Differences between Interactive COBOL 5.xx 30-Jan-2020 and Interactive COBOL 3.xx NOTE: Envyr offers consulting services to assist with the upgrade to ICOBOL 5, if needed. 1. ICOBOL 5 allows both ICOBOL 3 format .cx files and ICOBOL 2 format .cx files to be run. While running ICOBOL 3 or 4 .cx files, ICOBOL 2 .cx files cannot be called from the same runtime process. While running ICOBOL 2 .cx files, ICOBOL 3, 4, or 5 .cx files cannot be called from the same runtime process. 2. Under Windows, the ICTHINS and ICTHINC thin client components have been replaced by a single thin client component called ICRUNRC. ICRUNRC provides both character and GUI support and so it mimics the runtime system (ICRUNW) in that it supports a mixed-mode application that has both character and GUI interfaces. So there are no ICTHINS or ICTHINC executables. In the configuration file, the selection icthins, has been removed for @CON remote connections. In the Windows installer there is only one thinclient. All thinclients require an ICNET license for the network connection and an ICRUN license for the runtime surrogate. 3. Under Windows, all runtime processes require a runtime license. In the past some runtimes did not "count" as a license. 4. System messages are preloaded by default thus not requiring a message file. If messages must be changed, ICMAKEMS can still be used to change then although with a new format. See the ICOBOL Utilites Manual. 5. ICISAM files that used the ICOBOL Log facility (.xl files) must be converted to the new updated logging format with the ICLOG utility before they can be opened. 6. If upgrading from a revision before ICOBOL 3.30 all configuration files (.cf), printer translation files (.pt), and terminal description files (.td), have a new .ini based format. The extensions for these new file types are .cfi, .pti, and .tdi, respectively. The utility ICREVUP, has been provided to rev-up existing configuration, terminal description, and printer translation files to their new counterpart. ICREVUP Documentation --------------------- The basic syntax for this is: icrevup file.xx Where xx is .cf, .pt, or .td. ICREVUP will open the current file and output a corresponding file using the same PATH specifier as xxi. (I.E., cfi, pti, or tdi). These new files are used in the same places as the old files. The -h option can be used to view all of icrevup's switches. Under Windows, the install program will automatically rev up the specified .cf file when moving from pre-ICOBOL 3.30 to ICOBOL 4. NO OTHER FILES WILL BE UP-REVVED AUTOMATICALLY. All other files must be done by hand. One note in particular, the pre-3.30 .cf file had Master Console information that now resides ONLY in the pcwindow.tdi file. This information must be transferred manually. Under Linux, NO files are rev'ed up automatically. All files must be rev'ed up by hand. The 4.00 ICCONFIG/ICEDCFW will ONLY work with the new .cfi, .pti, and .tdi files. If you wish to support older installations with .cf, .pt, or .td files then an older copy of ICCONFIG/ICEDCFW should be kept around to use for those installations until they are upgraded to 3.30 or greater. Note that in ICOBOL 5 (5.04) icrevup can also convert rev 5 and 6 ICISAM files to rev 7 or 8 ICISAM files. Please see the ICOBOL 5 readme for more information. 7. ICOBOL 5 supports new ISAM version 8 files. Version 8 files can contain up to 4 giga-records versus version 7 files, which are limited to 4 giga-bytes in size. Version 8 is now the default for newly created ISAM files. Version 7 files are still fully supported. ICREORG can be used to convert files to/from previous versions. ICREVUP can be used to convert rev5/6 files to rev7 or 8 files. 8. There is NO runtime support for version 5 or 6 ISAM files. These files must be converted to version 7 or 8 files using ICREORG or ICREVUP before they can be used by ICOBOL 5. 9. There is a new 64-bit release of the ICOBOL 5 product for both Windows and Linux. The 64-bit release does NOT provide all the functionality of the 32-bit release for programs using SP2 and FormPrint. See the appropriate readme for more information. 10. Under Windows, the services (icexec, icnetd, icpermit) will now place their log files in the c:\programdata\icobol folder instead of the windows folder. In addition any surrogates started from the client/server service (icnetd) will also place their logfiles in the c:\programdata\icobol folder if logging is requested. 11. The logon.cx and sp2logon.cx files have been moved from the main installation folder to the examples\programs subfolder. Under Windows, ICCODEPATH is now set to include the examples\programs subdirectory by default. 12. The convention for finding .tdi, .pti, and .pdf form files has changed. They are no longer stored in subfolders of the installation folder. They are now found by using the ICCONFIGDIR environment variable, or by searching the current directory. Note that the default .pti and .tdi definitions are built into the system, so this mechanism is only needed for user-customized definitions. 13. The tcs subdirectory has been renamed icnet and ALL surrogate executables are released in that directory. (icios, iclogs, icrunrs, icsqls) 14. The icrevw utility on Windows is no longer a part of the installed system. 15. The facilities to access ICOBOL ICISAM files from other programming languages (called the User Library or icapi) and the ability to integrate custom calls into the runtime (called the link kit) are no longer part of the standard release, but they are still available. Please contact Sales for assistance if either of these are needed. 16. On 64-bit systems, certain 32-bit components are also installed. These include the development tools, which are only available as 32-bit components, and the following components for which we install both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions: the runtime system, the ODBC driver, and the icrunrs and icsqls surrogates started by icnetd. On a 64-bit system, 32-bit components are installed in an x86 subfolder. 17. Certain OS environments that were supported in ICOBOL 3 are no longer supported by ICOBOL 5 (Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows VISTA, and Windows Server 2008; RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) versions 4 and 5, and the corresponding versions of CentOS). 18. As of version 5.30 the U/FOS file manager used by the VX/COBOL dialect is no longer supported since Envyr Corporation is no longer a reseller. 19. As of version 5.40 the file logging features using ICLOG and ICLOGS are no longer included in the product. Before upgrading all logged files should be brought up to date, and then the logging feature should be turned off. In addition, the logging related environment variables used by ICRUN are no longer referenced. Any startup scripts that set those variables may be modifed to remove them. 20. As of version 5.40 the old AOS compatibility builtins have been removed, along with the COPY file "cobsysid.in". The interfaces of these routines were inherently 32-bit and no longer work on 64-bit systems and most calls have alternative, supported replacements. If you need help with substitutes, please contact Support. 21. As of version 5.40 the install scripts for RHEL 7 and 8 now install the ICOBOL service daemons as native SYSTEMD daemons instead of running them under the old /etc/init.d system. The RHEL 6 install still uses the old system. The RHEL 6 build is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, whereas the RHEL 7 and 8 builds are only available in 64-bit. End of Differences