FYI - this note just came to me: ================================== Dear Users
Beta Systems Product management has asked us to forward to you an urgent message concerning the compatibility of our standard products with IBM's z/OS 1.10. Please forward this information to your customers, if there is the need to do so. "Compatibility tests carried out on IBM operating system z/OS 1.10 have revealed massive incompatibility between this system and our products. This incompatibility was caused by changes to z/OS 1.10. The erroneous effects of these changes were fixed by PTF UK42299 from IBM on 24.12.2008. Unless IBM PTF UK42299 is implemented correctly, running any of the current releases of Beta Systems products under z/OS 1.10 would inevitably result in production failures, inconsistencies, and possible loss of data. Therefore we must stress that absolutely n o n e of the previous software releases of our products have been released for operation with z/OS 1.10! At Beta systems we are currently developing and testing PTF packages for all product releases that are based on BSA Version 4. These PTF packages will ensure that z/OS 1.10 is supported. The PTF packages will be available from February 2009. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us: mailto:[email protected] Technical Background: ======================== ######### HIPER FIX ######### Affected: - All Beta Systems software products (BSA versions 3 and 4) under z/OS 1.10 Error: - ABEND0C4 in the initialization phase of some products - Inconsistencies in the BQL database (subsequent error) - Possible data loss !!! Temporary status: - BSA-based Beta Systems products must not be used with z/OS 1.10 Fix: - PTF package for all the named releases (see below) - Fix included in all the new releases (from 1.1.2009) Explanation: In z/OS 1.10, a far-reaching change was made to the Virtual Storage Manager (VSM). This change revealed an error in the C-Start routine (EDCXSTRT), which is always used by System-Programmer-C (SPC) programs for initialization. The error was caused when storage requested by a C program as "NULL" (global variable/pointer) was not initialized. This uninitialized storage led to unpredictable errors/abends. IBM has described the change to VSM in APAR OA27291(status: open/hiper). The error in the SPC start routine EDCXSTRT is described in APAR PK76106. PTF UK42299 for APAR PK76106 has been available from IBM since 24.12.2008. It is recommended that you apply IBM PTF UK42299 if you are using your own SPC programs. PTF UK42299 does not need to be installed for the Beta Systems product fix. The PTFs from Beta Systems must be installed before the Beta Systems programs affected by this error can run under z/OS 1.10. They will not be compatible without the Beta Systems PTFs. Simply installing IBM PTF UK42299 will not enable our products to run correctly. The following is a list of the affected products and their release levels that will support z/OS 1.10 in future: Product Supported versions BSA V4.2 V4.1 B23 V4.2 V4.1 Beta 48 V4.3* V4.2 Beta 88 V4.5* V4.4 V4.3 Beta 89 V3.4** Beta 91 V4.3 V4.2 Beta 92 V4.3 V4.2 Beta 93 V4.2* V4.1 Beta 93 - Fast Retrieval V4.1 Beta 93 - Document Transformer V4.1 * z/OS 1.10 support included in the release - no PTFs necessary ** Only runs under BSA V3.4 level 0234-05 These PTF packages will be available on the Beta Systems ftp server from February 2009. As usual, you will find the packages in folders with "descriptive" names, for example, ftp://ftp.betasystems.com/pub/BETA92/V4R3/cumptfs/ " ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
