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                         Datatrieve-20 project
                  TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements



          Author:   David Dyer-Bennet
                    MRO1-2/L14
                    DTN 231-4076
                    DYER-BENNET AT KL2102, MRVAX::DDB

          Edition:  1.4, 7-Dec-83

          File:     DYN1R.MEM


                     This document exists online as
              KL2102::EXODUS:<DYER-BENNET.PUBLIC>DYN1R.MEM
TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements                             Page ii
Preface


                                Preface

This is a component software product requirements document.   It  should
clearly  and  specifically  define  the  technical  requirements  of the
product which is being developed.  This document forms the baseline from
which  the  Specification as well as the cost and schedule estimates are
prepared in Phase 1.





                             Issue History

Issue 1.0   29-Jul-83  First public release

Issue 1.1   2-Aug-83   Incorporate informal review comments

Issue 1.2   11-Aug-83  Incorporate inspection comments;   add  trap  and
                       PSI requirements

Issue 1.3   22-Sep-83  Incorporate informal review comments

Issue 1.4   7-Dec-83   Incorporate inspection  comments;   Currently  in
                       development
TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements                            Page iii
Table of Contents


                           Table of Contents



        1.0     PRODUCT SUMMARY  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
        2.0     TERMINOLOGY AND CONVENTIONS  . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
        3.0     ENVIRONMENT  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
        3.1       Users  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
        3.2       Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
        3.3       Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
        3.3.1     Other Software Required For DYNLIB . . . . . . . . 3
        3.3.2     Other Software That Requires DYNLIB  . . . . . . . 3
        3.4       Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
        4.0     SOFTWARE CAPABILITIES  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
        4.1       DYNLIB Capabilities  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
        4.2       Writing A Dynamic Library  . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
        4.2.1     Passing Control And Returning  . . . . . . . . . . 5
        4.2.2     Memory Allocation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
        4.2.3     PSI And Trap Management  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
        4.2.4     Error Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
        4.2.5     Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
        4.2.6     Debugging  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
        4.3       De-linking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
        4.4       "Streaming"  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
        4.5       Library Version Checking . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
        4.6       DYNLIB Version Checking  . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
        5.0     PUBLICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
        6.0     PACKAGING  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
        7.0     INSTALLABILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
        8.0     EASE OF USE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
        9.0     PERFORMANCE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
        10.0    RELIABILITY  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
        11.0    MAINTAINABILITY  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
        12.0    MAINTENANCE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
        13.0    COMPATIBILITY  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
        13.1      Compatibility With Existing Libraries  . . . . .  15
        13.2      Product Compatibility  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
        13.2.1    Dependency Issues  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
        13.3      Standards Conformance  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
        13.4      Internationalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
        14.0    EVOLVABILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
        15.0    COSTS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
        16.0    TIMELINESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
        17.0    CONSTRAINTS AND TRADES-OFF . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
        18.0    APPROVAL PROCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17


APPENDIX A      PROBLEM PRIORITIES




 
TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements                              Page 1
PRODUCT SUMMARY


1.0  PRODUCT SUMMARY

A "routine library" (often called simply a  "library")  is  a  group  of
routines  and  data which is intended to provide services to its caller.
A routine library is also sometimes called a "package."

On TOPS-20, the most familiar form  of  library  is  probably  the  "REL
library" as understood by LINK and MAKLIB.  In this form of library, the
association between addresses exported from the library (such as routine
entry  points)  and  references  to  those  addresses in the caller (for
example, routine calls) is made by the linker, at link time.

A "dynamically linked library" (often called simply a "dynamic  library"
in this document) is a library which is merged into a program on request
at execution  time.   The  assocation  between  exported  addresses  and
references is made dynamically at that time.

This document states the requirements for a dynamic library facility for
TOPS-20.  This facility will include code to support the dynamic linking
functions described above, support facilities such  as  .UNV  files  and
.L36  files  to  simplify use of the functions, documentation, and rules
for use.

The dynamic library facility  described  in  this  document  should,  if
implemented, provide the following benefits compared to continued use of
REL libraries in the current style:

      o  Provide a discipline for  independently-developed  packages  to
         share  a  process  peacefully  while  providing  access  to the
         resources they need to do their jobs  (resources  that  require
         discipline to share successfully include address space, the APR
         trap system, and the software interrupt system).

      o  Easier  software  updates.   A  new  version   of   a   package
         implemented  as  a  dynamic  library can be introduced into all
         programs calling it by simply placing it on the directory  from
         which dynamic libraries are loaded.  There is no need to relink
         programs using it.

      o  More consistent program behavior.   If  a  facility  is  always
         provided  by  the  same package of code, then it will always be
         provided in the same way.

