NEWS

NEWS - user visible changes				-*- outline -*-

* Changes in opensource COBOL 1.5.2J

** New features

*** ADD new Error check.
    (1) Detected division by zero.
        Compile check: use the character "0".
        Runtime check: use variable with value 0.
        
        Use this option, Add the following values to config.
        enable-zero-division-error:		yes
        
    (2) Check subscript out of bounds.
        This feature was previously included in the debug options.
        
        Use this option, Add the following values to config.
        enable-check-subscript-out-of-bounds:	yes
        
    (3) Expect numeric error.
        Compile check: Move const string to numeric variable.
        Runtime check: Move variable included string to numeric variable.
        
        Use this option, Add the following values to config.
        enable-expect-numeric-error:		yes
        
    (4) Expect compute string error.
        This feature was previously included in the debug options.
        
        Use this option, Add the following values to config.
        enable-expect-compute-string-error:	yes
        

** Bug fixes

*** Correct errors in Japanese translation on cobc help.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in opensource COBOL 1.5.1J

** Bug fixes

*** build error on Windows.

*** test failure caused by missing inline-function declarations on gcc5.

*** compiler warnings on v1.3 or later.

** Changes

*** update solution file in Visual Studio to 2015.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in opensource COBOL 1.5.0J

** New features

*** ADD new functions and features.
    (1) Add a new function "C$CALLEDBY".
        This gets the program name that called itself.
    (2) Add a new function "C$LIST-DIRECTORY".
        This gets the list of files in the target directory.
    (3) Add a new feature "CANCEL ALL".
        This cancel subprogram and all subprograms that callded by it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in opensource COBOL 1.4.0J

** New features

*** Supports for Microsoft Windows ( Visual Studio and CL compiler )
    Added win32 directory in opensource COBOL package, and prepared Solution Files for Visual Studio.

*** Enhanced CUI features
    (1) Add a new function "CBL_OC_KEISEN".
        This displays a KEISEN ( vertical or horizontal ruled lines ) on the screen.
    (2) Supports SJIS multi-byte character input and output on the screen.

** Changes

*** Added VBISAM to the opensource COBOL package

*** Fixed not to abandon REPLACE after following COPY REPLACING has done

*** Though old style STOP statement maybe skipped, it should be still at least recognized as non-nil statement on empty check

*** Stop editing initial value of national-edited item

*** Changed NATIONAL comparison to be independent on COLLATING SEQUENCE setting

*** Fixed memory leaks in decoding national words

*** Fixed behavior of COPY REPLACING LEADING/TRAILING according to the standard

*** Fixed undecoded national item names appear in runtime messages

*** Fixed undecoded national item names appear in compilation messages

*** Prefixing/Suffixing should have no effect on FILLER item

*** Fixed compilation error on some SOURCE FORMAT FREE usage

*** Fixed bug in field subscript boundary check in cond expression

*** Preserve system time when date is modified by COB_DATE

*** Avoid reporting wrong section/paragraph name in error message

*** Fixed bug in reference modification boundary check in MOVE statement

*** Fixed initialization bug of ZonedDecimal variable defined as SIGN SEPARATE

*** Fixed initialization bug of ZonedDecimal variable when using -fsign-ebcdic option

** Other Updates

*** added and enhanced some tests

*** updated message catalog for 'ja'

*** bug fix some problem

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in opensource COBOL 1.3.2J

** New features

*** Merged OpenCOBOL 1.1CE updates.
    *** Thanks to The OpenCOBOL Project! ***

*** New compiler warning option: -Wcompat
    (1) multiply after division in a numeric expression
    (2) GO TO over the SECTION boundary
    (3) X, NX Literal usage

