Mike Slinn

Running JCL from a PC

Published 2024-04-03. Last modified 2024-04-11.
Time to read: 3 minutes.

This page is part of the mainframe collection.

Personal computers have excellent user interfaces and lots of good options for source code management. In contrast, mainframes are straight out of the last millenium. I needed a way to maintain JCL on my local machines, but execute on a remote system.

Vista TN3270 transfer is clumsy; in contrast, ftp has some features that most people are unaware of, which makes it a good approach. However, IBM’s documentation is incomplete and not designed to educate the reader; instead, it is a partial list of facts.

This article explains the bash script that I wrote, which uses ftp to upload JCL, execute it and download results.

I rented an z/OS LPAR from Maintec to peform this work. My user id was MIKES01.

Shell
$ export loadlib="$ibm/horswill/CDROM/cicsadp/Cobol Application/TSO/loadlib"
$ cd "$loadlib"
$ ftp ftp://MIKES01:$MAINTEC_PWD@maintec Connected to 130.250.184.212. Connected to maintec. 220-FTPD1 IBM FTP CS V2R4 at MTI1, 15:43:10 on 2024-04-03. 220 Connection will close if idle for more than 5 minutes. 331 Send password please. 230 MIKES01 is logged on. Working directory is "MIKES01.". Remote system type is MVS. 200 Representation type is Image
ftp>

Pre-Setting MVS Dataset Parameters

The WSL/Ubuntu tnftp documentation says this about the ftp quote subcommand:

From man ftp
quote [arg ...]
  The arguments specified are sent, verbatim, to the remote FTP server.

To get the help information on the mainframe’s site command, use ftp to connect to the mainframe, then type quote help site. This is the help information retrieved from Maintec’s ftp server:

