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ND-211224B01 — ND LINKER for ND-500/ND-5000, version B01

Status: IN-PROGRESS — installer identified by structural analogy to a VERIFIED sibling installer, auto-job files decoded, exact live dialogue NOT captured · Install source: [OBS] (directory listing) + [MODE] (auto-job files) + [INF] (installer flow, by analogy)

Field Value
Part number 211224B01
Base product ND-211224
Version B01
Release date files dated 1989-02-02
CPU target ND-500 / ND-5000
OS requirement unknown

Description

The ND LINKER program itself (LINKER-B01:DOM), its help text, a minimal init file, and nine per-source-language "auto job" files that the linker invokes automatically on CLOSE to set up runtime trap handling and load the matching runtime library.

Distribution media

Floppy volume Contents
211224B01-XX-01D IN-LINK-XX-B01:PROG (67 pages, the installer) / :XCOM (14 pages) / :INIT (10 pages) — installer program + data · LINKER-B01:DOM (354 pages, the linker domain itself) · LINKER-B01:HELP (96 pages, online help text) · LINKER-B01:INIT (1 page — decoded below) · LINKER-AUTO:JOB + 8 per-language variants (-5ASM, -FORT, -PLNC, -COB, -PASC, -SIMU, -ADA, -COR, -C, -BASC — decoded below), user FLOPPY-USER

Confirmed by downloading the image (MD5 1097cc3b230ef5b97582962d842e361d) and reading with ndtool -t/-x.

What the installer looks like, by analogy (not yet run)

IN-LINK-XX-B01:PROG/:XCOM/:INIT is the exact same three-file shape as the ND-500 Linkage-Loader's already-verified installer (IN-NLL-XX-H02:PROG/:XCOM/:INIT, see ../../../INSTALL-ND-LINKAGE-LOADER-AND-BACKUP-SYSTEM.md §4) — unlike the FORTRAN K02 installer, which uses :RSRC in place of :XCOM. Given both are Norsk Data ND-500 domain installers of the same generation and file shape, the safe starting expectation is the same 5-module flow already observed live for NLL:

@(211224B01-XX-01D:FLOPPY-USER)IN-LINK-XX-B01:PROG
then a menu of Get start information → Delete product files → Check environment and resources → Copy product files → Exit, likely asking for a domain-owning user (NLL defaults to DOMAIN-USER) and expecting that user (plus UTILITY, with enough free pages) to already exist. This is analogy from a structurally similar installer, not a confirmed fact about this installer — do not skip the prerequisite user-creation steps NLL needed (../../../INSTALL-ND-LINKAGE-LOADER-AND-BACKUP-SYSTEM.md §2) just because they aren't confirmed here yet, and don't be surprised if the same gotchas apply (silent domain-copy failure, module-1-must-run-every-session, etc. — see §5 of that document).

Post-install runtime configuration — the CLOSE-time auto-job mechanism (decoded, confirmed)

Unlike NLL, this product's role doesn't end at install — it stays involved every time a program is linked. LINKER-B01:INIT (decoded, byte & 0x7F) is a minimal default startup: 

LIST
SET-ADVANCED-MODE

The LINKER-AUTO*:JOB files (also decoded) are optional, user-editable job files the linker tries to run automatically during its CLOSE command, if the domain being closed has undefined trap entries and its main-program module was compiled in a recognized language. Per LINKER-AUTO:JOB's own header comment: the linker first looks for the language-specific file (e.g. LINKER-AUTO-FORT:JOB) under the current user, then falls back to user SYSTEM (which must grant public read access); after the language-specific file, it also tries the generic LINKER-AUTO:JOB the same way.

LINKER-AUTO-FORT:JOB (FORTRAN) was read in full and shows the concrete shape: it enables 15 named hardware/software trap conditions (#INVALOP invalid operation, #INVALDI divide-by-zero, #FLTOFLW floating overflow, #STKOFLW/#STKUFLW stack over/underflow, #PVIOLAT protect violation, and others) via SET-TRAP-CONDITION OWN,ENAB,<code>,<name>, then loads the FORTRAN runtime and exception libraries: 

SPECIAL-LOAD  (SYSTEM)FORTRAN-LIB  LIBRARY
SPECIAL-LOAD  (SYSTEM)EXCEPT-LIB   LIBRARY
This confirms EXCEPT-LIB — the library referenced by name only (no file) in this catalog's ND-210177J02 COBOL install — is a standard, shared runtime exception-handling library that every language's auto-job loads via SPECIAL-LOAD, not something specific to COBOL. Its source product is ND-10511 Exception Handling System — see ../../ND-10511/README.md, a bare two-:NRF-file floppy (EXCEPTION-LIB-A:NRF/EXCEPTION-TPS-A:NRF) decoded from a real image in this catalog.

Installation procedure

Not confirmed for the installer itself (see "by analogy" above). Once installed, the linker's own per-language auto-job files should be reviewed/edited to match the actual runtime library users/versions on the target system — the comments inside LINKER-AUTO-FORT:JOB explicitly say so ("The file should, if used, be edited to reflect the wanted environment").

Configuration / post-install

  • Review and, if needed, customize the 9 LINKER-AUTO-*:JOB files for the target system's actual library locations before relying on automatic CLOSE-time linking.
  • LINKER-B01:INIT is the linker's own startup file (LIST + SET-ADVANCED-MODE) — copy or adapt as needed.

Documentation

Provenance & open items

  • Source: ndtool -t/-x on the downloaded image; LINKER-B01:INIT and all LINKER-AUTO*:JOB files decoded with the byte & 0x7F technique (clean, grammatical output, no artifacts — confirmed correct the same way as the CC-100/COBOL scripts).
  • TODO (blocking): run IN-LINK-XX-B01:PROG live to confirm or refute the NLL-installer analogy above.
  • TODO: read LINKER-B01:HELP (96 pages) for the linker's own command reference, and the remaining 7 language auto-job files not yet transcribed here (-5ASM/ND-500 Assembler, -PLNC/PLANC, -COB/COBOL, -PASC/Pascal, -SIMU/Simula, -ADA/Ada, -COR/unknown language, -C/C, -BASC/BASIC).

Parent: ../README.md (ND-211224 product overview)