How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: Unzip

2023-04-27 Thread Tom Ross
>I submitted an RCF on the subject of examples for actually using zEDC funct=
>ions from HLL's other than C not long after this message chain and received=
> no response at all from the RCF team.  A follow-up email requesting status=
> or at least an acknowledgement that the documentation addition suggestion =
>had been received did get a response, which was:

Peter,
  Sorry I did not see your post earlier!  I get the digest version of IBMMAIN
and search for COBOL to see if there is something I should comment on.
I am glad you were able to find my example of using zEDC from COBOL.
The zEDC team asked me to try it out from COBOL so I wrote a testcase to get
it working, then published it in our COBOL books. The zEDC team said that
they would put a pointet to COBOL books in the zEDC books,
I guess they did not do that (yet?)


Cheers,
TomR  >> COBOL is the Language of the Future! <<

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Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: Unzip on z/OS ?]

2023-04-26 Thread Farley, Peter
Agreed on all points:

Errors: disp5ay --> display and repeated "If RC Not = 0  Then" near the end of 
the program code.  I'll send an RCF on that one.

I added a pseudo-random initialization of the zinput area based on the RANDOM 
function with a seed of the current CCYYMMDD date and it does work pretty well. 
 Compressed length of 4193 for pseudo-random data for a seed of today's date vs 
compressed length of 351 for the binary-zero published version.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Frank Swarbrick
Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2023 8:28 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: 
Unzip on z/OS ?]

The example has two bugs in it (a typo and a repeated line), but fixing those 
it does appear to work.  A better test would have been to compress something 
other than just binary zeroes, and also to re-init the "input" (now output) 
area so you can actually "see" it work (in the debugger).  Pretty cool 
nonetheless.

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2023 9:43 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: 
Unzip on z/OS ?]

An off-list communication from another interested party pointed me to this link 
to the online Enterprise COBOL Programmers Guide V6.4, which has exactly the 
documentation I have been requesting, at least for COBOL programmers:

Chapter 36. Using zlib compression from a COBOL program 
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cobol-zos/6.4?topic=processing-using-zlib-compression-from-cobol-program__;!!Ebr-cpPeAnfNniQ8HSAI-g_K5b7VKg!MPQOKjewpZeiZ3hwB15SclkVSEuzDV9ndnOtAYGo3DUNNKpuiovZDWU3CtHrMBiVq6kdrjJ45Byhu9jlbztveCdxgEqrX_jW0w$
 

I checked my previously saved COBOL PDF's for V6.2 and it is there as well.

Interestingly the latest PL/I Programmers Guide (V6.1) has no reference to zlib 
at all, and the last published VS Fortran documents (all of which are dated 
1993) of course have no references to it.

I will be updating my RCF to ask that the MVS manual at least reference the 
COBOL Programmer's Guide and chapter title as an example of non-C-language 
access to these functions.  I'm certain that any competent PL/I or Fortran 
programmer could figure out what to do in their language from the COBOL example.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 5:11 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: 
Unzip on z/OS ?]

To be more clear: I am asking for examples of non-C-language un-authorized HLL 
calls to the "zlib" un-authorized functions and a list of any COPY/INCLUDE 
members necessary to accomplish those calls, not the zEDC authorized functions 
nor the hardware-level DFLTCC instruction.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 11:53 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: Unzip on 
z/OS ?]

I submitted an RCF on the subject of examples for actually using zEDC functions 
from HLL's other than C not long after this message chain and received no 
response at all from the RCF team.  A follow-up email requesting status or at 
least an acknowledgement that the documentation addition suggestion had been 
received did get a response, which was:

"Thank you for reaching out to IBM about your experience with our Documentation 
feedback.

A response is not provided for feedback sent to your product’s documentation 
team. All comments are received and evaluated to help improve the content 
experience.  Any resulting updates to the product documentation are then 
reflected in the current release of the product. Any issues that require a 
response should go through IBM support."

Since neither the zEDC redbook to which Tom Harper posted a link nor the MVS 
Callable Services for HLL's manual have any examples of how to ACTUALLY use 
zEDC functions from any HLL except C, has anyone on this list actually coded 
invocation of zEDC services from an HLL other than C who is willing (and is 
permitted) to share how they accomplished that task?

Since IBM hasn't documented it (at least not so far) I guess we have to do it 
ourselves.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 2:17 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Unzip on z/OS ?