Ftp session continued
ftp> quote help site
214-The SITE command sub parameters are:
214-ASAtrans        Specifies that ASA control characters in ASA files opened
214-                for text processing should be converted to C control
214-                character sequences during file transfer.
214-NOASAtrans      Specifies that ASA control characters in ASA files opened
214-                for text processing should be transferred as ASA control
214-                characters.
214-AUTOMount       Permits automatic mounting of volumes for data sets on
214-                volumes that are not mounted.
214-NOAUTOMount     Prevents automatic mounting of volumes for data sets on
214-                volumes that are not mounted.
214-AUTORecall      Permits migrated data sets to be recalled automatically.
214-NOAUTORecall    Prevents migrated data sets from being recalled
214-                automatically.
214-BLKsize=value   Specifies the blocksize for new data sets. If 'value' is
214-                omitted, blocksize will not be used when allocating new
214-                data sets.
214-BLocks          Specifies primary and secondary space allocation are in
214-                blocks.
214-BLOCKSIze=value Specifies the blocksize for new data sets. If 'value' is
214-                omitted, blocksize will not be used when allocating new
214-                data sets.
214-BUfno=value     Number of access method buffers.
214-CHKptint=value  Checkpoint interval - the number of records to transmit
214-                before sending a restart marker.
214-CHMOD newmode filename changes the permission bits of an HFS file.
214-                newmode may be specified as an octal mask, or may be
214-                specified as {who}{operation}{permission} where {who} is
214-                u, g, o, or a (user, group, other, or all), {operation} is
214-                +, -, or = (add permissions, remove permissions, or
214-                replace permissions), and {permission} is some combination
214-                of r, w, x (read, write, or execute). filename is the name
214-                of the HFS file whose permission bits are to be changed.
214-CONDdisp=disp   Specifies the conditional disposition of a data set as
214-                Catlg (catalogue) or Delete.
214-CTRLConn=value  Specifies the ASCII to be used on the control connection.
214-                'value' may be '7bit' or an ASCII code page name.  Omit
214-                'value' to  reset.
214-CYlinders       Specifies primary and secondary space allocation are in
214-                cylinders.
214-DATAClass=name  Default SMS data class for new data sets. Omit the 'name'
214-                to reset the data class name.
214-DATAKEEPALIVE=value Specifies the number of seconds of inactivity on the
214-                data connection before a keepalive packet is sent.
214-DATASetmode     Treat all subsequent levels as a data set (disables
214-                directory mode).
214-DB2=value       DB2 subsystem name (default is DB2).
214-DCbdsn=data_set Specifies that FTP should allocate any new data sets with
214-                the same attributes as this data set. Data_set is either a
214-                fully qualified data set name in quotes or appended to the
214-                present directory name prefix. Blocksize, lrecl, recfm and
214-                retpd parameters will override the model data set
214-                characteristics if they are specified.
214-DEBUG=value     Sets the server trace options
214-DUMP=value      Sets the server extended trace options
214-DESt=dest       NJE destination for files to go to. Can be specified as
214-                USER@NODE, NODE.USER, or JES symbolic destination. Omit
214-                the 'dest' to reset.
214-DIrectory=value Specifies the number of directory blocks when allocating a
214-                new PDS. If 'value' is omitted, directory blocks will not
214-                be specified when allocating a new PDS.
214-DIRECTORYMode   Treat each level of a data set as a directory. Only the
214-                next lower level is used for MPUT or server MGET, LS and
214-                DIR commands.
214-DSNTYPE={BASIC|LARGE|SYSTEM} Specifies the data set name type for new
214-                physical sequential data sets. BASIC indicates basic
214-                format. LARGE indicates large format. SYSTEM indicates
214-                physical sequential data sets will be allocated with the
214-                SMS data class value, or the system default value.
214-DSWAITTIME=value Specifies the number of minutes to wait for an MVS data
214-                set to become available.
214-DSWAITTIMEREPLY=value Specifies how often to send a data set retry reply
214-                to the client while the FTP server is waiting for access
214-                to an MVS data set.
214-EATTR=[NO|OPT|SYSTEM] specifies whether new data sets can have extended
214-                attributes and whether the data sets can reside in the
214-                EAS.  NO indicates that the data set cannot reside in the
214-                EAS and its VTOC entry cannot have extended attributes.
214-                OPT indicates that the data set can reside in the EAS and
214-                its VTOC entry can have extended attributes if the volume
214-                supports them.  SYSTEM indicates the data set will use the
214-                SMS data class EATTR value, or system default EATTR value
214-                if no SMS data class is defined or if the data class
214-                contains no EATTR specification.