      o  More efficient use of physical memory and swapping space.  If a
         facility provided by a dynamic library is never called during a
         run of a program, that library will never become part  of  that
         process' address space.  If several programs are using the same
         dynamic library, they will share a single copy  of  its  "pure"
         parts.

      o  Lower cost of engineering other products.   Using  an  existing
         package  to  provide  a  service is much cheaper than having to
         modify it or write one from scratch.
TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements                              Page 2
TERMINOLOGY AND CONVENTIONS


2.0  TERMINOLOGY AND CONVENTIONS

This document exists primarily to specify requirements for the  "dynamic
library  mechanism,"  which we define as "that which causes a library to
be merged into a  program  on  request,  and  performs  other  functions
necessary  to make that useful."  To avoid confusion, I will from now on
call this "DYNLIB."  In the rest of this document, when  I  refer  to  a
"dynamic  library"  I  am  referring generically or specifically to some
library designed to be called through the services provided by DYNLIB.

A requirement of DYNLIB will always appear in a paragraph by itself, and
will begin with "REQUIREMENT:".

Goals of DYNLIB of lower priority than a requirement will be  listed  in
the    same   format   as   requirements,   substituting   "GOAL:"   for
"REQUIREMENT:".

Sometimes, due to our experience with the DYNLIB prototype or for  other
reasons,  we  may  think  that  a  goal  or  requirement  is  not  fully
attainable.  A paragraph beginning "RESTRICTION:" will describe parts of
requirements  or  goals that may not be attainable.  The purpose of this
is to give a realistic set of requirements which can be met.


                                  NOTE

               A restriction is not a requirement.   That
               is,  the presence of a restriction in this
               document  is  not  a  demand   that   that
               restriction   be   placed   in  the  final
               product.  Rather, it is a  statement  that
               that  restriction  is  acceptable  in  the
               final  product  if  it  is  found  to   be
               necessary during phases 1 and 2.



Related to the DYNLIB requirements are some rules that must be  followed
by  writers  of  libraries to be called through DYNLIB.  These appear in
this document in a paragraph by themselves, beginning with  "DYNLIB  use
rule:".   Many  more rules than appear here will be necessary;  only the
ones following directly from these requirements are included here.   The
full  set  of  rules for writing a dynamic library will be documented as
part of the development effort of this project.



3.0  ENVIRONMENT
TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements                              Page 3
ENVIRONMENT


3.1  Users

Dynamic libraries  will  be  written  primarily  by  Digital  engineers.
Moderately  sophisticated  customer system programmers may occassionally
be called upon to write  dynamic  libraries,  as  may  Digital  software
specialists.

GOAL:  Dynamic libraries will (eventually) be used  implicitly  by  most
higher-level   language  programs,  but  this  must  be  transparent  to
customers using those languages.

Both application and  system  programs  are  likely  to  invoke  dynamic
libraries explicitly.

Digital-written utilities will also use dynamic libraries extensively.



3.2  Hardware

REQUIREMENT:  DYNLIB must run on a PDP-10 family processor with extended
addressing (i.e.  KL model B).  KS processors need not be supported.

REQUIREMENT:  DYNLIB must run on microcode version 326 and later.

As  described  below,  DYNLIB  will  encourage  the  use   of   extended
addressing.   Some  dynamic libraries may discover microcode and monitor
bugs relating to extended addressing.   Anticipating  and  fixing  these
bugs is not part of the development of DYNLIB.



3.3  Software

3.3.1  Other Software Required For DYNLIB

REQUIREMENT:  DYNLIB must run on TOPS-20 release 5.1 and later.

In a future release of the operating system, support for  DYNLIB  should
be  built  in.   This is discussed under Evolvability.  Operating system
support of DYNLIB is not a goal of this project.



3.3.2  Other Software That Requires DYNLIB

DYNLIB is required for Datatrieve-20 V1.0, dynamic  extended  RMS  (V3),
and dynamic callable DBCS (V7).

All other software projects should consider if they would  benefit  from
using DYNLIB.  In particular...
TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements                              Page 4
ENVIRONMENT


EXTERNAL REQUIREMENT:  Projects implementing RMS access  for  the  first
time should call RMS as a dynamic library.



3.4  Services

No special services are required for DYNLIB.



4.0  SOFTWARE CAPABILITIES

4.1  DYNLIB Capabilities

In any library, the addresses of some objects in  the  library  must  be
made  available  for  use  outside  the  library.   Routine  entry point
addresses  and,  more  rarely,  addresses  of  data  locations  must  be
"exported"  from  the  library.   In  REL  libraries, this is done using
global symbols.  In VAX/VMS sharable images, this  is  done  using  what
they call "universal" symbols (more global than global symbols).

