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What's New





March 2012: EPA Version 1 Release 7.03 Ships

NOTE: This release provides support for new IBM products. It is NOT being automatically shipped. To request a copy, please call us at 847-297-2020 or send an e-mail to dsheehan@edge-information.com

EPA 1.7.3 adds the following new and enhanced functions:



October 2011: EPA Price Increase

Effective January 1, 2012, Edge Information Group will increase fees for the Edge Portfolio Analyzer, our first increase since 2009. We strive hard to maintain our modest fee structure while continuing to enhance and improve the EPA to remain current with the IBM environment as well as be responsive to customer suggestions to provide information about your production program portfolio. As always, existing customers will not have their Maintenance Fees increased by more than 10%.

Click here to download the EPA 2012 Price List



March 2011: EPA Version 1 Release 7.02 Ships

This release provides support for new IBM products. It is NOT being automatically shipped. To request a copy, please call us at 847-297-2020 or send an e-mail to dsheehan@edge-information.com

EPA 1.7.2 adds the following new and enhanced functions:

November 2009: EPA Version 1 Release 7.01 Ships

This release provides support for four new IBM products as well as corrections and updates to the documentation. NOTE: This release is NOT being automatically shipped. To request a copy, please call us at 847-297-2020 or send an e-mail to dsheehan@edge-information.com

EPA 1.7.1 reports on the following new IBM products:

All four manuals have been reissued with updates and corrections



February 2009: EPA Version 1 Release 7.00 Ships

This is a complete refresh of the Edge Portfolio Analyzer. All components have been reviewed and have at least minor revisions since the previous update. Likewise all of the documentation has been updated. Some file sizes and formats have changed, so please consult the documentation before attempting to "combine" data with that of previous releases.

All customers with a current Maintenance contract will automatically receive the new release. Those whose Maintenance has expired can reinstate Maintenance and receive the release. Contact us for details.

Based on user feedback, this release provides documentation only as PDFs on the CD-ROM and not with an additional hardcopy as in the past. If you would like a printed set of the manuals, please contact our office.

System Support
  • Operating System

    • EPA V1R07.00 supports all releases of z/OS through v1.10. It also continues to execute on prior OS/390 releases. When analyzing programs generated by C/C++ under z/OS v1.10, the EPA uses some hardware instructions of the Extended-Immediate feature that are only available on z9 level systems.

  • 64-Bit Processors

    • Because of the design of the EPA, we are not aware of any issues related to 64-bit support. All of our current and future development is on z/OS operating in the 64-bit mode and this release has been tested on a z10 complex. Therefore, while we are confident that there will be no problems, we will continue to validate this environment.

  • COBOL Compiler

    • The EPA supports the latest releases of Enterprise COBOL through V3.4.1 and V4.1

  • PL/I Compiler

    • The EPA supports the latest relases of Enterprise PL/I through V3.8. This release of the EPA includes extraction of all significant compiler options recorded in the load modules.

  • C/C++ Compiler

    • The EPA supports C/C++ compilers as delivered in z/OS releases through v1.10. The compiler provided with z/OS v1.10 now provides information needed for the EPA to report on key compiler options.

  • LE Components

    • We have continued to improve our recognition of LE components including those provided as part of z/OS v1.10

MACHINE File Changes
  • Record Length Increase

    • The record length of the MACHINE file has been increased from 400 to 500 bytes to handle in increase in the number of C/C++ compiler options we are now able to extract.

  • Record Definition Impact for Existing Files

    • To minimize the impact on programs analyzing the existing data files, such as our External Analyzers, we tried to minimize changes to the format of the existing 400 byte record structure. However, several fields were significantly impacted and you should consult the PDOM Appendix before mixing V1.6 level programs with V1.7 level data.

  • BLKSIZE Change

    • The file now uses the DFSMS optimum blocksize of 27500.

PDSE Abend Bypass
Since the EPA does not process data directly from a PDSE, its default behavior when encountering one is to generate an ABEND U004. Since the presence of an ABEND will disrupt a conditionally executed job stream, specifying PARM='/0' will change the ABEND to a Return Code of 64. This feature is categorized as 'experimental' and is not described in the documentation. Based on user feedback, we will incorporate it into the standard product.


New External Analyzers
  • DB2 Unsupported Programs - DB2UCBx / DB2UPLx

    These E/As respectively identify COBOL and PL/I programs that are not supported when migrating to DB2 V8 or V9.

