SYS V5.0 ECO Kit for VSI OpenVMS IA-64 V8.4-2L3
Release Notes
- Operating System:
- VSI OpenVMS IA-64 V8.4-2L3
- Kit Name:
- VMS842L3I_SYS-V0500
1. Kit Name
VMS842L3I_SYS-V0500
2. Kit Description
2.1. Installation Rating
INSTALL_1: To be installed by all customers.
This installation rating serves as a guide to which customers should apply this remedial kit.
Reference the Disclaimer of Warranty and Limitation of Liability Statement.
2.2. Reboot Requirement
A reboot is required after installing this kit.
VMS Software, Inc. strongly recommends that a reboot be performed immediately after kit installation to avoid system instability.
If you are installing this kit in an OpenVMS cluster, any systems that share the same system disk with the installing system must also be rebooted in order to make use of the new images.
2.3. Version(s) of VSI OpenVMS to Which This Kit May Be Applied
VSI OpenVMS IA-64 V8.4-2L3
3. Kits Superseded by This Kit
- VMS842L3I_SYS-V0300
- VMS842L3I_SYS-V0400
Note
There were no SYS ECO kits prior to V3.0 for VSI OpenVMS IA-64 V8.4-2L3.
This kit is named V5.0 to allow a common patch version level across all current VSI OpenVMS versions which have equivalent functionality and defect repair.
4. Kit Dependencies
None.
5. Problems Addressed in This Kit
5.1. Potential Process Crash During Exception Handling in Security Services
Problem Description
Exception handling within the security sub-system may trigger an unexpected process crash under certain conditions.
This problem is corrected with this ECO kit.
Images and/or Files Affected
- [SYS$LDR]SECURITY.EXE
- [SYS$LDR]SECURITY.STB
- [SYS$LDR]SECURITY_MON.EXE
- [SYS$LDR]SECURITY_MON.STB
VSI Case Identifier
Jira BO-1871
Release Version of VSI OpenVMS That Will Contain This Change
The next VSI OpenVMS IA-64 release after V8.4-2L3.
5.2. Potential System Service SSRVEXCEPTION Crash Under Rare Conditions
Problem Description
Under unpredictable but very rare circumstances, a NaT Consumption Fault may occur and could result in a system crash.
This behavior only occurs on VSI OpenVMS IA-64 systems and is corrected with this ECO kit.
Images and/or Files Affected
- [SYS$LDR]SYSTEM_PRIMITIVES.EXE
- [SYS$LDR]SYSTEM_PRIMITIVES.STB
- [SYS$LDR]SYSTEM_PRIMITIVES_MIN.EXE
- [SYS$LDR]SYSTEM_PRIMITIVES_MIN.STB
VSI Case Identifiers
- Jiras BO-2072, BO-2142
- Netsuite NS8283
Release Version of VSI OpenVMS That Will Contain This Change
The next VSI OpenVMS IA-64 release after V8.4-2L3.
5.3. Incorrect Final Status in Accounting Record
Problem Description
Under certain conditions, when a process aborts unexpectedly, the process termination accounting record may contain an incorrect final status code.
This behavior only occurs on VSI OpenVMS IA-64 systems and is corrected with this ECO kit.
Images and/or Files Affected
- [SYS$LDR]EXCEPTION.EXE
- [SYS$LDR]EXCEPTION.STB
- [SYS$LDR]EXCEPTION_MON.EXE
- [SYS$LDR]EXCEPTION_MON.STB
VSI Case Identifiers
- Jiras BO-2042, BO-2043, BO-2177
- Netsuites NS7912, NS8558
Release Version of VSI OpenVMS That Will Contain This Change
The next VSI OpenVMS IA-64 release after V8.4-2L3.
6. Problems Addressed From Previous Kits
6.1. System Crashes With DELCONPFN Bugcheck During Process Rundown
Problem Description
The system may crash with a DELCONPFN bugcheck while deleting the process page table during process rundown.
This problem only occurs on systems with more than 128 GB of memory-resident global sections while deleting the process mapping to such global sections.
This problem is corrected with this ECO kit.
