Differences between Interactive COBOL 5.xx         30-Jan-2020
and ICHOST versions

NOTE: Envyr offers consulting services to assist with the upgrade
      to ICOBOL 5, if needed.

If you have a complete set of sources for the ICOBOL application,
please see the notes in the fromicobol2.txt readme file regarding
source file changes and behavioral changes. If you do not have
sources, it may still be possible to upgrade, see #15 below.


Differences with ICHOST 2.8x
----------------------------

1.  Most of the executable have new names that are the same under
    Linux and Windows.  Switches are different in many cases.

          OLD                  NEW

        config                icconfig
        ichost                icrun
        chkisam               iccheck
        dumpcd                icdump
        editlib               iclib
        makelink              iclink
        makelib               use iclib
        packisam              icpack
        showinfo              icinfo
        statisam              icstat
        icreorg.bat           icreorg

2.  New Utilities:

        icsort         Sort/Merge Utility
        icrev          Ability to get a revision message from .CX files
        icreorg        Command-line icreorg (Only deals with good files)
        iccreate       Ability to create an ISAM file
        icfixup        Ability to fix a bad ISAM file

3.  ICCONFIG replaces CONFIG and has a new look.  Supports terminal
    description files and printer translation files.

    Messages can be changed with ICMAKEMS.

4.  Non-DG terminals supported.

5.  Multiple instances of the runtime can be run in separate windows.
    Each requires a runtime license.

6.  Development capability (including debugging) is available.

7.  No Support for Automatic MAKECD.

8.  No support for Filename overflow handling.  (Both Linux and
    Windows support long filenames.)

9.  No support for System Services (you can use hot-keys).

10. HOSTTERM is not included.

11. The ICREORG option of using \nnn assumes nnn is an octal value
    instead of decimal.

12. ICREORG is a .EXE file.

13. The ##Q extended system call no longer allows argument-1 to
    be zero.  It must be 1-3 or 65-67 otherwise an Invalid operation
    is given.

14. Open's of devices are no longer exclusive.  Use EXCLUSIVE
    to exclusively open all files.

15. It may be possible to use the icmakecx from ICOBOL 2 to convert
    a .cd executable file to an ICOBOL 2 .cx file that ICOBOL 5 can
    execute. It would require a working ICOBOL 2 system to supply
    the icmakecx program.

    Not all .cd files can be convereted.  Files that had been built
    with errors will not convert.

16. Converting from MS-DOS to Windows/Linux filenames could have been
    truncated in the MS_DOS system to 8.3 names.

    Under Windows and Linux these longer names will be used with
    no truncation so if you are moving files from MS-DOS
    you may need to add parts of the name or use a link file.

17. ISAM files of version 5 or 6 must be converted to version
    7 or 8.

18. None of the OS versions that were supported in ICHOST
    when it was released are supported by ICOBOL 5. Check the website
    for currently supported OS versions.

19. 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.


Differences with ICHOST 3.4x on MS-DOS and Linux
------------------------------------------------

1.  Most of the executables have new names that are the same under
    Linux and Windows.

          OLD                       NEW

        chkisam                   iccheck
        packisam                  icpack  (with some new options)
        statisam                  icstat
        icconfig  (same)
        ichost                    icrun
        editlib                   iclib
        makelink                  iclink

2.  New utilities:

        icsort         Sort/Merge
        icrev          Ability to get a revision message from .CX files
        icreorg        Command-line icreorg (Only deals with good files)
        iccreate       Ability to create an ISAM file
        icfixup        Ability to fix a bad ISAM file

3.  The CXPATH environment entry has been changed to ICCODEPATH.

4.  The CLFILE environment entry has been removed.  A library file
    can be is included as part of the path to find .CX files.
    The ICCODEPATH can include directories and library file(s).
    The path is searched in the order given.  To be like previous ICHOST
    versions include the library file as the first entry in ICCODEPATH.

5.  The Library file itself has changed.  The iclib utility can
    be used to convert an old ICHOST (3.2x/3.3x/3.4x) file to
    a new library file with the -c option.

6.  The LKFILE environment entry has been changed to ICRUNLK for
    the runtime.  It only takes a filename.  No directory.

    The utility that builds and dumps link files is iclink.

7.  A new environment entry, ICROOT, has been created to point
    to the main release directory (icobol.5xx).

    If ICROOT is not found, the current directory is used.

8.  A new environment entry, ICDATAPATH, has been created to allow
    for data files under the runtime system to have an AOS/VS-like
    SEARCHLIST.  ICDATAPATH can include directories or library files.

9.  The ICREORG option of using \nnn assumes nnn is an octal value
    instead of decimal.

10. ICREORG is a .EXE file.

11. ISAM files of version 5 or 6 must be converted to version
    7 or 8.

End of Differences