  • DB2 Supported Programs - DB2SCBx / DB2SPLx

    These E/As respectively identify COBOL and PL/I programs that are supported when migrating to DB2 V8 or V9.

  • Programs containing CICS Component - CICSCBx / CICSPLx

    • This E/A is intended to highlight CICS TS V3.x migration issues with COBOL and PL/I respectively.

  • Enterprise COBOL Migration Issues - COBNLEx

    • The E/A identifies programs that require migration attention because they contain COBOL components that were not compiled by and LE-conforming compiler or were compiled with the CMPR2 compiler option.

  • COBOL Run-Time Component Sources - COBORTP OCO

  • This reports whether the COBOL run-time components came from OS/VS, COBOL II or LE library. The results of this E/A show load modules that require relinking.

  • COBOL SEARCH ALL Behavior - CBSRCHP

    • COBOL programs containing the SEARCH ALL statement may behave differently depending on the z/OS release or LE maintenance level. This locates programs that may experience changed behavior.

  • EasyTrieve Plus Components - EZTPLSx

    • The E/A reports any Easytrieve Plus components found in the MACHINE file.

External Analyzers Changes
  • MACHINE Record Format

    • All E/As have been modified to incorporate the new data format of the MACHINE file.

  • Improved Program Consistency

    • With the exception of SYSDATP (seldom used since Y2K days), all non-OCO E/As are provided in both COBOL and PL/I versions and all implement the new table oriented format. Many programs have been modified so that the output of the COBOL and PL/I versions of an E/A are the same.

  • PL/I Batch Compile - EPLIBCP [OCO Only]

    • This E/A was changed to conform to changes required by the recent release of Enterprise PL/I including turning on the XPLINK LE run-time option and an increased region size.

  • AFP Resgister Exposure Improvements - AFPREGx OCO,/li>

    This identifies Enterprise PL/I and/or C/C++ programs that use Additional Floating Point Registers (AFP) in a CICS environment. It has been revised to more completely report AFP usage and possible risk exposures.

External Analyzers Dropped
  • MROLDNEW and MRNEWOLD

    In the past, when we changed the format of the MACHINE record we provided these programs to reformat the records. However, because of the nature of the changes this time, we recommend that EPA V1.7.0 be used to reprocess the entire library. Accordingly, we did not supply these conversion program with this release.

To find out more about EPA V1R07.00, click here for the General Information Manual



October 2008: EPA Price Increase

Effective January 1, 2009, Edge Information Group will increase fees for the Edge Portfolio Analyzer, our first increase since 2006. We strive hard to maintain our modest fee structure while continuing to enhance and improve the EPA to remain current with the IBM environment as well as be responsive to customer suggestions to provide information about your production program portfolio. As always, existing customers will not have their maintenance fees increased by more than 10%.

Click here to download the EPA 2009 Price List



March 2008: IBM Case Study Documents EPA as the Solution for National Grid

IBM released a Business Partner Case study featuring the role the Edge Portfolio Analyzer played in providing a solution for National Grid, which recently acquired KeySpan Energy, a supplier of natural gas and electricity for the Northeastern United States.

The Edge Portfolio Analyzer enabled National Grid to integrate the KeySpan applications to make efficient use of IBM's Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) available in the current versions of CICS TS Version 3.1 and DB2 Version 8.

Read the entire Case Study by downloading the PDF IBM Case Study



December 2007: EPA 6.05 Enhancements

The Edge Portfolio Analyzer has been enhanced to support the newly announced Enterprise COBOL V4.1.0. For details about the new compiler, see the IBM Announcement Letter 207-339, dated December 11, 2007. The EPA also now reports three new compiler options introduced in the new compiler release.

Please let us know if you will be installing the new compiler so we can send you this update.



October 2007: EPA 6.04 Enhancements

This modification of the EPA adds:



April 2007: Article in z/Journal

Edge's Carl Gehr and Nate Murphy, of Nate Murphy International, coauthored an article in the April/May 2007 issue of z/Journal entitled DB2 and CICS Are Moving On: Avoiding Potholes on the Yellow Brick Road to an LE Migration.

With the announcement of CICS TS V3.1 and DB2 V8, customers who aren’t already running their applications under the Language Environment (LE) run-time library will need to perform a run-time migration, and probably compiler migrations, too.

To read the full article, visit the z/Journal site. or download a PDF by clicking zJournal April/May 2007



December 2006: EPA with Daylight Savings Time (DST)

A provision of the United States Energy Policy Act of 2005 extends DST by four weeks, beginning in March 2007.

