I couldn't agree more about the SES thing. All of those attempts at automating the application of service just seem to make things more obscure and complicated. I forget the name of the EXEC that was supposed to be used to apply the stacked PUT tapes in the VM/SP days. Like many of the old hands, I never used those tools but just printed out the release document on the front of the tape, manually loaded the files I needed, and rebuild the parts of the system that needed it (always without touching the currently running systems).
I would put a challenge to anyone who wants to truly understand how a source-based system like VM is put together... Build up a 2 or 3 pack 3350 system starting with the VM/370 R6 3330 Starter Tape and the PLC 616 tape that are available.
As a further challenge, you could build the system the way they used to have to do it at the CIA... build the whole thing from source only.