REQUIREMENT:  It must be possible to export  the  addresses  of  routine
entry points and data locations from a dynamic library to its caller.

REQUIREMENT:  It must be possible to  call  a  dynamic  library  from  a
non-zero section.

REQUIREMENT:  It must be possible to call a dynamic library from section
0.  This is provided ONLY to ease conversion of existing programs to use
of dynamic libraries.  See Performance, below

RESTRICTION:  From section 0, it  need  not  be  possible  to  refer  to
addresses  exported  from  a  dynamic library in any manner other than a
routine call.

REQUIREMENT:  It dynamic libraries must work in non-zero sections.

RESTRICTION:  It is not necessary  for  dynamic  libraries  to  work  in
section 0.

REQUIREMENT:  The contents of a dynamic library must not be part of  the
address  space  of  its  caller  until a reference is made to an address
exported from that library.  (This requirement  simply  insists  that  a
dynamic library be in fact dynamic.)

REQUIREMENT:  Using an address exported from a dynamic library  must  be
as similar as possible to using an address exported from a REL library.

RESTRICTION:  Since DYNLIB must support extended addressing,  and  since
the  location  in  memory  of a dynamic library may not be known at link
time, it is acceptable to require that references to addresses  exported
from  dynamic  libraries  be  indirect through a pointer supplied by the
dynamic library or DYNLIB.
TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements                              Page 5
SOFTWARE CAPABILITIES


RESTRICTION:  It is not necessary for DYNLIB  to  work  in  execute-only
programs  or  with  execute-only libraries.  Because DYNLIB will work by
merging EXE files into the running program, it will not  work  with  the
current implementation of execute-only.



4.2  Writing A Dynamic Library

It would be nice to be able to write dynamic libraries in any  language.
There  are  several  reasons  why  this  cannot  reasonably  be  made  a
requirement:

      o  Many languages do not produce code that will run in a  non-zero
         section.

      o  Most language OTS's will not run in a non-zero section.

      o  Most language OTS's think they  own  the  entire  process  they
         reside   in.   If  dynamic  libraries  were  written  in  these
         languages, the OTS in one dynamic library would quite  probably
         conflict  with the OTS in another dynamic library, even if they
         were written in the  same  language.   Memory  management,  the
         software interrupt system, and APR trapping are likely areas of
         conflict.


REQUIREMENT:  it must be easy to write dynamic libraries  in  BLISS  and
MACRO.



4.2.1  Passing Control And Returning

REQUIREMENT:  Invoking a dynamic library must be made as transparent  as
possible  (invoking  the dynamic library should look as much as possible
like invoking a routine from a REL library).  No special subroutine call
may  be  required to load a dynamic library.  The library must be loaded
as a side-effect of referring to an address exported from it.

RESTRICTION:  Before monitor support for DYNLIB is  implemented,  it  is
acceptable  to  require  that  a routine in any given dynamic library be
called before referring to an address exported from that library by  any
method  other  than  a  routine  call.  This restriction is necessary if
products using DYNLIB are to ship before the next major monitor release.

RESTRICTION:  It is acceptable to require  that  calls  to  routines  in
dynamic  libraries  be  made  with  the  PUSHJ  instruction and that the
routines return with the POPJ instruction.

It is not acceptable for a dynamic library to insist that it  be  mapped
in at a fixed address.  If it were done, there is every possibility that
two dynamic libraries requiring the same address would  be  called  from
the same program.  (Consider the problems already encountered in sharing
TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements                              Page 6
SOFTWARE CAPABILITIES


section zero between a user program, DDT, PA1050,  FOROTS,  COBOTS,  and
RMS.)  Since  one  of  the goals of DYNLIB is to encourage using dynamic
libraries as building  blocks  when  constructing  a  program,  this  is
unacceptable.

On a PDP-10, the hardware makes no good provision for  writing  position
independent code.  However, it is easy to write section independent code
that will run happily in any non-zero section.

RESTRICTION:  It is acceptable to  assign  an  entire  section  to  each
dynamic  library  invoked.   On  a KL, this limits a program to using at
most 30 dynamic libraries.



4.2.2  Memory Allocation

Memory is a resource that must be obtainable dynamically by all  of  the
parts  of  a program, including all dynamic libraries which that program
calls.

REQUIREMENT:  DYNLIB must own the entire address space  of  any  process
which  calls  dynamic  libraries.   DYNLIB  must  provide facilities for
dynamic libraries and main programs to allocate address space  in  units
of whole sections, pages, and words.

RESTRICTION:  If,  as  suggested  above,  DYNLIB  assigns  each  dynamic
library its own section, DYNLIB need supply only a section allocator and
a rule saying that the memory in each section must  be  managed  by  the
program or library which created it or was placed into it by DYNLIB.

