On Thu, 24 Dec 2020 08:44:09 -0800, Charles Mills wrote: >I would never presume to tell IBM what to do, but if I were responsible for >the "MVS Services" documentation I would start with a preamble much like >@Gil describes in which I said "unless otherwise specified, callers must be >..." and covered ASC, SRB/TCB, AMODE, RMODE, problem/supervisor, etc. > >It need not be negative "callers cannot be above the bar" or "not SRB" but >rather positive "callers must invoke the services from below the bar, in TCB >mode, etc." If IBM were theoretically to add some new MVS "mode" in the >future -- a third alternative to TCB/SRB or a new AMODE or whatever -- it >would not be necessary to change the write-up for every service, only to add >one sentence to this preamble (and change the write-ups for services that >actually supported the new mode). > >> Do you think there is anyone in the IBM world who needs that sentence? > >Yes, new entrants to the IBM world. We do want new entrants, don't we? >Without them, the platform dies as we retire. The platform dies as CIO's >perceive that it is not possible to hire staff to support the platform. > Well said. I attempted to avoid any aura of negativity by saying "may" where you properly said "unless ... must", and I left Peter to assume the readers would infer the contrapositive.
A few points: o As z/OS grows in complexity, the needed documentation and its cost grows proportionally, perhaps quadratically. o It becomes increasingly unlikely that a typical user has the needed background information. o The cost of providing adequate documentation should be factored into the business case for new features, not used as an excuse for not providing it. >-----Original Message----- >From: Peter Relson >Sent: Thursday, December 24, 2020 7:02 AM ><snip> >Perhaps you don't understand what I mean by "blanket statement": >a single affirmative sentence in the Introduction to the manual, "Any >service described herein may be invoked from a location below 2 GiB." ></snip> > >Do you think there is anyone in the IBM world who needs that sentence? It >might be thought that things prevalent by MVS/XA (the late 70's) are >"known" and need not be stated. > >Regardless, such a statement is not what I read your previous post to >suggest. > ><snip> >>> VERY FEW system services officially support invocation in RMODE 64. If >>> they don't say that they do, then do not assume that they do. >>> ... >Is there a blanket statement to this effect in the relevant manual(s)? ></snip> > >To me, that asks about a negative statement. Such a statement might have >been "No service may be invoked from a location >= 2G unless it explicitly >is documented that it allows that". As I mentioned previously, we do not >typically have such negative statements. -- gil ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
