gil wrote:
> This feels like an argument for opening the source; GPL.

We discussed the idea of open source on the mailing list back in 2021.  As I 
said back then, other IBM internal teams were given a copy of ASMPUT with a 
view to incorporating similar capabilities into other tools, so I think IBM 
might want to keep hold of the rights, even though I'm not personally aware of 
any specific replacement tool.  

And, as I've previously mentioned:

ASMPUT was originally built for OS/2 (apparently in Prolog and a weird dialect 
of C) and was then ported to Windows, unfortunately with much less internal 
documentation and commentary than the original version.  The compiler which was 
used on Windows ceased being supported around HLASM 1.4 and could no longer 
even be used after licenses expired.  Attempts were made to port ASMPUT to 
similar supported compilers or to another language such as Java, but little 
progress was made, so in 2017 the HLASM team made the decision to admit defeat 
and drop support for it, publishing APAR PI81310.  [That was while I was 
assigned elsewhere; I worked as a team member on HLASM & Toolkit from 2012 to 
January 2014 then switched to supporting GDDM and joining the much-missed Dr 
John Ehrman in supporting a collection of legacy products including VS Fortran, 
VSE PL/I and COBOL, DITTO/ESA and SDF II, then I took over leading the HLASM 
team from June 2017 until I retired in February 2025.]

Jonathan Scott

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