Differences between Interactive COBOL 5.xx         June-2026
and Interactive COBOL 4.xx

NOTES: Envyr offers consulting services to assist with the upgrade
       to ICOBOL 5, if needed.
       Updated for moving from ICOBOL 4 to ICOBOL 5.40
       Updated for moving from ICOBOL 4 to ICOBOL 5.50
       Updated for moving from ICOBOL 4 to ICOBOL 5.60

(If you are coming from ICOBOL 2 you should review the fromicobol2
file.)

(If you are coming from ICOBOL 3 you should review the fromicobol3
file.)

We recommend re-compiling programs, although it is generally not
required.  For those running a mixture of ICOBOL 4 and 5 systems,
the -R 6 option on the compiler can be used to generate code that
is compatible with ICOBOL 4.5 and up systems.

NOTE: Programs that use USAGE POINTER must be recompiled since the
storage requirement for that USAGE is now 8 bytes rather than 4.


1.  The ICOBOL 5 product is now 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.

2.  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.
    However, as of 5.20 there is a configuration option on the
    system page to create version 7 files by default in the
    runtime system.

    Version 7 files are still fully supported.

    ICREORG can be used to convert files to/from previous versions.

    In addition, ICREVUP can be used to convert version 5 and 6 files
    automatically to version 7 or 8.  Please see the documentation
    for icrevup.

3.  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.

4.  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.

5.  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.

6.  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.

7.  The tcs subdirectory has been renamed icnet and ALL surrogate
    executables are released in that directory.
    (icios, icrunrs, icsqls)

8.  The icrevw utility on Windows is no longer a part of the installed system.

9.  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.

10. A COBOL library file can only be used for program files (.cx).
    ICDATAPATH can no longer specify a COBOL library file.

11. Certain features that were licensed options or that required a
    separate license are now bundled into ICOBOL 5, such as WATCH,
    PDF, ICSQL, and WRITE on the ODBC driver.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

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

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

19. Most of the OS environments that were supported in ICOBOL 4 are no
    longer supported by ICOBOL 5.

    As of version 5.60, RHEL 7 (and equivalents) is no long released
    and 32-bit components have been removed from the RHEL 8 release.
    Windows now requires Windows 10 64-bit and up or Windows Server
    2016 and up.

20. 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.

End of Differences from ICOBOL 4