You are probably right about that.  I will start one and see what they reply.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Steve Thompson
Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 2:07 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Unzip on z/OS ?

A similar issue happened with BPXWDYN. COBOL 

Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: Unzip on z/OS ?]

2023-04-26 Thread Frank Swarbrick
The example has two bugs in it (a typo and a repeated line), but fixing those 
it does appear to work.  A better test would have been to compress something 
other than just binary zeroes, and also to re-init the "input" (now output) 
area so you can actually "see" it work (in the debugger).  Pretty cool 
nonetheless.

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2023 9:43 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: 
Unzip on z/OS ?]

An off-list communication from another interested party pointed me to this link 
to the online Enterprise COBOL Programmers Guide V6.4, which has exactly the 
documentation I have been requesting, at least for COBOL programmers:

Chapter 36. Using zlib compression from a COBOL program 
https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cobol-zos/6.4?topic=processing-using-zlib-compression-from-cobol-program

I checked my previously saved COBOL PDF's for V6.2 and it is there as well.

Interestingly the latest PL/I Programmers Guide (V6.1) has no reference to zlib 
at all, and the last published VS Fortran documents (all of which are dated 
1993) of course have no references to it.

I will be updating my RCF to ask that the MVS manual at least reference the 
COBOL Programmer's Guide and chapter title as an example of non-C-language 
access to these functions.  I'm certain that any competent PL/I or Fortran 
programmer could figure out what to do in their language from the COBOL example.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 5:11 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: 
Unzip on z/OS ?]

To be more clear: I am asking for examples of non-C-language un-authorized HLL 
calls to the "zlib" un-authorized functions and a list of any COPY/INCLUDE 
members necessary to accomplish those calls, not the zEDC authorized functions 
nor the hardware-level DFLTCC instruction.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 11:53 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: Unzip on 
z/OS ?]

I submitted an RCF on the subject of examples for actually using zEDC functions 
from HLL's other than C not long after this message chain and received no 
response at all from the RCF team.  A follow-up email requesting status or at 
least an acknowledgement that the documentation addition suggestion had been 
received did get a response, which was:

"Thank you for reaching out to IBM about your experience with our Documentation 
feedback.

A response is not provided for feedback sent to your product’s documentation 
team. All comments are received and evaluated to help improve the content 
experience.  Any resulting updates to the product documentation are then 
reflected in the current release of the product. Any issues that require a 
response should go through IBM support."

Since neither the zEDC redbook to which Tom Harper posted a link nor the MVS 
Callable Services for HLL's manual have any examples of how to ACTUALLY use 
zEDC functions from any HLL except C, has anyone on this list actually coded 
invocation of zEDC services from an HLL other than C who is willing (and is 
permitted) to share how they accomplished that task?

Since IBM hasn't documented it (at least not so far) I guess we have to do it 
ourselves.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 2:17 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Unzip on z/OS ?

You are probably right about that.  I will start one and see what they reply.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Steve Thompson
Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 2:07 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Unzip on z/OS ?

A similar issue happened with BPXWDYN. COBOL can't set R0. So a new entry point 
in BPXWDYN was created that handled that problem.

This all started with me writing an RCF to tell them that they didn't have a 
COBOL example. Then a C programmer (I'm guessing) wrote the COBOL code. You can 
write c in any language (one of those type of things). Problem is, it would 
confuse most COBOL programmers that, well, it would confuse most COBOL 
programmers, and so I suggested a few changes to solve the issue. Then one of 
their own people onfirmed what I said, it would be confusing to most COBOL 
programmers. And so it appears that IBM doesn't have many product developers 
that actually know COBOL. That has been my take-away from that exchange.

So you may need to do an RCF, and you may go a few rounds with them.

Just say'n'.

Steve Thompson

On 4/4/2023 1:46 PM, Farley, Peter wrote:
> The V2R5 Callable Services manual 

Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: Unzip on z/OS ?]

2023-04-26 Thread Schmitt, Michael
I've done it (called the Binder Fast Data API from COBOL). My program returns 
interesting data about PDSE program object modules, such as the sections, 
compiler versions and compile dates, binder information, user data IDRs, and so 
on.

The hardest part was dealing with modules with enormously long section names. 
I've seen modules with 3,000 byte section names!

