One modest step we take to avoid conflicts is to prefix installation-defined symbols with our SHARE installation code. That does not guarantee uniqueness, but no ISV is likely to stumble in, and I've never seen a production proc symbolic like that. This practice shortens the string of 'meaningful' characters, but programmers are a wily tribe.
Alternatively, a single national character prefix would likely ensure uniqueness as well. . . J.O.Skip Robinson Southern California Edison Company Electric Dragon Team Paddler SHARE MVS Program Co-Manager 323-715-0595 Mobile 626-543-6132 Office ⇐=== NEW robin...@sce.com -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Ed Jaffe Sent: Saturday, June 09, 2018 11:25 AM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: (External):Re: Use of dynamic system symbols in JCL On 6/6/2018 8:51 AM, Steve Smith wrote: > This has been previously discussed. The main issue (as usual) is > incompatibility with an ancient bug (or feature). Specifically, > temporary dataset names such as DSN=&TMP. That's supposed to be > DSN=&&TMP, but for whatever reason, the single-& version works, unless &TMP > is a symbol. Wow! I confirmed this is an exposure! I never knew! IBM does not mention the single ampersand being valid temporary data set name syntax in the description of the DSNAME parameter on the DD statement and I have previously not seen it used that way. https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSLTBW_2.3.0/com.ibm.zos.v2r3.ieab600/iea3b6_Syntax25.htm This reminds me of the rule in REXX where use of an uninitialized variable results in the variable name itself being substituted. But, that is documented behavior. This is just plain wrong. It might be a good use of the common tracker component (GTZ) to help identify JCL with such errors. Otherwise, every new symbol added -- to the system, to a proc, to anything that might have visibility to a job stream -- can lead to unexpected JCL errors. -- Phoenix Software International Edward E. Jaffe 831 Parkview Drive North El Segundo, CA 90245 http://www.phoenixsoftware.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