214-ENcoding=value  Specifies whether multi-byte or single-byte data
214-                conversion is to be performed on ASCII data transfers. The
214-                values allowed are Mbcs and Sbcs for multi-byte and
214-                single-byte, respectively.
214-FIFOIOTIME=value Specifies the number of seconds the FTP server waits when
214-                reading from or writing to a named pipe.
214-FIFOOPENTIME=value Specifies the number of seconds the FTP server waits
214-                when opening a named pipe.
214-FILEtype=value  Specifies file type (SEQ, JES, or SQL). SEQ is standard
214-                MVS sequential or partitioned data sets, or HFS files.
214-                This is the default and most common. JES is MVS spool used
214-                for submitting Jobs and retrieving their output. SQL is
214-                for submitting DB2 queries.
214-ISPFStat        Update statistics for PDS member
214-NOISPFStat      Do not update statistics for PDS member
214-JESLrecl=val|*  Lrecl to use for JES internal reader.
214-JESGETBYDSN     FTP retrieval when FILETYPE=JES and JESINTERFACELEVEL=2
214-                allows the foreign file to be a job id followed by a JES
214-                spool dataset name
214-NOJESGETBYDSN   FTP retrieval when FILETYPE=JES and JESINTERFACELEVEL=2
214-                allows a JESPUTGET for submitting a job and automatically
214-                receiving output
214-JESJOBname=val  Job name of jobs to return for FTP JES support.
214-JESOwner=val    Job owner of jobs to return for FTP JES support.
214-JESSTatus=val   Status of jobs to return for FTP JES support.
214-JESRecfm=val|*  Recfm to use for JES internal reader.
214-LISTLEVEL={0|1|2} Specifies the format of the LIST reply.  LISTLEVEL 0
214-                specifies that PDS, PDSE and HFS data sets are displayed
214-                with a DSORG value of PO.  LISTLEVEL 1 specifies that PDS
214-                data sets are displayed with a DSORG value of PO, PDSE
214-                data sets are displayed with a DSORG value of PO-E, and
214-                HFS data sets are displayed with a DSORG value of HFS.
214-                LISTLEVEL 2 specifies LISTLEVEL 1 display options, and
214-                also fewer but wider columns of output to accommodate
214-                larger physical sequential data sets.
214-LISTSUBDIR      Wildcard searches span one subdirectory.
214-NOLISTSUBDIR    Wildcard searches span only the current working directory.
214-LRecl=value     Specifies the logical record length for new data sets. If
214-                'value' is omitted, lrecl will not be specified when
214-                allocating new data sets.
214-MBdataconn=value Specifies the conversion table names for the data
214-                connection when ENcoding has a value of MBCS.  'value' is
214-                a pair of code pages with the format
214-                (file_system_cp,network_transfer_cp).
214-MBREQUIRELASTEOL Specifies that the last record of an incoming multibyte
214-                file must include an EOL sequence. If the last record
214-                received has no EOL sequence, the server will treat this
214-                as an error.
214-NOMBREQUIRELASTEOL Specifies that the last record of an incoming multibyte
214-                file need not include an EOL sequence. If the last record
214-                received has no EOL sequence, the server will treat this
214-                as a complete file transfer. No error will be reported.
214-MBSENDEOL=value Specifies the line terminator for outbound MBCS ASCII
214-                data.  Value is CRLF, CR, LF, or NONE
214-MGmtclass=name  Default SMS management class for new data sets. Omit the
214-                'name' to reset the management class name.
214-MIGRatevol=vol  Volid for migrated data sets.
214-PDSTYPE=[{PDS|PDSE}] Specifies whether to allocate new directories as PDS
214-                or PDSE data sets. If value is omitted, PDSTYPE will not
214-                be used when allocating new MVS directories.
214-PRImary=value   Specifies the amount of storage for the primary allocation
214-                for new data sets. If 'value' is omitted, primary
214-                allocation will not be specified when allocating a new
214-                data set.
214-Qdisk=volume    Lists the amount of space available on a volume. If no
214-                volume is given, all the storage volumes are listed.
214-QUOtesoverride  Specifies that single quotes around a filename indicate
214-                that the filename should override the current working
214-                directory rather than be appended to the current working
214-                directory
214-NOQUOtesoverride  Specifies that single quotes at the beginning of a file
214-                name should be treated as part of the file name.
214-RDw             RDW from variable format data sets retained as data.
214-NORDw           RDW from variable format data sets discarded as not data.
214-READTAPEFormat=value Format of input tape data sets. Valid formats are F
214-                (for fixed), V (for variable), S (for spanned), X (for
214-                lrecl X), and blank (unspecified).
214-RECfm=value     Specifies the record format for new data sets. If 'value'
214-                is omitted, record format will not be specified when
214-                allocating a new data set.
214-REMOVEINBEOF    UNIX EOF removed from ASCII inbound data transfers.
214-NOREMOVEINBEOF  UNIX EOF is not removed from ASCII inbound data transfers.
214-RESTPUT         Server supports checkpointing when receiving data.
