<GJOURNAL>31484.NLS;1, 12-DEC-74 04:32 XXX ;;;;
Jonathan B. Postel/JBP; Distribution: /NAG( [ ACTION ] ) NLG( [ ACTION ]
) NSW( [ ACTION ] ) PI( [ ACTION ] ) ; Sub-Collections: NIC NWG
NAG NLG NSW PI; RFC# 674; Clerk: JAKE;
RFC674.NLS;2, >, 11-DEC-74 17:58 JAKE ;;;;####;
NWG/RFC# 674
Procedure Call Protocol Documents
Request for Comments 674
NIC 31484

Title: Author(s):
SRI-ARC
Origin: < NETINFO,
JBP 11-DEC-74 18:04 31484
Jon Postel
Jim White

SRI-ARC

12 December 1974

Procedure Call Protocol Documents
Version 2

As many of you may know SRI is part of a team working on the National

Software Works project. In the course of our work we have developed a

Procedure Call Protocol to be used between the modules which make up

the NSW. We are interested in your comments on this protocol. Please

foreward your remarks to either: 2

   James E. White (WHITE@SRI-ARC) or Jon Postel (POSTEL@SRI-ARC)          2a

Augmentation Research Center
Stanford Research Institute

                     Menlo Park, California 94025                         2b

            (415) 326-6200 x2960 (White) or x3718 (Postel)                2c

This note announces the release of the second published version of

several National Software Works (NSW) and Procedure Call Protocol

(PCP) documents. Version 2 is SUBSTANTIALLY different than Version 1;

it and all intermediate, informally distributed PCP documents are

obsoleted by this release. 3

Each of the following documents is available on-line in two forms: as

an NLS file and as a formatted text file. The Journal number (e.g.

24459) refers to the former, of course, and the pathname (e.g.

[SRI-ARC]<NLS>PCP.TXT) to the latter, accessible via FTP using

USER=ANONYMOUS and PASSWORD=GUEST (no account required). Let it be

emphasised that files indicated by pathname of the form

[SRI-ARC]<NLS>name.TXT are ASCII text files not NLS files.                 4

The specifications are contained in the following documents: 5

   HOST      (24581,)  "NSW Host Protocol"                                5a

This document describes the host level protocol used in the NSW. The protocol is a slightly constrained version of the standard ARPANET host to host protocol. The constraints affect the

      allocation, RFNM wait, and retransmission policies.                5a1

NWG/RFC# 674 JBP 11-DEC-74 18:04 31484

RFC 674;                                              PCP Announcement

         Pathname: [SRI-ARC]<NLS>HOST.TXT                               5a1a

   PCP       (24459,)  "The Procedure Call Protocol"                      5b

This document describes the virtual programming environment provided by PCP, and the inter-process exchanges that implement

      it.                                                                5b1

         Pathname: [SRI-ARC]<NLS>PCP.TXT                                5b1a

   PIP       (24460,)  "The Procedure Interface Package"                  5c

This document describes a package that runs in the setting provided by PCP and that serves as a procedure-call-level interface to PCP proper. It includes procedures for calling,

      resuming, interrupting, and aborting remote procedures.            5c1

         Pathname: [SRI-ARC]<NLS>PIP.TXT                                5c1a

   PSP       (24461,)  "The PCP Support Package"                          5d

This document describes a package that runs in the setting provided by PCP and that augments PCP proper, largely in the area of data store manipulation. It includes procedures for obtaining access to groups of remote procedures and data stores,

      manipulating remote data stores, and creating temporary ones.      5d1

         Pathname: [SRI-ARC]<NLS>PSP.TXT                                5d1a

   PMP       (24462,)  "The Process Management Package"                   5e

This document describes a package that runs in the setting provided by PCP and that provides the necessary tools for interconnecting two or more processes to form a multi-process system (e.g. NSW). It includes procedures for creating, deleting, logically and physically interconnecting processes,

      and for allocating and releasing processors.                       5e1

         Pathname: [SRI-ARC]<NLS>PMP.TXT                                5e1a

   PCPFMT    (24576,)  "PCP Data Structure Formats"                       5f

This document defines formats for PCP data structures, each of

      which is appropriate for one or more physical channel types.       5f1

         Pathname: [SRI-ARC]<NLS>PCPFMT.TXT                             5f1a

NWG/RFC# 674 JBP 11-DEC-74 18:04 31484

RFC 674;                                              PCP Announcement

   PCPHST    (24577,)  "PCP ARPANET Inter-Host IPC Implementation"        5g

This document defines an implementation, appropriate for mediating communication between Tenex forks, of the IPC

