NEWS - user visible changes -*- outline -*- GnuCOBOL 3.1.2 released (20201223) GnuCOBOL 3.1.1 released (20201208) containing INITIALIZE bug #694 GnuCOBOL 3.1 released (20201111) had build issues that were fixed * New GnuCOBOL features ** >>TURN (COBOL 2002) directive implemented, allowing some exception checks to be turned on/off per source as desired ** CONTINUE AFTER statement (COBOL 202x) implemented, also handle fractions of seconds in C$SLEEP now ** TYPEDEF and SAME AS (COBOL 2002) implemented, including the MicroFocus and RM/COBOL variants ** Improved support for different compiler extensions (ACUCOBOL, IBM, Fujitsu, MicroFocus COBOL, Microsoft COBOL, RM/COBOL, CA Realia and more) ** file handling: include support for a callable EXTFH interface also provided by several compilers including Micro Focus This allows users to insert an external file handler while retaining all of the normal COBOL I/O functions with a possible callback to libcob. To have the compiled program call `yourfh()` for file I/O use: `cobc -fcallfh=yourfh` In turn `yourfh()` may call `EXTFH()` to use I/O functions from GnuCOBOL. The external file handler can also be directly invoked from COBOL, too, using `CALL "EXTFH"`. ** Note: Not each flag contained in the FCD3 is handled already ** ** file handling: added support for [RE]WRITE FILE file FROM source ** file handling: name mapping adjusted (improved MF and ACU-compatibility): entries starting with a period or number are not resolved any more, periods in the external identifier are always replaced by underscore -> MY.FILE is resolved by DD_MY_FILE, dd_MY_FILE, MIFILE now; prefixes "-F " and "-D " are removed from external names; if filename is not absolute after translation, COB_FILE_PATH is now still applied; File name mapping now applies both to COBOL statements and CALLable CBL_ and C$ file routines. ** Screen I/O: initial mouse support (for details see runtime.cfg), use of CURSOR clause in SPECIAL-NAMES for positioning on ACCEPT ** on abort a stack trace will be genereated, this can be suppressed by runtime configuration option COB_STRACK_TRACE ** the dump that is generated on abort (depending on -fdump at compile-time) was heavily improved and combines consecutive identical OCCURS items, leading to smaller dump files ** changes in handling COPY statement: * copybook names that contain an extension aren't searched with additional extensions [as post-rc1-change this may be set to old behaviour by defining COB_MULTI_EXTENSION when building GnuCOBOL/cobc] * library names are now tested for environment "COB_COPY_LIB_libname", allowing the directory to specified externally (also as no-directory by exporting with empty value) and has a fallback (with a warning) to be effectively ignored (as previous versions did this) * Removed functions ** SCREEN SECTION, REPORT-WRITER module: removed non-standard extension "LINE / COL signed-integer" (inadvertently available since 2.2/3.0rc1); which will now raise an error "unsigned integer expected"; if used replace by standard "LINE / COL +/- integer" * Obsolete features (will be removed in the next version if no explicit user requests are raised) ** support for Borland C compiler and linker ** -fif-cutoff flag for cobc (currently disabled, see entry below in 3.0rc1) ** old OpenCOBOL-only-EXTFH * Changes to the COBOL compiler (cobc) options: ** new options: -f[no]-ec=exception-name to tune the exception checks similar to the >>TURN directive, you may also leave out the "EC-" prefix here, example to enable all checks but disable all bound checks but OCCURS DEPENDING ON: cobc -debug -fno-ec=bound -fec=bound-odo ** adjustments to warning options: -Wextra "new" option to enable every possible warning that is not dialect specific (this option used to be called -W) -Wadditional new warning group for all warnings that don't have a group on their own -Wno-error and -Wno-error= to treat (specific s) not as error -Wdangling-text for raising the warning "source text after program area", not included in -Wall any more -Wno-ignored-error allows to suppress messages that normally would be an error and are only allowed because they are never executed -Wcorresponding is now enabled by default -f[no]-diagnostics-show-option, enabled by default, shows the command line option responsible for the diagnostic message extra information to a warning (or error) is now marked as "note:" ** the interal Xref got a huge speedup, has all references in ascending order now and includes the total amount of direct references ** the interal listing got a speedup and has all error references in ascending order now ** cobc -g (and configure --enable-debug) use the most expressive debugging options available on the system ** cobc -g now auto-includes references to the COBOL source file and to all ENTRY and SECTION elements to ease source level debugging * Changes in the COBOL runtime (libcob) ** Messages from the COBOL runtime are also translated now (if installed). To prevent this disable translations in general with using the configure option --disable-nls (or by deactivating ENABLE_NLS in config.h). ** libcob.h does no longer auto-include gmp.h (behavior since 2.x), if you link against libcob and need cob_decimal include gmp.h/mpir.h yourself before; otherwise you do not need it in your include path any more ** execution times of INSPECT and INITIALIZE with OCCURS were heavily cut down ** convenience functions for direct C access to COBOL fields and for debugging were added, see new C-API documentation ** first-time file-locking under Win32 ** Breaking change: previously the return-code of registered error handlers (by CBL_ERROR_PROC) were ignored. This was changed according to the documentation for CBL_ERROR_PROC -> a RETURN-VALUE of ZERO skips further error handlers to be called, including the internal one. * New build features ** Running the internal tests by make check now fails if the testsuite has any unexpected result. ** The modules and test programs in the NIST COBOL-85 test suite (tests/cobol85) may now be build and/or tested and/or the test results checked separately. You now may also run the tests with a previous installed version of GnuCOBOL (or a version specified by a manual temporary setup). For details see tests/cobol85/README. ** new configure option --with-math=ARG to specify which math multiple precision library is to be used, where ARG may be: check (default), gmp, mpir ** new configure options --with-xml2 / -without-xml2 to explicit force/disable XML runtime support, otherwise it will be included if found as working ** new configure option --with-json / -without-json to explicit force/disable JSON runtime support, otherwise it will be included if found as working Note: As a special case you may built-in cJSON by placing its source in the folder "libcob". If it is included there, this version will be compiled into libcob. It may be enforced with --with-json=local, like --with-json=cjson and --with-json=json-c enforce the given library. ** To adjust the build system for GMP/MPIR you may use the new variables GMP_CFLAGS / MPIR_CFLAGS and GMP_LIBS / MPIR_LIBS. If unset configure will try pkg-config. ** To adjust configure to use libxml2 you may use the new variables XML2_CFLAGS and XML2_LIBS. If unset configure will use pkg-config / xml2-config. ** To adjust configure to use libcjson you may use the new variables CJSON_CFLAGS and CJSON_LIBS, similar JSON_C_CFLAGS and JSON_C_LIBS for libjson-c. If unset configure will use pkg-config. ** new configure option --enable-hardening to either enable GNU C's hardening options or leave as-is, or disable (which previous versions effectively did) ** build system: defaults.h is not created or included any more, all configure provided defines are now found in the single header config.h ** Any time after `make` you can call `pre-inst-env` script to use the still- uninstalled binaries. Samples: pre-inst-env cobc -xj prog.cob pre-inst-env cobcrun -M prog start pre-inst-env may also be called without parameters to start a new shell session with the environment adjusted to use the uninstalled version. * Too much bug fixes to list here (please check ChangeLogs for full details), includes the following CVEs: ** compiler (may be triggered with special crafted source files) CVE-2019-14468, CVE-2019-14486, CVE-2019-14528, CVE-2019-14541, CVE-2019-16396, CVE-2019-16395 * GnuCOBOL's getopt implementation honors POSIXLY_CORRECT now: if set to any value the option parsing in cobc, cobcrun and CBL_GC_GETOPT stops at the first nonoption, otherwise it stays with the old behaviour and re-orders nonoptions to the end) * Known issues in 3.1 ** testsuite: * if built with vbisam, cisam or disam, depending on the version used, some tests will lead to UNEXPECTED PASS, while others may fail * possibly failing tests (false positives): * temporary path invalid * compiler outputs (assembler) * compile from stdin * NIST: OBNC1M.CBL false positive (the test runner uses a nonportable way of emulating a program kill) ** the recent additions of ">> TURN" and "variable LIKE variable" may not work as expected in all cases ** features that are known to not be portable to every environment yet (especially when using a different compiler than GCC) * function with variable-length RETURNING item * USAGE POINTER, which may need to be manually aligned ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GnuCOBOL 3.0-rc1 released (20180422) * New GnuCOBOL features ** REPORTWRITER module added ** INDEXED file handling: added support for sparse and split keys ** file handling: added support for [RE]WRITE FILE file FROM source ** DISPLAY ... UPON PRINTER may be redirected to an external command (new runtime configuration COB_DISPLAY_PRINT_PIPE) or appended to a file (new runtime configuration COB_DISPLAY_PRINT_FILE, which takes precedence) ** XML GENERATE statement (note: runtime support needs additional library libxml2) ** JSON GENERATE statement (note: runtime support needs additional library cJSON, or - with 3.1 json-c) ** Improved support for different compiler extensions (ACUCOBOL, IBM, Fujitsu, MicroFocus COBOL, Microsoft COBOL, RM/COBOL and more) ** Parser support for many features of different compilers, for example PIC 1 / USAGE BIT, ACUCOBOL extensions for graphical controls VALIDATE statement and much more. Most of them will be fully implemented in a later version... ** Option to dump (partial) data of modules on abort. Use new cobc option -fdump= to prepare the module and optional use new runtime configuration options COB_DUMP_FILE and COB_DUMP_WIDTH to adjust the dump. ** C interface: new functions cob_set_runtime_option / cob_get_runtime_option to set/get special runtime options (currently FILE * for trace and printer output) or to reload the runtime configuration after changing environment ** file handling: include support for a callable EXTFH interface also provided by several compilers including Micro Focus This allows users to insert an external file handler while retaining all of the normal COBOL I/O functions with a possible callback to libcob. To have the compiled program call `yourfh()` for file I/O use: `cobc -fcallfh=yourfh` In turn `yourfh()` may call `EXTFH()` to use I/O functions from GnuCOBOL. The external file handler can also be directly invoked from COBOL, too, using `CALL "EXTFH"`. ** Note: Not all flags contained in the FCD3 are handled already ** * Changed cobc options: ** The option -debug (runtime checks) no longer implies -ftrace (option to trace program flow of the generated module with COB_SET_TRACE). You may specify -ftrace[all] along -debug if you want to use this feature. ** The option -E (preprocess file) does not imply an output file any more. If no output file is explicit specified with -o filename.i the output will be written to stdout (behavior of versions 1.1 is restored). Requesting output to stdout explicit by using a dash as output name is also possible. ** Changed options for listing: The option -tsymbols was replaced by -ftsymbols and therefore can now also be explicit deactivated by specifying -fno-tsymbols. New options for suppressing (or explicit requesting) parts of the listing: -fno-theader suppress all headers from listing while keeping page breaks -fno-tmessages suppress warning and error summary from listing -fno-tsource suppress actual source from listing (for example to only produce the cross-reference) ** The option -fif-cutoff (option to change generated C sources to use a label + goto for nested if/else) was deactivated to allow the C compiler to fully control the program flow. ** Please report if you have a need for this option as it will be ** ** removed permanently in the next release of GnuCOBOL otherwise. ** * Changes in the COBOL runtime (libcob) ** updated exception handling, GnuCOBOL now only cleans raised exceptions when requested by SET LAST EXCEPTION TO OFF ** The standard-format for program tracing was changed and is now adjustable by the runtime configuration option COB_TRACE_FORMAT. * New build features ** New test suite for manual tests (especially SCREEN I/O), run with `make checkmanual`. Note: You may want to adjust the test runner tests/run_prog_manual.sh which defaults to xterm in GUI environments and screen in terminal environments. ** new configure option --enable-debug-log to allow *internal* tracing of GnuCOBOL (intended for developers of GnuCOBOL only) * Too much bug fixes to list here (please check ChangeLogs for full details). