Program temporary fix

Last updated

In IBM terminology, a Program temporary fix or Product temporary fix (PTF), sometimes depending on date, [1] [2] is a single bug fix, or group of fixes, distributed in a form ready to install for customers.

Contents

A PTF normally follows an APAR (Authorized Program Analysis Report [3] ), and where an "APAR fix" was issued, the PTF "is a tested APAR" [4] or set of APAR fixes. However, if an APAR is resolved as "Fixed If Next" or "Permanent Restriction" then there may be no PTF fixing it, only a subsequent release.

PTF installation

Initially, installations had to install service via a semi-manual process. [5]

Over time, IBM started to provide service aids such as IMAPTFLE [6] and utilities such as IEBEDIT [7] to simplify the installation of batches of PTFs. For OS/360 and successors, this culminated in System Modification Program (SMP) and System Modification Program/Extended (SMP/E).

For VM, this culminated in Virtual Machine Serviceability Enhancements Staged (VM/SP SES) and VMSES/E.

For DOS/360 and successors, this culminated in Maintain System History Program (MSHP)

PTF usage

PTFs used to be distributed in a group on a so-called Program Update Tape (PUT) or Recommended Service Upgrade (RSU), approximately on a monthly basis. They can now be downloaded straight to the system through a direct connection to IBM support. In some instances IBM will release a "Cumulative PTF Pack", a large number of fixes which function best as a whole, and are sometimes codependent. When this happens, IBM issues compact discs containing the entire PTF pack, which can be loaded directly onto the system from its media drive.

One reason for the use of physical media is size, and related (default) size limits. "By default, the /home file system on VIOS (Virtual I/O Server [8] ) for System p is only 10GB in size." [9] If the "Cumulative PTF Pack" is larger than the default, "If you try (to) FTP 17GB of ISO images you will run out of space."

In z/OS, the PTFs are processed using SMP/E (System Modification Program/Extended) in several stages over a course of weeks. Each PTF may include HOLDDATA, in which case it is known as an exception SYSMOD. In rare cases an installation may install a single PTF, but normally it will install all available service except PTFs excluded by, e.g., aging policies, HOLDDATA. Details vary from installation to installation, but a simple service cycle would involve these steps:

  1. Download the most recent HOLDDATA
  2. RECEIVE (load) the service and HOLDDATA to the Consolidated Software Inventory (CSI)
  3. APPLY CHECK the service and HOLDDATA to list exception SYSMODs, verify that necessary prerequisites are available,and to list potential problems, e.g., errors.
    1. Review exception SYSMODs for, e.g., ACTION, DOC, holds.
    2. Update documentation to reflect the exception SYSMODs, and take any necessary actions
    3. Order and RECEIVE any missing prerequisites.
    4. RESTORE, REJECT, rework and re-APPLY any local exits or modifications affected by the service.
  4. APPLY the service to one system in a cluster (if available), and review the system's performance over multiple weeks to ensure it does not hinder your productivity or functionality
    1. Selectively BYPASS HOLDDATA when appropriate
  5. RECEIVE and APPLY the service to the production system and monitor its effects for several weeks

If the system is adversely affected by the service, a system administrator may sometimes selectively RESTORE (un-apply) it and seek further support from IBM. However, if no problems are found after the service is applied, it can be permanently installed, ACCEPTed (committed) to the system.

These repairs to IBM software are often in response to APARs submitted by customers and others and acted on by IBM, and are a common first step to resolving software errors. It is generally expected by the customer that the problem would be fully corrected in the next release (version) of the relevant product.

Comparison to APAR

At times [10] IBM software has a bug.

Once IBM has ascertained that the cause is not one of

IBM support staff, if they suspect that a defect in a current release of an IBM program is the cause, will file a formal report confirming the existence of an issue. This is referred to as an Authorized Program Analysis Report (APAR). See "APARs and PTFs". IBM .

APARs also include

Summary

There are at least 2 levels of fix: [11]

The focus of the "APAR fix" is "to rectify the problem as soon as possible" [12] whereas the PTF "is a tested APAR... The PTF 'closes' the APAR. " Prior to that, an APAR is "a problem with an IBM program that is formally tracked until a solution is provided.” [4]

Humor

Customers sometimes explain the acronym in a tongue-in-cheek manner as permanent temporary fix [13] or more practically probably this fixes, because they have the option to make the PTF a permanent part of the operating system if the patch fixes the problem. One explanation of Program Temporary Fix says it's temporary, just until the next ice age.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MVS</span> Operating system for IBM mainframes

