PI20609: DITTO USER ABEND 999 REASON CODE DECIMAL 902 (HEX 00000386) WHEN THE PROFILE (DITPROF) DATA SET CANNOT BE ALLOCATED

Obtain the fix for this APAR.

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• The primary symptom of this problem is DITTO user abend 999
  reason code decimal 902 (hex 00000386) when the profile
  (DITPROF) data set cannot be allocated.  This is then likely to
  be followed by abend 878-10 in other code or other symptoms of
  insufficient free storage below the 16M line.
  

Local fix

Problem summary

• ****************************************************************
  * USERS AFFECTED: All users of Ditto/ESA for MVS Ver 1 Rel 3   *
  ****************************************************************
  * PROBLEM DESCRIPTION: Attempting to start DITTO when profile  *
  *                      or panel data set is unavailable (for   *
  *                      example HSM migrated when recalls are   *
  *                      currently held) results in DITTO going  *
  *                      into a loop using up all available      *
  *                      below-line storage then abending with   *
  *                      user abend 0999 reason code decimal 902 *
  *                      (hex 00000386).  This is likely to be   *
  *                      followed by abends such as 878          *
  *                      (ABEND878) or 80A (ABEND80A) in other   *
  *                      routines and abend 40D (ABEND40D)       *
  *                      causing termination of the TSO session. *
  ****************************************************************
  * RECOMMENDATION:                                              *
  ****************************************************************
  When DITTO is running under ISPF and encounters an error before
  the point where it has initialised the full screen interface, it
  calls its message routine to output the error message.  This
  tests for whether it is running under ISPF and if so it attempts
  to acquire a buffer for the screen message line.  As the screen
  interface has not been initialised, the screen width field is
  zero, and the calculated buffer size is zero.  When a
  conditional request is issued for zero bytes, MVS returns a zero
  pointer and sets the return code to say that no storage was
  returned.  DITTO detects this zero pointer and incorrectly
  assumes that this means that there is insufficient storage
  available, so it tries to issue a message to say so.  This
  causes a recursive entry into the same module and the same
  problem occurs again, until all below-line storage is exhausted,
  at which point the attempt to acquire a save area for a further
  rerecursion level fails, and the DITTO storage routine issues
  user abend 999 with reason code decimal 902, indicating no more
  storage available.  As all available storage has been used below
  the line, system routines involved in issuing WTO messages and
  handling the abend are likely to run out of storage themselves,
  eventually resulting in the address space being terminated with
  abend 40D.
  

Problem conclusion

• The DITTO message routine has been changed so that instead of
  testing whether it is running under ISPF, it now tests whether
  the ISPF full screen interface has been initialised, and if not
  any messages are issued in line mode instead.  This avoids the
  previous abend, and means that messages issued before the
  interface is initialised or after it has been closed will now
  appear in line mode.
  

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:

  UI19273

Modules/Macros

•    DIT0LVL  DIT0MSG
  

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  DITTO/ESA MVS

• Fixed component ID

  565510300

Applicable component levels

• R310 PSY UI19273

     UP14/07/02 P F407

Fix is available

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