NEWS.txt

NEWS - user visible changes				-*- outline -*-

* 20160813 GnuCOBOL 2.0rc1

** User Defined Functions

** New cobc options:
*** -t listing, -T wide listing, --tlines=lines, lines per page of listing
*** -K <entry>, entry point compile static
*** -i -info, display build/environment
*** -j -job=args, run job after compile
*** -P, generate preprocessor listing
*** -Xref, generate cross reference (requires cobxref)
*** -A, add options to C compile phase
*** -Q, add options to C link phase
*** -D define symbol for Compiler Directive Facility
*** -f<tag>=value override .conf configuration setting
*** -list-reserved, -list-intrinsics, -list-mnemonics, -list-system
*** -W enable ALL warnings (more than -Wall, which excludes some)
*** -Wunreachable report on unreachable statements
*** -Wprototypes warn missing FUNCTION prototypes/definitions
*** -fmfcomment * or / in column 1 as comment
*** -facucomment $ in idicator area treated as *, | treated as *>
*** Many compiler messaging changes, refactored for translation
*** input filename of '-' reads source from standard in
*** New -std=cobol2014
*** new configuration settings
**** call-overflow, literal-length, numeric-literal-length
**** specify-reserved-words

** New cobcrun options:
*** -i -info, display build/environment
*** -r -runtime-env, display runtime configuration
*** -c -config, set runtime config from file
*** -M -module, set path/module name when looking for entry

** New build features
*** coloured textsuite output
*** Windows(tm) Visual Studio build support files added to source tree

** New GnuCOBOL features
*** User Defined Functions, FUNCTION-ID.
*** Most of the COBOL 2014 spec Compiler Directive Facility is in
*** Spanish and Dutch messages along with English and Japanese
*** More C/C++ reserved words tested to avoid conflicts
*** screen IO, many extended ACCEPT DISPLAY screen section changes
*** stricter ordering of CONFIGURATION SECTION paragraphs
*** PICTURE clause, more to COBOL 2014 spec
*** ACCEPT OMITTED, waits for return/enter
*** More Intrinsic Functions, including ISO 8601 FORMATTED-DATE and TIME
*** Changes to INITIAL and RECURSIVE program handling, needs to improve more
*** More IEEE numeric types added, FLOAT-DECIMAL-16, FLOAT-DECIMAL-34, etc
*** More SWITCHes, from SWITCH-01 to SWITCH-36
*** TALLY special register predefined
*** More literal types added, numeric boolean etc.
*** Nested OCCURS DEPENDING ON (when proper config settings
*** comment keywords in IDENTIFICATION DIVISION treated as end-of-line comments
*** PROCEDURE DIVISION RETURNING OMITTED support matching void C functions
*** New system functions
**** CBL_OC_HOSTED - provides access to C extern variables, like stdin, errno
*** More support for EC-exception codes
*** SET LAST EXCEPTION TO OFF

* All files created by GnuCOBOL runtime use the same file permission settings
  now: COB_FILE_MODE which was changed to 0666

* 20130927 Change package name, and project to GnuCOBOL

* MARK - Version 2.0
* Move to GPL/LGPL 3

* 20140118 GnuCOBOL 1.1 released

* 20130510 Retagging OpenCOBOL 1.1 pre-rel as OpenCOBOL 1.1
           OpenCOBOL 1.1 CE announced

* 20090206 OpenCOBOL 1.1 pre-rel released

* OpenCOBOL 1.0 released

* Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.33

** New compile option '-x'. This causes the compiler to produce an
   executable program. '-fmain' is deprecated.

** Remove long option --verbose. Use '-v' for verbosity. Problem is
   with getopt_long_only which does not like eg. -mv 

** New conformity option -std=bs2000.

** FUNCTION is implemented. See cobc/reserved.c for a list of what is
   implemented.

** Nested programs are partially supported.

** LINAGE is implemented.

** EXTERNAL on FD is implemented.

** SAME RECORD AREA is implemented.

** New config variables - 
   "perform-osvs", "sticky-linkage". These are
   activated for -std=ibm and -std=mvs.
   "relax-level-hierarchy". Allows mismatched data
   description level numbers. Activated for
   -std=mf, ibm, mvs and bs2000.

** Support for non-gcc compilers.

** Large file support, system dynamic loading and Berkeley DB inclusion
   are default for the configure.
   ie. ./configure assumes --with-db --with-lfs64 --with-dl

** New configure option --with-patch-level=<n>
   Default is 0. 

** At run time, version checking is done. ie. When executing/loading
   Cobol programs, the version (eg. 0.33) and the patch level (eg. 0)
   are checked against the OC library version/patch level.

