I'm on zOS 2.5 now, which has the new feature of allowing the exec for PGM=IRXJCL to be a sequential file, rather than a member of a PDS. The DD is still SYSEXEC.
The natural way to code this is: //JS010 EXEC PGM=IRXJCL //SYSTSIN DD DUMMY,DISP=SHR //SYSTSPRT DD SYSOUT=* //SYSEXEC DD * SAY 'HELLO, WORLD!' /* Bzzt. Nope, that's a R3637. Time to read the documentation, which is here: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos/2.5.0?topic=ir-using-irxjcl-run-rexx-exec-in-mvs-batch What I'd expect to see is documentation of the PARM values, and documentation for each of the DDs, including SYSEXEC. There isn't any; it is just a narrative, which specifically says that the parm must: "Specify the member name of the exec and one argument you want to pass to the exec in the PARM field on the EXEC statement. You can specify only the name of a member of a PDS." And for SYSEXEC (which actually could be a different DD name, determined by the module name table) is only referred as pointing to a PDS. What you're suppose to do is ignore what's in the "Using IRXJCL to run a REXX exec in MVS batch" topic and read the next topic: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos/2.5.0?topic=routine-using-irxjcl-execute-in-stream-rexx-exec which serves as kind of an errata to the previous topic. Here we learn that to get this to work, you must code the PARM string, but with one to eight x'00' for the member name field! My questions are: 1. Why such an obscure method of saying that the SYSEXEC is sequential? Why not, oh I don't know, process SYSEXEC as sequential if the organization of SYSEXEC is sequential? 2. If it must be that it uses the PARM value to know that it is sequential, why does it use a member name of x'00'? Can you think of ANY other user-facing utility that works this way? I mean, something users put in JCL, not some program API. 3. Why was the documentation not fully updated? This is documentation by counter-example. 4. And, why doesn't the documentation for "Return code for IRXJCL routine" https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos/2.5.0?topic=ir-return-codes list 3637 as a return code and document what it means? The meaning of R3637 is documented in return code 20021, which you would only find if you READ THE COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF THE RETURN CODE YOU DIDN'T GET. This makes no sense. The entire topic is about running IRXJCL in MVS batch, so you're never going to see 20021. It should document the return code you will get. If it wants to explain what you might get if running IRXJCL a different way, then *that* should be in the Notes. ___________________________________________________ Michael Schmitt | DXC Apps Development | MassMutual (737) 910-8248 | michael.schm...@dxc.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
