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Working-Storage missing from dump of abending Enterprise COBOL program

Troubleshooting


Problem

You are using Enterprise COBOL and Language Environment (LE) for your application programs in your CICS Transaction Server region. You receive a LE dump for an abend in the CESE destination CEEMSG, but this dump does not include the Working-Storage section. In this case, you are receiving the dump for an abend 4038 due to subscript out of range.

Cause

The Working-Storage section is not included in the dump because Enterprise COBOL does not use the VS COBOL II FDUMP option.

The abend U4038 indicates that LE has encountered a software-raised or user-raised unhandled condition of severity 2 or greater and will terminate. If the TERMTHDACT run-time option is set appropriately, a Language Environment dump (CEEDUMP) will be generated.

Resolving The Problem

Use the Enterprise COBOL compiler option TEST(NOHOOK) to list the Working-Storage and Linkage Section in the LE dump in the CEEMSG queue.

Refer to Compiler option comparison in the Enterprise COBOL for z/OS V4.2 Migration Guide for a comparison of compiler options in Table 1:

Table 1. Compiler option comparison
Available in
Option OS/VS VS II IBM COBOL Enterprise COBOL Usage notes
FDUMP X Produces a dump with debugging information when an application ends with an abend. NOFDUMP is the default.
The Enterprise COBOL TEST(NOHOOK) option replaces the VS COBOL II FDUMP option.

Note: The Enterprise COBOL TEST(SYM) option was replaced with TEST(NOHOOK). However, if you specify TEST(SYM) it will be converted to TEST(NOHOOK).

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Product Synonym

CICS/TS CICS TS CICS Transaction Server

Document Information

Modified date:
05 January 2026

UID

swg21254663