Apple Sues Mac Clone Maker Psystar
http://www.informationweek.com/news/management/legal/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=209900983 Somewhat reminiscent of IBM vs. Platform. And IBM devoured Platform. And Fundamental gave up without a fight. I wonder if there might be a precedent here relevant to ... dare I even use the H-word? I wonder if IBM would be inclined to submit an amicus brief? -- gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
LOOKAT ICH408I
Just for instructional purposes, I wrote a job step using an undefined HLQ that failed with: ICH408I ... INSUFFICIENT ACCESS AUTHORITY FROM CATALOG.**.MASTER (G) ... and tried LOOKAT ICH408I. I get: #1.4.48 "z/OS V1R7.0 Security Server RACF Messages and Codes" ___ 1.4.48 ICH408I ICH408I NOT AUTHORIZED TO EXPORT DIGITAL CERTIFICATES Explanation: A user attempted to retrieve a digital certificate using the R_PKIServ callable service function EXPORT, but is not authorized to do so. I consider this way wide of the mark. (Same at V1R9.0.) PMR? RCF? Feedback? Other (specify)? -- gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
ISPF CLIST case nonsensibility
I need to make a few changes to a CLIST ISPF EDIT macro. (I haven't jurisdiction to convert it to Rexx.) So I do: ISREDIT CAPS OFF ISREDIT CHANGE ALL NX "Foo" "/dev/null" EXIT And my string "Foo" gets changed to "/DEV?NULL" What am I missing? Do I need to ask on ISPF-LIST? Problem does not occur from command line, nor from Rexx macro. Thanks, gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
JCL Symbol Not Substituted
//* on a z/OS v1r7 JES2 system, the JCL job step: //* // SET SYMBOL1=A // SET SYMBOL2=B // SET SYMBOL3=C //*.+|+|+|+|+|+|+|.. //STEP1EXEC PGM=IEFBR14, // PARM='&SYMBOL1.&SYMBOL1.&SYMBOL1.&SYMBOL1.&SYMBOL1.x&SYM+ // BOL2.y&SYMBOL3.z' //*.+|+|+|+|+|+|+|.. //COMMENTS DD* Shows the following in the JESJCL listing: 3 // SET SYMBOL1=A 4 // SET SYMBOL2=B 5 // SET SYMBOL3=C //*.+|+|+|+|+|+|+|.. 6 //STEP1EXEC PGM=IEFBR14, // PARM='&SYMBOL1.&SYMBOL1.&SYMBOL1.&SYMBOL1.&SYMBOL1.x&SYM+ // BOL2.y&SYMBOL3.z' //*.+|+|+|+|+|+|+|.. IEFC653I SUBSTITUTION JCL - PGM=IEFBR14,PARM='Ax&SYMBOL2.yCz' Apparently the JES2 reader/converter is failing to substitute the value 'B' for the symbol "&SYMBOL2". PMR submitted. -- gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
IBMLink WWW
Apparently crashed while I was typing a PMR update. "Submit" gave me "Internal Server Error", then "Page Not Found" when I tried again. Fortunately, I was able to copy and save my revision text. I filled out the "bad page" report I was redirected to. -- gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
LMCOPY and PDSE space release?
If I LMCOPY/REPLACE a number of members into a PDSE, one copy command per member, when is space occupied by the replaced members available for reuse? o At the end of LMCOPY command? o When I LMFREE the LIBDEF? o When I free the DDNAME? o Other (specify)? What's the tradeoff between electively freeing (what?) after each LMCOPY, and temporarily doubling the space used by the library -- gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
IBMLink, again
My latest update to Record 79232,033,000: RESPOND ELECTRONICALLY: cp-extent Yow! I attempted to update this by adding a 40-line example in C, followed by some comments. This appears to have overstressed IBMLink: Most of my C code is missing; the remainder is garbled, and IBM's LAST TWO UPDATES ARE ENTIRELY MISSING. I guess that's OK because I really wasn't very happy with what IBM had to say. -- gil (Summarizing, they said "WAD", of course. My comments, which survived, were a courteous (yes!) disagreement with WAD.) I had thought it an advantage of IBMLink WWW that I could so easily cut-and-paste samples, test cases, and log excerpts. I guess I should exercise moderation. (Unlikely?) -- gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Is 00000000 a valid sequence number?