(If you want to help me out, vote for Idea 
https://ibm-z-hardware-and-operating-systems.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/ZOS-I-2211 to 
add a Section Identifier field to the Binder API buffers)


I used a COBOL program to prototype my algorithms and get everything working 
correctly, then rewrote in assembler.

And I was making a joke, because how to call the Binder API from COBOL /is/ 
documented, in the same manual as the API.

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2023 12:43 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: 
Unzip on z/OS ?]

I agree, but failing that they can (and should) at least put in a reference to 
the COBOL documentation.

Yeah, calling the Binder Fast Data API (or even worse the "regular" Binder API) 
from COBOL would be a stretch to document.  Not sure I would even attempt that 
one, and I have written code to use the Binder API so I (sort of) understand it.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Schmitt, Michael
Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2023 1:04 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: 
Unzip on z/OS ?]

Thanks.

That seems like an odd place to put it. What's next, a chapter on how to call 
the Binder Fast Data API from COBOL?

I'd think this chapter should be in the Callable Services for High Level 
Languages manual.

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2023 10:43 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: 
Unzip on z/OS ?]

An off-list communication from another interested party pointed me to this link 
to the online Enterprise COBOL Programmers Guide V6.4, which has exactly the 
documentation I have been requesting, at least for COBOL programmers:

Chapter 36. Using zlib compression from a COBOL program
https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cobol-zos/6.4?topic=processing-using-zlib-compression-from-cobol-program

I checked my previously saved COBOL PDF's for V6.2 and it is there as well.

Interestingly the latest PL/I Programmers Guide (V6.1) has no reference to zlib 
at all, and the last published VS Fortran documents (all of which are dated 
1993) of course have no references to it.

I will be updating my RCF to ask that the MVS manual at least reference the 
COBOL Programmer's Guide and chapter title as an example of non-C-language 
access to these functions.  I'm certain that any competent PL/I or Fortran 
programmer could figure out what to do in their language from the COBOL example.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 5:11 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: 
Unzip on z/OS ?]

To be more clear: I am asking for examples of non-C-language un-authorized HLL 
calls to the "zlib" un-authorized functions and a list of any COPY/INCLUDE 
members necessary to accomplish those calls, not the zEDC authorized functions 
nor the hardware-level DFLTCC instruction.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 11:53 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: Unzip on 
z/OS ?]

I submitted an RCF on the subject of examples for actually using zEDC functions 
from HLL's other than C not long after this message chain and received no 
response at all from the RCF team.  A follow-up email requesting status or at 
least an acknowledgement that the documentation addition suggestion had been 
received did get a response, which was:

"Thank you for reaching out to IBM about your experience with our Documentation 
feedback.

A response is not provided for feedback sent to your product's documentation 
team. All comments are received and evaluated to help improve the content 
experience.  Any resulting updates to the product documentation are then 
reflected in the current release of the product. Any issues that require a 
response should go through IBM support."

Since neither the zEDC redbook to which Tom Harper posted a link nor the MVS 
Callable Services for HLL's manual have any examples of how to ACTUALLY use 
zEDC functions from any HLL except C, has anyone on this list actually coded 
invocation of zEDC services from an HLL other than C who is 

Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: Unzip on z/OS ?]

2023-04-26 Thread Farley, Peter
I agree, but failing that they can (and should) at least put in a reference to 
the COBOL documentation.

Yeah, calling the Binder Fast Data API (or even worse the "regular" Binder API) 
from COBOL would be a stretch to document.  Not sure I would even attempt that 
one, and I have written code to use the Binder API so I (sort of) understand it.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Schmitt, Michael
Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2023 1:04 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: 
Unzip on z/OS ?]

Thanks.

That seems like an odd place to put it. What's next, a chapter on how to call 
the Binder Fast Data API from COBOL?

I'd think this chapter should be in the Callable Services for High Level 
Languages manual.

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2023 10:43 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: 
Unzip on z/OS ?]

An off-list communication from another interested party pointed me to this link 
to the online Enterprise COBOL Programmers Guide V6.4, which has exactly the 
documentation I have been requesting, at least for COBOL programmers:

Chapter 36. Using zlib compression from a COBOL program
https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cobol-zos/6.4?topic=processing-using-zlib-compression-from-cobol-program
 

I checked my previously saved COBOL PDF's for V6.2 and it is there as well.