Multiple Virtual Storage, more commonly called MVS, is the most commonly used operating system on the System/370, System/390 and IBM Z IBM mainframe computers. IBM developed MVS, along with OS/VS1 and SVS, as a successor to OS/360. It is unrelated to IBM's other mainframe operating system lines, e.g., VSE, VM, TPF.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virtual memory</span> Computer memory management technique

In computing, virtual memory, or virtual storage, is a memory management technique that provides an "idealized abstraction of the storage resources that are actually available on a given machine" which "creates the illusion to users of a very large (main) memory".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OS/390</span> Operating system for IBM mainframes

OS/390 is an IBM operating system for the System/390 IBM mainframe computers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM System/370</span> Family of mainframe computers 1970–1990

The IBM System/370 (S/370) is a model range of IBM mainframe computers announced on June 30, 1970, as the successors to the System/360 family. The series mostly maintains backward compatibility with the S/360, allowing an easy migration path for customers; this, plus improved performance, were the dominant themes of the product announcement. In September 1990, the System/370 line was replaced with the System/390.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crash (computing)</span> When a computer program stops functioning properly and self-terminates

In computing, a crash, or system crash, occurs when a computer program such as a software application or an operating system stops functioning properly and exits. On some operating systems or individual applications, a crash reporting service will report the crash and any details relating to it, usually to the developer(s) of the application. If the program is a critical part of the operating system, the entire system may crash or hang, often resulting in a kernel panic or fatal system error.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CP/CMS</span> IBM operating system specializing in virtualization

CP/CMS is a discontinued time-sharing operating system of the late 1960s and early 1970s, known for its excellent performance and advanced features. Among its three versions, CP-40/CMS was an important "one-off" research system that established the CP/CMS virtual machine architecture. It was followed by CP-67/CMS, a reimplementation of CP-40/CMS for the IBM System/360-67, and the primary focus of this article. Finally, CP-370/CMS was a reimplementation of CP-67/CMS for the System/370. While it was never released as such, it became the foundation of IBM's VM/370 operating system, announced in 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Service pack</span> Single installable package of software updates

In computing, a service pack comprises a collection of updates, fixes, or enhancements to a software program delivered in the form of a single installable package. Companies often release a service pack when the number of individual patches to a given program reaches a certain (arbitrary) limit, or the software release has shown to be stabilized with a limited number of remaining issues based on users' feedback and bug reports. In large software applications such as office suites, operating systems, database software, or network management, it is not uncommon to have a service pack issued within the first year or two of a product's release. Installing a service pack is easier and less error-prone than installing many individual patches, even more so when updating multiple computers over a network, where service packs are common.

A patch is a set of changes to a computer program or its supporting data designed to update, fix, or improve it. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, with such patches usually being called bugfixes or bug fixes. Patches are often written to improve the functionality, usability, or performance of a program. The majority of patches are provided by software vendors for operating system and application updates.

Disk Operating System/360, also DOS/360, or simply DOS, is the discontinued first member of a sequence of operating systems for IBM System/360, System/370 and later mainframes. It was announced by IBM on the last day of 1964, and it was first delivered in June 1966. In its time, DOS/360 was the most widely used operating system in the world.

This article discusses support programs included in or available for OS/360 and successors. IBM categorizes some of these programs as utilities and others as service aids; the boundaries are not always consistent or obvious. Many, but not all, of these programs match the types in utility software.

eComStation Operating system

eComStation or eCS is an operating system based on OS/2 Warp for the 32-bit x86 architecture. It was originally developed by Serenity Systems and Mensys BV under license from IBM. It includes additional applications, and support for new hardware which were not present in OS/2 Warp. It is intended to allow OS/2 applications to run on modern hardware, and is used by a number of large organizations for this purpose. By 2014, approximately thirty to forty thousand licenses of eComStation had been sold.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TSS (operating system)</span> 1960s era timesharing operating system for IBM mainframes

The IBM Time Sharing System TSS/360 is a discontinued early time-sharing operating system designed exclusively for a special model of the System/360 line of mainframes, the Model 67. Made available on a trial basis to a limited set of customers in 1967, it was never officially released as a supported product by IBM. TSS pioneered a number of novel features, some of which later appeared in more popular systems such as MVS. TSS was migrated to System/370 and 303x systems, but despite its many advances and novel capabilities, TSS failed to meet expectations and was eventually canceled. TSS/370 was used as the basis for a port of UNIX to the IBM mainframe. TSS/360 also inspired the development of the TSS/8 operating system.

