From:	CRDGW2::CRDGW2::MRGATE::"SMTP::CRVAX.SRI.COM::RELAY-INFO-VAX" 30-AUG-1990 17:47:19.16
To:	MRGATE::"ARISIA::EVERHART"
CC:	
Subj:	Re: re: hardware ID on VMS

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Date: 29 Aug 1990 19:46:27 EST
From: Carl.J.Lydick@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU
To: fisher%rtsmv1.decnet@edwards-vax.af.mil, info-vax@sri.com
Subject: Re: re: hardware ID on VMS
X-Vms-Original-To: INET%"fisher%rtsmv1.decnet@edwards-vax.af.mil"


 > As Jerry has already pointed out, VAXen don't provide a  unique  system  ID
 > number, VMS, however, does provide something better - the LMF facility.

 > This is exactly what LMF was designed for.  If you  want  to  make  certain
 > that  only certain items run on certain machines, etc, it can be controlled
 > via LMF.

 > If you are a software vendor  serious  about  selling  a  software  package
 > layered  on  VMS, you can probably get in touch with someone within Digital
 > who can provide you with the information you need to make your  application
 > LMF compliant.

No, this is NOT exactly what LMF was designed for (or, if it is, it is
incredibly badly misdesigned).  LMF was designed to allow DEC to distribute
many layered products in a single distribution without allowing everybody who
receives the distribution to run all the products, on the assumption that the
recipients would not conspire to cheat, and to allow the products to be
installed in the cluster-common directories of a VAXCluster without the
products being available to all nodes in the cluster.  If you've got SYSPRV on
any VAX with  a license for a product, it's incredibly easy to enable the
product on any other VAX.  You just copy the license database, use LICENSE to
ISSUE the PAK /OUTPUT=some_file, edit the file into a command procedure, and
run the procedure.  LMF is NOT a serious attempt to keep somebody who wants to
run the software on several systems from doing so;  if it were, DEC would have
come up with a way to enforce it better (like, say, designing a new Qbus device
to provide a unique identifier for every VAX).