vmfplc2.1(2010-08-07)

✨ vmfplc2 — the Hercules VMFPLC2 (VM) formatted tape utility ✨

okay bestie, pull up a chair because this is the manual page for vmfplc2, aka the Hercules VMFPLC2 (VM) formatted tape utility 💖 (yes the man page version is vmfplc2.1, dated 2010-08-07, we love a vintage queen 👑)

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🎀 SYNOPSIS

vmfplc2 dump <control file> <output tape file>
vmfplc2 scan <input tape file>
vmfplc2 load <input tape file>

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🦋 DESCRIPTION

It's a Hercules command to manipulate — as in create and read — VMFPLC2 formatted tapes for VM/370 use. That's it, that's the whole vibe. Making tapes, reading tapes, living your best tape life 🎀

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💅 OPTIONS

The vmfplc2 utility requires a function (dump, scan or load) followed by the names of files to process. No function, no party. Periodt.

Functions 🌸

dump

The dump function lets you create a VMFPLC2 formatted tape. Making tapes out of thin air, iconic behavior ✨

scan

The scan function lets you list the contents of a VMFPLC2 formatted tape. Peeking inside, no cap 👀

load

The load function lets you import the contents of a VMFPLC2 formatted tape unto the system. Bringing the tapes home 🫶

Control File 🍓

The control file is what lets the DUMP function figure out what files to dump and how they should be interpreted on VM. It's giving instruction manual but make it tape.

Each line has the following format :

<fn> <ft> <fm> <recfm> <lrecl> <type> <host file>

• <fn> — Is the 1 to 8 character that represents the file name. The file name can be specified as lower case, but will be translated to upper case to follow CMS conventions. Characters allowed are [A-Z], [0-9], $ (Dollar), # (Pound), @ (At), + (Plus), - (Hyphen), : (Colon) and _ (Underscore).
• <ft> — Is the 1 to 8 character that represents the file type. The file type can be specified as lower case, but will be translated to upper case to follow CMS conventions. Characters allowed are [A-Z], [0-9], $ (Dollar), # (Pound), @ (At), + (Plus), - (Hyphen), : (Colon) and _ (Underscore).
• <fm> — Is the 1 to 2 character that represents the file mode. The 1st character is a letter from A to Z and represents the "original" file mode when scanned on VM/370 (it does not force the file to be loaded on a certain disk). The second character is a digit from 0 to 6. The file mode number indicates specific behavior for the file under CMS.
• <recfm> — Indicates the record format, and should be F (for Fixed) or V (for Variable).
• <lrecl> — Indicates the logical record length. This should only be specified for RECFM F files.
• <type> — Indicates how the file is processed before being written to tape. The value can either be B (Binary), T (Textual) or S (Structured).

Binary

The file is not translated. For RECFM F files, the file is cut into records of the size of the Logical Record length specified. For RECFM V files, the file is cut into records of 65535 bytes except for the last record which has a length of the remainder of the file.

Textual

The file is translated from ASCII to EBCDIC and the trailing line termination character is removed. For RECFM F files, the record may be truncated or padded with EBCDIC X'40' characters (White space). For RECFM V files, each record represents the length of the line up to 65535 characters.

Structured

The file contains structured information which indicates the 16 bit length of each record in Big endian format. For RECFM F files, the record may be truncated or padded. For RECFM V files, the records are cut into records of the length specified in the record structure information fields.

<tape file>

The tape file is created or read as an HET (Hercules Emulated Tape) format. The DUMP function creates a file, while the SCAN and LOAD functions only read the file.

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🌈 Examples

The following creates a VMFPLC2 formatted tape named "out.het" which contains a single file named "foo.text" which can then be read as "FOO TEXT" on the guest system :

Control file

File name "list" :

FOO TEXT A1 F 80 B foo.text

Command

vmfplc2 dump list out.het

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👑 SEE ALSO

• http://www.hercules-390.org/ — the Hercules emulator homepage.

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💜 HISTORY

• 2010-08-07 — originally written by Ivan S. Warren

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and that's the whole page bestie, no notes, you're gonna slay this tape utility fr fr 💖

vmfplc2.1 — dated 2010-08-07 — that's the source and version, and she's still cute ✨