214-NORESTPUT       Server does not support checkpointing when receiving data.
214-RETpd=value     Specifies retention period for newly created data sets. If
214-                'value' is omitted, retention period will not be specified
214-                when allocating a new data set.
214-SBDataconn=value Specifies the translation tables for the data connection.
214-                'value' may be a pair of code pages (cp) with the format
214-                (file_system_cp,network_transfer_cp), the name of an MVS
214-                data set or HFS file that contains the translate tables,
214-                or the string FTP_STANDARD_TABLE. Omit '=value' or give
214-                value of * to reset.
214-SBSENDEOL=value Specifies the line terminator for outbound SBCS ASCII
214-                data.  Value is CRLF, CR, LF, or NONE
214-SECondary=value Specifies the amount of storage for the secondary space
214-                allocation for new data sets. If 'value' is omitted,
214-                secondary allocation will not be specified when allocating
214-                a new data set.
214-SPRead          SQL results sent in SPREADsheet format.
214-NOSPRead        SQL results sent in REPORT format.
214-SQLCol=value    Column headings use N(ames), L(abels), or A(ny).
214-STOrclass=name  Default SMS storage class for new data sets. Omit the
214-                'name' to reset the storage class name.
214-SUBSYS          Specifies the subsystem name for new allocations.
214-TAPEREADSTREAM  A more efficient read path (read as stream) is used for
214-                reading tape data sets. Restrictions apply.
214-NOTAPEREADSTREAM  A common read path is used for reading tape data sets.
214-TRacks          Specifies primary and secondary space allocation are in
214-                tracks.
214-TRAILingblanks  Returns trailing blanks for fixed format data sets that
214-                are retrieved.
214-NOTRAILingblanks Removes trailing blanks for fixed format data sets that
214-                are retrieved.
214-TRUNcate        Truncated records will not be treated as an error.
214-NOTRUNcate      Truncated records will be treated as an error and the file
214-                transfer will fail.
214-UCOUNT=value    Maximum number of units for UNIT statement.
214-UCSHostcs codepage Specifies the EBCDIC codepage to use for conversion
214-                to/from UCS.
214-UCSSub          Specifies that the EBCDIC substitution character will be
214-                used to replace any Unicode character that can not be
214-                converted. Data transfer will continue.
214-NOUCSSub        Specifies data transfer will end if any Unicode character
214-                cannot be successfully converted.
214-UCSTrunc        Specifies data transfer will continue even if EBCDIC data
214-                is truncated during Unicode conversion.
214-NOUCSTrunc      Specifies data transfer will end if the logical record
214-                length of the receiving data set is too small to contain
214-                the data after converstion from Unicode to EBCDIC.
214-Umask mask      Specifies the octal UMASK to be used when allocating new
214-                HFS files. UMASK will restrict the setting of the
214-                permission bits.
214-UNICODEFILESYSTEMBOM={ASIS|ALWAYS|NEVER}  Specifies whether to include a
214-                byte order mark when storing Unicode files. ASIS specifies
214-                to store the file as received, byte order mark or not;
214-                ALWAYS specifies to always store a byte order mark; NEVER
214-                specifies to never store a byte order mark. Only the first
214-                character of the incoming file is treated as a byte order
214-                mark.
214-Unit=value      Specifies the name of a unit for allocation. If no value
214-                is given, the previous value is removed and the system
214-                default unit is used.
214-UNIXFILETYPE={FIFO|FILE} Specifies whether the FTP server should treat
214-                files in the Unix file system as regular files or as named
214-                pipes during file transfer.  FILE indicates the server
214-                will treat files in the Unix file system as regular files.
214-                Inbound files are stored into the Unix file system as
214-                regular files, and outbound files are read from the Unix
214-                file system as regular files.  FIFO indicates the server
214-                will treat files in the Unix file system as named pipes.
214-                Inbound files are stored into the Unix file system as
214-                named pipes, and outbound files are read from the Unix
214-                file system as named pipes.
214-VCOUNT=value    Maximum number of volumes for VOLUME statement.
214-VOLume=value    Specifies the name of a volume or volumes used for
214-                allocation. If no value is given, the previous value is
214-                removed and the system default volume list is used.
214-WRAPrecord      Wrapping data into next record.
214-NOWRAPrecord    Not wrapping data into next record.
214-WRTAPEFastio    Allow tape write to use BSAM I/O
214-NOWRTAPEFastio  Do not allow tape write to use BSAM I/O
214-Xlate=name      Specifies a file containing translate tables for the data
214-                connection. Filename is defined by FTP server environment
214-                variable _FTPXLATE_. Default filename is
214-                ..TCPXLBIN. Omit '=name' (or use '=*') to reset.
214 Use server STAT command to display present values. 