Interestingly the latest PL/I Programmers Guide (V6.1) has no reference to zlib 
at all, and the last published VS Fortran documents (all of which are dated 
1993) of course have no references to it.

I will be updating my RCF to ask that the MVS manual at least reference the 
COBOL Programmer's Guide and chapter title as an example of non-C-language 
access to these functions.  I'm certain that any competent PL/I or Fortran 
programmer could figure out what to do in their language from the COBOL example.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 5:11 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: 
Unzip on z/OS ?]

To be more clear: I am asking for examples of non-C-language un-authorized HLL 
calls to the "zlib" un-authorized functions and a list of any COPY/INCLUDE 
members necessary to accomplish those calls, not the zEDC authorized functions 
nor the hardware-level DFLTCC instruction.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 11:53 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: Unzip on 
z/OS ?]

I submitted an RCF on the subject of examples for actually using zEDC functions 
from HLL's other than C not long after this message chain and received no 
response at all from the RCF team.  A follow-up email requesting status or at 
least an acknowledgement that the documentation addition suggestion had been 
received did get a response, which was:

"Thank you for reaching out to IBM about your experience with our Documentation 
feedback.

A response is not provided for feedback sent to your product's documentation 
team. All comments are received and evaluated to help improve the content 
experience.  Any resulting updates to the product documentation are then 
reflected in the current release of the product. Any issues that require a 
response should go through IBM support."

Since neither the zEDC redbook to which Tom Harper posted a link nor the MVS 
Callable Services for HLL's manual have any examples of how to ACTUALLY use 
zEDC functions from any HLL except C, has anyone on this list actually coded 
invocation of zEDC services from an HLL other than C who is willing (and is 
permitted) to share how they accomplished that task?

Since IBM hasn't documented it (at least not so far) I guess we have to do it 
ourselves.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 2:17 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Unzip on z/OS ?

You are probably right about that.  I will start one and see what they reply.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Steve Thompson
Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 2:07 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Unzip on z/OS ?

A similar issue happened with BPXWDYN. COBOL can't set R0. So a new entry point 
in BPXWDYN was created that handled that problem.

This all started with me writing an RCF to tell them that they didn't have a 
COBOL example. Then a C programmer (I'm guessing) wrote the COBOL code. You can 
write c in any language (one of those type of things). Problem is, it would 
confuse most COBOL programmers that, well, it 

Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: Unzip on z/OS ?]

2023-04-26 Thread Schmitt, Michael
Thanks.

That seems like an odd place to put it. What's next, a chapter on how to call 
the Binder Fast Data API from COBOL?

I'd think this chapter should be in the Callable Services for High Level 
Languages manual.

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2023 10:43 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: 
Unzip on z/OS ?]

An off-list communication from another interested party pointed me to this link 
to the online Enterprise COBOL Programmers Guide V6.4, which has exactly the 
documentation I have been requesting, at least for COBOL programmers:

Chapter 36. Using zlib compression from a COBOL program
https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cobol-zos/6.4?topic=processing-using-zlib-compression-from-cobol-program

I checked my previously saved COBOL PDF's for V6.2 and it is there as well.

Interestingly the latest PL/I Programmers Guide (V6.1) has no reference to zlib 
at all, and the last published VS Fortran documents (all of which are dated 
1993) of course have no references to it.

I will be updating my RCF to ask that the MVS manual at least reference the 
COBOL Programmer's Guide and chapter title as an example of non-C-language 
access to these functions.  I'm certain that any competent PL/I or Fortran 
programmer could figure out what to do in their language from the COBOL example.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 5:11 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: 
Unzip on z/OS ?]

To be more clear: I am asking for examples of non-C-language un-authorized HLL 
calls to the "zlib" un-authorized functions and a list of any COPY/INCLUDE 
members necessary to accomplish those calls, not the zEDC authorized functions 
nor the hardware-level DFLTCC instruction.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 11:53 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: Unzip on 
z/OS ?]

I submitted an RCF on the subject of examples for actually using zEDC functions 
from HLL's other than C not long after this message chain and received no 
response at all from the RCF team.  A follow-up email requesting status or at 
least an acknowledgement that the documentation addition suggestion had been 
received did get a response, which was:

"Thank you for reaching out to IBM about your experience with our Documentation 
feedback.