Images and/or Files Affected
- [SYS$LDR]SYS$VM.EXE
- [SYS$LDR]SYS$VM.STB
VSI Case Identifier
- QXCM1001722447
Release Version of VSI OpenVMS That Will Contain This Change
The next VSI OpenVMS IA-64 release after V8.4-2L3.
6.2. $CRMPSC System Service Failure Due to Page Count Overflow
Problem Description
The $CRMPSC system service may incorrectly handle an overflow of the page count parameter. This issue is most likely encountered when the relative page argument (RELPAG) is used.
This problem is corrected with this ECO kit.
Images and/or Files Affected
- [SYS$LDR]SYS$VM.EXE
- [SYS$LDR]SYS$VM.STB
VSI Case Identifier
- Jira BO-653
Release Version of VSI OpenVMS That Will Contain This Change
The next VSI OpenVMS IA-64 release after V8.4-2L3.
6.3. SS$_PAGOWNVIO Error With Partially Mapped Global Section
Problem Description
The $CRMPSC system service may return an SS$_PAGOWNVIO error when encountering a range of demand zero pages to remap from previous calls. This is an obscure condition which most customers will never encounter.
This problem is corrected with this ECO kit.
Images and/or Files Affected
- [SYS$LDR]SYS$VM.EXE
- [SYS$LDR]SYS$VM.STB
VSI Case Identifier
None, found during internal testing.
Release Version of VSI OpenVMS That Will Contain This Change
The next VSI OpenVMS IA-64 release after V8.4-2L3.
6.4. Spurious SECREFNEG Bugcheck During Global Section Processing
Problem Description
A synchronization issue when updating a structure that maintains the reference count for a global section could result in the reference count becoming incorrect. If this should happen, the reference count could become either too low or too high.
If the reference count becomes too low, this can lead to SECREFNEG system crashes. If the reference count becomes too high, then a global section may not get deleted when there are no longer any processes referencing the global section.
This patch corrects the synchronization issue when manipulating the global section reference count.
Images and/or Files Affected
- [SYS$LDR]SYS$VM.EXE
- [SYS$LDR]SYS$VM.STB
- [SYS$LDR]SYSTEM_PRIMITIVES.EXE
- [SYS$LDR]SYSTEM_PRIMITIVES.STB
- [SYS$LDR]SYSTEM_PRIMITIVES_MIN.EXE
- [SYS$LDR]SYSTEM_PRIMITIVES_MIN.STB
VSI Case Identifiers
- Jira BO-707
- Netsuite NS2318
Release Version of VSI OpenVMS That Will Contain This Change
The next VSI OpenVMS IA-64 release after V8.4-2L3.
6.5. Performance Degradation After Installing SYS V3.0 ECO Kit
Problem Description
The SYS V3.0 ECO kit included several synchronization fixes which prevented potential system crashes. However, the behavior of how these changes interacted together had an inadvertent side effect.
An optimization for handling multiple page address ranges during the creation or mapping of global sections was effectively disabled. Applications with a significant reliance on this global section behavior could experience a noticeable performance degradation.
The affected behavior has been adjusted to have the required synchronization but also re-enable the performance optimization. With the change in this kit, the performance of the various $CRMPSC services has been restored to the same level as before installing the SYS V3.0 ECO kit.
Images and/or Files Affected
- [SYS$LDR]SYS$VM.EXE
- [SYS$LDR]SYS$VM.STB
VSI Case Identifiers
- Jira BO-1649
- Netsuite NS6705
Release Version of VSI OpenVMS That Will Contain This Change
The next VSI OpenVMS IA-64 release after V8.4-2L3.
6.6. ANALYZE/CRASH Cannot Analyze System Crash Dump File
Problem Description
Attempting to analyze a crash dump file with ANALYZE/CRASH may
fail with an SDA-E-UNEXPECTED message similar to:
%SDA-E-UNEXPECTED, unexpected "Unknown" LMB in file #1 at VBN 01400051
This condition occurs if a memory section written to a dump file was incompletely saved, for example if the space reserved for saving the crash dump file was too small or if writing the dump file was interrupted.
Rather than exit from ANALYZE/CRASH, SDA will now issue the
message to describe that some of the dump file cannot be interpreted, but then
continue execution to allow analysis of already successfully read portions of the
dump file.