GOAL:  There should be some user control of section allocation.

EXTERNAL REQUIREMENT:  The TOPS-20  monitor  must  not  create  sections
automatically  when  pages  in  nonexistent  sections  are  written  to.
Creating these sections  automatically  would  mask  errors  in  section
allocation or data reference.



4.2.3  PSI And Trap Management

The APR trap system and the software interrupt (PSI) system  are  unique
resources  that  must  somehow  be shared among all the packages of code
making up  a  program.   For  example,  Datatrieve  wants  to  trap  all
arithmetic exceptions occurring while it executes, and issue appropriate
messages to the user.  When Datatrieve  calls  MTHLIB,  however,  MTHLIB
wants  to  trap  the  overflows itself and perform fixups.  This sort of
layered use of these unique resources must be possible.

Some channels  of  the  PSI  system  have  fixed  meanings.   These  are
essentially the same as traps.  Some events, such as characters typed at
the terminal, can be assigned  to  any  available  PSI  channel.   These
events  are  also  similar  to  traps.   These events are potentially of
TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements                              Page 7
SOFTWARE CAPABILITIES


global interest, so the ability to detect them should  be  considered  a
resource, and this resource must be made sharable.

On the other hand, receipt of a decnet or IPCF message is not  an  event
of general interest.  The ability to detect these message is a resource,
but not one that needs to be sharable since only the package waiting for
the  message  really  cares.   However, the PSI channels used to capture
such events are resources, and must  be  allocated  centrally  to  avoid
conflicts.

For the purposes of this document, any of the following will be referred
to  as  the  occurrence of a "condition":  occurrence of an APR trap, an
interrupt on a fixed channel, an interrupt  on  a  channel  assigned  to
character  interrupts.   Possibly, conditions could also be initiated by
software, perhaps by a call to a DYNLIB routine.  This is  very  similar
to the VMS concept of condition.

For a routine in a program (or library) to "handle"  a  condition  means
for  that  routine  to  be informed of that condition, and take whatever
action is appropriate and possible.

For DYNLIB to "handle"  a  condition  means  for  DYNLIB  to  route  the
condition  to  appropriate  user-supplied  routines for handling.  Every
routine in the chain of calls from the top-level program to the  routine
within  which  the  condition  occurred should have the right to specify
("enable")  a  condition  handling  routine.   We  refer  to   this   as
"hierarchical handling" of the condition because the condition is called
to the attention of a hierarchy of handling routines.

REQUIREMENT:  DYNLIB must provide rules and facilities for  hierarchical
handling  of:   APR  traps,  character  interrupts,  interrupts  on  PSI
channels with  fixed  meanings.   These  facilities  must  be  available
anywhere  within  any program using DYNLIB, not just from within dynamic
libraries.

REQUIREMENT:  A routine in a program using DYNLIB must have  the  option
of  "enabling  for condition handling" by specifying to DYNLIB a routine
which will handle any conditions occurring in the  enabling  routine  or
beneath  it  which  are not handled by handlers enabled lower down.  The
handler routine enabled must then be called for  each  condition  it  is
eligible  to  handle.   When the routine that enabled the handler exits,
the handler must be disabled.

RESTRICTION:  It is allowable to require that routines  which  enable  a
handler must make a DYNLIB call to disable the handler before they exit.

REQUIREMENT:  A  condition  handler  routine  must  have  at  least  the
following  options when called for a condition:  pass the same condition
on to the next higher handler, ignore the condition  and  continue  from
the  point  where the condition occurred, and unwind the stack causing a
return from the handler's establisher with a return value  specified  by
the handler.
TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements                              Page 8
SOFTWARE CAPABILITIES


RESTRICTION:  It is  acceptable  to  require  routines  which  enable  a
condition handler to be called with some restricted set of linkages.

GOAL:  Handling character interrupts  should  use  as  few  channels  as
possible.

REQUIREMENT:  DYNLIB must provide rules and  facilities  for  allocating
the assignable PSI channels.

REQUIREMENT:    DYNLIB   must   provide   hierarchical    handling    of
software-originated conditions.  This facility does not need to interact
with BLISS signalling.  This facility must, however, coexist with  BLISS
signalling in the same routines, modules, and programs.

As a grafted-on facility, it  is  not  expected  that  DYNLIB  condition
handling  will  perform  as  well  as  built-in facilities such as BLISS
condition handling or VMS condition handling.  It is not  expected  that
DYNLIB  condition  handling  will  be  the  primary  means  of  handling
exception conditions  in  most  programs.   However,  these  performance
problems appear unavoidable given the major goal of facilitating sharing
of unique resources such as the trap and PSI systems.