Neither the EPA Analyzer nor any of the External Analyzers (E/As) are impacted by this change.

The EPA can help you identify DST exposures in your application modules by using the E/A SYSDATP. Originally created and widely used during Y2K, SYSDATP locates components in your applications that request the system time and/or date. Although SYSDATP does not tell you what is done with the date/time information, it is clearly as valuable today for locating possible DST issues, especially in load modules for which source is not available.

If you have any questions about this E/A or how the EPA and E/A extract the date/time requests, please check the External Analyzer Users Guide, Chapter 4, for more information. As always, we are available for questions not covered in the EAUG. Please send the questions via E-Mail to: Support (at) Edge-Information (dot) Com

IBM provides a more detailed description of this change at: IBM Daylight Savings Time Alert.



July 2006: EPA Release 6.03 Enhancements

This modification of the EPA adds:

EPA License holders with a Maintenance Agreement in effect can order this update at no charge by contacting Carl Gehr [cgehr at edge-information.com]



November 2005: EPA Price Increase

Effective January 1, 2006, Edge Information Group will increase fees for the Edge Portfolio Analyzer, our first increase since 2001. We strive hard to maintain our modest fee structure while continuing to enhance and improve the EPA to remain current with the IBM environment as well as be responsive to customer suggestions to provide information about your production program portfolio.

Click here to download the EPA 2006 Price List



October 2005: EPA Release 6.02 Enhancements URGENT

IBM has issued an APAR alert concerning:

"Possible Data Corruption or Undetected Data Loss" for programs running under CICS that are compiled with C/C++ and/or Enterprise PL/I and that are using the Additional Floating Point (AFP) registers.

The specifics of the problem can be obtained from IBM and from the APAR descriptions:

Edge is providing licensees of the EPA an enhancement to the EPA to extract the critical infomation needed to help identify at-risk programs. We are also providing an External Analyzer to report potential at-risk programs.

Three important notes regarding this alert:

  1. Identification of at-risk programs is dependent on determining if the AFP registers are being used. This use of these AFP registers is dependent on the FLOAT(AFP/NOAFP) compiler option. The EPA already extracts the setting of this option for the Enterprise PL/I compiler. Unfortunately, the VA PL/I and none of the C/C++ compilers have this information stored in the load modules for extraction. The new E/A attempts to figure out if the AFP registers are used based on the information that is stored and that can be extracted. The E/A report included in this EPA release attempts to distinguish between programs known to be at risk and programs that may be at risk based on what we can find.
  2. The compiler APARs listed are only the compilers that are supported by IBM and for which IBM is providing fixes. Programs compiled with earlier versions of these languages are also possibly at risk. We will report programs compiled by both these supported compilers and earlier compilers that we believe may also have generated at-risk code.
  3. IBM has indicated it will provide a 'tool' to help identify programs that are at risk. As this message is being prepared, we do not know when the IBM tool will be available.

Click here to download a PDF file containing a sample of the report identifying this situation: AFP Register Report(PDF format) approx 10K

Please understand that the EPA reporting is done on a best effort basis and you will have to make your own evaluation of the potential exposure to your applications. We welcome feedback on ways that we might improve the reporting that we provide.

Other modifications since the general release 6.0 include:

EPA License holders with a Maintenance Agreement in effect can order this update at no charge by contacting Carl Gehr [cgehr at edge-information.com]



September 2005: EPA Release 6.01 Enhancements

This modification of the EPA adds:

EPA License holders with a Maintenance Agreement in effect can order this update at no charge by contacting Carl Gehr [cgehr at edge-information.com]

April 2005: Version 1 Release 6.00 Ships

Version 1 Release 6.00 of the Edge Portfolio Analyzer is now shipping. Here are some of the enhancements made to this release:

Operating System Support
This release supports all releases of z/OS through 1.6.
Compiler Support
V1 R6.00 adds support for the following new compilers:
  • Enterprise COBOL through V3.3
  • Enterprise PL/I through V3.4
  • C/C++ as delivered with z/OS through 1.6
MACHINE File Size Change
In order to provide support for Enterprise PL/I options, it was necessary for us to increase the length of the MACHINE output file from 200 to 400 bytes. To minimize the impact to existing External Analyzers, the format of the first 200 bytes remains unchanged.
External Analyzer Replaces PL/I Batch Compile
EPLIBCP replaces the batch compile function that is no longer available in Enterprise PL/I. EPLIBCP is an object-code only (OCO) Analyzer
External Analyzers Summarize Critical Compiler Options
COBOPTx and PLIOPTx provide a summary of the more critical compiler options used by applications in the specified load library or libraries. These programs produce a single summary report indicating the usage of a given option. The counts for each option are listed by compiler group.
External Analyzers Flag Applications At Risk for CICS TS V3.1
CICSCBx and CICSPLx flag applications that are at risk when migrating to CICS TS V3.1 and later. OS/VS COBOL compiled applications will fail when run under this CICS release. IBM has also removed support for applications compiled with OS PL/I Versions 1 and 2. While these programs may not fail at the present time, they are at risk with future releases.
Existing External Analyzer Enhancements
All supported External Analyzers are provided in both COBOL and PL/I source and implement the new table-oriented format. The readability of output reports have been improved and the report format is the same for both COBOL and PL/I versions of an External Analyzer.

For more information, download the General Information Manual. Link to Downloads



February 2005: Preliminary Version 1 Release 6.00 General Information Manual

Now available for download is a preliminary copy of the General Information Manual, Version 1 Release 6, which will be available in March 2005.



August 2001: EPA Price Increase

Effective January 1, 2002, Edge Information Group will increase fees for the Edge Portfolio Analyzer. This is the first increase in fees in the history of the EPA. We have been able to maintain our initial fee structure for more than eight years, since introducing the Analyzer in 1994. Unfortunately, the business environment has not been able to do the same. Rising operating and production costs have dictated a modest increase in both our licensing and maintenance fees.

While holding our fees during the past eight years, we have constantly improved the EPA to keep current with the IBM environment and meet more of your analysis needs. We have accomodated IBM's Language Environment (LE) since its inception. We have produced three new versions of the Analyzer — and more than twenty External Analyzers — to maintain EPA currency from MVS/XA through OS/390. A z/OS version is in the works. We have also increased the number of languages the EPA can analyze and stayed current with all releases of their compilers.

The new EPA fee structure beginning January 1, 2002, will be:

  • Basic Site License: $22,500 (USD). ($19,000 (USD) through December 31, 2001.)
  • Distributed Site License (for each additional geographical location): $12,500 (USD). ($7,500 (USD) through December 31, 2001.)
  • Maintenance Support: annual fee of 15% of current site (Basic plus any Distributed) license fees. (Maintenance Support for the first year is included in site licenses at no additional charge. We limit annual increases to maintenance fees to 10% of the previous year's fee.)


Changes in Release 2000-07

This release contains new function, plus an update to many of the functions shipped in previous releases. Improvements are primarily directed toward providing better information for use in planning and assessing the issues for a Language Environment migration, and for use in problem determination. In addition, there are some usability enhancements to make the EPA and the External Analyzers easier to use.