*** Supports for compatibility issues found in existing COBOL programs:

*** "COPY JOINING AS PREFIX/SUFFIX", "COPY PREFIXING/SUFFIXING"

*** 'OR' in "GREATER/LESS THAN OR EQUAL" to optional

*** Treat full-width spaces as blank(token delimiter) in source text

*** accept data description without period

*** accept SPECIAL-NAMES without period

*** accept IO-CONTROL without period

*** accept syntax of INDEXED before KEY in OCCURS clause

*** ND, NX Literal, and N, NC Literal in SJIS mode

*** RESERVE "NO" in SELECT statement - syntactically accepted, no functionality

*** cheating DATE value by environment variable (set COB_DATE=yyyy/mm/dd)

*** put sort/merge result record count on console (when set COB_VERBOSE=Y)

*** implicitly substitute WRITE with REWRITE on the file opened in I-O mode (when set COB_IO_ASSUME_REWRITE=Y)

*** treat sign-nibble 'C' as 'F' in unsigned packed numeric value, when also type checking

*** added another device naming format in assign clause (conf.parameter assign-clause: jph1)

*** UPSI 0-7 aliased to SWITCH1-8

*** INVALID KEY for sequential READ/WRITE (conf.parameter use-invalidkey-handler-on-status34)

*** COBOL68 style COPY semantics in data description clause (conf.parameter cobol68-copy-in-data-description)

*** accept key field name on right hand side of WHEN expression in SEARCH statement (conf.parameter allow-search-key-in-rhs)

*** added optional "IS" for SORT KEY spec. syntax

*** ignore "RECORD CONTAINS" (conf.parameter ignore-invalid-record-contains)

** Changes

*** omit checking field reference in DATA RECORDS

*** improve parser error recovery and source line-number in messages

** Other Updates

*** added some tests

*** updated message catalog for 'ja'

*** fixed bug in decording multibytes chars in section/paragraph name in compile messages

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in opensource COBOL 1.3.1J

** New features

*** Enhanced SPLIT KEY support also accepts multiple key items specified for RECORD KEY.

*** Added SPLIT KEY support to START statement.

*** Added compilation warning that SPLIT KEY is currently only available on VB-ISAM
    (and other ISAM compatibles).

*** Conditional compiler directive $IF.

*** Automatic file creation on opening non exisiting file for I-O, EXTEND.

*** Added DELETE FILE statement.

** Bug fixes

*** Fixed the problem that COPY statement ignores the last line of each copybook when
    it does not end with line break. Actually same as opensource COBOL 1.2J, applied
    again to repair corruption in recent changes.

*** Restored compilation warning for KEY phrase in READ statement on the SEQUENTIAL
    mode file. It seemed to have been corrupted in recent changes.

*** Fixed problem that DYNAMIC phrase has no effect when -assign_external option is
    specified.

*** Fixed problem that some options are never passed to READ routine in USERFH.

*** Fixed problem of build time causes error when no curses library given.

*** Fixed some segfault on compilation error.

*** Fixed problem eliminates record length information on READing, SORTing variable
    length record.

*** Fixed internal error on long Japanese word in PROGRAM-ID.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in opensource COBOL 1.3J

** New features

*** Unicode (UTF-8 encoding) support. Add --enable-utf8 option to 'configure' parameters 
    to activate. Without the option, SHIFT-JIS support is default for the configure.
    The features of Unicode support are:
    1. allocate 3 bytes for single 'N' in PICUTURE clause.
    2. unit of arguments in reference modification and parameter values in
       INSPECT statement are bytes (not a count of characters).
    3. padding blank by half-with (1 byte for each) spaces.
    4. suppress check for mixed full-witdth/half-width char. strings in
       STRING statement parameters.
    * These semantics of the UTF-8 support may change in the future.

*** Support some of COBOL dialect and unsupported statements/functions frequently used 
    in existing COBOL program assets.

