RE: Shared device error on Hercules 4.3

Someone whose name we don't know (because they didn't tell what it was) but whose email address is [email protected] wrote:

> I just upgraded to 4.3.999.0-SDL-ge7354375-modified and
> now have problems accessing my shared disk, which resides
> on a Raspberry pi 3 running OPENSUSE and Hercules 3.11.
> I suspect there has been a change that makes the two releases
> incompatible.

Sort of.  It all depends on who's the client and who's the server.

If your server is NOT SDL Hyperion (e.g. 3.11 as in your case) but your client is (e.g. SDL 4.3 as in your case), then yes, the SDL 4.3 client is now sending a request that the 3.11 server doesn't understand.

If your server is SDL 4.3 however and your client is 3.11, then it should work fine.

So the incompatibility is only partial.

But I suppose *technically* this should maybe be considered a bug.  SDL 4.3 shouldn't be sending the new "retrieve serial number" client request to the server if it knows the server isn't going to understand it!  That is to say, I should be checking the version of the server I'm sending my client request to before sending it.  If it's an older server that obviously doesn't understand the new request, then I shouldn't be sending it.

Please create a new GitHub Issue for this bug and I will try to get it fixed for you as quickly as possible.  Thanks for reporting it.


> I've tried to install Hercules 4.3 on the Raspberry pi, but I am
> getting gcc errors due to missing libraries, ./crypo, ./decnumber,
> ./SoftFloat, and ./telnet.

Please refer to the build instructions for SDL Hyperion 4.x.  You need to perform a one-time build of the External Packages (crypto, decnumber, softfloat and telnet) and specify a new ./configure option (or else define a new environment variable).  Once you do that, then from then on you should be able to build SDL Hyperion normally without any special steps.  (That is to say, the building of the External Packages is a one-time thing. Once you do it, you shouldn't have to do it again (unless one of the packages changes of course)).

This is explained in the SDL Hyperion build instructions and README:

  https://sdl-hercules-390.github.io/html/hercinst.html#install
  https://github.com/SDL-Hercules-390/hyperion/blob/master/README.md
  https://github.com/SDL-Hercules-390/hyperion/blob/master/readme/README.EXTPKG.md


[...]
> Is there a fix for installing Hercules on a Raspberry pi
> (preferred)

Yes.  See above.  You need to perform an additional "Build External Packages" step *first*, *BEFORE* you attempt to build SDL Hyperion for the first time.

Once this one-time build step is performed (i.e. once the external package ..lib files exist somewhere on your build system), then you should be able to build SDL Hyperion normally from then on, just like always (i.e. ./configure && make && make install, etc).


> or a compatibility fix for Hercules 4.3?

Not yet!  But there *will* be as soon as you "officially" report this bug by creating a new GitHub Issue for it:

   https://github.com/SDL-Hercules-390/hyperion/issues


Once you create the issue I'll jump right onto it and try to get it fixed for you as soon as I can.


> Is this a CKD-only error?

Since currently only CKD devices support serial numbers (SDL Hyperion only!) I believe the answer would be yes.  But as explained, that's not your problem.  Your problem is that a shared dasd client/server incompatibility was introduced recently in SDL Hyperion, making it incompatible with older servers.

As a shared dasd server, it's 100% compatible with all versions of Hercules..

As a client however, it's not.

HTH

-- 
"Fish" (David B. Trout)
Software Development Laboratories
http://www.softdevlabs.com
mail: [email protected]