IBM System/36 Environment: QS36ENV Object Considerations

Resolving The Problem

It is possible to restore the QS36ENV object from one system to another at different operating system releases by using the steps outlined in the OS/400 IBM System/36 Environment Programming manual (SC41-4730) in Chapter 6, Libraries, in the section entitled, Recovering from Damage to QS36ENV *S36 in #LIBRARY if a new QS36ENV object has already been created in #LIBRARY on the new system.

Although the QS36ENV object to be replaced is not damaged, following these steps is necessary whenever replacing the QS36ENV object in #LIBRARY because all the subsystems running on the system hold a *SHRRD lock on the QS36ENV object and all user jobs running in the System/36 Environment hold a *SHRNUP lock on the QS36ENV object.

Note: Once the original QS36ENV object is in place in #LIBRARY on the new system, any operations that create, delete, or rename native device descriptions could affect the device mappings that the QS36ENV object contains, as could any attempt to run in the S/36 environment. For instance, if a user on the display station DSPXX, which is not defined in the QS36ENV object, runs the STRS36 CL command, DSPXX will be added to the display station (System/36 display IDs) mappings in QS36ENV.

IBM-supplied program QEXCVTDV can be used to install the 2-character System/36 Environment device ID in QS36ENV. The QEXCVTDV program will return the 2-character System/36 Environment device ID or the 10-character operating system device description name, depending on which was requested, and the 1-character device type code, even if the operating system device description does not exist on the system. QEXCVTDV uses the device mappings in the QS36ENV object and does not verify if the operating system device description actually exists on the system.