I found that the dsorg parameter was not accepted, and the blksize parameter was required:

Ftp session continued
ftp> quote site lrecl=80 dsorg=ps recfm=f
200-Unrecognized parameter 'dsorg=ps' on SITE command.
200-BLOCKSIZE must equal LRECL for RECFM F
200-BLOCKSIZE being set to 80
200 SITE command was accepted
ftp>
quote site lrecl=80 blksize=80 recfm=f 200 SITE command was accepted

Manual Job Submission

The mainframe ftp site subcommand can access the JES2 spooler when the FILE=JES parameter is provided. Commands are:

quote site filetype=JES - Connect to JESPLEX, (conect to JES in layman terms)
dir                     - List Jobs
get filename            - Get Job dataset from remote system
put filename            - Submit Job
Shell
$ ftp ftp://MIKES01:$MAINTEC_PWD@maintec
ftp> quote stat
211-Server FTP talking to host 70.30.247.170, port 49884
211-User: MIKES01  Working directory: MIKES01.
211-The control connection has transferred 935 bytes
211-There is no current data connection.
211-The next data connection will be actively opened
211-to host 70.30.247.170, port 49884,
211-using Mode Stream, Structure File, type ASCII, byte-size 8
211-Automatic recall of migrated data sets.
211-Automatic mount of direct access volumes.
211-Auto tape mount is allowed.
211-Inactivity timer is set to 300
211-Timer FTPKEEPALIVE is set to 0
211-Timer DATAKEEPALIVE is set to 0
211-Timer DSWAITTIME is set to 0
211-Server site variable DSWAITTIMEREPLY is set to 60
211-Timer FIFOOPENTIME is set to 60
211-Timer FIFOIOTIME is set to 20
211-VCOUNT is 59
211-ASA control characters in ASA files opened for text processing will be
211- transferred as ASA control characters.
211-Server site variable TAPEREADSTREAM is set to FALSE
211-Trailing blanks are removed from a fixed format data set when it is
211- retrieved.
211-Data set mode.  (Do not treat each qualifier as a directory.)
211-ISPFSTATS is set to FALSE
211-Primary allocation 1 track.  Secondary allocation 1 track.
211-Partitioned data sets will be created with 27 directory blocks.
211-FileType JES (MVS Job Spool). JES Name is JES2
211-Number of access method buffers is 5
211-RDWs from variable format data sets are discarded.
211-Records on input tape are unspecified format
211-SITE DB2 subsystem name is DB2
211-Data not wrapped into next record.
211-Tape write is not allowed to use BSAM I/O
211-Truncated records will be treated as an error and the file transfer will
211- fail
211-JESLRECL is 80
211-JESRECFM is Fixed
211-JESINTERFACELEVEL is 1
211-Server site variable JESTRAILINGBLANKS is set to TRUE
211-Confidence level in data transfers is neither checked nor reported
211-ENcoding is set to SBCS
211-SBDataconn codeset names: IBM-1047,IBM-850
211-Outbound SBCS ASCII data uses CRLF line terminator
211-Outbound MBCS ASCII data uses CRLF line terminator
211-Server site variable MBREQUIRELASTEOL is set to TRUE
211-Server site variable UNICODEFILESYSTEMBOM is set to ASIS
211-Server site variable UNIXFILETYPE is set to FILE
211-DBSUB is set to FALSE
211-Server site variable EXTDBSCHINESE is set to TRUE
211-SBSUB is set to FALSE
211-SBSUBCHAR is set to SPACE
211-SMS is active.
211-New data sets will be catalogued if a store operation ends abnormally
211-Single quotes will override the current working directory.
211-UMASK value is 027
211-Process id is 83886565
211-Checkpoint interval is 0
211-Server site variable RESTPUT is set to TRUE
211-Server site variable REMOVEINBEOF is set to FALSE
211-Authentication type: None
211-TLS security is supported at the DRAFT level
211-Server site variable READVB is set to LE
211-Port of Entry resource class for IPv4 clients is: TERMINAL
211-Record format F, Lrecl: 80
211-Server site variable EATTR is set to SYSTEM
211-Server site variable DSNTYPE is set to SYSTEM
211-Server site variable LISTSUBDIR is set to TRUE
211-Server site variable LISTLEVEL is set to 0
211 *** end of status *** 

