AIX Support Family -- Sending Testcases by Mail (U.S. only)

This document provides addresses that may be used by registered customers of the AIX Support Family for sending testcases to IBM by standard mail or overnight delivery. For more information on the AIX Support Family and Program Services (IBM's base support for code-related problems), request these faxes from 1-800-IBM-4FAX:

1537: Overview of AIX Support
1760: Using Program Services
2464: The AIX Support Family

All media sent in this manner must be labeled.

To prevent delays in processing, the problem number (PMR or XMENU item number) must be on the media label. If the testcase media cannot be associated with an existing PMR or XMENU item, the files associated with these numbers will be considered lost and eventually deleted from the system.

Indicate the archive format and tape block size on the media label.

Sample label:

   <customer name> 
   <problem or item #> <customer or branch office #> 
   <exact command used to copy to media> 
   <block size used, density setting used> 

(You can determine the block size by entering:

   lsattr -E -l rmt# | grep block_size 

Very Important: If the person sending this testcase is NOT the person who reported the problem, be sure to include the name of the person who reported it. If the proper information is not on the package, process delays will occur.

Approved media: diskettes or 8mm, 4mm, or 1/4" tape

NOTE: NO overnight delivery service delivers directly to Bldg. 42; instead deliveries are made to IBM Receiving. Please keep this in mind when choosing a delivery time.

If you specify weekend delivery, available for severity 1 only, you must first make special arrangements with an AIX Support specialist (call 1-800-CALL-AIX). Otherwise there could be a delay of several days.

NOTE: Testcases should be archived into a compressed tar archive using relative path names. Using the following naming convention allows our tools to automatically move the testcase to the proper directories and update the PMR to indicate that the testcase is available. Failure to use this naming convention could cause delays in processing the testcase.

If the testcase files cannot be associated with an existing PMR or XMENU item, they will be tagged as lost and eventually deleted.

 ppppp.bbb.ccc.tar.Z 
     |   |   |   | | 
     |   |   |   | indicates that the archive is compressed 
     |   |   |   | (if you have the gzip command available, 
     |   |   |   | this will be .gz rather than .Z) 
     |   |   |   | 
     |   |   |   indicates a tar archive 
     |   |   | 
     |   |   the 3 character country code 
     |   |   (may be omitted if the country code is 000) 
     |   | 
     |   the 3 character branch office number 
     | 
     the 5 character PMR number 

   9x999.999.999.tar.gz (problem_report_#.branch_office_#.country_code.tar.gz)
   1x234.001.tar.Z      (problem_report_#.branch_office_#.tar.Z)
   1x234.1234567.tar.Z  (problem_report_#.customer_#.tar.Z)

 xxxxxx.tar.Z 
      |   | | 
      |   | indicates that archive is compressed 
      |   | (if you have the gzip command available, 
      |   | this will be .gz rather than .Z) 
      |   | 
      |   indicates a tar archive 
      | 
      the XMENU item number 

Follow this example to compress a testcase into a tar archive using relative path names.

1. Place the testcase files into a separate directory using commands similar to those in the following example. This example uses a directory named /tmp/testcase.

       cd /tmp 
       mkdir testcase 
       cp file1 file2 file3 testcase 
   

2. Execute one of the following commands to create the compressed tar archive. Using the gzip command (if available) generally produces a significantly smaller file.

   With the gzip command:

      tar -cf- testcase | gzip -9 >9x999.999.999.tar.gz
   

   Without the gzip command:

      tar -cf- testcase | compress >9x999.999.999.tar.Z 
   

By choosing to send data to IBM, you acknowledge that all information contained in your data, including source, object code, binaries, executables, comments, questions, suggestions, or the like, shall be deemed to be non-confidential and IBM shall have no obligation of any kind with respect to such information and shall be free to reproduce, use, disclose, and distribute the information within IBM without limitation. Further, IBM shall be free to use any ideas, concepts, know-how or techniques contained in such information for any purpose whatsoever, including, but not limited to, developing, manufacturing and marketing products incorporating such information.