  • Distribution Enhancements
    • The distribution files have grown far larger than can be accommodated on diskettes, so the product is now delivered on CD-ROM.
    • The CD-ROM also includes the EPA softcopy documentation in PDF format. This will allow easier sharing of the manuals across a larger user community. In addition, should you desire additional hardcopy, the PDF files can be used to print copies for your own internal use within the guidelines of the EPA License Agreement.
  • External Analyzer Improvements
    • The External Analyzer User Guide will have additional information to further describe how the EPA can be used for LE migration, OS/390 release updates and problem determination and problem source identification.
    • A new report format is introduced in this release to make them easier to read.
      • The new report format will have a heading line which identifies the reports as being produced from the Edge Portfolio Analyzer. They will also include the report name and the date and time of the run.
      • The body of the report will now be in tabular format.
    • Several new External Analyzers have been provided. In a couple of cases, there was significant overlap across some of the External Analyzers. Duplicate function was eliminated and the old programs have been designated as obsolete. We will continue to include the obsolete versions in the USERCODE.PDS for those customers already using them.
      • A new program (LEV210x) identifies the use of the LE Callable Service CEEGPID which has changed in OS/390 V2R10. Any programs that use the service will require modifications to operate properly.
      • One new program (DUPNAMx) identifies instances of the same CSECT name exists with multiple compile dates and/or multiple sizes. When there is only one copy of the source for this situation, it indicates a problem with the application development change control process.
      • The External Analyzer PLFTCHP, in conjunction with associated sorts can assist in the identification of the target routines when PL/I V1 and PL/I V2 programs that use the FETCH and/or RELEASE functions for dynamically CALLing other PL/I routines.
      • The RLINK0x includes special functions from RLINKXP, which is now obsolete. RLINK0x also includes an optional PARM to not replace of CICS, IMS and DB2 interfaces.
      • RLINK2x has been reworked to include special functions from RLINKXP, which is now obsolete. RLINK2x also includes an optional PARM to not replace of CICS, IMS and DB2 interfaces.
      • PIISCNx has been obsoleted since its function was duplicated in the new PLESCNx.
      • PV1SCNx has been expanded to report components from all releases of PL/I Version 1 instead of just Release 4.
      • Two other External Analyzers (COBLEZx, COBMIGx) have been substantially enhanced and provide functional replacements for COBONEx and COBONLx.
  • New component recognition
    • COBOL for OS/390 and VM releases up through V2R2.0 are reported, including new compiler options:
      • TEST(*,SYM,[NO]SEPARATE) provided in V2R1.2 to generate the debug information separate from the object module in the file defined by the SYSDEBUG DD-Name.
      • ARITH(EXTEND) provided in V2R2.0 that provides 31-digit decimal data.
    • The EPA now reports the presence of VA PL/I for OS/390 when it has been processed into load modules rather than program objects. [Program objects require PDSE support which is not yet included in the EPA.]
  • Default runtime options for CICS regions are specified in a CEEROPT CSECT. This CSECT is now recognized and interpreted like CEEDOPT and CEEUOPT.
  • The LE runtime options contained in CEEDOPT, CEEUOPT and CEEROPT are no longer tied to specific releases of OS/390. It is now common for options to be retrofitted to releases that are several levels prior to the current OS/390. Therefore, the extraction process had to be changed to report the options based on the level of the LE control block structure without regard to the release of OS/390 that was used to create the option set. In addition, the entire extraction of options was revised and the reporting clarified. The 2000/07A EPA release reports runtime options as of the initial shipment of OS/390 V2R10. If additions or changes to runtime options are made available by IBM subsequent to V2R10, the EPA will require updates to handle those changes. If you find problems with option reporting, please report them to Edge Technical Support.
  • VS COBOL II runtime options carried in IGZEOPT CSECTs are now captured in the MACHINE file when the PARM='/1' option is specified and are, therefore, available for reporting using External Analyzers.
  • The XREF will now flag any COBOL generated CSECT where the CSECT name has been altered to not match the PROGRAM-ID that was specified in the source program. This can help improve the correlation of source and executable code.
  • The analysis and reporting of Alias information has been enhanced with the PARM='/X' option to report False Alias names and Broken Alias chains. This information is stored in the XREF file.
  • When the EPA is scanning Assembler code looking for LINK and LOAD SVC usage, there are times when the target of the LINK or LOAD can be determined. This information is now reported in the Detail Report and also is stored in the XREF file.
  • EPA error handling improvements.
    • There are situations where the EPA cannot provide a complete analysis of a load module because the module is corrupt, it is in an overlay structure, etc. In addition to reporting these problems in the Detail Report, the problems are also captured in the XREF file for easier extraction of the names of the problem modules.
    • Three series of ABENDs have now been replaced with complain and continue logic to allow the EPA execution to continue. The ABENDs that are removed are the U21xx and U22xx series, plus U0887 and U0888. Details are provided in the Appendix to this manual.
  • The analysis of CEExxxx modules is under constant review. Some improvements in the reporting of the ownership and level of these components has already been made and there will be further improvements in the future. We are attempting to move as many MRTYPE='RT' reports to MRTYPE='LE' as possible. In addition, we attempting to report the ship release of those LE modules that we can identify as MRTYPE='LE'. This will be an ongoing process. For those CSECTs that are coded as MRTYPE='LE' and that are LE conforming, the version and release of the function and the compile date of the CSECT is reported in both the Detail Report and in the MACHINE file. For MACHINE file reporting, see fields MRC2DAT and MRC2TIM in Appendix D of the Program Description and Operations Manual.


June 1998: Changes in Release 1998-10

This release contains new function for both Language Environment migration and Year 2000 inventory and assessment. In addition, there are some usability enhancements to make the EPA and the External Analyzers easier to use.