Much as I despise sequence numbers, I sometimes need not merely to tolerate, but to support them. Now, I want to check whether sequence numbers are valid, monotonically increasing, etc. So, knowing IBM's penchant for considering intuitive boundary conditions invalid, what's the mimimal valid sequence number, or 0001? Is there an off-the-shelf sequence number checker I can use. IEBUPDTE seems determined to give me a hard time when I try: //STEP EXEC PGM=IEBUPDTE //SYSIN DD DUMMY //SYSUT2DD DUMMY It won't work with empty SYSIN. OK, that's kinda reasonable, so I give it a REPRO command. Now it complains about SYSUT2 DD DUMMY. Why, dammit!? When I supply a temporary data set for SYSUT2, it reports no problem with invalid line numbers on SYSUT1. Is there any easy way to get IEBUPDTE (or any other utility) to report invalid line numbers and do little else? I'll try ISRSUPC with UPDMVS8 next. (I know it's trivial, but I always like to avoid RYO.) Continuing in this vein, SMP/E provides ++SRCUPD and ++MACUPD MCS. Is there any similar construct to apply source usermods to other data element types? If not, there's little motivation to provide valid sequence numbers on those types. -- gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
SMP/E GIMCPTS Downward Compatibility
Someone in-house wrote me (on an address that works): > * Today they pick up the PTFs from the SMPPTS within engineering > environments ... .This is apparently > not guaranteed to work, because the PTFs are compressed on > SMPPTS but the compression can be SMP/E level dependent. If > [recipients] are running a different level of SMP/E to > ..., the PTFs we send are not usable on > their systems. The SMP/E RM at: http://publibz.boulder.ibm.com/cgi-bin/bookmgr_OS390/BOOKS/GIMRFR35/11.1 mentions no level sensitivity other than "where the SMP/E installed on the other system cannot handle compacted inline element data". Is it more likely that there's a level sensitivity, that the other system is entirely compaction-naive (how far down must that be?), o that we suffered data corruption in transmission? Thanks, gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
redirect.www.ibm.com (IBMLink)
Security Error: Domain Name Mismatch You have attempted to establish a connection with "www.ibmlink.ibm.com". However, the security certificate presented belongs to "redirect.www.ibm.com". It is possible, though unlikely, that someone may be trying to intercept your communication with this web site. If you suspect the certificate shown does not belong to "www.ibmlink.ibm.com", please cancel the connection and notify the site administrator. __ __ | ||| || | View Certificate || Cancel | | OK | |__||| || ... is there any way to not get this each time? Who's the site administrator? -- gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Java Demos
Just curious; not quite a belated "Friday" topic: On a completely different system, I found some fun Java demos. But analogues appear to exist on our z/OS system in: /usr/lpp/java/*/demo/applets/*/exampl*.html ... (YMMV; perhaps enormously; try "find /usr/lpp/java -name applets".) Do these actually run on z/OS? What HTTPD? What configuration? What collateral requirements? Might the underlying applets be liberated and run outsidt HTTP (I don't know how to do this under the other OS, either.) -- gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
TSO TRANSMIT and instream data set DLM=
One of my disappointments with TSO TRANSMIT is that I know no safe way to imbed INMR text in an instream data set: the format seems to allow any digraph to appear in columns 1-2. But today, attempting to test a trial-and-error routine to scan a TRANSMITted IEBCOPY unloaded JCL library for a digraph not appearing in columns 1-2, I was startled to find no '//' (but many '/*') in those columns. I consider this a statistical anomaly -- I found numerous '//' in 2-3 and wrapped from 80-1. Have the authors done us a favor by coding to avoid '//' in 1-2? I can find no mention of this in the documentation. I'd be delighted to exploit the feature if I were confident it was supported. BTW, is there a new format of Publibz? Suddenly, I seem to be required to display a shelf list before I can filter for a string in a publication title. This could be undesirable on a slow connection. I'll have to see whether I get used to it. (I really wish I could have searched for "TRANSMIT" in all publications whose titles contain "TSO".) -- gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
