Skip to Main Content
IBM Z Software


This portal is to open public enhancement requests against IBM Z Software products. To view all of your ideas submitted to IBM, create and manage groups of Ideas, or create an idea explicitly set to be either visible by all (public) or visible only to you and IBM (private), use the IBM Unified Ideas Portal (https://ideas.ibm.com).


Shape the future of IBM!

We invite you to shape the future of IBM, including product roadmaps, by submitting ideas that matter to you the most. Here's how it works:

Search existing ideas

Start by searching and reviewing ideas and requests to enhance a product or service. Take a look at ideas others have posted, and add a comment, vote, or subscribe to updates on them if they matter to you. If you can't find what you are looking for,

Post your ideas
  1. Post an idea.

  2. Get feedback from the IBM team and other customers to refine your idea.

  3. Follow the idea through the IBM Ideas process.


Specific links you will want to bookmark for future use

Welcome to the IBM Ideas Portal (https://www.ibm.com/ideas) - Use this site to find out additional information and details about the IBM Ideas process and statuses.

IBM Unified Ideas Portal (https://ideas.ibm.com) - Use this site to view all of your ideas, create new ideas for any IBM product, or search for ideas across all of IBM.

ideasibm@us.ibm.com - Use this email to suggest enhancements to the Ideas process or request help from IBM for submitting your Ideas.

ADD A NEW IDEA

COBOL Compilers

Showing 280

Request for enhancement for COBOL

Hi, We would like a warning when an “indexed by” index is used on arrays other than the one it is defined on, when that other array has a different picture clause. Regards Rune Christensen Senior Software Developer Bankdata
over 5 years ago in COBOL Compilers 3 Future consideration

Host-variable in File Section : DSNH310I W with Db2 preprocessor (passing) vs IGYPS0231-S with integrated coprocessor (blocking)

Hi, We study the transition from the Db2 preprocessor to the Db2 coprocessor integrated into the COBOL compiler. We come across cases of programs that use hosts-variables which are file record areas. The Db2 preprocessor simply emits a warning and...
about 1 year ago in COBOL Compilers / z/OS 5 Not under consideration

Enterprise Cobol V6+ - Disable RULES controls locally

Hi, The RULES compilation option allows to perform compile-time checks on the proper use of data formats. We have activated the RULES compilation option to educate our developers on the proper use of data formats, and we are satisfied with it. How...
over 1 year ago in COBOL Compilers / z/OS 4 Future consideration

PROGRAM-ID special register

A "PROGRAM-ID" special register should be usefull for writing diagnostic routines in Cobol programs. Alternative : an intrinsic function returning "PROGRAM-ID" and others informations about runtime context. Thanks. Denis
over 6 years ago in COBOL Compilers 2 Not under consideration

SYSMDECK: Flag Begin and End of COBOL code which has been included by COPY or EXEC SQL INCLUDE

In SYSMDECK output of the new COBOL compiler (V5), we see all COBOL code, which has been included to the source by COBOL COPY or EXEC SQL INCLUDE.The orginal COPY statement is modified to a comment and could be considered as BEGIN of copied code -...
about 11 years ago in COBOL Compilers 8 Not under consideration

COBOL5: extended DIAGTRUNC feature for detecting variables size mismatch

COBOL 5 behaves differently than in previous versions, in some scanarios, as in the following case: - Programs that move data to and from data items that at run time contain values not conforming to the PICTURE clause in the data description entry...
over 9 years ago in COBOL Compilers 13 Not under consideration

IBM Enterprise COBOL V6+ - Improve documentation of the DATE-TO-YYYYMMDD / DAY-TO-YYYYMMDD intrinsic functions

Hi, The samples given in the documentation of the intrinsic function DATE-TO-YYYYMMDD all correspond to the same use case: the year of argument-1 is greater than or equal to the start year, (without a century), of the interval, therefore it is the...
8 months ago in COBOL Compilers / z/OS 1 Future consideration

Implement: 01 var1 LIKE var2.

Often variables are defined in copybooks or DCLGEN copybooks. There are times when the definition in that copybook changes slightly and it would be nice if a developer could simply rely on the compiler to use the picture of the copybook variable a...
over 1 year ago in COBOL Compilers / z/OS 4 Future consideration

IBM Enterprise COBOL V6+ - Conditional compilation variable to reflect status of ADV/NOADV compilation option

Hi, Depending on the ADV / NOADV compilation option chosen, the way of describing the record area of a report file is different: ADV option: the printer control character must not be described NOADV option: the printer control character must be ...
9 months ago in COBOL Compilers / z/OS 2 Future consideration

provide a COBOL cross-compile environment for Linux on System z target

provide a way to generate program objects that can run under Linux on system z, e.g. by adding compiler option specifying target [operating system=SUSE|RedHat, architecture, addressing environment]
over 11 years ago in COBOL Compilers 5 Not under consideration