We like to encourage our customers to keep up to date on our software versions.  We do not charge for customer to update to latest versions.  If fact, we strongly encourage customers keep current.  Although we've seen customers that are content with running software versions that are over 15 years old they can miss out on a lot of new features in newer versions.

Why Stay Up to Date on Versions?

The main reason we encourage customers to stay current is that when a customer experiences a bug or problem most of the time the issue has already been solved by the latest version.  Normally the first step in finding a solution will be for the customer to install the latest version of the software which is available from our website.  That way when we do offer a fix/service pack the customer will already be on the latest version that the service pack will be for.

Also, when a customer requests an update there's a good chance it's already been requested and added to the latest version.  If not, normally we're happy to add it.

Normally when doing OS and/or hardware upgrades is a good time to do the version updates.

How are Updates Done?

Because our software is mainly a library (and possible some IFS objects) the initial installation is as simple as a Restore Library (RSTLIB) command.

We also include update instructions with software downloads that customers can follow to update to the latest version.  This normally includes the following steps:

1. Rename your current software library (ie, rename SPLTOOL to SPLTOOLOLD).
2. Restore the new library
3. Run a few commands to copy any settings, logs and other information from the old version to the new version

What if My Software Library is Locked Because it's in the System Library List or Another Reason?

There are cases where the normal update method isn't possible because the original library is locked.  In this case we provide alternative upgrade instructions to the customer.  We thought we would post those instructions here to help our customers should they encounter this issue.

Those instructions are as follows:

1. Create a new library that will hold the current (old) version of your software (ie, create a library named SPLTOOLOLD).
2. MOVE all the objects from the current (old) library to the empty library you just created.  (ie, move all objects from library SPLTOOL to SPLTOOLOLD).  This is most easily done using PDM and a repeating option of 11=Move.
3. Now, instead of issuing a RSTLIB command, issue a RSTOBJ command to restore all the objects from the new save file to the now empty library. Here is an example:

   RSTOBJ OBJ(*ALL) SAVLIB(SPLTOOL) DEV(*SAVF) SAVF(QGPL/SPLTOOL)

4. From here you can continue on with the instructions provided to copy any data from the old library to the new library as stated in the instructions in the downloaded file (readme.txt).

So, as you can see, even if you have the libraries locked there is always more than one way to upgrade.  

Feel free to contact us with any other questions on this process.

Brad
www.bvstools.com