CL calling RPG Procedure returning 1byte value

To my knowledge, it has always been that for a RPG procedure that returns a single byte value, EXTPROC(*CL) must be specified on the prototype.

However, I have recently discovered numerous scenarios that are all working perfectly where it doesn't specify EXTPROC(*CL). I emailed the list about this back in 2011 where I found a scenario where it was working and the consensus was that we were lucky it was working. But now I'm questioning that.

Is EXTPROC(*CL) really still required for single-byte return values? Or is the scenario that EXTPROC(*CL) is required a bit more specific than "whenever you want a CL to call a procedure that returns a 1 byte value." I tried searching around, but didn't find an update on EXTPROC(*CL).

The documentation still states that EXTPROC(*CL) is required. Ideally I'm looking for something than "you're lucky all instances of your CLs using single-byte values returned from RPG procedures is working." I've even started to question my understanding of what a "single byte value" is, but the documentation gives 1a as an example and that's the majority of what I'm seeing our procedures use in these cases (and one using an indicator).

We're at 7.2.

Kurt Anderson
Sr. Programmer/Analyst - Application Development, Service Delivery Platform
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