EPTRACE subcommand — using 72-byte save areas

Use the EPTRACE subcommand to generate reports on the control flow between programs as indicated by 72-byte save areas.

Related subcommands
SETDEF subcommand — set defaults

Syntax

EPTRACE                                                                
                                                                       
       ------- Report Selection Parameters ---------------------       
                                                                       
         [ KEYFIELD | SAVEAREA ]                           
         [ ORDER(RETURN | ENTRY ) ]                                   
         [ DATA( TCBCURRENT | symbol ) ]                               
                                                                       
       ------- SETDEF-Defined Parameters -----------------------       
                                                                       
     Note:  You can override the following SETDEF parameters           
     See SETDEF subcommand — set defaults.                                      
                                                                       
         [ ACTIVE | MAIN | STORAGE ]                                   
         [ DSNAME(dsname) | DATASET(dsname) ]                          
         [ FILE(ddname) | DDNAME(ddname) ]                             
         [ PATH(hfspath) ]                                            
         [ FLAG(severity) ]                                           
         [ PRINT | NOPRINT ]                                          
         [ TERMINAL | NOTERMINAL ]                                   
         [ TEST | NOTEST ]

Parameters

KEYFIELD or SAVEAREA

Selects the report formatting to be performed for each entry point. KEYFIELD is the default.

Note: The KEYFIELD report of EPTRACE is enhanced in z/OS® V1R8 IPCS to consider additional linkage mechanisms:

Linkages that employ the linkage stack to save status.
Linkages that mark the initial word of caller’s save areas to indicate how status is saved.

ORDER(RETURN) or ORDER(ENTRY)

Selects the order of processing. ORDER(RETURN) causes the GPR 13 current GPR 13 value to be used to locate the active save area, and displays information to be displayed for calling programs later. ORDER(RETURN) is the default because it provides information needed for problem analysis early in the report. ORDER(ENTRY) causes information about the first entry point entered to be listed first.

DATA(symbol)

Specifies an IPCS symbol that is associated with one of the structures shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Structures recognized by EPTRACE
Structure	Use by EPTRACE
TCB	The first program of interest is the highest one active for the task.
IRB, SVRB, TIRB	The first program of interest is the highest one active for the RB.
REGSAVE	The first program of interest is the one to which this 72-byte save area was passed. Use of this data type limits EPTRACE processing to 72-byte save areas. No attempt is made to identify a related linkage stack.

The default, DATA(TCBCURRENT), is a symbol for which z/OS R5 support is supplied. An IPCS find routine is supplied that will attempt to determine whether an obvious current task can be identified within the dump. If it can be determined, the symbol TCBCURRENT is defined and associated with that TCB. Otherwise, the symbol is undefined. When the symbol explicitly or implicitly cannot be defined or that symbol is defined but is not associated with a supported data type, EPTRACE will generate an error message and will terminate.

Return Codes
See Standard subcommand return codes for a description of the return codes produced by the EPTRACE subcommand.