Yes, I agree it's a strange issue. The problem is that we - or rather they, as I'm just providing support and advice - don't know how how big the problem is until they've done the analysis and this is early stages, where they've hit enough problems to start asking questions. I suspect a lot of it is down to sloppy coding and QA practices - it works, that's enough.
I understand the complexities around discovering the problems and so on, but wanted to find out whether anyone else had already done this and if so what their solution was. SMF records occurred to me as well, and that's something I plan to follow up. Andy Styles z/Series Systems Programmer Original Message From: Bill Woodger Sent: Monday, 14 November 2016 17:56 To: [email protected] Reply To: IBM Mainframe Discussion List Subject: Re: OS/VS COBOL - FD DCB vs JCL DCB -- This email has reached the Bank via an external source -- It seems like a strange problem to affect a lot of programs (for instance, fixed-length in program, variable-length in the JCL). Assuming that all the OS/VS COBOL programs work, I think it would be reasonable to expect that all the Format 1 DSCBs match the definitions in the COBOL programs. To identify where any "DCB information" in the JCL does not match the program, it could be "simple" to match the DSN and DCB-info from the JCL to the DCB information from the "catalog". Not so simple, with symbols in DSNs, although depending on your naming conventions it may be possible to "normalise" the names for matching without relying on symbol-substitution. Accurately stripping DDs from JCL can be fun too. I'd assume mostly it will be DISP=NEW, perhaps some MOD, but note that any DISP=SHR/OLD with DCB-info you'll probably want to know what they are up to. You could then look to tie the DSNs to programs using SMF records. Assuming your programs are working (as OS/VS programs), I'd assume the fixes you are making are to the JCL, rather than to the programs themselves. I'm not sure you can do much scanning of the COBOL source to identify the issues. The COBOL programs are just writing (or reading) what they need to, it is the DCB-info in the JCL that can be "getting in the way". Is the task large enough for you to need to do someting? How many fixes have you needed, compared to how many have progressed without needing fixes, and how many programs you have in total? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN Lloyds Banking Group plc. Registered Office: The Mound, Edinburgh EH1 1YZ. Registered in Scotland no. SC95000. Telephone: 0131 225 4555. Lloyds Bank plc. Registered Office: 25 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7HN. Registered in England and Wales no. 2065. Telephone 0207626 1500. Bank of Scotland plc. Registered Office: The Mound, Edinburgh EH1 1YZ. Registered in Scotland no. SC327000. Telephone: 03457 801 801. Cheltenham & Gloucester plc. Registered Office: Barnett Way, Gloucester GL4 3RL. Registered in England and Wales 2299428. Telephone: 0345 603 1637 Lloyds Bank plc, Bank of Scotland plc are authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority. Cheltenham & Gloucester plc is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Halifax is a division of Bank of Scotland plc. Cheltenham & Gloucester Savings is a division of Lloyds Bank plc. HBOS plc. Registered Office: The Mound, Edinburgh EH1 1YZ. Registered in Scotland no. SC218813. This e-mail (including any attachments) is private and confidential and may contain privileged material. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender and delete it (including any attachments) immediately. You must not copy, distribute, disclose or use any of the information in it or any attachments. Telephone calls may be monitored or recorded. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
