Ed,
I am *not* maintaining a production COBOL (or any COBOL) environment these
days (I'm on long-term disability). However, I did want to make my own
personal suggestions:
1) Unless you are upgrading from a VERY old compiler, there is absolutely NO
need to "recompile" every program. If you are using ANY release of LE, then
(in most cases) you can continue to run old object code with no change.
2) Obviously, if you are still using OS/VS COBOL *or* VS COBOL II, then
there are some pretty good reasons (both technical and "feature-wise) for
trying to get as many of your applications as possible on a more current
compiler. (The CICS TS V3.1 drop of OS/VS COBOL support - even with LE - is
just an example).
3) Staying current on LE releases (and NOT allowing "ongoing" steplib access
to earlier run-times) is TO ME the most important thing that any shop can
do. Similarly, getting to RES (assuming you are on a pre-LE compiler that
supports NORES) is pretty important.
4) With VERY few exceptions, I have always (and still do) recommend
- introduce your "new compiler" into the test system to see if there are
any problems
- use it for all new development (after a period in the test environment,
your time will vary)
- use it for all maintenance of older programs
- do NOT "require" superfluous re-compiles and re-tests of older
applications
5) Education is (and will always be) important. AT LEAST make certain that
your programmers know what is "available" (and changed by default) with the
new compiler. If you are making a "big jump" (e.g. VS COBOL II to
Enterprise COBOL) then get in-house training.
6) Always, ALWAYS (both for LE and COBOL) make certain that your 3rd party
products are at a release lever to support the new release BEFORE you
introduce it - even into your test system.
7) Never IF AT ALL POSSIBLE, upgrade LE and COBOL at the same time. Upgrade
the run-time (LE) *first*; make certain that it has no problems (including
no performance hits and that all your 3rd party products work with the new
release) and THEN upgrade the compiler. If you absolutely MUST upgrade
both together, make certain that you allow MORE time for problem resolution.
* * *
P.S. RACF "warn" mode is your FRIEND.
Make certain that any "old" version of the compiler or run-time is
(at least) in WARN mode so you (and your application people) can KNOW who is
using older releases (and find out why).
"Ed Gould" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> Bill,
>
> Thanks for reminding me of this issue.
>
> How do companies handle the installation and turning new cobol
> compilers over to the end users?
>
> 1. Do you just install it and let the programmers compile cobol
> programs as they normally do?
>
> 2. recompile all known cobol programs
>
> 3. let them play with it for X amount of time in a sandbox machine
> before going towards a full installation.
>
> 4. Let you change management program loose and let it do all the work.
>
> 6 . Role it out as part of a new OS
>
> 7. Other
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