Here is a sample session where I manually typed the commands necessary to upload JCL, execute it on the mainframe, and download the results:

Shell
$ ftp ftp://MIKES01:$MAINTEC_PWD@maintec
Connected to maintec.
220-FTPD1 IBM FTP CS V2R4 at MTI1, 14:00:30 on 2024-04-08.
220 Connection will close if idle for more than 5 minutes.
331 Send password please.
230 MIKES01 is logged on.  Working directory is "MIKES01.".
Remote system type is MVS.
200 Representation type is Image
ftp> quote site file=jes
200 SITE command was accepted
ftp> put /mnt/f/work/ibm/amblist/amblist.jcl
local: /mnt/f/work/ibm/amblist/amblist.jcl remote: /mnt/f/work/ibm/amblist/amblist.jcl
229 Entering Extended Passive Mode (|||14509|)
125 Sending Job to JES internal reader FIXrecfm 80
100% |*********************************************************************************************|   393        1.00 MiB/s    00:00 ETA
250-It is known to JES as *UNKNOWN
250 Transfer completed successfully.
393 bytes sent in 00:00 (6.01 KiB/s)
ftp> dir
229 Entering Extended Passive Mode (|||14510|)
125 List started OK
MIKES01S  JOB00373  OUTPUT    3 Spool Files
250 List completed successfully.
ftp> get J373 my.downloaded.job.output.txt
local: my.downloaded.job.output.txt remote: J373
229 Entering Extended Passive Mode (|||14511|)
125 Sending all spool files for requested Jobid
  1128       48.17 KiB/s
250 Transfer completed successfully.
1128 bytes received in 00:00 (25.57 KiB/s)
ftp> bye
221 Quit command received. Goodbye. 

The syntax for retreiving the results is simply GET J followed by the job number; leading zeros must be omitted, followed by the name of the file on the local machine to save the output as.

Translating Machine Codes

Mainframe formatted job output has a carriage control character at the start of each line, and the JES2 spooler writes !! END OF JES SPOOL FILE !! at the end of each spool file. These files can be retrieved individually or retrieved as a group.

There are two types on carriage control codes: ASA and Machine. The last partial spool file has Machine control characters that will most likely display as unusual glyphs.

IBM's documentation is unhelpful.

The ASA control characters are:

Blank
space one line
Zero (0)
space 2 lines
Minus (-)
space 3 lines
Plus (+)
Suppress line advance (Used by old impact printers for boldfacing)
One (1)
Skip to new line on new page

IBM machine code printer control characters also precede each line. They are typically non-printable, one byte hexadecimal characters. These characters need to be translated.

run_jcl Bash Script

I wrote the run_jcl script to upload JCL, execute it, and download the results.

#!/bin/bash

# (C) Mike Slinn  mslinn@mslinn.com  All rights reserved

function help {
  if [ "$1" ]; then printf "Error: $1\n\n"; fi
  echo "$(basename $0) does the following:
 - Uses FTP to upload a given local JCL file (encoded in ASCII),
   to a temporary file on a mainframe (automagically encoded in EBCDIC),
 - Where it is run,
   - Using the mainframe user id specified by environment variable MAIN_UID,
   - And the mainframe user password specified by environment variable MAIN_PWD,
 - Downloads the resulting ASCII output files (which are concatenated together),
 - Translates machine control codes into a UTF-8 equivalent,
 - Saves the result as a UTF-8 file in the same local directory as the original JCL file.

The IP address or domain name of the mainframe ftp server can be specified on the command line,
otherwise the environment variable MAIN_IP_OR_DOMAIN is used to provide the default value of the IP address.

