Unsupported Features (was: Can forked/spawned address spaces ...)

On Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:26:40 -0400, Peter Relson wrote:

Why aren't things like this exposed ???. And if they are, why aren't
they (publicly/freely) documented.

Even when something is a programming interface, you might not be given
enough information. But that in general is unintentional, and further
detail would be provided (and added to the documentation). Making an
assumption about something that is unstated is almost always a bad thing to
do.

Thanks. I'm bookmarking this one for future reference.

May I assume that your statment applies equally to behavior of a product
as well as to control block fields? On occasion I've followed up
to a recommendation in this list by observing that I can find no
documentation of the behavior on which the recommendation depends and
concluding that it's unsupported. Most often, a succesive followup
states that the behavior is so sanctified by tradition that IBM wouldn't
dare change it.

I once submitted an RCF requesting that the Utilities RM clarify the
description of IEB1099E in M&C:

System Action: IEBCOPY will continue to determine if it can proceed
without authorization and will issue IEB1099E when it can not avoid
using a service requiring authorization.

Rejected; IBM wishes to reserve the right to change the behavior.

OTOH, I have considerable disagreement with:

Title: z/OS V1R9.0 MVS JCL Reference
Document Number: SA22-7597-11

17.1.4.5 Relational-Expression Keywords

The following keywords are the only keywords supported by IBM and
recommended for use in relational-expressions. Any other keywords, even
if accepted by the system, are not intended or supported keywords.

I consider this mere carelessness. Translation of programming languages
is a well-developed art, particularly for a language as simple as JCL.
It would be a courtesy to customers to close the observably wide gap
between what the RM documents as supported and what the Converter
reports as prohibited.

-- gil

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