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GnuCOBOL 2.2 released (20170906) * Move to GPL/LGPL 3 * New GnuCOBOL features (too much to list) ** User Defined Functions, FUNCTION-ID. ** New intrinsic functions ABSOLUTE-VALUE alias for ABS CURRENCY-SYMBOL CURRENCY-SYMBOL of the current program FORMATTED-CURRENT-DATE ISO 8601 datetime function FORMATTED-DATE ISO 8601 datetime function FORMATTED-DATETIME ISO 8601 datetime function FORMATTED-TIME ISO 8601 datetime function TEST-FORMATTED-DATETIME ISO 8601 datetime function INTEGER-OF-FORMATTED-DATE date to integer HIGHEST-ALGEBRAIC now implemented LOWEST-ALGEBRAIC now implemented LOCALE-COMPARE now implemented NUMVAL-F now implemented TEST-NUMVAL now implemented TEST-NUMVAL-C now implemented TEST-NUMVAL-F now implemented LENGTH-AN alias for BYTE-LENGTH MODULE-CALLER-ID return the name of the caller MODULE-DATE current module: compilation date MODULE-TIME current module: compilation time MODULE-FORMATTED-DATE current module: formatted datetime MODULE-ID current module: PROGRAM-ID MODULE-PATH current module: path on compile time MODULE-SOURCE current module: name on compile time MONETARY-DECIMAL-POINT LOCALE based fiscal decimal point MONETARY-THOUSANDS-SEPARATOR LOCALE based fiscal visual grouping separator Note: The functions that are actually available as intrinsic functions depend on the -std used. Function names that aren't marked as intrinsic functions by the current -std can be used freely as user defined words or even as user defined functions. ** New system functions C$CALLEDBY return the name of the caller CBL_GC_FORK fork current process (not on Windows) CBL_GC_WAITPID wait for process to end CBL_GC_GETOPT (CBL_OC_GETOPT) command line option parser for COBOL CBL_GC_PRINTABLE (C$PRINTABLE) check if character is printable CBL_GC_HOSTED (CBL_OC_HOSTED) provides access to C extern variables, like stdin, errno CBL_GC_NANOSLEEP CBL_OC_NANOSLEEP CBL_GET_SCR_SIZE get current terminal size - if any CBL_READ_KBD_CHAR get character from terminal CBL_SET_CSR_POS set current position on terminal x'E4' clear terminal screen x'E5' ring the bell ** full support of ANSI 85 debugging module: USE FOR DEBUGGING declarative procedures (only part of the generation if WITH DEBUGGING MODE is active during compilation) and special register: 01 DEBUG-ITEM. 02 DEBUG-LINE PIC X(6). 02 FILLER PIC X VALUE SPACE. 02 DEBUG-NAME PIC X(30). 02 FILLER PIC X VALUE SPACE. 02 DEBUG-SUB-1 PIC S9(4). 02 FILLER PIC X VALUE SPACE 02 DEBUG-SUB-2 PIC S9(4). 02 FILLER PIC X VALUE SPACE. 02 DEBUG-SUB-3 PIC S9(4). 02 FILLER PIC X VALUE SPACE. 02 DEBUG-CONTENTS PIC X(n). With "n" being at least 30, size is increased if USE FOR DEBUGGING identifier is used and the identifier has a longer size. Note: COB_SET_DEBUG activates the specified debugging sections at runtime ** many new / extended COBOL statements from COBOL2002/2014 and extensions from different COBOL dialects ** more SWITCHes: from SWITCH-01 to SWITCH-36 and its variants from many COBOL dialects ** more IEEE numeric types added, FLOAT-DECIMAL-16, FLOAT-DECIMAL-34, etc ** more literal types added, numeric boolean etc. ** most of the COBOL 2014 spec Compiler Directive Facility is in ** optional: stricter syntax checks ** Optimization: in cases where the condition in IF/WHEN is resolved down to TRUE or FALSE at compile time cobc doesn't emit any code ** refactored and extended compiler and runtime messages with available translations (currently to Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch, partial to German) ** screen IO: many extended ACCEPT DISPLAY and SCREEN SECTION changes ** Direct call interface for C: CALL-CONVENTION for CALLs and PROCEDURE DIVISION ENTRY-CONVENTION for PROCEDURE DIVISION and ENTRY statement SIZE of parameters specified for CALL ... BY VALUE RETURN NOTHING for calling void functions RETURN ADDRESS OF VAR for calling functions returning a pointer PROCEDURE DIVISION RETURNING OMITTED -> callable as void function ** Much, much more! * New cobc options: ** New -std options: cobol2014 COBOL 2014 Standard xopen X/Open COBOL Standard mf-strict Micro Focus COBOL compatibility - strict ibm-strict IBM COBOL compatibility - strict ibm-strict MVS/VM COBOL compatibility - strict acu ACUCOBOL-GT compatibility acu-strict ACUCOBOL-GT compatibility - strict bs2000 BS2000 COBOL compatibility (back again) bs2000-strict BS2000 COBOL compatibility - strict rm RM-COBOL compatibility rm-strict RM-COBOL compatibility - strict Note: The GnuCOBOL compiler tries to limit both the feature-set and reserved words to the specified compiler when the "strict" dialects are used. COBOL sources compiled with these dialects are therefore likely to compile with the specified compiler and vice versa: sources that were compiled on the specified compiler should compile without any issues with GnuCOBOL. With the "non-strict" dialects GnuCOBOL will activate the complete feature-set where it doesn't directly conflict with the specified dialect, including reserved words and GnuCOBOL specific extensions. COBOL sources compiled with these dialects therefore may