From: woks4000@mailszrz.zrz.tu-berlin.de (Wolfgang Ksoll)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.aix
Subject: Re: PTF Schedule
Date: 18 Dec 1992 09:38:10 GMT
Organization: CompuNet Berlin
Distribution: comp
NNTP-Posting-Host: mailszrz.zrz.tu-berlin.de

In article <AKNOWLES.92Dec17095002@expert.expert.com> aknowles@expert.expert.com (Anne Knowles) writes:
>IBM has plans to change its PTF schedule next year. I am a reporter 
>with RS/Magazine and I am writing a story about the changes and am
>looking for user comments about the new schedule. If you would like
>to comment on PTFs and IBM's plans for it please email me.
>
>Thanks.


Hi Anne,

the PTF-story is a horror story. The design of selective enhancements
is in priciple a good thing. If you have one or two releases in the year
and if it would be well documented for what bug each thing it might
work. But in conjunction with missing QA its a horror.

My company has installed at various customer sites some 200 systems.
We have seen four levels of aix this year. With every new release
there were essential bugs. I give some examples:

- with 3.2.0 the Gt1 adapter was introduced, but you could not
  install AIX without VRAM upgrades due to a bug in the installation
  scripts

- the Gt4X adapter had GL problems with 3.2.2 when it was introduced

- you cannot install AIX if you have GT4-adapter, you must have another
  adapter or an ascii terminal, because you have to install 3.2.0 without
  GT4-support and then apply a bunch of PTF's where the GT4 support is hidden
  
- with 3.2.1 you could not install /usr-clients if you had 150 MB tapes

- the assembler bugfix for gnu-emacs is not incorporated in AIX

- with 3.2.3 you run in serious installation problems with installp procedure

- with 3.2.3 xde (dbx) stops working, qdaemon is buggy, CATIA does not work

So you end up in having large archives of bugfixes to aplly here and then.

The process of the PTF-circus is not managable for large numbers of machines.
In former times it was a nice feature to have preloaded machines. But
what is now? You get a machine with minimum OS installed and tons of 
PTF's which must be installed in a long procedure, which may take a day.
We decided to ignore the preload and to prepare the machines with an
image installation which take some 1.5 hours.

IBM has to think intensively about the software distribution process.
One thing is quality assurance. New hardware must be supported in the first
try not in the second or third upgrade. So they have to slow down their 
emission velocity.

The other thing is that they must consider that to distribute workstation
software is completly different to VM or MVS patches. I have not to apply
a few patches on a single processor for thousands of users but thousands
of patches to thousands of machines.
The most urgent patches must be available in the net.
There must be an online database with a bug history available to everyone
who wants (like other vendors as HP and SUN have it for years).

Did they issue some warnings when 3.2.4 will be available? ;-)

Enjoy,


Wolfgang Ksoll           woks4000@mailszrz.zrz.tu-berlin.de
CompuNet Berlin GmbH, Mariendorfer Damm 1-3, W-1000 Berlin 42, Germany
Phone: +49 (030) 707 85 - 123 FAX: - 130
Newsgroups: comp.unix.aix