  • The distribution files have been expanded to improve the installation process.
    • Changes to ANALYZER.OBJ:
      • A precompiled default USRFMT99 module is now included in the file so the warning message that the module was not found will no longer occur. This module will be linked into the same library as the EPA program. This does mean, though, that if you are installing into the same library as a previous release and you have a customized USRFMT99 in the library, you should rename your module so it will not be replaced by the dummy module.
    • Changes to USERCODE.SRC [USERCODE.PDS]
      • The README.1ST file that was previously only on the distribution diskette is now included as member $README of the USERCODE file. This will make the information in the file available to users on the host system instead of just on the diskette.
      • The first member in the USERCODE.SRC file is $LOADSRC. This JCL can be extracted from the sequential distribution file, modified and submitted to perform the loading of the USERCODE.PDS library. The procedure for using this member is in the Installation Cookbook.
      • A new member, ZZZZZZZZ, is now provided as the last entry in the USERCODE.SRC file. By checking to be sure this member is there, you can be sure the complete sequential file has been provided on the diskette and has been successfully uploaded to the MVS [or OS/390] system. This member will also be added to the USERCODE.PDS library.
      • The copyright notice from the distribution diskette is also now included in the USERCODE files as member $CPYRITE.
      • New record layouts are now provided for the IDROUT file that is used to report IDR information.
      • New record layouts for use by SAS programs are now provided for all the machine-friendly output files.
  • Additional components recognized:
    • COBOL for MVS and VM is now identified as Release 2 or later of COBOL/370.
    • COBOL for OS/390 and VM is now identified as Version 2 of COBOL/370. Some unique compiler options of this compiler are extracted.
    • IBM Basic is now identified.
    • IBM REXX Compiled code is now identified.
    • Easytrieve Plus is identified, somewhat by a process of elimination, rather than the normal use of artifacts as with other compilers.
    • The presence of code processed by the CA Optimizer II is now identified.
  • New runtime parameters have been added to the Analyzer:
    • PARM='/D' will cause the EPA to extract IDR information from the load modules. This information will only be reported in a new IDROUT file.
    • PARM='/P' causes reporting for $PRIVATE CSECTs on SYSPRINT and in the MACHINE file. XREF reporting will be the same as for other CSECTs. See Program Description and Operations Manual Appendix D for descriptions of the information included in the XREF file, with and without the Who's Calling option.
    • PARM='/6' and PARM='/7' are two options that are provided for a preliminary implementation of Panvalet Level Stamp reporting. We would like your feedback on this option to see if it is useful. This implementation is only for OS/VS COBOL and ANS COBOL V4. There is no support for VS COBOL II or later. Please review the function provided by this implementation and let Edge know if it is of any value to you. We want your feedback before we invest any more in the implementation. See the README for some of the information we would like to have you tell us.
    • PARM='/T' is expanded to extract user specified SVCs in addition to system date requests, LINKs and LOADs. The SVCs reported are controlled by an extension to the USRFMT99 customization module.
  • The functions of USRFMT99 have been expanded:
    • Assembler routines can now be identified and classified using generic selection using as subset [the first n characters] of the CSECT name.
    • SVC Reporting is controlled by an additional section added to the end of the USRFMT99 module.
  • External Analyzer Enhancements:
    • JCL is provided to compile and link each of the External Analyzers shipped with the Edge Portfolio Analyzer. There are two Jobs, one for the COBOL programs and one for the PL/I programs.
    • An earlier External Analyzer reported that FETCH or RELEASE was used in a module. In the new version (PLIFCHP), PL/I programs that use the FETCH/RELEASE statements to dynamically load secondary modules are now identified by a new External Analyzer. This technique identifies the specific programs that are involved.
    • One new External Analyzer is a special program that can be very useful when first beginning the analysis of a series of load libraries. This program [JCLGENx] will generate the JCL to run the EPA program against a series of load libraries and automatically create a numeric UID for the libraries. (An extension of this concept might be used to create a program to run one or more External Analyzers against the output of the EPA process.)
    • The PL/I version of the System Date Request program [SYSDATP] has been enhanced. In addition, the description of the columns and the various parts of the report have been further explained.
    • Additional Edge-provided External Analyzers are now provided in both COBOL and PL/I. All except the PL/I Fetch Analyzer are also provided in COBOL.


June 1997: Changes in Release 1997-06

This release contains several significant new enhancements that can assist in both Language Environment migration and Year 2000 inventory assessments.