*** SPLIT KEYS (for VBISAM) based on the article on The OpenCOBOL Project FORUM. 
    http://www.opencobol.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=1503&forum=1
    *** Thank you! the author Mr. JoeRobbins and The OpenCOBOL Project. ***

*** LEADING/TRAILING phrases in COPY - REPLACING statements.

*** add option to allow inconsistent program-id in END-PROGRAM.
    (allow-end-program-with-wrong-name in conf. setting)

*** add option to allow ommiting ALSO keyword in EVALUATE.
    (allow-missing-also-clause-in-evaluate in conf. setting)

*** add option to allow empty (0 line) imperative statement in EVALUATE.
    (allow-empty-imperative-statement in conf. setting)

*** add option to enable PROGRAM-STATUS register.
    (enable-program-status-register in conf. setting)

*** add option to enable SORT-STATUS register.
    (enable-sort-status-register in conf. setting)

*** add option to support function names below in SPECIAL-NAMES.
    ARGUMENT-NUMBER
    ARGUMENT-VALUE    (enable-special-names-argument-clause in conf. setting)
    ENVIRONMENT-NAME
    ENVIRONMENT-VALUE (eable-special-names-environment-clause in conf. setting)

*** add option to enable function LENG.
    (enable-leng-intrinsic-function in conf. setting)

*** add option to enable function LENGTH-AN.
    (enable-length-an-intrinsic-function in conf. setting)

*** add option to enable function NATIONAL.
    (enable-national-intrinsic-function in conf. setting)

** Changes

*** now currency symbol can be changed in conf. setting.
    (default-currency-symbol)

*** length check limits are loosen, and enable to be changed in conf. setting.
    (max-alpha-character-data-size for alnum, default to 2147483647,
     max-sjis-character-data-size for SHIFT-JIS, default to 1073741823,
     max-utf8-character-data-size for UTF-8, default to 715827882)

** Bug fixes

*** invalid adress reference in external file handler (USERFH) (only occurs in 64bit 
    environment).

*** wrong line number in compilation messeages when -free_1col_aster is applied.

*** failure in reference modification at NATIONAL EDITED field.

*** internal error on Japanese string in PROGRAM-ID.

*** ABEND on compiling reference modification at undefined field.

*** symbol table corrupt once after put error message including japanese symbol.

*** fail to lookup japanese symble including "___".

*** failure in converting alnum to national string.

*** invalid result of MOVE LOW-VALUE to COMP or COMP-3 field.

*** compiler warnings on building v1.2J.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in opensource COBOL 1.2J

** Support Feature of Japanese, such as constant and definition of data and operation of data.

** New compile option '-assign_external' and variable 'assign_external=[yes|no]'. Set the 
   file assign to the EXTERNAL file.

** New compile option '-free_1col_aster'. In free format COBOL mode, this option causes the
   compiler to regard as line comment when first column is asterisk for free format COBOL mode.

** New runtime environment variable OC_USERFH, which enable to run user-defined program in 
   operation OPEN, CLOSE, DELETE, READ, REWRITE, START, WRITE, COMMIT, ROLLBACK and UNLOCK.

** Support currency symbol for Japanese yen, and modify default currency symbol to
   Japanese yen.

** Changed to apply the alphabetic manner as comparison method in case its operands include 
   group fields.

** Fixed the problem that INSPECT causes incorrect result in case given the AFTER/BEFORE 
   clause with negative value or SIGN SEPARATE field. 

** Fixed the problem that value comparison on SIGN SEPARATE fields in IF or EVALUATE 
   statements fails treating such field values as if their sign character were a part of 
   digits.

** Fixed the problem that applying INITIALIZE on 01-level records in EXTERNAL files causes 
   incorrect behavior of following I/O instructions.

** Changed the default actions on unhandled SIZE ERROR according to that specified in 
   Programmer's Guide.

** Fixed the problem that applying INITIALIZE or MOVE ZERO on numeric field of SIGN SEPARATE 
   destroys sign byte.

** Fixed the problem that COPY statement ignores the last line of each copybook when it does 
   not end with line break.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* 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 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 Open Cobol
   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/open-cobol.

** 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           GNU COBOL (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/open-cobol/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/open-cobol/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.