REQUIREMENT:  Meeting the goals in this  section  must  not  impose  any
additional   overhead   on  routines  not  enabling  for  any  of  these
conditions.

GOAL:  Routines enabling for these conditions should not incur more than
20 additional instructions and 10 words of additional data.



4.2.4  Error Handling

Although it is desirable that only a single piece of code be written  to
supply  any  given  service,  the  interface  presented to the user of a
program must be controllable by the top-level program.   In  particular,
packages  called  as  subroutines  shouldn't  do any terminal I/O unless
specifically requested to by the top level.

REQUIREMENT:  DYNLIB  must  provide  rules  and/or  facilities  allowing
packages  called  through  DYNLIB to report errors back to their callers
without loss of important information.



4.2.5  Initialization

With TOPS-20 release 6, DIGITAL is shipping the  multi-forking  EXEC  as
the standard version to the field.  Since many products take significant
amounts of time to initialize (due to finding  and  mapping  in  dynamic
libraries,  processing  initialization  files,  opening  log  files,  or
whatever), many users will probably form the habit of keeping around the
forks  which  contain their more commonly used utilities.  This makes it
more important than ever that utilities be written to be restartable.
TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements                              Page 9
SOFTWARE CAPABILITIES


REQUIREMENT:  Instructions must be provided  on  how  to  write  dynamic
libraries   and  main  programs  so  that  the  resulting  programs  are
restartable.  It is not acceptable to require that dynamic libraries  be
found and mapped in again on a restart.



4.2.6  Debugging

REQUIREMENT:   There  must  be  good  support  for   debugging   dynamic
libraries.  The standard debugger used for debugging programs written in
any language must work for debugging dynamic libraries written  in  that
language  before  we  can claim that dynamic libraries can be written in
that language.

RESTRICTION:  It is acceptable to  require  that  BLISS-36  programs  be
debugged using DDT rather than SIX12.



4.3  De-linking

Earlier work on monitor support for  dynamically  linked  libraries  has
specified  special  monitor  actions  when  saving  a  memory image of a
program which used dynamic libraries.  Some of  those  actions  are  not
compatible with the requirements for DYNLIB.

EXTERNAL REQUIREMENT:  it must be possible to save a memory image  of  a
program  that  called  dynamic libraries that includes all the libraries
that it had mapped in up to the time of the  save,  and  their  internal
states excepting AC's and open files.

RESTRICTION:  it need not be possible to save a program,  after  running
it,  in  such a way that running the saved image will call in new copies
of any dynamic libraries used.



4.4  "Streaming"

"Single-stream" libraries are those like the current SORT which can only
handle  one  stream  of  operations  at  a  time,  but which have a user
interface such that you make more than one call for that  single  stream
(some sort of state information is preserved between calls).

"Non-streamed" libraries are those like, perhaps, the MTHLIB, which  can
only  handle  one stream of operations, but where this doesn't matter to
anybody because there is only one call made to  perform  the  operation.
There is no "state" saved across calls to these libraries.  Note that to
really qualify in this category a library must be fully reentrant.
TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements                             Page 10
SOFTWARE CAPABILITIES


"Multi-streamed" libraries are  those  like  callable  Datatrieve  which
support  several  concurrent streams of operations.  This classification
can be further divided into "infinitely multi-streamed," where it should
always   be   possible   to   start   another   stream,   and   "limited
multi-streamed," where you could  easily  run  out  of  streams.   Where
"multi-streamed"    is    used    without   qualification,   "infinitely
multi-streamed" should be assumed.

REQUIREMENT:   DYNLIB  must  work  with  non-streamed   and   infinitely
multi-streamed libraries.



4.5  Library Version Checking

When a library is called using DYNLIB, the association between the  call
and  the particular version of the library obtained is made at run-time.
Libraries must be allowed to evolve and improve, which  will  result  in
some  cases  in changes to the addresses exported from a library.  It is
necessary to provide some way to check whether the version of a  library
actually  found  is  compatible with the version the caller was built to
call.

REQUIREMENT:  Dynamic libraries must  have  version  numbers  associated
with  them.   These  numbers  must  be stored as part of the library.  A
program which calls dynamic libraries must contain the version  of  each
library it calls that it was built for.

REQUIREMENT:  When DYNLIB finds and maps in a dynamic library,  it  must
compare  the  version  number  of the library against the version number
expected by the caller and return an error if the version found  is  not
acceptable.   Which  versions  are  acceptable  must be definable by the
library or the caller.



4.6  DYNLIB Version Checking

To allow for the possibility of major  improvements  to  DYNLIB,  DYNLIB
should  be  assigned  a  version  number;  the version should be checked
whenever DYNLIB is invoked.

