Date: Mon, 1993 Oct 18 13:51 EDT From: "John F. Chandler" Subject: Announcing IBM Mainframe Kermit-370 for CICS Keywords: IBM 370 Kermit, CICS Kermit Xref: IBM Mainframe, Also see IBM 370 Xref: CICS Kermit, Also see CICS Kermit, IBM 370 This is to announce Release 4.3 of Kermit-370 for CICS. The sources have not been completely rewritten, but numerous fixes, extensions, and improvements have been inserted. The changes in 4.3 include all updates formerly available in IKXKER.UPD plus many new ones. Parts of the source have been resequenced: IK0DEF.ASM, IK0CMD.ASM, IK0KAN.ASM, and IK0PRO.ASM, and any local mods affecting these parts will need to be changed accordingly. As with previous releases, all CICS-specific files begin with IKX, and generic Kermit-370 files begin with IK0 (I K Zero). See the file IKXKER.INS for installation instructions. Most of the distribution files have been replaced, including IKXKER.INS, plus the assembler sources and the "beware", help, and update files. Release 4.3 is also being issued in the companion CMS, MUSIC, and TSO variants (see the separate announcements for details). Anyone interested in helping to port Kermit-370 to still other operating systems should contact John Chandler or . For a list of generic additions, see the generic Kermit-370 announcement IK0KER.ANN. The following is a list of CICS-specific updates added since the initial release, including many that were already available in intermediate releases. 1) Expansion of the "userid" field in Kermit from four to eight bytes. 2) No clashing simultaneous access to a TDQ by two Kermit sessions. 3) Distinction between readable and writable data objects when determining file name collision and searching for files to download. 4) Compatibility with CICS 3.1. 5) Correct code for CICS 1.6 access to extra-partition TDQs under MVS. 6) Termid substitution in filenames. 7) Interactive mode prompt padded with XON (or whatever is the current HANDSHAKE character). 8) Several bug fixes. Work on Kermit-CICS is continuing. Features that need to be improved or added include: - IKXDYNAL for both CICS/VSE and CICS/MVS. The former would probably support only spool files, but the latter should support both spool files and MVS data sets. - Sample exit routines for supporting userid algorithms besides the OPID and TERM options. - Sample package of security exit routines. - Support for data objects on a remote CICS. - Cleaner performance of server-mode BYE function, dependent on local conventions. - Support for indirect TD queues. - Mechanism for flushing terminal output from Kermit (such as from the TYPE subcommand). - Mechanism for collecting "terminal" output from invoked programs. - Testing under CICS/VM. Anyone interested in working on these or other improvements should first get in touch with the Center for Computing Activities at Columbia University to find out if someone else has already begun a similar project (and, if so, who).