1. In z/OS 1.13, is CVTTXTE set on automatically if the hardware
is determined to be a zEC12?
Answer: No. Obviously you need to have the PTF installed, but
ignoring that: zEC12 running z/OS under VM does not support
transactional execution facility. CVTTXTE will not be set there.
And of course for prior releases it will never be on (your question
correctly asked only about z/OS 1.13). In general, the bit will
be on if the z/OS support is present and the STFLE facility bits for
transactional execution and constrained transactions are on. Once
the bit is on for an IPL, it will never change.
A typical coding practice would be
If CVTTXTE is off then use fallback path
Else CVTTXTE is on
Try transaction
If that aborts too much, then use fallback path
Nothing specific to a z/OS release is likely to be in this code path.
2. If this bit is set on, what defines "a test environment"?
Answer: That is not for me to say. I think everyone has a basic
understanding of the difference between "test" and "production".
If an unauthorized user uses a transaction it will not harm
anyone else.
3. Is the message here that it's early days for this facility so
applications programmers should not count on the facility
being available, and if it is, it might not work as expected?
Answer: Not really. The message is what the CVTTXTE
commentary says it is. The full support is not present in z/OS 1.13
nor will it ever be, and the lack of that full support will make
testing and debugging difficult (if even possible).
Peter Relson
z/OS Core Technology Design
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