Images and/or Files Affected
- [SYSLIB]SDA$SHARE.EXE
VSI Case Identifiers
- Jira KT-194
- Netsuite NS5745
Release Version of VSI OpenVMS That Will Contain This Change
The next VSI OpenVMS IA-64 release after V8.4-2L3.
7. Images or Files Replaced
[SYS$LDR]SECURITY.EXE
| Image Name: | "SECURITY" |
| Image File Identification: | "X-5" |
| Image Build Identification: | "XFWL-C6E-000211" |
| Link Identification: | "Linker I02-37" |
| Link Date/Time: | 29-AUG-2026 04:16:32.82 |
| Image Checksum (MD5): | B5A30F087A91482C8BF04856607D770F |
[SYS$LDR]SECURITY.STB
| File Creation Date and Time: | 29-AUG-2026 04:16:33.12 |
| Checksum (MD5): | F53D3EA5BA27E6A70565417670C9F56B |
[SYS$LDR]SECURITY_MON.EXE
| Image Name: | "SECURITY_MON" |
| Image File Identification: | "X-5" |
| Image Build Identification: | "XFWL-C6E-000211" |
| Link Identification: | "Linker I02-37" |
| Link Date/Time: | 29-AUG-2026 04:16:33.44 |
| Image Checksum (MD5): | 2D0C5548FD6C9F7FE1AC2B5609053416 |
[SYS$LDR]SECURITY_MON.STB
| File Creation Date and Time: | 29-AUG-2026 04:16:33.49 |
| Checksum (MD5): | 769951F88F85B8688CA8B59B8AA36B8F |
[SYS$LDR]SYS$VM.EXE
| Image Name: | "SYS$VM" |
| Image File Identification: | "X-5" |
| Image Build Identification: | "XFWL-C6E-000211" |
| Link Identification: | "Linker I02-37" |
| Link Date/Time: | 29-AUG-2026 04:16:37.71 |
| Image Checksum (MD5): | 62EF8E05BE368A00D9C5427748831BC5 |
[SYS$LDR]SYS$VM.STB
| File Creation Date and Time: | 29-AUG-2026 04:16:43.14 |
| Checksum (MD5): | CA17F565113AEC99D971014BA9A6F8CB |
[SYS$LDR]SYSTEM_PRIMITIVES.EXE
| Image Name: | "SYSTEM_PRIMITIVES" |
| Image File Identification: | "X-5" |
| Image Build Identification: | "XFWL-C6E-000211" |
| Link Identification: | "Linker I02-37" |
| Link Date/Time: | 29-AUG-2026 04:16:49.96 |
| Image Checksum (MD5): | DE060C24A229523966F4C04194AB0369 |
[SYS$LDR]SYSTEM_PRIMITIVES.STB
| File Creation Date and Time: | 29-AUG-2026 04:16:51.93 |
| Checksum (MD5): | F53984E6537874296D9E7EE185D3B3A7 |
[SYS$LDR]SYSTEM_PRIMITIVES_MIN.EXE
| Image Name: | "SYSTEM_PRIMITIVES_MIN" |
| Image File Identification: | "X-5" |
| Image Build Identification: | "XFWL-C6E-000211" |
| Link Identification: | "Linker I02-37" |
| Link Date/Time: | 29-AUG-2026 04:16:52.66 |
| Image Checksum (MD5): | F052B2EB82C8EADBC489D663FE94D7CC |
[SYS$LDR]SYSTEM_PRIMITIVES_MIN.STB
| File Creation Date and Time: | 29-AUG-2026 04:16:53.45 |
| Checksum (MD5): | 72ADE670DA5C221C7AFE6FB0F98E0274 |
[SYSLIB]SDA$SHARE.EXE
| Image Name: | "SDA$SHARE" |
| Image File Identification: | "X-2" |
| Image Build Identification: | "XFWL-C6E-000211" |
| Link Identification: | "Linker I02-37" |
| Link Date/Time: | 29-AUG-2026 06:25:14.64 |
| Image Checksum (MD5): | 3B6986F33B6F1DA55F0384173B303F93 |
Note
VMS Software, Inc. will only distribute kits in signed form. There is no need for most customers to compare file checksums for security or kit integrity reasons.