REQUIREMENT:  DYNLIB must be assigned a  version  number.   DYNLIB  must
know at run-time what version number it is.

REQUIREMENT:  Callers and dynamic libraries should contain the number of
the  version  of  DYNLIB  they  are  built  for.  When DYNLIB performs a
service for a caller, it should first check if  the  version  of  DYNLIB
actually in use is acceptable to the caller and, if one is involved, the
dynamic library.  Acceptability of versions of DYNLIB should be  defined
in  DYNLIB.   If  the  version of DYNLIB in use is not acceptable to the
caller or to the callee, the DYNLIB function requested  must  return  an
error indication as described below.
TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements                             Page 11
PUBLICATIONS


5.0  PUBLICATIONS

REQUIREMENT:  There must be documentation  aimed  at  users  of  dynamic
libraries.

REQUIREMENT:  There must be documentation aimed at  writers  of  dynamic
libraries.

There will probably be many more people calling dynamic  libraries  than
there will be writing dynamic libraries.

GOAL:  The "user" and "writer" documentation should be separate.

GOAL:  The DYNLIB documentation should be published manuals.

REQUIREMENT:  For any languages in which we wish to  claim  that  it  is
possible  to  write  dynamic  libraries, there must be language-specific
documentation on how to do so.  Such documentation must be produced  for
at least MACRO and BLISS.

GOAL:  For at least the major higher-level  languages  (FORTRAN,  COBOL,
PASCAL),  there should be documentation on how to call dynamic libraries
from the language.

RESTRICTION:  Since DYNLIB is not a  utility  directly  used  by  users,
there need not be any HELP files associated with DYNLIB.



6.0  PACKAGING

The DYNLIB facility is being developed for Datatrieve.  We want to  make
it available to all layered products in the longer run.

REQUIREMENT:  There must be a plan to ship all DYNLIB  pieces  necessary
to write, debug, and use dynamic libraries to all TOPS-20 customers.

RESTRICTION:  DYNLIB may ship with  individual  products  that  need  it
before shipment to all sites is achieved.



7.0  INSTALLABILITY

DYNLIB may ship either alone or with other products.   If  DYNLIB  ships
with  other products, then installability is the responsibility of those
other products' teams.

REQUIREMENT:   DYNLIB  shipped  alone  must  include   an   installation
verification procedure.
TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements                             Page 12
INSTALLABILITY


REQUIREMENT:  DYNLIB shipped alone must be installable in under  1  hour
including  unpacking, reading instructions, performing the installation,
and performing the installation verification procedure.



8.0  EASE OF USE

The requirements in this section also appear elsewhere in this document,
they are collected here for convenience.

REQUIREMENT:  Using an address exported from a dynamic library  must  be
as similar as possible to using an address exported from a REL library.

REQUIREMENT:  Invoking a dynamic library must be made as transparent  as
possible  (invoking  the dynamic library should look as much as possible
like invoking a routine from a REL library).  No special subroutine call
may  be  required to load a dynamic library.  The library must be loaded
as a side-effect of referring to an address exported from it.



9.0  PERFORMANCE

Since DYNLIB is intended to be widely used as  the  basis  for  building
products  out  of  layers  of  building-blocks,  performance  can  be an
important issue.  We believe, based on the usage of existing  libraries,
that  the  vast  majority  of  the  interactions  between a caller and a
package will be routine calls.

REQUIREMENT:  Calling a routine in a dynamic library must  not  normally
require more than 3 machine instructions (not considering any page-fault
handling).

REQUIREMENT:  Referring to an exported address in some manner other than
a  routine call must not take longer or be harder to code than making an
indirect reference through an in-section pointer  to  an  out-of-section
location.

RESTRICTION:  Performance of the first reference to any address exported
from  a  library  may  be much slower, up to several seconds on a loaded
system.

RESTRICTION:  Calling a dynamic library from section 0 is not subject to
the  above performance constraints.  The capability of calling a dynamic
library from section 0  is  provided  only  as  an  aid  to  incremental
conversion of existing software.

The other DYNLIB functions  are  very  infrequently  used  and  are  not
performance-critical.
TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements                             Page 13
RELIABILITY


10.0  RELIABILITY

Because the  first  product  using  dynamic  libraries  to  be  seen  by
customers,  Datatrieve-20,  is  aimed  at  inexperienced  users,  it  is
especially important that dynamic libraries not introduce any mysterious
(from  the  users'  points  of  view) errors.  Ideally, no errors should
occur.  Next best is for errors to explain themselves clearly.

