total confusion about DUnix hardcopy documentation sets

From: Mark Bartelt <mark_at_cita.utoronto.ca>
Date: Thu, 09 Oct 1997 08:10:29 -0400

[ Apologies in advance about the length. Apologies also about the
   duplication for those of you who've already seen it in either or
   both of {comp.sys.dec,comp.unix.osf.osf1}, but it did seem worth
   posting here, since the readerships don't totally overlap. ]

I'm about to order (or, at least, I'm *hoping* to order) some newer
editions of the various bits of outdated manuals we have sitting on
our shelves. In particular, our Digital UNIX documentation is from
back in the V2 (and even V1!) days.

So, I figure that I ought to be able to get order numbers from some
Digital web page, and price information from their Business Link web
site. But thus far, all I've gotten is confused. Specifically:

At http://www.unix.digital.com/faqs/publications/pub_page/order.html
the following documents are described:

   QA-MT4AA-GZ - Full Documentation Set
   QA-MT4AB-GZ - End User Documentation Kit
 * QA-MT4AC-GZ - Startup Documentation Kit
 * QA-MT4AD-GZ - General User Documentation Kit
 * QA-MT4AE-GZ - System and Network Management Documentation Kit
   QA-MT5AA-GZ - Developer's Documentation Kit
 * QA-MT5AB-GZ - General Programming Documentation Kit
 * QA-MT5AC-GZ - Windows Programming Documentation Kit
 * QA-MT5AD-GZ - Writing Device Drivers Documentation Kit
 * QA-MT4AG-GZ - Reference Pages Documentation Set

For the ones I've marked with asterisks, there are tables which list
all manuals included in the kit. And although it's never explicitly
stated anywhere that I can find, I *think* that QA-MT4AB-GZ includes
QA-MT4AC-GZ + QA-MT4AD-GZ + QA-MT4AE-GZ (though the price listed for
QA-MT4AB-GZ is a bit higher than the sum of those three components!),
and that QA-MT5AA-GZ includes QA-MT5AB-GZ + QA-MT5AC-GZ + QA-MT5AD-GZ.
Also, I suspect that QA-MT4AA-GZ is QA-MT4AB-GZ plus QA-MT5AA-GZ.

However, when I start looking for prices at Business Link, and looking
at the part descriptions, and cross-checking with the Digital UNIX SPD,
and looking up (or trying to look up) additional part numbers, I start
to get confused. For example:

Business Link has no listing for QA-MT5AD-GZ, although it does for all
the other ones listed above. Any idea why?

Also, Business Link's descriptions for some of the part numbers imply
that these are v3.2 manuals, and not v4 manuals. For example:

   QA-MT5AA-GZ DEV TOOLKIT U/A V3.2 FL DOC
   QA-MT5AB-GZ DEV TOOLKIT U/A V3.2 FL DOC
   QA-MT5AC-GZ DEV TOOLKIT U/A V3.2 WP DOC

If I order these, will I be getting v3.2 manuals or v4 manuals? In
other words, when a new release of DUnix comes out, do the document
numbers stay the same, even though the manuals change? Or, do the
new editions of the manuals get totally different part numbers?

(In any case, something is clearly screwy, since the first two items
above have different part numbers, but identical descriptions!)

So, I went looking at the DUnix (v4) SPD, and found the following:

   Software Documentation:

       Full Documentation Kit (excluding Reference Pages):
       QA-MT4AA-GZ
       Reference Pages Documentation Kit:
       QA-MT4AG-GZ

   The full documentation kit contains the following:

       End User Documentation: QA-MT4AR-GZ
       DIGITAL UNIX Developer's Toolkit: QA-MT5AE-GZ
       DIGITAL UNIX Server Extensions: QA-MT4AU-GZ

Interesting. The part numbers for the Full Documentation Kit and the
Reference Pages Documentation Kit match the part numbers which appear
at http://www.unix.digital.com/faqs/publications/pub_page/order.html;
but what about those last three? Those seem new. This implies that,
in fact, at least some of the part numbers for manuals do change when
a new major release of DUnix comes out.

However, NONE of those last three seem to exist, at least according to
the Business Link web site. Sigh.

So ... Can anyone tell me (or, at least, point me to an unambiguous,
and authoritative, source) what the correct document numbers are for
the various subsets of the DUnix v4 hardcopy manuals? Many thanks in
advance.

Mark Bartelt 416/978-5619
Canadian Institute for mark_at_cita.utoronto.ca
Theoretical Astrophysics http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/~mark

"Clothes not busy being worn are busy drying." -- Dylan, on laundry day
         [ singing "It's all right, ma (I'm only bleaching)" ]
Received on Thu Oct 09 1997 - 14:36:41 NZDT