Differences between Interactive COBOL 5.xx         June-2026
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    have been replaced by a single thin client component called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.  As of ICOBOL 5.60, the product is 64-bit only for both Windows
    and Linux.

    The 64-bit release may 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.  The
    logon.cx program has been renamed to iclogon.cx.

    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 product.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. As of version 5.40 the install scripts for RHEL 7 and up now install
    the ICOBOL service daemons as native SYSTEMD daemons instead of
    running them under the old /etc/init.d system.  It follows that
    this is the mechanism used by 5.60 for all Linux releases.

20. As of version 5.50 and the Linux 9 release, the 32-bit components
    will no longer be installed. One implication is that clients using
    icnetd services will need to be upgraded to 64-bit.

21. As of version 5.50, the icruncgi components are no longer released.

22. As of version 5.50, RHEL 6 (and equivalents) is no long released
    and so there is no 32-bit only release for Linux.

23. None of the OS environments that were supported in ICOBOL 3 are
    supported by ICOBOL 5 and the system is 64-bit vs. 32-bit.
    The miniumum OS versions are RHEL 8 for linux, and Windows 10 or
    Windows Server 2016 for Windows.

24. As of version 5.60, ICPERMIT only supports MAC address licensing.
    Support for USB, parallel port, and serial port hardware protection
    devices has been removed.

25. Despite the many changes, as long as the data and configuration
    files are updated as described above, our customer's experience
    is that their applications continue to run fine.



End of Differences
