I know that in one large shop where I had been working, we had
someone develop a tool to scan all the production libraries and
tell us what the load module was based on (language), level if
available, and when last compiled/assembled.
This report was one that I used to report on the % of COBOL that
was not COBOL 6.X and when I had turned this over to someone
else, we had a few programs that were not being looked at by
anyone, and we didn't know for sure if they were "CALLED" (LOAD
issued for them).
I suggested a CSV exit to produce a USER SMF record that we could
use to determine if the programs were ever invoked (PGM= programs
are already in an SMF record.) This would, in my opinion, give a
report to answer auditors....
But I was told no, do not do this.
That said, I'm sure that, that client is not the only one with
that problem. So that particular utility, in my mind, would be
something needed.
2042: I don't know enough to have an opinion on this one.
Regards,
Steve Thompson
On 3/24/2023 2:38 PM, Steve Pryor wrote:
There are a couple of pressing issues in z/OS that I'm sure many folks are
aware of but about which there doesn't seem to be much being done. I'm curious
as to what other IBM-MAINer's thoughts might be. Specifically, I'm talking
about:
1.) migration to IBM's latest COBOL release, and
2.) the not-really-that-far-off issue of Year 2042
I've been asked several times recently whether we (a z/OS ISV) should consider
developing products to address these issues. Frankly, though, I live in an
ivory tower and while I sometime *think* I know what installations problems and
needs are, I'm usually surprised to find that reality is quite different. So
I'd like to throw a couple of questions out to the list for comment:
1.) Would a reporting utility that determined which COBOL programs were
executed (and which ones weren't), and what release and options they were
compiled with be significantly helpful in a COBOL migration? What other
features would be nice to have? Or is this a low priority for most
installations, who are perhaps trying to justify keeping the mainframe alive
and/or conducting business as usual, let alone doing a COBOL migration project?
2.) It's rather shocking that 2042 is so close and not much seems to be
happening. We are one of the vendors that have a date-simulation utility, but
we don’t know if data centers have any near-term plans for 2042. Would it be
worthwhile to have a 2042 date-simulation product now, or is everyone going to
cross their fingers and try to use a test LPAR once the operating system fully
supports 2042 dates?
Thanks for any comments and insight the IBM-MAIN hive mind might have.
Steve Pryor
CTO
DTS Software, LLC
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