A Supervisor Call instruction (SVC) is a hardware instruction used by the System/360 family of IBM mainframe computers up to contemporary zSeries, the Amdahl 470V/5, 470V/6, 470V/7, 470V/8, 580, 5880, 5990M, and 5990A, and others; Univac 90/60, 90/70 and 90/80, and possibly others; the Fujitsu M180 (UP) and M200 (MP), and others; and is also used in the Hercules open source mainframe emulation software. It causes an interrupt to request a service from the operating system. The system routine providing the service is called an SVC routine. SVC is a system call.

The history of IBM mainframe operating systems is significant within the history of mainframe operating systems, because of IBM's long-standing position as the world's largest hardware supplier of mainframe computers. IBM mainframes run operating systems supplied by IBM and by third parties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OS/360 and successors</span> Operating system for IBM S/360 and later mainframes

OS/360, officially known as IBM System/360 Operating System, is a discontinued batch processing operating system developed by IBM for their then-new System/360 mainframe computer, announced in 1964; it was influenced by the earlier IBSYS/IBJOB and Input/Output Control System (IOCS) packages for the IBM 7090/7094 and even more so by the PR155 Operating System for the IBM 1410/7010 processors. It was one of the earliest operating systems to require the computer hardware to include at least one direct access storage device.

System Modification Program/Extended (SMP/E), the proprietary version of System Modification Program (SMP), "is a tool designed to manage the installation of software products on [a] z/OS system and to track the modifications" to those products.

System Generation (SysGen) is a two-stage process for installing or updating OS/360, OS/VS1, OS/VS2 (SVS), OS/VS2 (MVS) and chargeable systems derived from them. There are similar processes for, e.g., DOS/360, which this article does not cover. Also, some of the details have changed between releases of OS/360 and many details do not carry over to later systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OS/VS2 (SVS)</span>

Single Virtual Storage (SVS) refers to Release 1 of Operating System/Virtual Storage 2 (OS/VS2); it is the successor system to the MVT option of Operating System/360. OS/VS2 (SVS) was a stopgap measure pending the availability of MVS, although IBM provided support and enhancements to SVS long after shipping MVS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM System/360 Model 50</span> Midrange IBM computer from 1960s

The IBM System/360 Model 50 is a member of the IBM System/360 family of computers. The Model 50 was announced in April 1964 with the other initial models of the family, and first shipped in August 1965 to the Bank of America.

An APAR (Authorized Program Analysis Report) (pronounced A-PAR, rhymes with far) is an IBM designation of a document intended to identify situations that could result in potential problems. It also serves as a request for the correction of a defect in current releases of IBM-supplied programs.

References

  1. ↑ In 2001 a long time IBMer wrote "I thought it was now Product Temporary Fix." "Should APARs be accepted".
  2. ↑ Nonetheless PROGRAM temporary fix is still in use. "Traps do not process for CiscoAPIC models in CA Spectrum". ca.com. September 11, 2017.
  3. ↑ IBM Corporation. "IBM Security: APARs explained". ibm.com. Retrieved Oct 14, 2019. a formal report from IBM development to customers that have notified IBM of a problem or suspected defect.
  4. 1 2 Gabe Goldberg (June 12, 2013). "IBM's APAR process provides the tools for dealing with software issues". destinationz.org (MSP TechMedia).
  5. ↑ IBM System/360 Operating System - Maintenance Program. C27-6918.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  6. ↑ "Chapter 9: IMAPTFLE" (PDF). IBM System/360 Operating System: Service Aids - OS Release 21 (PDF) (Third ed.). March 1972. pp. 219–239. GC28-6719-2.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  7. ↑ "The IEBEDIT Program" (PDF). IBM System/360 Operating System - Utilities (PDF) (Twelfth ed.). June 1970. pp. 392–402. GC28-6586-11.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  8. ↑ IBM Corporation. "Virtual I/O Server overview". IBM Knowledge Center. Retrieved Oct 14, 2019.
  9. ↑ Glenn Robinson (October 28, 2015). "Populating the VIOS Virtual Media Repository".
  10. 1 2 "Issues with Cognos and other IBM software can arise from configuration errors, problems in third-party hardware or software, and occasionally, because of a bug in the IBM product itself." "IBM Support – Authorized Program Analysis Reports". AmitechSolutions.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-08. Retrieved 2017-12-07.
  11. ↑ "An APAR fix is usually replaced later by a permanent correction called a PTF." Ebbers, Mike; Kettner, John; O'Brien, Wayne (2012). Introduction to the New Mainframe: z/OS Basics. ISBN   978-0738435343.
  12. ↑ Mehdi Salebi (August 7, 2011). "Diff between PTF,APAR,INTERMFIX".
  13. ↑ "PTF - Permanent Temporary Fix (humor)". AcronymFinder.com.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.