REQUIREMENT:  DYNLIB will not  ship  with  any  known  first  or  second
priority  problems (the number of allowable lower priority problems will
be decided by the project team at that time).  Problem priorities are as
defined for QAR's, and are included in an appendix of this document.

REQUIREMENT:  No patches may be required to the shipped  version  before
use.

REQUIREMENT:  In the event of being unable to satisfy a dynamic  loading
request,  DYNLIB must be capable of returning an error indication to the
caller if the caller is set up  to  handle  it.   The  information  made
available must include at least the following:

      o  Identification of the library it was trying to load,  including
         the file specification where it expected to find that library
      o  A description of the error
      o  If the error was a failing  monitor  call,  the  monitor  error
         message describing that failure
      o  The PC in the user's code of the call which invoked DYNLIB
      o  If applicable (if a DYNLIB  bug  seems  possible),  the  PC  in
         DYNLIB at which the failure took place


DYNLIB use rule:  It is recommended that all programs which call dynamic
libraries  be written to accept this error information and present it to
the user in a manner compatible with the other user interactions made by
the program.

If a program chooses not to take  advantage  of  this  facility,  DYNLIB
should  present  the  error  information  directly  to  the  user.  This
violates one of the prime rules of layering (it does terminal  IO  other
than at the request of the top level), which can result in (for example)
screen formatting errors, but we consider this better than not reporting
the error at all.

REQUIREMENT:  If no provision has been made by the  calling  program  to
handle  a  DYNLIB  error,  DYNLIB  must  print  an  error message on the
terminal which is as clear and descriptive as possible.  It must include
at least the information listed as required for the error return above.

We will consider DYNLIB to be adequately reliable if, during  the  first
12  months  after  FRS, unique error rates average less than 1 per month
total in priorities 1 and 2, less than 3 per month  in  priorities  3-5.
Problem  report  rates  may be up to 5 times this (i.e.  an average of 5
submissions of each problem).
TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements                             Page 14
MAINTAINABILITY


11.0  MAINTAINABILITY

DYNLIB will be designed and written  with  ease  of  maintainability  in
mind.

REQUIREMENT:  Maintainability must be taken into account when choosing a
language in which to implement DYNLIB.

RESTRICTION:  Because of the high level of interaction probably required
between  DYNLIB  and the monitor and hardware, portions or all of DYNLIB
may be written in MACRO.

REQUIREMENT:  Any software necessary  for  defining  libraries  must  be
normally available at all supported TOPS-20 sites.  In particular, BLISS
must not be necessary to define a library.

REQUIREMENT:  All project documents must be formally inspected  and  the
problems found corrected.

GOAL:  As much as possible  of  DYNLIB  will  be  housed  in  a  dynamic
library.   This  makes  it  possible  to  update  DYNLIB  itself without
requiring users to re-link all programs using DYNLIB.

RESTRICTION:  Due to the time constraints on this  project,  it  is  not
necessary  to produce an additional document describing the internals of
DYNLIB.  However, the functional and design specs  must  be  updated  to
reflect the status of the code.

REQUIREMENT:  DYNLIB will be autopatchable in the field.

REQUIREMENT:  DYNLIB must  not  prevent  dynamic  libraries  from  being
autopatchable in the field.

SUCCESS CRITERION:  The patch/update rate for the first 12  months  will
be not more than 120% of the unique problem rate during that period.



12.0  MAINTENANCE

Maintenance of this product will be performed by Software Engineering.

REQUIREMENT:  Updates must appear as necessary on the regular  autopatch
tapes.



13.0  COMPATIBILITY
TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements                             Page 15
COMPATIBILITY


13.1  Compatibility With Existing Libraries

There are a lot of existing REL libraries or other kinds of packages  of
code.   Many  of  them  would  be  very  useful  as dynamic libraries --
consider SORT, DBCS, RMS, MTHLIB.

REQUIREMENT:  It must be possible to take an existing REL  library  that
does  not  require  trapping  or  interrupts  and turn it into a dynamic
library with minimal changes to existing programs, in whatever language,
that call routines in the library.

RESTRICTION:  Conversion of an existing REL library  or  other  kind  of
package  may  require  considerable  effort  since dynamic libraries are
required to run in non-zero sections.  Most  existing  packages  do  not
have  this  capability, but using the additional address space available
through extended addressing is basic to the goals of DYNLIB.

REQUIREMENT:  Any systematic changes  required  in  converting  existing
packages  into  dynamic  libraries  must  be documented in the manual on
writing dynamic libraries.

REQUIREMENT:  There must be some tool in DYNLIB for interfacing programs
running  in  section  zero  to  dynamic  libraries  called into non-zero
sections (note that most existing programs run in section zero).



