I hadn't tried the build script vmsbuild.com in a long time....
vmsbuild.com wasn't compiling src/sys.c;
vmsbuild.com and Makefile.src+Makefile.utl had some linking discrepancies;
Makefile.top, Makefile.dat, Makefile.doc - replace old SCCS id/date/rev
comment with current cvs one (done for .src & .utl a month or so back);
config1.h - running DEC C in VAX C compatability mode to test linking
yielded a diagnostic about signed in the schar typedef for every file.
The fix for #H1409 a couple of days ago included updates for
sys/vms/Makefile.* but not vmsbuild.com. I thought the latter didn't
need any, but was mistaken; vmsfiles.c needs to be compiled early in
order for vmsfiles.obj to be present in the object library when makedefs
gets linked.