On 26 April 2017 at 19:35, Charles Mills <charl...@mcn.org> wrote: > I mean, doesn't everything in vendor documentation have the same problem? > If I say "specify the name of a PDS(E) member" isn't there a risk that IBM > comes out someday with PDSX? Even so, I think the quote is clearer than if > we wrote "specify the name of a z/OS library member." > > I would think people would be smart enough to say "well it worked with > PDSE's, it will probably work with the new PDSX's" just as how when I read > "specify the name of an HFS file" I know that a zFS file will probably work > as well (assuming the context is individual UNIX files, not the VSAM LDS's > that underlie xFS). I suspect most z/OS sysprogs would understand "zFS > file" more clearly than "UNIX file." >
Yeah, there are lots of pitfalls of over and under specifying. If we say PDS, does it mean you can't use a PDSE (or a PDSX)? Not likely. But if we said PDSE, it's much more likely we really mean it, e.g. if we plan to put Program Objects in there. Here's a somewhat out of context snippet of some of our install doc for one product that I hope gets the right messages across. It happens to reference PDS, PDSE, and UNIX files. It's an update of a much older (pre z/OS UNIX) product that used to be delivered on tape, and now comes in a single pax file. This is talking about part of the result of unpaxing that file. ========= b) Create a RECFM=FB,LRECL=80 PDS or PDSE for the installation JCL, with a name appropriate to your environment. This PDS requires minimal space. Specifying primary tracks of 5 and secondary tracks of 1 with 5 directory blocks is sufficient. c) Copy the UNIX files in the INSTJCL subdirectory to corresponding members in the PDS using the OGETX TSO command, ISPF COPY, or other standard method. Be sure to copy in TEXT mode, which is the default on OGETX. This sample TSO command could be used to copy the files: ogetx /usr/lpp/slb/RSLB520/INSTJCL 'ESS.V520.INSTJCL' Note: If you are comfortable working directly with JCL in UNIX files, there is no need to copy them into a PDS. ========= The idea is to provide what's needed with general terminology that won't age badly, with enough specificity to get the job done, but without overspecifying the details that an installation does in its own way. No one has complained, but maybe it's annoying, but not quite enough to bother about. I don't know. Tony H. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