13.2  Product Compatibility

Dynamic libraries are not  particularly  compatible  with  any  previous
method  of calling libraries (either linking in section zero, or GET% at
runtime into fixed addresses in section 0).

GOAL:  Major languages should consider invoking their OTS routines as  a
dynamic  library.   This  would  be  a  large  step towards making mixed
language programming work.  (If the OTS libraries were made  to  conform
to  the  interrupt and trap rules, a mixed language environment would be
achieved.)  This would make it possible  for  dynamic  libraries  to  be
written  in  higher  level  languages and called from other higher level
languages -- for example, a dynamic library of graphics  routines  could
be written in FORTRAN.



13.2.1  Dependency Issues

We  must  come  to  a  consensus  with  the  TOPS-20  monitor  group  on
interpretation of PDV's.

We must come to  a  consensus  with  the  LINK  and  monitor  groups  on
LINK-provided memory maps.
TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements                             Page 16
COMPATIBILITY


We must come to a consensus with the DDT, LINK, and  monitor  groups  on
symbol table pointers in PDV's and elsewhere.



13.3  Standards Conformance

No known relevant standards.



13.4  Internationalization

There are no requirements in this area.  This product interacts with the
end-user  only in "last-ditch" error messages which should never be seen
from a program designed according  to  our  recommendations.   There  is
therefore no need for foreign language versions of the product.

There is no benefit to making DYNLIB documentation available in  foreign
languages  unless  policy  is  changed  and all LCG documentation starts
becoming available in foreign languages.  This is not anticipated.

REQUIREMENT:  DYNLIB must not preclude  use  of  8-bit  ASCII  codes  in
dynamic libraries or programs which call them.



14.0  EVOLVABILITY

REQUIREMENT:  user-mode DYNLIB, if implemented, must be designed with an
eye  to  eventual conversion to monitor-mode DYNLIB.  The maximum amount
of effort for converting programs and dynamic libraries  from  user-mode
DYNLIB  to  monitor-mode  DYNLIB must not exceed:  recompile the library
definitions using the new version of DYNLIB,  and  relink  any  programs
calling the libraries.

Customers should not  be  allowed  to  change  any  of  the  basic  data
structures;  however, they may need to store information relating to the
libraries which naturally  seems  to  belong  in  our  data  structures.
Similarly,   individual   libraries   may   have  special  data  storage
requirements that could best be served this way.

REQUIREMENT:  At least a word in each DYNLIB data structure that resides
in  program address space must be set aside for the use of customers.  A
word must also be set aside for the use of  the  specific  library  that
this data structure relates to, if it relates to a specific library.
TOPS-20 Dynamic Library Requirements                             Page 17
COSTS


15.0  COSTS

DYNLIB is being developed as part of the Datatrieve-20 project.

We hope to limit the development of DYNLIB to  4  man-months  (including
all time spent from writing specification to field-test entry).



16.0  TIMELINESS

The  product  must  be  ready  to  field-test  and   ship   along   with
Datatrieve-20.



17.0  CONSTRAINTS AND TRADES-OFF

Ease of conversion of an existing library is more important than keeping
the call overhead of that library within the bounds specified.  However,
new libraries implemented according to the instructions to be  developed
as  part  of  DYNLIB  must  meet the call overhead limits.  There may be
different techniques for defining a new dynamic library  and  a  dynamic
interface to an existing library.



18.0  APPROVAL PROCESS

DYNLIB is being developed within the  Datatrieve-20  project,  but  will
probably be used by many other projects.  The normal approval process as
applied to Datatrieve-20 probably will not give sufficient visibility to
DYNLIB to ensure that necessary feedback from other groups is received.

Therefore, special efforts will be made to circulate DYNLIB documents to
project leaders and supervisors throughout LSG Software Engineering, and
some appropriate  consultant-level  people  within  the  group  will  be
approached individually for their comments.











                               APPENDIX A

                           PROBLEM PRIORITIES



(From the QAR form instructions)

Refer to the following code in establishing a priority for your problem:

     1.  Most production work cannot be run;  e.g.  functions/jobs which
         are  not  usable  and  are  a  major use of the system, such as
         system will not BOOT, necessary peripherals are out of service.

     2.  Some  production   work   cannot   be   run;    e.g.    certain
         functions/jobs   are   not   usable,  performance  degradation,
         installation has insufficient excess capacity.

     3.  All production work can be run with some impact on user;   e.g.
         significant  manual  intervention  required,  extra procedures,
         performance degradation, but installation has excess capacity.

     4.  All production work can be run with no  significant  impact  on
         users;   e.g.   problems  can  be easily patched, simple bypass
         procedure exists.

     5.  No system modifications needed to return to normal  production;
         e.g.  suggestion, consultation, documentation error.