Ref: z/OS Using REXX and z/OS UNIX System Services Version 2 Release 3 
"Conventional MVS parameter list"
"What deficiencies do you see?"
http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSLTBW_2.3.0/com.ibm.zos.v2r3.bpxb600/retparml.htm
... was indeed one of the better ones I found, but there are still many 
inaccuracies. It stays, for example, "The parm string has the format of either 
halfword length followed by the parameter string or a null-terminated parameter 
string. My findings, using a z/OS 1.13 system, were that the "halfword length 
followed by the parameter string" format doesn't work. The "parm string" *must 
be* null terminated with no halfword length prefix.  I doubt that's changed 
even in the latest z/OS. Nor does it clearly describe exactly what the correct 
"parm string" is for DSNAME information retrieval.  The manual mentions 6 
"request types": ALLOC, CONCAT, DECONCAT, FREE, INFO and OUTDES.  Only by trial 
and error was I able to figure out that the correct parm string is "INFO 
DD(<ddname>)".  The manual calls DD a "keyword" for information retrieval and 
the diagram you reference shows keywords coming *after* the parm string, yet 
the DD "keyword" is in fact a necessary part of the parm string itself. 
Also, the keyword used for DSNAME retrieval in all the examples is "RTDSN", 
which you also mention, but in the manual under "Requesting Allocation 
Information": 
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSLTBW_2.3.0/com.ibm.zos.v2r3.bpxb600/bpx1rx78.htm
... it says "INRTDSN", which is in fact the one that works - not "RTDSN".

I've never submitted an RCF (not even sure what it is).  How does one do that?

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