A response is not provided for feedback sent to your product's documentation 
team. All comments are received and evaluated to help improve the content 
experience.  Any resulting updates to the product documentation are then 
reflected in the current release of the product. Any issues that require a 
response should go through IBM support."

Since neither the zEDC redbook to which Tom Harper posted a link nor the MVS 
Callable Services for HLL's manual have any examples of how to ACTUALLY use 
zEDC functions from any HLL except C, has anyone on this list actually coded 
invocation of zEDC services from an HLL other than C who is willing (and is 
permitted) to share how they accomplished that task?

Since IBM hasn't documented it (at least not so far) I guess we have to do it 
ourselves.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 2:17 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Unzip on z/OS ?

You are probably right about that.  I will start one and see what they reply.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Steve Thompson
Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 2:07 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Unzip on z/OS ?

A similar issue happened with BPXWDYN. COBOL can't set R0. So a new entry point 
in BPXWDYN was created that handled that problem.

This all started with me writing an RCF to tell them that they didn't have a 
COBOL example. Then a C programmer (I'm guessing) wrote the COBOL code. You can 
write c in any language (one of those type of things). Problem is, it would 
confuse most COBOL programmers that, well, it would confuse most COBOL 
programmers, and so I suggested a few changes to solve the issue. Then one of 
their own people onfirmed what I said, it would be confusing to most COBOL 
programmers. And so it appears that IBM doesn't have many product developers 
that actually know COBOL. That has been my take-away from that exchange.

So you may need to do an RCF, and you may go a few rounds with them.

Just say'n'.

Steve Thompson

On 4/4/2023 1:46 PM, Farley, Peter wrote:
> The V2R5 Callable Services manual SA23-1377-50 pp 191-196 describes ONLY the 
> C language zlib library and functions.  There is no 

Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: Unzip on z/OS ?]

2023-04-26 Thread Farley, Peter
An off-list communication from another interested party pointed me to this link 
to the online Enterprise COBOL Programmers Guide V6.4, which has exactly the 
documentation I have been requesting, at least for COBOL programmers:

Chapter 36. Using zlib compression from a COBOL program
https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cobol-zos/6.4?topic=processing-using-zlib-compression-from-cobol-program

I checked my previously saved COBOL PDF's for V6.2 and it is there as well.

Interestingly the latest PL/I Programmers Guide (V6.1) has no reference to zlib 
at all, and the last published VS Fortran documents (all of which are dated 
1993) of course have no references to it.

I will be updating my RCF to ask that the MVS manual at least reference the 
COBOL Programmer's Guide and chapter title as an example of non-C-language 
access to these functions.  I'm certain that any competent PL/I or Fortran 
programmer could figure out what to do in their language from the COBOL example.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 5:11 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: 
Unzip on z/OS ?]

To be more clear: I am asking for examples of non-C-language un-authorized HLL 
calls to the "zlib" un-authorized functions and a list of any COPY/INCLUDE 
members necessary to accomplish those calls, not the zEDC authorized functions 
nor the hardware-level DFLTCC instruction.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 11:53 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: Unzip on 
z/OS ?]

I submitted an RCF on the subject of examples for actually using zEDC functions 
from HLL's other than C not long after this message chain and received no 
response at all from the RCF team.  A follow-up email requesting status or at 
least an acknowledgement that the documentation addition suggestion had been 
received did get a response, which was:

"Thank you for reaching out to IBM about your experience with our Documentation 
feedback.

A response is not provided for feedback sent to your product’s documentation 
team. All comments are received and evaluated to help improve the content 
experience.  Any resulting updates to the product documentation are then 
reflected in the current release of the product. Any issues that require a 
response should go through IBM support."

Since neither the zEDC redbook to which Tom Harper posted a link nor the MVS 
Callable Services for HLL's manual have any examples of how to ACTUALLY use 
zEDC functions from any HLL except C, has anyone on this list actually coded 
invocation of zEDC services from an HLL other than C who is willing (and is 
permitted) to share how they accomplished that task?

Since IBM hasn't documented it (at least not so far) I guess we have to do it 
ourselves.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 2:17 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Unzip on z/OS ?

You are probably right about that.  I will start one and see what they reply.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Steve Thompson
Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 2:07 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Unzip on z/OS ?