DSLIST DELETE VSAM Dialog
I have long been annoyed by the dialog that ISPF DSLIST presents me for each VSAM data set present when I delete a bunch of data sets. I have no idea what it wants to know; I just press ENTER each time and sooner or later it finishes deleting the data set and moves on to the next one. Today, I deleted a bunch of data sets that HSM had migrated. I noticed to my surprise and delight that it presented no dialog to confirm or alter the deletion. I will now HMIGRATE each VSAM data set before deleting a bunch. Silicon is cheaper than carbon. Yet, I wonder: if that dialog is essential, or even important, for deleting VSAM data sets, why is it not presented alike for migrated and resident VSAM data sets? I don't think I'll start a PMR on it; if IBM chose to fix it, I'd have shot myself in the foot. -- gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Quoting Style
I recently received an off-list message admonishing me for an incorrect attribution. I grant that I trimmed hastily, but I don't know how guilty I should feel. The lines I misattributed appeared in a message from the misattributee, apparently, I see now, in a citation of an earlier message, but without the conventional "> " quotation indicators, and interspersed with quotations of an earlier message so marked (but with one level of quotes, not two). It's too easy a mistake to make. -- gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
One Good Thing about IBMLink
I notice that lately (I believe this behavior is new), the E-mail updates that I receive of PMR updates have the Abstract appended to the Subject header. This is useful. I'll let others worry about whether they can access IBMLink to view the update. BTW, I notice that AST notifies me that PQ96247, resolved and dormant for 2 1/2 years was updated last week. I compared with my cached copy and found no changes other than to the "Last Changed" header (self-fulfilling prophecy?). Is there modified text not visible to customers, or did someone inadvertently Edit, then Save rather than Cancel? I always get nervous when an APAR on SuperC springs back to life because SuperC has been so fragile in my experience. -- gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Last Record
There's a thread active in TSO-REXX in which the OP wished to extract the last record from a data set. Of course, this spawns a school of increasingly byzantine suggestions: Read into a stem and use the STEM.0th element Edit Macro Sort into reverse order and take the first. Count the legs and divde by four (I suggested: cp "//'DATA.SET.NAME(MEMBER)'" /dev/fd/1 | tail -1 ... ) But usually to such questions, Frank chimes in saying it's a natural for DFSORT. Is it? -- gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
UNIX File -> PDS via ISPF LM Services?
Regularly, I copy UNIX files (usually NFS) to PDS members using LMCOPY. But this is necessarily indirect with a REPRO or IEBGENER to an intermediate Legacy data set because when I try to LMINIT my UNIX source file, I get: 'lminit dataid(FROMID) ddname(INPUT)enq(SHR)' ISRZ002 Data sets not on direct access device are not supported by ISPF. (Hmmm. Doesn't ISPF know that UNIX regular files reside on direct access devices -- character special files are different?) Is there a better way? All I can think of is EXECIO and LMPUT in a loop -- likely to be more overhead than copying to an intermediate file. (And, IIRC, if the source data set is empty, the LMMADD fails. IBM doesn't believe in zero.) Any suggestions? Thanks, gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
FIN APAR Status Updates
I notice some FIN APARs for which I am on AST have been updated with availability notices, such as: In OA15305: The fix for this FIN APAR was shipped in the base for z/OS V1R9. Has this always been the practice? Is it done uniformly? If it's new and consistent, it's a welcome innovation. -- gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
z/OS Documentation? Ouch!
