On 9/20/2012 5:54 AM, Peter Relson wrote:
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".

Well, it wasn't clear from your original wording if there
was some additional bit indicating 'test environment' or not.
Now I see what you were saying.

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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