On 2014-06-07, at 11:17, retired mainframer wrote:

> Bob quoted the JCL manual.  So yes, DUMMY is usable with QSAM.
>
> The issue however is what is IEBCOPY's requirement.  My manual says SYSUT2
> must reside on a device that supports QSAM, such as (but not limited to)
> DASD or tape.  Since a DUMMY dataset does not reside on a device, it fails
> that test.
>
Which manual and section?  This depends on some nice semantics of
"reside on a device".  Why, for example, does it permit VIO and SYSOUT
but prohibit DUMMY and UNIX files?  The latter, at least have to "reside"
somewhere.  And it's arguable whether VIO files "reside on a device".

> The fact that the error message refers only to DASD and tape is just another
> example of poor wording.
>
Indeed.

> Why IEBCOPY has such an apparently unneeded restriction is a different
> question.
>
Indeed.  I think of Doug Gwyn's maxim (out of context here): "Unix was not
designed to stop its users from doing stupid things, as that would also stop
them from doing clever things."

Sometimes it seems to me that z/OS more effectively stops users' doing
clever things than their doing stupid things.

> And the original issue about member lists is solved by using VIO instead of
> DUMMY.
>
Which has lower overhead, VIO or SYSOUT?

-- gil

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