Idiosyncrasies of Initializing the File System
Ellen Smyth, IBM TPF ID Core Team, and Barry Goldberg, IBM TPF Development

To initialize file system support on your TPF 4.1 system. you must first install program update tape (PUT) 7. When the TPF system is in NORM state, enter the ZOODB INIT functional message. What you say? Why ZOODB INIT and not the ZFINT functional message?

Well, as many people already know, the ZOODB INIT functional message initializes TPF collection support (TPFCS). The catch is that TPFCS is a prerequisite to using the file system. The ZOODB INIT functional message, in fact, initializes both TPFCS and file system support. File system initialization takes place after TPFCS has been initialized. When initialization has been completed, you are ready to use the file system.

Why is this important?
If you enter the ZFINT functional message after the ZOODB INIT functional message when you are initializing both file system support and TPFCS support, file system initialization will not be completed successfully.

So, why bother having the ZFINT functional message at all?
Let's say you are on a test system and you want to initialize the file system again, but not TPFCS. Just enter the ZFINT functional message with the ON parameter specified with the BP option.

Note: Be careful when you use the BP option because it deletes any existing files in the file system without cleaning up any system resources that are attached to those files.

Let's look at another example of when you would want to use the ZFINT functional message. Let's say that you enter the: ZOODB INIT functional message, but all of your subsystems are not in NORM state. What happens? The file system is not initialized for those subsystems. If you miss the message that tells you the file system is not initialized, you do not find out until you go to the subsystem and something like the printf function does not work. Then, you must enter the ZFINT functional message with the ON parameter specified to have file system support on those subsystems.

One last ZFINT example:
If you have entered tile ZFINT functional message with the ON parameter specified, but you IPL your TPF 4.1 system again before the file system is initialized, you must enter the ZFINT functional message again with the ON parameter specified.

What else?
You can use the ZFINT functional message to request the status of the file system. You can also add additional #INODE and #FLOCK fixed file records and determine their use with this functional message. (Each file requires a set of' #INODE and #FLOCK fixed file records that contain the file characteristics and name of' the current working directory.)

See TPF Operations for more information about the ZFINT and ZOODB INIT functional messages. See the TPF Migration Guide for file system migration considerations.