OpenVMS Developer's Guide to VMSINSTAL

This document, published in May 1993, provides technical guidance for developers designing installation procedures for products that layer on the OpenVMS operating system (both VAX and AXP). It serves as a comprehensive reference for using the VMSINSTAL command procedure and its associated tools.

Key topics covered include:

• VMSINSTAL Functionality: An overview of how VMSINSTAL handles product installation, including environment initialization, product kit restoration, and failure recovery.
• Development Guidelines: Standards for product identification strings, save set identification, volume labeling, and error handling within installation procedures.
• KITINSTAL Procedures: Guidelines for writing and using the mandatory KITINSTAL.COM command procedure, including the installation phase and the Installation Verification Procedure (IVP) phase.
• Callback Subroutines: Detailed documentation on the specialized subroutines (callbacks) available within VMSINSTAL to perform tasks such as moving files, creating directories, updating libraries, and querying system parameters.
• Development/Debugging Options: Descriptions of various options available for developers to test and debug their installation procedures, such as quality assurance mode (QA), statistics gathering, and restore-and-pause functionality.
• Appendices: Supporting information including a list of symbols and logical names used by VMSINSTAL, a sample OpenVMS installation procedure, and instructions for product registration.