OpenVMS Alpha Guide to Upgrading Privileged-Code Applications

This guide provides essential information for system programmers to ensure that privileged-code applications and device drivers function correctly on OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.0 and later. Key topics include:

• 64-bit Virtual Addressing: Infrastructure changes allowing larger virtual address spaces and how these impact privileged code.
• Kernel Threads: New process structures and requirements for multithreaded applications.
• Upgrading Guidelines: Steps for recompiling, relinking, and using the Image Registry facility to manage version dependencies.
• Modification Details: Specific instructions for modifying device drivers and user-written system services to support 64-bit addressing.
• API Changes: A comprehensive list of removed privileged symbols and their replacements.
• Data Structure Changes: Detailed descriptions of modifications to internal structures like IRPs, IRPEs, and DIOBMs to accommodate 64-bit pointers.

This manual is intended for developers maintaining applications linked against SYS$BASE_IMAGE.EXE.