Hello!
Three years (and multiple release candidates without a final version)
after GnuCOBOL 2.2 the GnuCOBOL developers are proud to announce the
formal release of GnuCOBOL 3.1.2.
Noteworthy changes
==================
The amount of features are too much to note, but you can skip over the
attached NEWS file to investigate them, here are some of the highlights:
Huge improvements for compatibility to different COBOL dialects, better
error handling and adjustable exceptions per COBOL 2002; more modern
format for diagnostic messages (especially useful when used in an
integrated development environment possible in Emacs, Vim, VSCodium and
others) and improved source-level debugging.
Shipped with 3.0-rc1 already:
XML GENERATE and JSON GENERATE
REPORT WRITER module
sparse and split key support
GnuCOBOL 3.x keeps full compatibility to GnuCOBOL 2.2, you can therefore
use old COBOL modules without recompile, if needed, but these modules
will miss some of the newer features in this case.
Getting the Software
====================
As always source kits for official releases can be downloaded from
https://ftp.gnu.org/gnucobol/
but we suggest to use a mirror a nearby mirror for higher
download bandwidth:
https://ftpmirror.gnu.org/gnucobol
The SourceForge mirrors were also updated
https://sourceforge.net/projects/gnucobol/files/gnucobol/3.1/
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=<warning> to treat (specific <warning>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=<scope> 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=<warning> treat specified <warning> as error
** Options for the C compiler/linker:
-K <entry>, 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=<n>
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 <MAINPROG> [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.