However, some sites may require such checking even when using signed kits. The image or file checksums (in MD5 format) are supplied to provide comparisons to the extracted final kit files. To find a file checksum, use:
$ CHECKSUM/ALGORITHM=MD5 filename
$ SHOW SYMBOL CHECKSUM$CHECKSUMNote
Because a file or image may be replaced by multiple ECO kits over time, a PCSI
generation number is used to ensure that the latest version of the file or image is
preserved on your system during PRODUCT INSTALL of an ECO kit.
Should a particular kit installation discover a newer version of a file or image in
place on the system disk, the following message will be displayed:
%PCSI-I-RETAIN, file filename will not be replaced because file from kit has lower generation numberThis is a normal occurrence depending on the order of kit installation. The
correct version of the file or image will remain on the system after the current kit
installation. The %PCSI-I-RETAIN message is informational only and does
not indicate a problem.
8. Installation Instructions
8.1. Compressed File
This kit is provided for download within a ZIP archive container file.
The kit files may be extracted on any system with UNZIP and copied to your OpenVMS system, or extracted on your OpenVMS system directly.
Assuming you have created an UNZIP symbol to invoke the UNZIP image, you can invoke UNZIP to unpack the kit on OpenVMS using the command:
$ UNZIP VMS842L3I_SYS-V0500
This will extract the installable PCSI product kit file and its
associated signed manifest (_VNC file), used for kit validation
during PRODUCT commands.
VSI strongly recommends always using the manifest to validate the kit
content during any PRODUCT commands. This will occur automatically
if the files are both contained in the same directory.
UNZIP Tool Availability
Most customers likely have already installed a set of ZIP and UNZIP tools on their VSI OpenVMS systems. Should you need these tools, a set of the Info-ZIP freeware ZIP and UNZIP tools for VSI OpenVMS is available for download on the web at this address: https://vmssoftware.com/community/freeware/.
8.2. Installation Command
Install this kit with the POLYCENTER Software Installation Utility by logging into the SYSTEM account and typing the following command at the DCL prompt:
$ PRODUCT INSTALL VMS842L3I_SYS [/SOURCE=location_of_kit]The kit location may be a tape drive, CD/DVD, or a disk directory that contains the kit. The /SOURCE qualifier
is not needed if the PRODUCT INSTALL command is executed from the
same directory as the kit location.
This kit requires the use of /RECOVERY_MODE and
/SAVE_RECOVERY_DATA and will automatically set them; they do
not need to be present on the command line.
The release notes for any kit may be extracted prior to kit installation using the
PRODUCT EXTRACT RELEASE_NOTES command.
User-selectable options for installation behavior and scripting are available in this kit, refer to Appendix A, "User-Selectable Control Options and Scripting Considerations" for further details.
Additional help on installing PCSI kits can be found by typing HELP
PRODUCT INSTALL at the system prompt.
9. Copyright
VMS SOFTWARE, INC. CONFIDENTIAL. This software is confidential proprietary software licensed by VMS Software, Inc., and is not authorized to be used, duplicated, or disclosed to anyone without the prior written permission of VMS Software, Inc.
Copyright 2026 VMS Software, Inc.
10. Disclaimer of Warranty and Limitation of Liability
This patch is provided as is, without warranty of any kind. All express or implied conditions, representations, and warranties, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for particular purpose, or non-infringement, are hereby excluded to the extent permitted by applicable law. In no event will VMS Software, Inc. be liable for any lost revenue or profit, or for special, indirect, consequential, incidental or punitive damages, however caused and regardless of the theory of liability, with respect to any patch made available here or to the use of such patch.
11. Patch ID
I64VMS-VMS842L3I_SYS-V0500--4
Note
The terms "ECO kit" and "patch kit" may be used interchangeably in this document. This also applies for other VSI OpenVMS documentation when describing PCSI kits that provide remedial updates to a particular product.
A. User-Selectable Control Options and Scripting Considerations
A.1. Controlling Kit Behavior for Introductory Questions
This kit provides user-selectable control options for kit dialogue interaction and automated scripting capability as described here in this appendix.