A similar issue happened with BPXWDYN. COBOL can't set R0. So a new entry point 
in BPXWDYN was created that handled that problem.

This all started with me writing an RCF to tell them that they didn't have a 
COBOL example. Then a C programmer (I'm guessing) wrote the COBOL code. You can 
write c in any language (one of those type of things). Problem is, it would 
confuse most COBOL programmers that, well, it would confuse most COBOL 
programmers, and so I suggested a few changes to solve the issue. Then one of 
their own people onfirmed what I said, it would be confusing to most COBOL 
programmers. And so it appears that IBM doesn't have many product developers 
that actually know COBOL. That has been my take-away from that exchange.

So you may need to do an RCF, and you may go a few rounds with them.

Just say'n'.

Steve Thompson

On 4/4/2023 1:46 PM, Farley, Peter wrote:
> The V2R5 Callable Services manual SA23-1377-50 pp 191-196 describes ONLY the 
> C language zlib library and functions.  There is no material on how to use 
> those functions from any other language than C.
>
> At the very least there is no mention of COBOL COPY members for the parameter 
> definitions nor any mention of a COBOL-compatible link library for inclusion 
> in an executable module.  Only the POSIX C link library and functions are 
> described.
>
> Am I missing something?  Like maybe the zlib C functions are compiled with 
> "#pragma linkage(entryname,OS)"?  There is no such statement in that 

Re: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: Unzip on z/OS ?]

2023-04-25 Thread Farley, Peter
To be more clear: I am asking for examples of non-C-language un-authorized HLL 
calls to the "zlib" un-authorized functions and a list of any COPY/INCLUDE 
members necessary to accomplish those calls, not the zEDC authorized functions 
nor the hardware-level DFLTCC instruction.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 11:53 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: Unzip on 
z/OS ?]

I submitted an RCF on the subject of examples for actually using zEDC functions 
from HLL's other than C not long after this message chain and received no 
response at all from the RCF team.  A follow-up email requesting status or at 
least an acknowledgement that the documentation addition suggestion had been 
received did get a response, which was:

"Thank you for reaching out to IBM about your experience with our Documentation 
feedback.

A response is not provided for feedback sent to your product’s documentation 
team. All comments are received and evaluated to help improve the content 
experience.  Any resulting updates to the product documentation are then 
reflected in the current release of the product. Any issues that require a 
response should go through IBM support."

Since neither the zEDC redbook to which Tom Harper posted a link nor the MVS 
Callable Services for HLL's manual have any examples of how to ACTUALLY use 
zEDC functions from any HLL except C, has anyone on this list actually coded 
invocation of zEDC services from an HLL other than C who is willing (and is 
permitted) to share how they accomplished that task?

Since IBM hasn't documented it (at least not so far) I guess we have to do it 
ourselves.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 2:17 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Unzip on z/OS ?

You are probably right about that.  I will start one and see what they reply.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Steve Thompson
Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 2:07 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Unzip on z/OS ?

A similar issue happened with BPXWDYN. COBOL can't set R0. So a new entry point 
in BPXWDYN was created that handled that problem.

This all started with me writing an RCF to tell them that they didn't have a 
COBOL example. Then a C programmer (I'm guessing) wrote the COBOL code. You can 
write c in any language (one of those type of things). Problem is, it would 
confuse most COBOL programmers that, well, it would confuse most COBOL 
programmers, and so I suggested a few changes to solve the issue. Then one of 
their own people onfirmed what I said, it would be confusing to most COBOL 
programmers. And so it appears that IBM doesn't have many product developers 
that actually know COBOL. That has been my take-away from that exchange.

So you may need to do an RCF, and you may go a few rounds with them.

Just say'n'.

Steve Thompson

On 4/4/2023 1:46 PM, Farley, Peter wrote:
> The V2R5 Callable Services manual SA23-1377-50 pp 191-196 describes ONLY the 
> C language zlib library and functions.  There is no material on how to use 
> those functions from any other language than C.
>
> At the very least there is no mention of COBOL COPY members for the parameter 
> definitions nor any mention of a COBOL-compatible link library for inclusion 
> in an executable module.  Only the POSIX C link library and functions are 
> described.
>
> Am I missing something?  Like maybe the zlib C functions are compiled with 
> "#pragma linkage(entryname,OS)"?  There is no such statement in that manual 
> at all.
>
> -Original Message-
> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On 
> Behalf Of Ed Jaffe
> Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 1:30 PM
> To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Unzip on z/OS ?
>
> On 4/4/2023 10:22 AM, Farley, Peter wrote:
>> I agree with Michael, neither that redbook nor the current (V2R5) z/OS 
>> Callable Services manual even mention COBOL or any other HLL interface or 
>> API.  Only the C language zlib library and functions are described.
> Tom provided the link to the book and on page 128 it states that the 
> callable services "... are for use by any program coded in C, COBOL, 
> Fortran, Pascal, or PL/I, and this information refers to programs 
> written in these languages as high-level language (HLL) programs."
--


