With Novell's Library for C, what function should...

Articles and Tips: qna

01 Sep 2002

With Novell's Library for C, what function should I use to get information as to which service pack has been installed on a server?

You can use something like NWGetNetWare- ProductVersion(). The program below prints the following information: majorVersion = 6, minorVersion = 0, revision = 1

#include

int main( int argc, char* argv[]) {
char const*							    server_name;
NWRCODE rcode;
NWCCODE ccode;
NWCONN_HANDLE conn_handle;
NETWARE_PRODUCT_VERSION					product_version;

if ( argc != 2)
{
			printf( "Usage: %s \n", *argv);
			return EXIT_FAILURE;
}

server_name = strupr( *++argv);
rcode = NWCCOpenConnByName( 0, server_name, 
                                 NWCC_NAME_FORMAT_BIND,
								 NWCC_OPEN_LICENSED,
								 NWCC_TRAN_TYPE_WILD,
								 &conn_handle);
if ( rcode != 0)
{
			printf( "NWCCOpenConnByName failed, rcode = %x", rcode);
			return EXIT_FAILURE;
}

ccode = NWGetNetWareProductVersion( conn_handle, &product_version);
if ( ccode != 0)
{
			printf( "NWGetNetWareProductVersion failed, ccode = %x", ccode);
			return EXIT_FAILURE;
}

printf( "majorVersion = %d, minorVersion = %d, revision = %d\n",
                        product_version.majorVersion, product_version.minorVersion,
						product_version.revision);

NWCCCloseConn( conn_handle);
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

Note that the function does not distinguish between minor revisions of Support Packs, such as SP2 and SP2a. Russ Bateman, CLIB Senior Engineer here at Novell, adds the following explanation of all the ways you can get version information.

This might not be all the ways you can get this information, but the main idea is that starting with NetWare v5.1, the file server version number (the OS or SERVER.EXE's version information) stopped having much to do with the Marketing versions.

LibC:
sys/utsname.h, function uname, uname2 (gives you the whole enchilada and 
certainly callable from CLib apps too

CLib:
utsname.h, function uname (not as comprehensive as LibC; no product 
version information, enchilada with cheese only)

Other, legitimate external interfaces (of varying utility):
GetFileServerDescriptionStrings (as strings)
GetServerInformation
NWGetFileServerVersionInfo
NWGetNetWareProductVersion (supposedly the best official 
         interface besides uname)
NWGetOSVersionInfo

And here is some version data that should be correct (if a bit aging--
I got this when the product numbers became an issue for the libraries; 
displayed in fixed-width font, it looks cleanly aligned):

NetWare v5.1 Support Pack 1 (English and International)
Product version: 5.1.1
               GetProductMajorVersionNumber() returns  5
			   GetProductMinorVersionNumber() returns  1
			   GetProductRevisionNumber() returns  1
			   
File server version: 5.00i
               GetFileServerMajorVersionNumber() returns  5
               GetFileServerMinorVersionNumber() returns  0
               GetFileServerRevisionNumber() returns  8 ('i')
			   
NetWare v5.1 Support Pack 1 (Cobra English only)
Product version: 5.1.0
               GetProductMajorVersionNumber() returns  5
			   GetProductMinorVersionNumber() returns  1
			   GetProductRevisionNumber() returns  0
			   
File server version: 5.00h
               GetFileServerMajorVersionNumber()returns  5
			   GetFileServerMinorVersionNumber()returns  0
			   GetFileServerRevisionNumber() returns  7 ('h')

NetWare v5.0 Support Pack 5
Product version: 5.00.5
               GetProductMajorVersionNumber() returns  5
               GetProductMinorVersionNumber() returns  0
               GetProductRevisionNumber() returns  5

File server version: 5.00i
               GetFileServerMajorVersionNumber() returns  5
               GetFileServerMinorVersionNumber() returns  0
               GetFileServerRevisionNumber() returns  8

NetWare v5.0 Support Pack 4
Product version: 5.00.4
               GetProductMajorVersionNumber() returns  5
               GetProductMinorVersionNumber() returns  0
               GetProductRevisionNumber() returns  4

File server version: 5.00g
               GetFileServerMajorVersionNumber() returns  5
               GetFileServerMinorVersionNumber() returns  0
               GetFileServerRevisionNumber() returns  6

NetWare v4.11
Product version: 4.11
               GetProductMajorVersionNumber() returns  (function doesn't exist)
               GetProductMinorVersionNumber() returns  (function doesn't exist)
               GetProductRevisionNumber() returns  (function doesn't exist)
			   
File server version: 4.11
               GetFileServerMajorVersionNumber() returns  4
               GetFileServerMinorVersionNumber() returns  11
               GetFileServerRevisionNumber() returns  0

* Originally published in Novell AppNotes

Disclaimer

The origin of this information may be internal or external to Novell. While Novell makes all reasonable efforts to verify this information, Novell does not make explicit or implied claims to its validity.