IC79163: MQFTE V7 INVALID LINE FEED CHARACTER AT DESTINATION FILE

WebSphere MQ File Transfer Edition V7.0 Fix Pack 7.0.4.1

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• Binary data sent in has 0x25 characters in it.  This is
  EBCIDIC LF (Line Feed).  EBCIDIC has, for some historical
  reason, LF and New Line (NL - 0x15).  z/OS uses 0x25
  when writing and reading datasets.
  
  Most EBCIDIC -> ASCII/UTF charsets map 0x25 to 0x15, as
  well as 0x15 to 0x15, and as a result loses the special
  meaning of 0x25.  In order to preserve the meaning of
  0x25, FTE uses a special ICU charset (swaplfnl) to read
  z/OS datsets (converts to java native String code page
  of UTF16 which is 0xc285) and to write such data
  so as to preserve the meaning of 0x25 if the target
  platform is also z/OS.  If the target platform is not
  z/OS then swaplfnl ensures 0x25 is mapped to 0x15.
  
  In this message to file case, the binary data has not
  been read using swaplfnl, and so when FTE tries to write
  the data, it assumes it should use swaplfnl and
  consequently maps 0x25 to 0x25 instead of 0x25 to 0x15.
  

Local fix

• Truncated the 0x25 before doing the MQPUT
  

Problem summary

• By default IBM WebSphere MQ File Transfer Edition uses IBM's ICU
  character sets with swaplfnl for character sets that support
  this (EBCIDIC character sets).  swaplfnl changes the behaviour
  for the character set's mapping from and to EBCIDIC LF 0x25
  character.
  
  Using swaplfnl preserves the meaning of EBCIDIC 0x25.  However,
  this can sometimes result in a mapping that is not desired.  For
  example, transferring a message to file when the message has
  EBCIDIC bytes containing 0x25 to a file in UTF-8 will result in
  0x25 becoming 0xc285 when 0x0a might be desired.
  
  USERS AFFECTED:
  All agents transferring EBCIDIC encoded text data that contains
  the 0x25 character to files or message with code pages other
  than EBCIDIC.
  
  PLATFORMS AFFECTED:
  All
  

Problem conclusion

• This APAR allows the specification of a character set in FTE
  that prevents the use of swaplfnl.  To do this, all EBCIDIC
  character sets can be specified using ',noswaplfnl'.  For
  example, if the -sce (source character encoding) parameter to an
  fteCreateTransfer command was 'IBM500', to prevent the use of
  swaplfnl, 'IBM500,noswaplfnl' can be used instead.
  

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  WMQ FILE TRANSF

• Fixed component ID

  5724R1000

Applicable component levels

• R703 PSY

     UP

• R704 PSY

     UP