The general form of a VSI OpenVMS ECO kit, when using PRODUCT
INSTALL, consists of three initial questions regarding these
topics:
System disk backup: A reminder that VSI recommends backing up the system disk before installing updates, followed by a
Do you want to continue?YES/NO question, default isYES.Reboot requirement: A summary of whether the kit being installed requires a system reboot, followed by a
Do you want to continue?YES/NO question, default isYES.Archival of updated files: A description of saving an "_OLD" copy of each image or file updated by the kit, followed by a
Do you want to save "_OLD" copies of replaced files?YES/NO question, default isNO.
Other questions may be asked later, depending on the target disk or system environment or other kit-specific requirements.
Note
An initial Do you want to continue? question may be asked
directly by the PCSI utility during any PRODUCT command—this
has nothing to do with the kit being used. To avoid that question, you must
supply sufficient detail to uniquely identify the product you wish to use and
specify /OPTIONS=NOCONFIRM on the PRODUCT
command.
Control options are available to customize the dialogue for the initial three kit questions. The controls are logical names, which may be defined in the process logical name table with a value of YES or NO.
To modify the behavior of a VSI OpenVMS ECO kit regarding the initial questions,
define one or more of the following logical names before issuing the
PRODUCT INSTALL command.
To skip one or more of the questions, define the corresponding logical name shown here to YES:
SKIP$BACKUP Skips system backup awareness question. SKIP$REBOOT Skips system reboot awareness question. SKIP$ARCHIVE_OLD Skips question about saving "_OLD" files. This will take the default, which is NO. SKIP$INTRO Skips all three of the above questions. To specifically override the default for saving "_OLD" files, define this logical name to YES or NO:
VSIKIT$ARCHIVE_OLD Sets an answer for saving "_OLD" files behavior. This will skip the archive "_OLD" files question regardless of the above SKIP$* logical names. Two additional logical names may be defined as YES to modify the amount of explanatory text displayed for each question:
VSIKIT$VERBOSE Shows all explanatory text for questions. VSIKIT$BRIEF Skips some general details in the explanations. The default if neither name is defined is VERBOSE. If both names are defined to YES, VERBOSE overrides BRIEF. The BRIEF form is displayed for any questions that are skipped.
For example, to skip all three questions but save an archive "_OLD" copy of each replaced file:
$ DEFINE VSIKIT$ARCHIVE_OLD YES
$ DEFINE SKIP$INTRO YES
$ PRODUCT INSTALL kitnameA.2. Standard Behavior for YES/NO Questions Asked During Kit Installation
Any YES/NO questions asked during kit installation now follow these rules:
Ctrl/Y issued while a question is being asked will force the current
PRODUCToperation to terminate. This is completely safe to do while the initial three questions are being asked duringPRODUCT INSTALLas no changes have yet been made to the target disk.Some questions may ignore Ctrl/Y and ask for a specific answer (for example, if aborting the current operation may have side effects for the system). Additionally, note the following:
PCSI may trap Ctrl/Y directly for some
PRODUCToperations.Ctrl/Y may be disabled during some sensitive kit processing.
The default YES/NO answer is automatically chosen if a kit is installed from a batch job, unless explicitly overridden by a logical name that provides the particular value, such as VSIKIT$ARCHIVE_OLD.
A.3. Installing a Kit From a Batch Job
To install a kit from a batch job, you will need to fully qualify the kit name so PCSI will have enough information to select the kit without asking for confirmation. For example, to install this kit:
$ PRODUCT INSTALL VMS842L3I_SYS/VERSION=V5.0/OPTIONS=NOCONFIRM
/SOURCE=location_of_the_kitFor a batch job, any YES/NO question will automatically select the default answer. Use the control logical names explained above to modify the behavior if necessary. For the system disk backup and reboot questions, the batch behavior is identical to the default. For the save "_OLD" files question, define the VSIKIT$ARCHIVE_OLD logical name to YES if you want to save copies of the files, since the batch default is NO.
A.4. Deprecated Logical Names From HPE ECO Kits
The three names listed below were used by older VSI OpenVMS ECO kits for compatibility with HPE ECO kit behavior. These old names continue to function, but VSI encourages you to modify any scripts you may have to use the new names shown instead:
| Old Name | New Name |
|---|---|
| NO_ASK$BACKUP | SKIP$BACKUP |
| NO_ASK$REBOOT | SKIP$REBOOT |
| ARCHIVE_OLD | VSIKIT$ARCHIVE_OLD |