  • File Format Change: A "Good News" and "Bad News" Story.
    • The "Bad News" is really not that bad. In order to report this new information, we expanded the MACHINE from 160 characters to 200 characters. Some fields have also been relocated to put related items closer together.
    • The "Good News" is that we have done this in such a way that it should NOT impact anything that current users are already doing. Old External Analyzers using the new record definitions should continue to operate as they always have. Other programs that have been using the field names defined in the supplied record formats should only require a recompile to work with the new record formats.
    • In addition, we have provided two utility programs that will convert old format records to new, and new format records to old. External Analyzers are also included that will, in effect, print the MACHINE file records.
  • LINK and LOAD analysis is now performed on Assembler Language CSECTs. This analysis will detect potential LINK and/or LOAD SVCs that might be issued by the routines. This can help avoid surprises due to unexpected enclaves being created. This analysis is performed at the same time as the scan for System Date requests, so there is very little additional processing to get this information.
  • Specification of PARM='/T' now controls the reporting of:
    • TIME LINKAGE=SYSTEM in addition to LINKAGE=SVC.
    • LINK/LOAD Analysis mentioned above.
  • Have you ever wanted to run the Analyzer starting at a specific load module name? With the new Resume option, you can now select the starting module for the Analyzer run.
  • SETSSI is a command that the linkage editor or SuperZap can use to put identifying information into a load module. The Analyzer will now report the value, if it is present, in any load module. The value is reported both in the Detail Report and in the XREF file.
  • Are you using Panvalet or another library tool to place an identifying constant into your OS/VS COBOL Working Storage. With this custom feature that temporarily uses a reserved area in the newly expanded MACHINE file, you can see the value that is stored. After we see how this one works, we will release a more permanent implementation. We really want your feedback on this one!
  • The Detail Report for OS/VS COBOL programs has been reworked to show, not only the positive value of a compiler option, but both the positive and the negative values. This makes the listing consistent with the other COBOL and PL/I listings.
  • As usual, there are several new components that are specifically identified:
    • COBOL for MVS and VM.
    • COBOL for OS/390 and VM (Version 2).
    • New bootstrap module for COBOL for MVS and VM.
    • Value of the MIXRES option in the VS COBOL II runtime options modules.
    • IGZEOPT and IGZEOPD CSECTs.
  • All of the dates in the Edge Portfolio Analyzer have been checked for Y2K compliance. Except for dates that are simply reported AS IS (i.e., as they are in the load module), which is generally what users want to see, all dates are now ready for the Year 2000. Note that IDR dates are, and will continue to be stored by the compilers as two-digit years. So, that is the way we will report them.
  • All JCL procedures that reference the COBOL compiler to compile External Analyzers have been changed to include the required PARM of NOCMPR2. All Edge provided COBOL programs require this option to avoid potential ABENDs due to inconsistent file attributes being assumed. The requirement is not new, only the change to the procedures to specify the parameters are new.
  • The XREF file is now used for more than just capturing external references. Other information that is now in the XREF file:
    • Length of the load module.
    • Alias information.
    • SETSSI values.
  • Miscellaneous changes have been made throughout the documentation to improve its usability.
  • New External Analyzers included with 199706 are:
    • A suite of three programs (ASMHL1x/ASMHL2x/ASMHL3x ) will analyze Assembler programs. Since Assembler routines can create special situations in both a Language Environment (LE) migration and in a Year 2000 conversion, these External Analyzers will help isolate those programs that may require special attention.
    • A new External Analyzer (COBRNRx) has been added to report invalid combinations of RES and NORES in COBOL modules. Load modules containing COBOL programs compiled with both RES and NORES options have always been illegal; they just happened to work in many cases with the older compilers. Also, update techniques used in some installations often caused COBOL runtime CSECTs to be retained in load modules that only have programs compiled with the RES option. This new program exposes both of these situations.
    • A new External Analyzer (SYSDATx) has been added to report modules and programs that contain requests for the system date. Year 2000 projects need to identify all programs that deal with dates. One aspect of date processing involves requests for the current system date. This new External Analyzer lists the names of COBOL programs that use the ACCEPT FROM DATE statement and/or PL/I programs that use the DATE, TIME and/or DATETIME Builtin functions. In addition, Assembler programs that request the current date using the TIME macro and/or the Store Clock (STCK) hardware instruction will be listed. A warning is also provided for PL/I DATE BIF library routines that may require IBM maintenance to be applied.
    • A COBOL version of the RLNK0x program is now included. Previously, this program was only provided in PL/I.




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