Reading VMS backups on Ultrix

[J R Evans]

fnddr at acad3.alaska.edu (Rice Don D) writes:

>An organization which shall remain nameless insists on sending us TK50
>data tapes in VMS backup format.

Hmmmm.  Let me guess ... a certain US government institution?

>Is there a newer version of vmsbackup floating around somewhere?  Seems like
>DEC should supply such a utility for Ultrix to help VMS and Ultrix systems
>get along.  Failing that, is there a description of the current VMS backup
>format somewhere that I might use to patch up vmsbackup?

Can I reiterate this enquiry, as well as the admonition to DEC.  I've never
been able to find any format information in the VMS manuals, and we
don't have source at this site.  I just grabbed a copy of vmsbackup, for a
similar application.  On a DECstation 3100/Ultrix 4.0/RISC, it generates
heaps of alignment errors: code in process_file assumes that the struct
bsa elements in the buffer passed to it are aligned.  The fix seems easy
enough - just perform a byte-by-byte copy into an aligned temporary.  I
wonder if this could be associated in any way with Don's problems?  Can
anyone out there offer definitive advice?

Russ Evans
British Geological Survey