I lately submitted an RCF on a z/OS product concerning an apparently incomplete description of its command syntax. The reply contained the following sentence, apparently from a developer addressed to a tech writer: ... I probably would not say anything about the syntax rules that are followed because you may give misleading information. So, the programmer is supposed to guess? -- gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
ISPF list data set attributes?
I just tried to print a data set list from "ISRUDLP Data Set List Utility". I got: .-. | The listing of data sets was placed in the ISPF list data set. Lines have | | been wrapped because the logical record length is less than 127 for RECFM F | | or 131 for RECFM V. | '-' o There's no code associated with this message. Is it supposed to be "self-explanatory"? I know the modal reaction of this group to self-explanatory messages. Or do I need to choose an option to display the code? o HELP key tells me nothing useful. o Panel 0 doesn't show anything of interest. o "z/OS V1R7.0 ISPF User's Guide Vol I" "1.5.9.3 Processing the Log and List Data Sets" makes some passing mention of "preallocated data sets", but doesn't describe how to preallocate them. How can I cause the listing data set to be allocated with more suitable attributes? If I can do this, what's the maximum permissible? Will it cause problems if I allocate with LRECL(1000) and seldom again worry about wrapping? (The actual allocated attributes were RECFM=FBA,LRECL=121, clearly smaller than ISRUDLP needs.) Thanks, gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
ISPF EDIT "RECOVERY" scope
(PROFILE UNLOCK in all cases below) It appears by experiment and accidental discovery that: o When I issue RECOVERY OFF from the command line, that status is saved in the profile when I END a VIEW session. (I haven't tried with EDIT proper.) o The RECOVERY status (and other states?) are saved even when I CANcel the session. This feels somewhat wrong. CANcel ought to mean, "I didn't mean it -- ignore or undo everything I did since the last SAVE or the beginning of the session, whichever is more recent." o When I issue RECOVERY OFF in a macro, it is effective within the macro (or at least I surmise from the performance/timing). However, when the macro ends, RECOVERY ON appears in the PROFILE display (if that was the status on entry to the macro). In this case, I'm delighted; it's exactly the behavior I want. But is this documented anywhere? I'd like to be sure I'm not exploiting a fluke. A few months ago, I asked in this forum whether I could disable "Confirm Data Set Delete" in my Profile. The modal reaction was, "No! Very Bad Idea! Extremely Dangerous! We hope IBM never provides such a facility, even as an option!" (There were a few exceptions of the "not my dog" genre.) But isn't RECOVERY OFF likewise a dangerous behavior, which shouldn't be stored in a profile? -- gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
What is the command interface to SHA-1 in Java
Again, which FM do I need to RT? I find nothing in publibz with "Java" in its title. Or is there no command interface nor API to SHA-1? Thanks, gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Mark load module non-executable
It was briefly mentioned here that users should not put SMP/E distribution libraries in their TASKLIB catenations. We suspect one of our consumers has done this. How can we, as suppliers discourage this? Is there any way to force the non-executable attribute on a load module? The closest I can find is only-loadable, which at least should prevent use of EXEC PGM= to invoke the module. -- gil -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
HL*ST displays output in wrong session
Lately, on a z/OS 1.5 system, I needed to do an HLIST command. The most convenient session I had was a z/OS Unix shell session, linemode, via RLOGIN. So, I typed "tso hlist both". Long pause; many seconds; command completed. No output displayed. OK. Plan B. I brought up an x3270 window in which ISPF had been running concurrently and typed =6; ENTER to go to the TSO Command Panel. Imagine my astonishment when the errant output from the "tso hlist" in the shell session came cascading out in the ISPF session! This is wrong. Output from such a display command ought to be delivered to the session issuing the command, not to any other. PMR submitted, gil -- StorageTek INFORMATION made POWERFUL -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
