level.  Nurses are sometimes warned not to lift the can too high.  Is
  there any basis for the warning or is this just a superstition?''
					Frederick J. Bueche
					"Introduction to Physics for
					 Scientists and Engineers"
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