If the code is that old, the CVTRPGSRC from IBM only does minimal conversions. You'll see a lot of /free and /end-free in the converted programs. That being said, I have never noticed a major issue with most programs. We did have a few APPC programs that had some issues, But I never had a great understanding of how those really worked anyway.
-----Original Message-----
From: WDSCI-L [mailto:wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Dan
Sent: Monday, November 02, 2015 1:56 PM
To: Rational Developer for IBM i / Websphere Development Studio Client for System i & iSeries <wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [WDSCI-L] RPG III (RPG/400)
It's interesting that I found this thread. Several weeks ago I was searching on CVTRPGSRC to see what impact / issues one could expect to see by converting RPG-III to RPG-IV.
We're using an old ERP package written in RPG-III. I have always been of the mindset to convert any RPG-III source to RPG-IV before I modify it.
Especially now with RDi, where the outline view doesn't work with RPG-III and hoop-jumping necessary to debug OPM programs. Unfortunately, I'm new here and I'm getting pushback when I need to modify an RPG-III program.
The "standard" here is to convert only when it's a major rewrite or something that needs to be done can't be done in RPG-III. The argument is that any such application must be completely retested, so, while the effort to convert is minimal, the big cost is in the effort to QA the app.
It's been at least 15 years since I did any significant conversions to RPG-IV, but I never recall anything that "broke" as a result of simply converting an app. NOTE that this means no attempts to convert stuff like:
MMDDYY MULT 10000.01 YYMMDD
to
Eval YYMMDD = MMDDYY * 10000.01
as an example. For the purpose of this discussion, I am strictly talking about taking an RPG-III source, running CVTRPGSRC on it, checking the conversion report, and compiling the RPG-IV program. The result should be a functionally-identical program, 100% of the time. True? False?
When I was searching a few weeks ago to refute the idea that a converted program needed to be *completely* retested, I found a few threads on the RPG list from 2006 where some were asking about any “gotchas” with using CVTRPGSRC. Comments from people whose judgment I trust on this list were unanimous in that a converted app *must* be completely retested. If this is still the case, I will have tremendous difficulty selling the idea of converting every RPG-III program to RPG-IV anytime we do any kind of modification, because the QA resources are extremely tight in this shop.
It seems to me that, with ~20 years of experience with CVTRPGSRC, surely IBM would have worked out any kinks in the conversion and/or the report identifying potential issues.
So, my question to the group is this: Has anyone *ever* found any functional differences or issues after doing a straight CVTRPGSRC and getting a clean report from the conversion report?
- Dan
On Fri, Oct 23, 2015 at 2:26 AM, Scott Klement <wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Vern,
To add to what Jon said, I will point out something that you probably
already knew, but maybe you (or others here) hadn't thought about...
RPG/400 was originally released in 1988. It was supplanted by the ILE
RPG (RPG IV) compiler in 1994. (and at that time, CVTRPGSRC was
available to make a painless conversion to RPG IV). that means:
RPG/400 was "the RPG to use" for 6 years.
RPG IV has been "the RPG to use" for 21 years since then.
The fact that a software vendor, who charges for their software and
maintenance, hasn't managed to update in 21 years is more than a
little absurd.
It requires only the tiniest investment to convert, and a company you
are paying maintenance to hasn't been able to do so in 21 years? 3.5
times as long as the total lifecycle of the language they're converting from?
Yeah. Something is really wrong here.
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