The JCL file:
  - name must end with a .jcl filetype, in lower case.
  - must only contain printable ASCII characters and spaces.
  - must not contain tabs or control characters.
  - Should have a job name on the job card consisting of the user id plus one character.

The path provided for the JCL file:
  - can be relative or absolute.
  - must not contain spaces.

The intermediate .ascii and .jobinfo files and the resulting .txt file will be created in the same
directory as the .jcl file used to create them.

Syntax:

  $ $(basename $0) [OPTIONS] JCL_FILENAME_WITHOUT_EXT [IP_ADDRESS]

  Where:
    OPTIONS can include:
      -d Delete intermediate files (.ascii and .jobinfo)
      -f Overwrite output and intermediate file if specified.
      -h Display this help text.

    JCL_FILENAME_WITHOUT_EXT is the path to the JCL file, with or without the .jcl filetype.

    IP_ADDRESS is the subdomain or IP address of the ftp server

Sample invocations:

  $ $(basename $0) amblist_cicsadp_loadlib 123.456.789.012
  Uploading 'amblist_cicsadp_loadlib.jcl' to 123.456.789.012
  Saved job run information as 'amblist_cicsadp_loadlib.jobinfo'
  Downloading JOB1234 results as 'amblist_cicsadp_loadlib.ascii'
  Writing final result to 'amblist_cicsadp_loadlib.txt'
  Deleting 'amblist_cicsadp_loadlib.ascii'

  $ export MAIN_IP_OR_DOMAIN=123.456.789.012
  $ $(basename $0) amblist_cicsadp_corba -df
  Uploading 'amblist_cicsadp_corba.jcl' to 123.456.789.012
  Saved job run information as 'amblist_cicsadp_corba.jobinfo'
  Downloading JOB1234 results as 'amblist_cicsadp_corba.ascii'
  Writing final result to 'amblist_cicsadp_corba.txt'
  Deleting 'amblist_cicsadp_corba.ascii'
"
  exit 2
}


unset DELETE_INTERMEDIATE
unset OVERWRITE
OPTSTRING=":dfh"

while getopts ${OPTSTRING} opt; do
  case ${opt} in
    d) export DELETE_INTERMEDIATE=true ;;
    f) export OVERWRITE=true ;;
    h) help ;;
    ?) help ;;
  esac
done
shift $((OPTIND-1))


if [ -z "$1" ]; then help "No JCL file was specified."; fi

if [ "$2" ]; then
  MAIN_IP_OR_DOMAIN="$2"
else
  if [ -z "$MAIN_IP_OR_DOMAIN" ]; then
    help "Environment variable MAIN_IP_OR_DOMAIN is undefined and the mainframe IP address was not specified on the command line"
  fi
fi

if [ -z "$MAIN_PWD" ]; then help "Environment variable MAIN_PWD is undefined"; fi
if [ -z "$MAIN_UID" ]; then help "Environment variable MAIN_UID is undefined"; fi

# Ensure $PATH_WITHOUT_EXT has no filetype
if [[ "$1" == *.jcl ]]; then
  PATH_WITHOUT_EXT="$( echo "$1" | rev | cut -f 2- -d '.' | rev )"
else
  PATH_WITHOUT_EXT="$1"
fi
JCL_FILE="$PATH_WITHOUT_EXT.jcl"
if [ ! -f "$JCL_FILE" ]; then help "JCL file '$JCL_FILE' does not exist."; fi

TABS="$( grep -oP '\t' < "$JCL_FILE" | wc -l )"
if [ "$TABS" != 0 ]; then help "JCL file '$JCL_FILE' contains $TABS tab characters"; fi

