Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: PDSEGEN - 2 years old

[Dyck, Lionel B. (RavenTek)]

See these recent APAR closures to resolve the PDSE scroll max issue and one 
other:

APAR or PTF Updated Status  CC  Component   Abstract and comments
OA55431 6/7/18  CLOSED  PER ISPF Z/OS PDF AN ABEND 002-A8 OCCURS DOING A 
SCROLL MAX DOWN ON A PDSE MEMBER
OA54890 6/6/18  CLOSED  PER EXTENDED DATA S IEBPDSE DETECTED PDSE DIRECTORY 
CORRUPTION FOLLOWING AN ISPF IEBPDSE

I prefer to use member generations rather than a full blown source control 
system for my personal JCL, REXX, ISPF Panel, and a few other libraries. I keep 
up to 20 generations while working on updates and will then prune down to 1-3 
after things are looking solid and then prune down to 0 generations when I'm 
truly happy with the updates. Prune is a feature of PDSEGEN that deletes 
generations while leaving the requested number of generations alive.

--
Lionel B. Dyck (Contractor)  <
Mainframe Systems Programmer – RavenTek Solution Partners


-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf 
Of Steve Smith
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2018 9:00 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: PDSEGEN - 2 years old

That's it for me.  I like JCL and working source libraries to have 2-5
generations just so I can go back if the need arises (or I just
accidentally save when I didn't really want to).

As a side note, the other "improvements" with PDSE V2 seem to cause
problems when trying to scroll max down through large members.  This is
almost certainly a bug, and it may have been fixed already, or at least
will be.  But unless I need generations, I usually stick with V1.

sas

On Mon, Jun 11, 2018 at 9:48 AM, Jerry Callen  wrote:

> So, I'm curious: What are people actually USING member generations for?
>
> For source code, it seems like a decent source control system is a better
> bet. Are member generations primarily a form of "oops recovery?"
>
> -- Jerry
>
> --
> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
>



-- 
sas

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: PDSEGEN - 2 years old

[Steve Smith]

That's it for me.  I like JCL and working source libraries to have 2-5
generations just so I can go back if the need arises (or I just
accidentally save when I didn't really want to).

As a side note, the other "improvements" with PDSE V2 seem to cause
problems when trying to scroll max down through large members.  This is
almost certainly a bug, and it may have been fixed already, or at least
will be.  But unless I need generations, I usually stick with V1.

sas

On Mon, Jun 11, 2018 at 9:48 AM, Jerry Callen  wrote:

> So, I'm curious: What are people actually USING member generations for?
>
> For source code, it seems like a decent source control system is a better
> bet. Are member generations primarily a form of "oops recovery?"
>
> -- Jerry
>
> --
> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
>



-- 
sas

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: PDSEGEN - 2 years old

[Jerry Callen]

So, I'm curious: What are people actually USING member generations for? 

For source code, it seems like a decent source control system is a better bet. 
Are member generations primarily a form of "oops recovery?"

-- Jerry

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: PDSEGEN - 2 years old

[Kevin Corbett]

Lionel,

Congratulations and happy anniversary to PDSEGEN.

I wanted to let you, and the rest of mainframe world, know that File-AID/MVS 
from Compuware introduced support for PDSE V2 Member Generations in July, 2015 
in release 16.3.   Our current GA release, 17.2, has continued to provide 
additional Member Generation support.  If you are looking for a commercial tool 
that supports working with Member Generations, File-AID/MVS is the right 
choice.  Like you Lionel, Compuware is committed to the mainframe.  In fact, as 
our byline says, we want to be your Mainframe Software Partner For The Next 50 
Years. 

Thank you for being such a strong Mainframe advocate.

Kevin Corbett
Product Manager, Compuware

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

PDSEGEN - 2 years old

[Dyck, Lionel B. (RavenTek)]

I wanted to let y'all know that PDSEGEN turns 2 years old tomorrow - 5/26. That 
is the day that I created the very first alpha version of PDSEGEN using 
information from Thomas Reed's SHARE presentation on how to access PDSE V2 
Member Generations.

Since then it has grown thanks to the input, and assistance, from a number of 
individuals around the world.

Today, at version 5.4.2,  it consists of

1,452 lines of Assembler Code in 3 modules
9,233 lines of REXX Code in 13 modules
5,712 lines of ISPF Panel Code in 96 panels

Documentation in MS Word (DOCX), PDF, eBook (ePub and Mobi).

During the development of PDSEGEN numerous issues were found with PDSE V2 
Member Generation handling and over a dozen APARs were taken by IBM to address 
the issues that were found with PTFs being generated and released. Other 
vendors, such as CA, also accepted feedback on issues and provided PDSE V2 
Member Generation support.

It's been a fun 2 years and PDSEGEN is stable and usable. It isn't a commercial 
product, and it isn't the fastest product, but it has more features and 
functions than most will use and it does it very well.

Check it out at www.lbdsoftware.com, which always 
has the latest version) or www.cbttape.org in file 969 
(always check the http://cbttape.org/updates.htm page for the latest iteration).

For those unfamiliar with PDSEGEN here is a brief overview:

PDSEGEN is an ISPF dialog tool that makes it easy to use PDSE Version 2 Member 
Generations in a way that the native ISPF does not. It uses all standard system 
interfaces so it shouldn't require updates in the future (unless IBM changes 
the standard interfaces which is unlikely).

All of the member processing functions that the user expects with a PDS are 
provided along with many others that are specific to member generations, such 
as:


1.  Copy the base member and all generations between PDSE V2 libraries

2.  The ability to backup and restore a PDSE with all member generations

3.  Compare a generation to another generation

4.  Compare a generation to a base member

5.  Easily list all base members and generations

6.  Browse, view, copy, etc. any generation

7.  Edit is restricted to only base members (native ISPF, and other 
products, allow editing generations which I feel is a Bozo No-No)

8.  Copy a generation into a new base member

9.  8 different member table display options

10.  User customized panel colors

11.  19 line selection commands

12.  32 primary commands

13.  And more

And if you don't like the way it works the complete source is provided so that 
it can be updated, or customized, for your environment.

--
Lionel B. Dyck (Contractor)  <
Mainframe Systems Programmer - RavenTek Solution Partners


--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN