Introduction to OpenVMS

OpenVMS uses the command language DCL which is not case sensitive. The commands can also be abbreviated (ex. “show default” can be “sh def”).

Dollar Universe commands on OpenVMS must respect the standard syntax of the system to enter the parameters.

Architecture

The VMS environment is composed of disks (physical or virtual), directories and subdirectories.

To access files and directories through the command line, the user can enter an absolute path or relative path.

• Absolute path: to access a directory directly from any directory or sub-directory. The path is composed of the disk name, directory and any applicable sub-directories.

set default DISK$USER:[directory.subdirectory]

• Relative path: to access a directory by moving up or down through the tree structure. The [-] symbol is used to move up one level, the [.] symbol is used to move down a level.

set default [.directory.subdirectory]

Each disk has a master directory [000000]. The diagram below demonstrates how directories and sub-directories are connected to the master directory.

Figure 5: OpenVMS Directory Structure

OpenVMS Command Language

Administration

Verify the privileges for the current user:

show process/privilege

Grant a specific privilege to the current user:

set process/privilege=(privilege_name)

Grant all privileges to the current user:

set process/privilege=all

Files and Directories

Files can have the following rights: Read, Write, Execute and Delete.

The uninstallation procedure needs to be able to delete files.

To add the license to the u_fal01i.txt file, the file must have the read, write and edit rights.

Adding rights to a file (owner rights in this example):

set security/protection=(O:RWED)filename.txt

List the files in the current directory:

directory

List the files in a specific directory:

directory disk:[directory.sub-directory]

Show the contents of the current directory:

show default

Move up a directory:

set default [-]

Move down a directory:

set default [.sub-directory]

To copy a file into a sub-directory:

copy <file_name> [.sub-directory]

To launch a command in a specific sub-directory of the current directory:

@[.directory]unistart

Delete a directory:

delete directory_name.dir;*

Delete contents of a directory:

delete/tree [.directory...]*.*;*