On Jan 26, 2008 3:38 PM, A. Harry Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I remember that. Thanks for speaking up. My vague recollection is that > this was also so that they could develop against the most current RTL, > and that the built-in version would eventually catch up. I don't think > anyone envisioned there would be a split, but would get out the door > quicker. (Well, I guess 10 years ahead is faster) Seems to be one of > those "be careful what you wish for" cases. There does not have to be a split. z/VM could pick up the current version with each release. It really was my impression that would happen when the PO got picked up in z/VM. If that happened, an ISV could avoid the very latest features, and I think customers will accept special handling when they are on unsupported levels of z/VM anyway. As you know bugs in CMS Pipelines are rare, but if we find them they do get fixed by John even on the lead pipes in z/VM. So that path is already there. From what I see, bugs are not more frequent in new code. So if there is a support concern, it will not get bigger by shipping new function. And CMS Pipelines is very backwards compatible. To get new function in, we would need someone to sponsor the additional work that John must do beyond offering CMS/TSO Pipelines as IBM Denmark do now. I think it would be extremely helpful if the refresh of the runtime library were available as a PTF for z/VM, to be applied with VMSES. I do understand some of our new customers will not be able to apply maintenance either, but at least they would have pretty recent plumbing and if someone does help them install the new pipes, it will not continue to run its own life over z/VM upgrades. Since all we get from Endicott is comments about "a business case" this seems to be only a matter of cost or demonstration of cost avoidance rather than technical complications or skills issues. Only Endicott know the cost factors involved, so it's kind of hard for others to make their business case. PS Looking at IPFORMAT for example... at least 4500 lines of REXX. This is recent development. It would be very interesting to see how much development that took, and what an apprentice plumber could have done. Rob