      primitives required by PCP.                                        5g1

         Pathname: [SRI-ARC]<NLS>PCPHST.TXT                             5g1a

   PCPFRK    (24578,)  "PCP Tenex Inter-Fork IPC Implementation"          5h

This document defines an implementation, appropriate for mediating communication between processes on different hosts

      within the ARPANET, of the IPC primitives required by PCP.         5h1

         Pathname: [SRI-ARC]<NLS>PCPFRK.TXT                             5h1a

   EXEC      (24580,)  "The Executive Package"                            5i

This document describes a package that runs in the setting provided by PCP. It includes procedures and data stores for

      user identification, accounting, and usage information.            5i1

         Pathname: [SRI-ARC]<NLS>EXEC.TXT                               5i1a

   FILE      (24582,)  "The File Package"                                 5j

This document describes a package that runs in the setting provided by PCP. It includes procedures and data stores for opening, closing, and listing directories, for creating, deleting, and renaming files, and for transfering files and file

      elements between processes.                                        5j1

         Pathname: [SRI-ARC]<NLS>FILE.TXT                               5j1a

   BATCH     (24583,)  "The Batch Job Package"                            5k

This document describes a package that runs in the setting provided by PCP. It includes procedures for creating and deleting batch jobs, obtaining the status of a batch job, and communicating with the operator of a batch processing host. This package is implemented at the host that provides the batch

      processing facility.                                               5k1

         Pathname: [SRI-ARC]<NLS>BATCH.TXT                              5k1a

   RJE-MODEL (24655,)  "The NSW Remote Job Entry Model"                   5l

NWG/RFC# 674 JBP 11-DEC-74 18:04 31484

RFC 674;                                              PCP Announcement

This document discusses the process of utilizing a batch processing facility to complete a programming task in the NSW environment. This same activity in another environment might

      utilize a remote job entry system.                                 5l1

         Pathname: [SRI-ARC]<NLS>RJE-MODEL.TXT                          5l1a

   LLDBUG    (24579,)  "The Low-Level Debug Package"                      5m

This document describes a package that runs in the setting provided by PCP. It includes procedures for a remote process to debug at the assembly-language level, any process known to the local process. The package contains procedures for manipulating and searching the process' address space, for manipulating and searching its symbol tables, and for setting and removing breakpoints from its address space. Its data stores hold process characteristics and state information, and the contents

      of program symbol tables.                                          5m1

         Pathname: [SRI-ARC]<NLS>LLDBUG.TXT                             5m1a

   TBH       (24656,)  "NSW Requirments on Tool Bearing Hosts"            5n

This document discusses the environment needed in the tool bearing host and the interfaces to the operating system

      components by various PCP packages.                                5n1

         Pathname: [SRI-ARC]<NLS>TBH.TXT                                5n1a

   BOXES     (24584,)  "Black Boxes in PCP"                               5o

This document describes the transliteration of the black boxes defined by Millstein and Warshall into the setting provided by

      PCP, especially the File Package and the Executive Package.        5o1

         Pathname: [SRI-ARC]<NLS>BOXES.TXT                              5o1a

The document on the Host level protocol, HOST, is a suggestion for

some restrictions on the regular ARPANET host protocol for use in NSW,

this topic has little impact on the remainder of the NSW protocols.

The reader is urged to begin with the major Procedure Call Protocol

documents. 6

The document on PCP is the place the interested reader should start.

It gives the required motivation for the Protocol and states the

substance of the Protocol proper. 7

NWG/RFC# 674 JBP 11-DEC-74 18:04 31484

RFC 674;                                              PCP Announcement

The reader may then proceed to the next three documents: PIP, PSP and

PMP. The latter has the most relavence to the casual reader; the

programmer faced with coding in the PCP environment should read all

three. 8

The three documents PCPFMT, PCPHST, and PCPFRK specify low level

details of the communication formats and are of interest only to PCP

implementers. 9

The documents EXEC, FILE and BATCH describe procedure packages to be

implemented as appropriate to provide the services of the

accounting/status/usage statistics subsystem, the file subsystem or

batch processing subsystem respectively. 10

The document RJE-MODEL describes how a user would utilize various

tools in the NSW in the process of carrying out tasks he might in the

absence of NSW achieve using a remote job entry system. This should be

read with the document on BATCH.

The LLDBUG package specifies a debugging package that operates in the

PCP environment. 12

The document called BOXES describes a mapping between the PCP

mechanisms and the File Package procedures and the Black Boxes needed

by the Works Manager. 13

The document TBH speaks to the requirements placed on the Tool Bearing

Host. This document indicates how and where various PCP packages

interface to an operating system. 14