Re: RDp 8.0.3 crashes during Verify

Over the years, it has been an ongoing problem that an RPGLE (and SQLRPGLE)
Program Verify or Outline View Refresh will crash the workbench session,
with no messages
in the metadata .log file.

This happens because both these actions call a RPG source scanning
component
(called the program verifier) in a native code DLL from the JVM
environment.
If that native code DLL encounters a null pointer error; unfortunately it
immediately
crashes the JVM running the workbench with no chance for recovery.

Various APARs have been reported and been fixed for this over the years and
product releases,
always with the same crash result, but due to different and specific
scenarios in the source.
ie. due to different combinations of statements and program field
definitions.

If you are experiencing this type of immediate crash with no related
metadata log information when running
a RPG verify or Outline view refresh, it might be that you have discovered
another special scenario
that causes a null pointer error in the program verifier.

Usually these can be reproduced by repeating the same action on the same
source member.

If you encounter this, you should report the problem in a PMR,
so that we can identify and fix the problem in an APAR.

Once we identify the problem, there may sometimes be an easy source change
which will circumvent the problem.


John Fellner, RD Power Development
fellner@xxxxxxxxxx