work only with GnuCOBOL. COBOL sources may need a change because of rich feature-set and reserved words in GnuCOBOL, otherwise offending words may be removed by `-fno-reserved=word`. COBOL-85, X/Open COBOL, COBOL 2002 and COBOL 2014 are always "strict". ** New listing options: -t listing, -T wide listing, --tlines=lines, lines per page of listing; -Xref now handled internally, if you want to use cobxref define COB_EXTERNAL_XREF during configure Note: -P, generate preprocessor listing, is still available (and improved) ** All compiler configuration flags may be set on command line to override a specific setting of the current -std, see cobc --help ** All warnings can be explicit enabled/disabled or even marked as error, see cobc --help, examples: -Wunreachable warn about likely unreachable statements -Wno-dialect do not warn about dialect specific issues -Werror treat all warnings as errors -Werror= treat specified as error ** Options for the C compiler/linker: -K , compile entry point as static (resolve at link time) -A, add options to C compile phase -Q, add options to C link phase ** Miscellaneous -i -info, display build/environment -D define symbol for Compiler Directive Facility -j -job=args, run job after compile input filename of '-' reads source from standard in For more: see cobc --help * Changed cobc options: ** The option -ffunctions-all (allow use of intrinsic functions without FUNCTION keyword) was replaced by -fintrinsics=ALL. -fintrinsics allows to also specify that only specific functions may be used without the FUNCTION keyword. The preferred option is to not use these cobc options at all but to specify this within the COBOL code (CONFIGURATION SECTION. REPOSITORY.) * New cobcrun options: -i -info, display build/environment -r -runtime-config, display runtime configuration -c -config, set runtime config from file -M -module, set path/module name when looking for entry * New build features make test downloads NIST testsuite if necessary now usable with parallel builds (make -j4 test) make checkall runs both the internal and the NIST testsuite ** testsuite defaults to coloured output ** Windows(tm) Visual Studio build support files added, options to validate the software generated with VS against both test suites ** removed maintainer mode - if files need a rebuild because of a change they are always rebuild ** help2man, bison and flex are checked during configure, if they need to be invoked and are missing a useful error message is given ** All files created by GnuCOBOL runtime use the same file permission settings now: COB_FILE_MODE which was changed to 0666 ** The maximum number of fields passed via CALL changed from hard-wired 64 fields to a configuration option (defaulting to 192, current max. 252) ** changed unix package name from "gnu-cobol" to "gnucobol" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GnuCOBOL 1.1 released (20140118) * Change unix package name to gnu-cobol, and project to GnuCOBOL * for a full list of changes see https://gnucobol.sourceforge.io/faq/ #what-are-the-differences-between-opencobol-1-1-and-gnucobol-1-1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OpenCOBOL 1.1 released (20090206) * Note: was tagged as pre-release and later on as full version ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OpenCOBOL 1.0 released ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.33 * New compile option '-x'. This causes the compiler to produce an executable program. '-fmain' is deprecated. * Remove long option --verbose. Use '-v' for verbosity. Problem is with getopt_long_only which does not like eg. -mv * New conformity option -std=bs2000. * FUNCTION is implemented. See cobc/reserved.c for a list of what is implemented. * Nested programs are partially supported. * LINAGE is implemented. * EXTERNAL on FD is implemented. * SAME RECORD AREA is implemented. * New config variables - "perform-osvs", "sticky-linkage". These are activated for -std=ibm and -std=mvs. "relax-level-hierarchy". Allows mismatched data description level numbers. Activated for -std=mf, ibm, mvs and bs2000. * Support for non-gcc compilers. * Large file support, system dynamic loading and Berkeley DB inclusion are default for the configure. ie. ./configure assumes --with-db --with-lfs64 --with-dl * New configure option --with-patch-level= Default is 0. * At run time, version checking is done. ie. When executing/loading Cobol programs, the version (eg. 0.33) and the patch level (eg. 0) are checked against the OC library version/patch level. * Libtool is not required for systems that support native dynamic loading. This includes GNU/Linux, Cygwin and MingW amongst others. * Note to developers : See README for required software versions. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.32 * Stability update - See individual ChangeLogs * New internal register - NUMBER-OF-CALL-PARAMETERS * New config variables - larger-redefines-ok, relaxed-syntax-check * Powerpc changes - We now pass all OC and Cobol85 tests ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.31 * Stability update - See individual ChangeLogs * New driver program - "cobcrun" This allows all application programs to be compiled as modules and driven by "cobcrun" similar to MF's "cobrun". Syntax - cobcrun [Arguments to program "MAINPROG"] As "cobcrun" is linked with the static version of OpenCOBOL libraries, it is easier to maintain concurrent versions on the same system. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.30 * Installation changes ** No longer use readline. ** No longer use run-time configuration file (libcob.conf) ** libdb is now optional. Use the new configure option --with-db1 to link with libdb1. Use the new configure option --with-db to link with libdb. Otherwise, libdb will not be linked, and indexed files and SORT/MERGE statements will not work. *** New subdirectory `config' will be installed under $prefix/share/gnucobol. ** Compatibility changes *** New -std options: default used when you omit -std cobol85 COBOL 85 Standard cobol2002 COBOL 2002 Standard ibm IBM COBOL compatibility mf Micro Focus COBOL compatibility v023 OpenCOBOL 0.23 compatibility *** Compile-time options can be stored in a "config" file. See config/default.conf for details. *** Binary data items are now big endian. The config option `binary-byteorder' controls this. *** Numeric sign of USAGE DISPLAY items has been changed as follows: Positive: 0123456789 Negative: pqrstuvwxy The config option `display-sign' controls this. *** Data items defined in the working-storage section are initialized at the beginning of program by default. The config option `auto-initialize' controls this. *** SORT statement now creates a temporary file in /tmp for sorting and removes it after sorting. ** Feature changes *** COPY statements try to complement the following file extensions: .CBL, .COB, .cbl, or .cob. *** COPY / REPLACE statements are reimplemented for better replacement. *** SPECIAL-NAMES. FORMFEED IS ... *** ALPHABET ... IS EBCDIC. *** EXTERNAL clause. *** SHARING clause. *** USAGE COMP-5 and COMP-X. *** USAGE POINTER and ADDRESS OF operator. *** LENGTH OF operator. *** PROCEDURE DIVISION USING BY REFERENCE/CONTENT/VALUE. *** DISPLAY ... ENVIRONMENT-NAME. ACCEPT ... ENVIRONMENT-VALUE. *** COLLATING SEQUENCE in the SORT and MERGE statements. *** EXIT PERFORM [CYCLE] statement. *** SORT table. *** OPEN ... WITH NO REWIND / WITH LOCK recognized, though not working. *** Literal concatenation (the `&' operator). ** Compiler changes *** New compiler environment variable TMPDIR. *** New compiler environment variable COB_LDFLAGS. *** The runtime environment variable COB_CONFIG_FILE has been removed. *** New runtime environment variable COB_DYNAMIC_RELOADING. *** New compiler option `--list-reserved', which list all reserved words. *** New compiler option `-conf', which specifies the config file. *** New compiler option `-ext', which specifies the copy file extension. *** The compiler option `-O' now does C level optimization. *** New compiler option `-O2', which does further C level optimization. *** New compiler option `-L' and `-l', which are passed to the C compiler. *** New compiler option `-ftrace', which display section names at run time. *** New compiler option `-fsyntax-only', which does syntax error check only without any output. *** New compiler option `-fstatic-call', which is equivalent to `-static'. *** New compiler option `-fdebugging-line', which enables debugging lines. *** New compiler option `-fsource-location', which includes source location in the output. *** New compiler option `-fline-directive', which includes line directive in the output. *** New compiler option `-fruntime-inlining', which is the replacement of obsolete options `-finline-move' and `-finline-get-int'. *** New compiler option `-w', which inhibits warnings. *** New compiler option `-Wredefinition', which warns redefined names. *** The compiler options `-static' and `-dynamic' are obsolete. *** The compiler option `-column' removed. ** Many improvement for compatibility. ** Many many bug fixes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.23 ** Installation changes *** We use the GNU MP library again. ** Run-time library changes *** `cob_resolve' now search the main program for the module name. ** Bug fixes *** Duplicate use of intermediate field variables. *** fseek issues on the MinGW environment. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.22 ** Installation changes *** We no longer depend on the GNU MP library. Decimal arithmetic is done by using `long long'. ** Compiler changes *** Alphabet-name has been implemented. *** Variable-length table has been implemented. *** De-editing (move numeric-edited to numeric) has been implemented. ** Bug fixes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.21 ** Installation changes *** New configure argument --with-lfs64. ** Compiler changes *** New option -std, which specifies which COBOL standard to use. Currently the following standards are available: gnu GnuCOBOL (default) cobol85 COBOL 85 cobol2002 COBOL 2002 mvs IBM COBOL for MVS & VM *** New option -O, which enables some optimization. *** New option -debug, which enables run-time error checking. *** New option -Wobsolete, which reports obsolete features. *** New option -Warchaic, which reports archaic features. *** -Wnext-sentence has been removed. Use -Warchaic instead. *** -fdebugging-line has been removed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.20 ** cobpp has been integrated into cobc. Now cobc is the only binary program. ** cobc now generates an executable without `-main' flag. `-main' has been renamed to `-fmain', which is turned on by default if none of -E, -C, -S, -c, or -m is given. ** The default source format is now the fixed form. The format will not be detected automatically. You need to use SOURCE FORMAT compiler directive as described below. This conforms to the COBOL 2002 standard. ** Compiler directive "SOURCE FORMAT" is now supported. Put the following line at the beginning of file if you want to use the free-form: >>SOURCE FORMAT IS FREE ** Option `-semi-fixed' has been removed. If you want to expand the program text area over 72 columns, use the option `-column' instead. ** New option `-column', which specifies the end of program text area. ** New option `-T', which specifies the tab width. ** New warning options: -Wall Enable all warnings -Wcolumn-overflow Warn any text after column 72 -Wconstant Warn inconsistent constant -Wparentheses Warn lacks of parentheses around AND within OR -Wnext-sentence Warn uses of NEXT SENTENCE -Wimplicit-terminator Warn lacks of scope terminator (END-XXX) -Wstrict-typing Warn type mismatch strictly ** Option `debug' has been renamed to `-fdebugging-line'. ** USAGE PACKED-DECIMAL is now supported. ** Improved error checking. ** Additional testsuite entries. ** Bug fixes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.12 ** Improved compile-time error check. ** Additional testsuite entries. ** Bug fixes. * Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.11 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Part of run-time library interface has been redesigned. ** Bug fixes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.10 ** Autoconf 2.57, Automake 1.7.2, Libtool 1.4.3, and Gettext 0.11.5 are used for packaging. ** New file cob.pc, which is used by pkg-config script. ** libcob.conf is now installed under sysconfdir (i.e., $(PREFIX)/etc). The default value of COB_CONFIG_FILE has been changed appropriately. ** The directory `tests' includes new testsuites. "make check" will run the tests. ** We use db1 again instead of db2 or db3. ** New option -semi-fixed. ** New option -Wtrailing-line. ** CALL statements now accept CONTENT LENGTH OF clause. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.9.7 ** The default value of COB_CONFIG_FILE has been changed to "$PREFIX/etc/gnucobol/libcob.conf". ** SORT and MERGE statements have been impelemented. ** Preliminary implementation of SCREEN SECTION. ** Many bug fixes and improvements. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.9.6 ** cobc now requires `-main' flag to build an executable from a COBOL file. Without -main, cobc does not generate a main function. See manual for details. ** Run-time configuration file: libcob.conf The environment variable `COB_CONFIG_FILE' specifies the file name (default: "${prefix}/share/gnucobol/libcob.conf"). ** Use gettext for international messages. ** Include the test suite in subdir `testsuite'. ** Many bug fixes and improvements. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.9.5 ** Support Berkeley DB 2.0. ** Many bug fixes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.9.4 ** OpenCOBOL now requires Berkeley DB 3.0 or later. ** File I/O routine (libcob/fileio.c) has been reimplemented. ** New NIST Test Suite modules: SM, IC, SQ, RL, IX. ** Many bug fixes.