ssu_$get_area comment argument is ignored by define_area_ subroutine

[Gary Dixon]

The ssu_$get_area subroutine has the following calling sequence...

help ssu_$get_area -bf -ca comment

>udd>m>gd>w>ssup>ssu_.info   (50 lines in entry point; 65 other entry points in info)

Entry:  1983-01-19  ssu_$get_area

Syntax:
declare ssu_$get_area entry (ptr, ptr, char(*), ptr);

call ssu_$get_area (sci_ptr, area_info_ptr, comment, area_ptr);

Arguments:
 sci_ptr   area_info_ptr   comment   area_ptr

Arguments:
comment
   is a comment identifying the use to which the area will be put.
   (Input) It is used in constructing the owner name for the call to
   define_area_, in the form:
           subsys_name.N (comment)
   where subsys_name is the name of the subsystem, N is the invocation
   level for this invocation, and the comment (if any) follows, in
   parentheses.  This is done to make it easier to identify the segment
   names listed by list_temp_segments.

ssu_temp_mgr_$get_area stores the "subsys_name.N (comment)" string in the area_info.owner element when it calls define_area_ to create an area with specified characteristics in a temporary segment.

define_area_ embeds the area_info.owner field in a caller argument it passes to the get_temp_segment_ subroutine. However, because area_info.owner is a non-varying character string, define_area_ truncates the .owner field before the first SP character so it can add a ".area" suffix to that owner. Since ssu_$get_area places its caller's comment in parenthesis and preceded by a SP character, the comment argument to the ssu_$get_area subroutine is never used. This is a defect.

For example, a call to ssu_$get_area by the test_parms subsystem with comment = "token_area" generates a temporary segment with the comment (displayed by list_temp_segments command) as follows...

..list_temp_segments

          22 Segments,  8 Free
...
!BBBKXkgPkQlgbk.temp.0454  test_parms.1.area

A better line would prefer use of the caller-provided comment rather than the ".area" suffix added arbitrarily by define_area_.

..list_temp_segments

          22 Segments,  8 Free
...
!BBBKXkgPkQlgbk.temp.0454  test_parms.1 (token_area)

[Gary Dixon]

Code in define_area_ which creates a temporary segment in which to hold the area is shown below.

/* First create the area segment if necessary. The nullness of the input area pointer
   indicates what we are to do. */

   if area_info.areap = null then do;                /* null means we should get an area segment */
      len = index (area_info.owner, " ") - 1;
      if len < 0 then len = length (area_info.owner);
      if area_info.system | (get_ring_ () = 0)
      then call hcs_$make_seg ("", unique_chars_ (""b) || ".area." || substr (area_info.owner, 1, 10),
              "", 01110b, area_info.areap, code);
      else call get_temp_segment_ (substr (area_info.owner, 1, len) || ".area", area_info.areap, code);
      if code ^= 0 then goto ERROR;
      defined = "1"b;
   end;

I believe this code should determine length of the area_info.owner field by looking for the last non-SPace character.

Instead of trying to add a suffix-like string ".area", it should try to add a parenthesized string " (area)" if the substring "area" is not already present in the .owner element.

[Eric Swenson]

​https://s3.amazonaws.com/eswenson-multics/public/mcrs/MCR10155.pdf

Fixed by MR12.9-1025.