** Libtool is not required for systems that support native dynamic
   loading. This includes GNU/Linux, Cygwin and MingW amongst others.

** Note to developers : See README for required software versions.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.32

** Stability update - See individual ChangeLogs

** New internal register - NUMBER-OF-CALL-PARAMETERS

** New config variables - larger-redefines-ok, relaxed-syntax-check

** Powerpc changes - We now pass all OC and Cobol85 tests

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.31

** Stability update - See individual ChangeLogs

** New driver program - "cobcrun"
   This allows all application programs to be compiled as
   modules and driven by "cobcrun" similar to MF's "cobrun".
   Syntax - cobcrun <MAINPROG> [Arguments to program "MAINPROG"]
   As "cobcrun" is linked with the static version of OpenCOBOL
   libraries, it is easier to maintain concurrent versions on the
   same system.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.30

** Installation changes

*** No longer use readline.

*** No longer use run-time configuration file (libcob.conf)

*** libdb is now optional.
Use the new configure option --with-db1 to link with libdb1.
Use the new configure option --with-db to link with libdb.
Otherwise, libdb will not be linked, and indexed files and
SORT/MERGE statements will not work.

*** New subdirectory `config' will be installed under
$prefix/share/gnucobol.

** Compatibility changes

*** New -std options:

  default       used when you omit -std
  cobol85       COBOL 85 Standard
  cobol2002     COBOL 2002 Standard
  ibm           IBM COBOL compatibility
  mf            Micro Focus COBOL compatibility
  v023          OpenCOBOL 0.23 compatibility

*** Compile-time options can be stored in a "config" file.
See config/default.conf for details.

*** Binary data items are now big endian.
The config option `binary-byteorder' controls this.

*** Numeric sign of USAGE DISPLAY items has been changed as follows:

  Positive: 0123456789  Negative: pqrstuvwxy

The config option `display-sign' controls this.

*** Data items defined in the working-storage section are
initialized at the beginning of program by default.
The config option `auto-initialize' controls this.

*** SORT statement now creates a temporary file in /tmp for sorting
and removes it after sorting.

** Feature changes

*** COPY statements try to complement the following file extensions:
.CBL, .COB, .cbl, or .cob.

*** COPY / REPLACE statements are reimplemented for better replacement.

*** SPECIAL-NAMES. FORMFEED IS ...

*** ALPHABET ... IS EBCDIC.

*** EXTERNAL clause.

*** SHARING clause.

*** USAGE COMP-5 and COMP-X.

*** USAGE POINTER and ADDRESS OF operator.

*** LENGTH OF operator.

*** PROCEDURE DIVISION USING BY REFERENCE/CONTENT/VALUE.

*** DISPLAY ... ENVIRONMENT-NAME.  ACCEPT ... ENVIRONMENT-VALUE.

*** COLLATING SEQUENCE in the SORT and MERGE statements.

*** EXIT PERFORM [CYCLE] statement.

*** SORT table.

*** OPEN ... WITH NO REWIND / WITH LOCK recognized, though not working.

*** Literal concatenation (the `&' operator).

** Compiler changes

*** New compiler environment variable TMPDIR.

*** New compiler environment variable COB_LDFLAGS.

*** The runtime environment variable COB_CONFIG_FILE has been removed.

*** New runtime environment variable COB_DYNAMIC_RELOADING.

*** New compiler option `--list-reserved', which list all reserved words.

*** New compiler option `-conf', which specifies the config file.

*** New compiler option `-ext', which specifies the copy file extension.

*** The compiler option `-O' now does C level optimization.

*** New compiler option `-O2', which does further C level optimization.

*** New compiler option `-L' and `-l', which are passed to the C compiler.

*** New compiler option `-ftrace', which display section names at run time.

*** New compiler option `-fsyntax-only', which does syntax error check
only without any output.

*** New compiler option `-fstatic-call', which is equivalent to `-static'.

*** New compiler option `-fdebugging-line', which enables debugging lines.

*** New compiler option `-fsource-location', which includes source location
in the output.

*** New compiler option `-fline-directive', which includes line directive
in the output.

*** New compiler option `-fruntime-inlining', which is the replacement
of obsolete options `-finline-move' and `-finline-get-int'.

