1	The new /command qualifier can be used to create a DCL command procedure that will recreate your parameter file. This makes distributing a parameter file to multiple nodes that aren’t clustered easy and possible by e-mail. It also makes it possible to use a normal text editor to make significant changes to your parameter file by updating the command procedure and then recreating your parameter file.
2	The new /summary qualifier can be used to generate a summary of any HITMAN log file. The summary breaks down the contents of the log file by event type and, where appropriate, username.
3	V9.0 also includes all patches made to V8 since it was released in February 1997 and the enhancements that were added to V8.1.
4	V9.0 includes an html copy of the on-line help file.
5	V7.x of OpenVMS includes a new DecWindows user interface. Some code changes have been made to support pausing or killing these sessions.
6	It is now possible to use Hitman to monitor remote nodes to ensure they are available. Both the absent process and present process events can now be configured with a remote node name. Adding an absent process event on a system critical process, such as SWAPPER, for a remote node will cause Hitman to take action anytime that node goes down. There is some setup involved for these events on the remote node; the monitor remote nodes chapter of this manual documents how to take advantage of this new feature.
7	A few sites that run a shared copy of Hitman on multiple nodes in a cluster have experienced a problem where Hitman has failed to start because it cannot access the permanent data file. The data file is locked by other copies of Hitman starting up and, in this case, Hitman is not waiting long enough or trying enough times to read the data file before it fails. Hitman will now try 5 times instead of 10 and will wait a few seconds between each try to allow other copies of Hitman to read and then close the file. This change is incorporated into V9.0.1 and can be obtained by downloading the V9.0.1 patch below.
8	V9.0.4-0402 adds a new process debugging feature to Hitman. To turn this feature on you must define a system logical: $ define/system hitman$debug_termination TRUE Later log reports will include additional information from the process termination cycle: 1. a log record will be written each time a forced exit is sent 2. a different log record will be written depending on whether a process was terminated at the DCL level or while still in an image which could indicate a problem responding to the forced exit A new command procedure was also written that sorts a log file by PID making the log report much easier to use and understand. This procedure is called sort_log_by_pid.com and it is in the hitman_com directory.
9	During testing of the code added in item 8 above it was discovered that the scheduling code for the process termination loop to make each loop take 1 second was not working properly in later versions of OpenVMS. This code was updated and tested successfully under OpenVMS for VAX 5.5 and 6.1 and OpenVMS for AXP 1.5 and 7.3a. The process termination cycle: 1. loop through all processes to see if any should be killed. For any that are eligible at the DCL level kill them. For any that are eligible that are not at DCL send a forced exit. 2. If step 1 took less than 1 second wait until a full second has elapsed. 3. loop through all processes to see if any remain that haven't yet been killed. If they are at the DCL level now kill them. If any remain in an image send another forced exit (a total of 2 forced exits by default or up to the number specified by the logical hitman$max_force_exits). 4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all the eligible processes have been terminated or /force_wait number of loops completed. 5. If any processes remain after /force_wait loops have been completed they will be terminated regardless of whether they are at the DCL level or in an image.
10	V9.0.5 Support for setting idle and warning times or connect time limits as been added for process names. Wildcarded process names may be specified. For example: $ Hitman /process="HR*" /first_warn=20 /second_warn=25 /wait=30 In this example any process, whose name begins with HR, will be warned at 20 and 25 minutes of idle time and terminated after 30 minutes of being idle. $ hitman /connect /process="HR*" /first_warn=60 /second_warn=90 /wait =120 In this example an process, whose name begins with HR, will be warned after they've been connected for 60 and 90 minutes and kicked off after 2 hours regardless of activity. Note: Process names are case sensitive and the DCL interpreter always converts lowercase to uppercase; therefore process names should always be enclosed in quotes and must be enclosed in quotes if they include any special characters such as spaces. This also requires that process names that include lowercase letters not added with the /file=both qualifier; to preserve case enter the command twice with /file=prime and /file=nonprime. Protection takes precedence over all other items and processes that are protected for any reason will never be terminated by Hitman even if these qualifiers are used to set idle time or connect time limits.