COBOL programs migration

Even if UNIX, Linux & Windows COBOL compilers recognize almost all the mainframe COBOL dialects, some incompatibilities still remain. Therefore Program sources must be fixed to fit the new systems standards, removing the incompatibilities and obtaining a source that can be compiled and that produce the same results of its mainframe version at run time.

There are 2 categories of intervention to operate.

COBOL syntax

Some COBOL statements, even if compliant with the syntax of the target compiler, must be adapted for the operating system standards, i.e. the SELECT statements in the FILE-CONTROL, or the DECLARATIVES.

Furthermore source programs may contain some instructions not recognized by the target COBOL compilers, like some COBOL level I syntaxes.

All these changes may be automatically performed by the cobconv utility.

E/SQL

If the program sources contains DB2 E/SQL (Embedded SQL) statements, a process must be performed to adapt the following items to the new databases defined as target (i.e. Oracle):

All these changes may be automatically performed by the esqlconv utility.