*** New compiler option `-w', which inhibits warnings.

*** New compiler option `-Wredefinition', which warns redefined names.

*** The compiler options `-static' and `-dynamic' are obsolete.

*** The compiler option `-column' removed.

** Many improvement for compatibility.

** Many many bug fixes.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.23

** Installation changes

*** We use the GNU MP library again.

** Run-time library changes

*** `cob_resolve' now search the main program for the module name.

** Bug fixes

*** Duplicate use of intermediate field variables.

*** fseek issues on the MinGW environment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.22

** Installation changes

*** We no longer depend on the GNU MP library.

Decimal arithmetic is done by using `long long'.

** Compiler changes

*** Alphabet-name has been implemented.

*** Variable-length table has been implemented.

*** De-editing (move numeric-edited to numeric) has been implemented.

** Bug fixes

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.21

** Installation changes

*** New configure argument --with-lfs64.

** Compiler changes

*** New option -std, which specifies which COBOL standard to use.

Currently the following standards are available:

  gnu           GnuCOBOL (default)
  cobol85       COBOL 85
  cobol2002     COBOL 2002
  mvs           IBM COBOL for MVS & VM

*** New option -O, which enables some optimization.

*** New option -debug, which enables run-time error checking.

*** New option -Wobsolete, which reports obsolete features.

*** New option -Warchaic, which reports archaic features.

*** -Wnext-sentence has been removed.  Use -Warchaic instead.

*** -fdebugging-line has been removed.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.20

** cobpp has been integrated into cobc.

Now cobc is the only binary program.

** cobc now generates an executable without `-main' flag.

`-main' has been renamed to `-fmain', which is turned on
by default if none of -E, -C, -S, -c, or -m is given.

** The default source format is now the fixed form.

The format will not be detected automatically.  You need
to use SOURCE FORMAT compiler directive as described below.
This conforms to the COBOL 2002 standard.

** Compiler directive "SOURCE FORMAT" is now supported.

Put the following line at the beginning of file if you
want to use the free-form:

  >>SOURCE FORMAT IS FREE

** Option `-semi-fixed' has been removed.

If you want to expand the program text area over 72 columns,
use the option `-column' instead.

** New option `-column', which specifies the end of program text area.

** New option `-T', which specifies the tab width.

** New warning options:

  -Wall                 Enable all warnings
  -Wcolumn-overflow     Warn any text after column 72
  -Wconstant            Warn inconsistent constant
  -Wparentheses         Warn lacks of parentheses around AND within OR
  -Wnext-sentence       Warn uses of NEXT SENTENCE
  -Wimplicit-terminator Warn lacks of scope terminator (END-XXX)
  -Wstrict-typing       Warn type mismatch strictly

** Option `debug' has been renamed to `-fdebugging-line'.

** USAGE PACKED-DECIMAL is now supported.

** Improved error checking.

** Additional testsuite entries.

** Bug fixes.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.12

** Improved compile-time error check.

** Additional testsuite entries.

** Bug fixes.

* Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.11

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

** Part of run-time library interface has been redesigned.

** Bug fixes.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.10

** Autoconf 2.57, Automake 1.7.2, Libtool 1.4.3, and Gettext 0.11.5
are used for packaging.

** New file cob.pc, which is used by pkg-config script.

** libcob.conf is now installed under sysconfdir (i.e., $(PREFIX)/etc).
The default value of COB_CONFIG_FILE has been changed appropriately.

** The directory `tests' includes new testsuites.
"make check" will run the tests.

** We use db1 again instead of db2 or db3.

** New option -semi-fixed.

** New option -Wtrailing-line.

** CALL statements now accept CONTENT LENGTH OF clause.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.9.7

** The default value of COB_CONFIG_FILE has been changed to
"$PREFIX/etc/gnucobol/libcob.conf".

** SORT and MERGE statements have been impelemented.

** Preliminary implementation of SCREEN SECTION.

** Many bug fixes and improvements.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.9.6

** cobc now requires `-main' flag to build an executable from a COBOL file.

Without -main, cobc does not generate a main function.
See manual for details.

** Run-time configuration file: libcob.conf

The environment variable `COB_CONFIG_FILE' specifies the file name
(default: "${prefix}/share/gnucobol/libcob.conf").

** Use gettext for international messages.

** Include the test suite in subdir `testsuite'.

** Many bug fixes and improvements.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.9.5

** Support Berkeley DB 2.0.

** Many bug fixes.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Changes in OpenCOBOL 0.9.4

** OpenCOBOL now requires Berkeley DB 3.0 or later.

** File I/O routine (libcob/fileio.c) has been reimplemented.

** New NIST Test Suite modules: SM, IC, SQ, RL, IX.

** Many bug fixes.