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and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. If the reader 
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the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination of this 
communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication 
in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail and delete the 

How to call zEDC functions from an HLL other than C [was: RE: Unzip on z/OS ?]

2023-04-25 Thread Farley, Peter
I submitted an RCF on the subject of examples for actually using zEDC functions 
from HLL's other than C not long after this message chain and received no 
response at all from the RCF team.  A follow-up email requesting status or at 
least an acknowledgement that the documentation addition suggestion had been 
received did get a response, which was:

"Thank you for reaching out to IBM about your experience with our Documentation 
feedback.

A response is not provided for feedback sent to your product’s documentation 
team. All comments are received and evaluated to help improve the content 
experience.  Any resulting updates to the product documentation are then 
reflected in the current release of the product. Any issues that require a 
response should go through IBM support."

Since neither the zEDC redbook to which Tom Harper posted a link nor the MVS 
Callable Services for HLL's manual have any examples of how to ACTUALLY use 
zEDC functions from any HLL except C, has anyone on this list actually coded 
invocation of zEDC services from an HLL other than C who is willing (and is 
permitted) to share how they accomplished that task?

Since IBM hasn't documented it (at least not so far) I guess we have to do it 
ourselves.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Farley, Peter
Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 2:17 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Unzip on z/OS ?

You are probably right about that.  I will start one and see what they reply.

Peter

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Steve Thompson
Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 2:07 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Unzip on z/OS ?

A similar issue happened with BPXWDYN. COBOL can't set R0. So a new entry point 
in BPXWDYN was created that handled that problem.

This all started with me writing an RCF to tell them that they didn't have a 
COBOL example. Then a C programmer (I'm guessing) wrote the COBOL code. You can 
write c in any language (one of those type of things). Problem is, it would 
confuse most COBOL programmers that, well, it would confuse most COBOL 
programmers, and so I suggested a few changes to solve the issue. Then one of 
their own people onfirmed what I said, it would be confusing to most COBOL 
programmers. And so it appears that IBM doesn't have many product developers 
that actually know COBOL. That has been my take-away from that exchange.

So you may need to do an RCF, and you may go a few rounds with them.

Just say'n'.

Steve Thompson

On 4/4/2023 1:46 PM, Farley, Peter wrote:
> The V2R5 Callable Services manual SA23-1377-50 pp 191-196 describes ONLY the 
> C language zlib library and functions.  There is no material on how to use 
> those functions from any other language than C.
>
> At the very least there is no mention of COBOL COPY members for the parameter 
> definitions nor any mention of a COBOL-compatible link library for inclusion 
> in an executable module.  Only the POSIX C link library and functions are 
> described.
>
> Am I missing something?  Like maybe the zlib C functions are compiled with 
> "#pragma linkage(entryname,OS)"?  There is no such statement in that manual 
> at all.
>
> -Original Message-
> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On 
> Behalf Of Ed Jaffe
> Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 1:30 PM
> To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Unzip on z/OS ?
>
> On 4/4/2023 10:22 AM, Farley, Peter wrote:
>> I agree with Michael, neither that redbook nor the current (V2R5) z/OS 
>> Callable Services manual even mention COBOL or any other HLL interface or 
>> API.  Only the C language zlib library and functions are described.
> Tom provided the link to the book and on page 128 it states that the 
> callable services "... are for use by any program coded in C, COBOL, 
> Fortran, Pascal, or PL/I, and this information refers to programs 
> written in these languages as high-level language (HLL) programs."
--

This message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the addressee 
and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. If the reader 
of the message is not the intended recipient or an authorized representative of 
the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination of this 
communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication 
in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail and delete the message and any 
attachments from your system.


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