STEP_1_OUTPUT="$PATH_WITHOUT_EXT.jobinfo"
ASCII_FILE="$PATH_WITHOUT_EXT.ascii"
UTF8_FILE="$PATH_WITHOUT_EXT.txt"

if [ -f "$UTF8_FILE" ] && [ ! "$OVERWRITE" ]; then
  echo "Error: '$UTF8_FILE' already exists and the -f option was not specified. Aborting."
  exit 3
fi
rm -rf "$STEP_1_OUTPUT" "$ASCII_FILE" "$UTF8_FILE"

echo "Uploading '$JCL_FILE'"
# Send JCL in ASCII mode, not binary FTP mode (which is the default).
# The mainframe FTP server will translate the incoming ASCII ftp subcommands to EBCDIC
# and returns results in ASCII.
# The mainframe responses are saved in $STEP_1_OUTPUT, which will be parsed for the job number
# in the next step.
ftp ftp://$MAIN_UID:$MAIN_PWD@$MAIN_IP_OR_DOMAIN > "$STEP_1_OUTPUT" <<EOF
ascii
quote site filetype=jes
put $JCL_FILE
dir
bye
EOF
echo "Saved job run information as '$STEP_1_OUTPUT'"
# $STEP_1_OUTPUT might have contents similar to the following:
# MIKES01X  JOB01468  ACTIVE
# MIKES01S  JOB00373  OUTPUT    3 Spool Files
# MIKES01X  JOB00923  OUTPUT    3 Spool Files
# MIKES01X  JOB00926  OUTPUT    3 Spool Files
# MIKES01X  JOB01345  OUTPUT    4 Spool Files
# MIKES01X  JOB01462  OUTPUT    4 Spool Files
#
# Successive jobs have higher numbers.
# Job numbers wrap, but it takes a while before JOB99999 wraps to JOB00000.
# Some systems list oldest jobs first, others list newest jobs first.
# Sometimes the current job is listed as ACTIVE, sometimes not. Unclear how that works.

# Parse the job number from $STEP_1_OUTPUT, remove the leading 'JOB' and leading zeros,
# and use the parsed job number in the ftp 'get' subcommand below.
# First try looking for active jobs, then look at the complete job history if no active jobs were found
JOB_NUMBER="$( grep ACTIVE < "$STEP_1_OUTPUT" | grep -oP "JOB\K[\d]+" | sed 's/^0*//' | sort -n | tail -n 1 )"
if [ -z "$JOB_NUMBER" ]; then # There is no active job, so fetch the most recent job results instead
  JOB_NUMBER="$( grep -oP "JOB\K[\d]+" < "$STEP_1_OUTPUT" | sed 's/^0*//' | sort -n | tail -n 1 )"
fi
echo "Downloading JOB$JOB_NUMBER results as '${ASCII_FILE}'"
# Download the results of running the JCL in the first ftp session;
# the results from the mainframe are encoded in ASCII.
# All mainframe output files are concatenated together, with machine codes embedded.
# Each file is delimited by:
# !! END OF JES SPOOL FILE !!<U+0085>
ftp ftp://$MAIN_UID:$MAIN_PWD@$MAIN_IP_OR_DOMAIN <<EOF
ascii
quote site filetype=jes
get J${JOB_NUMBER} ${ASCII_FILE}
bye
EOF

echo "Writing final result to '$UTF8_FILE'"
# - Translate machine codes in "$ASCII_FILE" into UTF-8 equivalents
# - Save as "$UTF8_FILE"
sed -e "s/\x85/\f/g"     \
    -e "s/\x0B/\n/g"     \
    -e "s/\x13/\n\n/g"   \
    -e "s/\x1B/\n\n\n/g" \
    < "$ASCII_FILE" > "$UTF8_FILE"

# Potentially delete the intermediate .ascii and .jobinfo files
if [ "$DELETE_INTERMEDIATE" ]; then
  echo "Deleting $STEP_1_OUTPUT and $ASCII_FILE"
  rm -f "$STEP_1_OUTPUT" "$ASCII_FILE"
fi


read -n 1 -s -r -p "Press any key to view '$UTF8_FILE', or Control-C to terminate."
less "$UTF8_FILE"
😁

This script works quite well!



* indicates a required field.

Please select the following to receive Mike Slinn’s newsletter:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of emails.

Mike Slinn uses Mailchimp as his marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp’s privacy practices.