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 The Question is: This is a followup to 9378. I stumbled upon a partial solution viz. don't allow the "input-file" argument (the second argument) to default. For many calls to LIB$SPAWN within an application there is no intention for the spawned command to read input and so a value of "NL:" for this argument suffices. This then avoids the TRMMBX error. I note that the LIB$SPAWN doco does not mention TRMMBX as a possible error and hence or otherwise does not mention the situations in which it is unavoidable and those in which it is avoidable. The Answer is : 
 
 TRMMBX,  terminal has associated mailbox - terminate image and then
          SPAWN
 
  Facility:     CLI, Command Language Interpreter (DCL)
 
  Explanation:  A SPAWN command failed because the current image has
                associated a mailbox with the terminal.
 
  User Action:  Terminate the current image, then reenter the command.
 
 
 
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