Re: Why would they always Bind?

Bill Hopkins wrote:

> My Client been told by its software vendor
> that they need to always include QC2LE and
> PKBNDDIR when they recompile(CRTBNDRPG)
> any program they have custom moded.
>
> But not all programs(actually very few) use those
> *modules and/or  *service pgm.
>
> Do you'll think it is just their way of making sure they
> are there if  needed?

I think that this is the vendor's standard compile procedure and it makes
sense to generally re-create the vendors programs the same way they were
created when shipped.

> What is the impact of doing this when not needed?

Practically, not much.  The compiler will search for unresolved procedures.
If there aren't any, no search.

> Also when they do the recompile they are told
> to always use PKMS as  activation group.

Again, this is how the vendor originally created them.

>  I say *caller because if for some reason down the
> road that gets changed in that package  they will be
> covered by *CALLER.

If for some reason the package changes, the vendor will deliver an entirely
new set of programs and (presumably) new instructions for re-creating them
(which will have to be done in order for your client to re-apply the mods.)

> Also they have other packages with different
> activation groups and with *caller they will not
> have to remember each one for each package
> when doing custom mods. Am I wrong in
> telling my client this?

If the code uses a specific AG in order to maintain storage, you might be
giving bad advice.  That is, if the code expects a global variable to
persist across different invocations, a named AG will ensure that.  *CALLER
will bite you if the vendor's program is called from another AG.  This is
possible if the customised code is an API and might be called from different
programs.

Bottom line, I would advise the client to follow the vendor's instructions.
I work for a software vendor and there is nothing more frustrating than
spending days/weeks debugging a problem at a customer's site only to
discover that they decided to follow their own course rather than our
recommendation.  You can see how that might colour my response...
  --buck