RE: A different kind of persistence?

[Scott Klement <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Let's take this scenario one step further and say that I have a second
> RPGLE 'main' program that is bound to the same 'nomain' module exactly
> the same way as the first and that the program is called from the same
> 'batch' job.

What do you mean by "bound to the same 'nomain' module"?  You mean that 
the three of them are bound together in one CRTPGM command?  For example:
  CRTPGM PGM(MYPGM) MODULE(MAINMOD1 MAINMOD2 NOMAINMOD)

In that case, there will be one copy of NOMAINMOD...

If you mean that you're actually creating two programs, like this:
  CRTPGM PGM(MYPGM1) MODULE(MAINMOD1 NOMAINMOD)
  CRTPGM PGM(MYPGM2) MODULE(MAINMOD2 NOMAINMOD)

Then, there are two copies of the module.

> Does this second program create a different 'instance' of the module for
> its own use, or will it use the one that is already resident in the AG?

It's called bind-by-copy for a reason...  each time you bind this way, it 
copies the module into your program. So, indeed, they're NOT both bound to 
the same module -- they are bound to different modules which had been 
copied from the same source.

The *MODULE object itself is only used by the binder.  Once your program 
is bound, you can delete it, since copies of it have already been made in 
the programs.

That's also why you have to re-bind every program on the system that uses 
the module if you change it -- since they have to copy the updated code 
into each program.

Which is why I strongly recommend using service programs if your code is 
to be used by more than one program. It's just much easier to maintain one 
copy of the module than 100 or more!