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Created by Guest
Created on Jan 5, 2023

z/OS Python set AUTOCVT/AUTOTAG only when using the python command

IBM® Open Enterprise SDK for Python was originally written for ASCII platform, the code is ported to the z/OS environment. Automatic code conversion is needed to get it working.

Therefore the AUTOCVT and AUTOTAG environment variables have to be set. If you provide Python to all users you would set this globally.

However this is not recommended by IBM: setting AUTOCVT to on means that all programs can read and get data converted and setting autocvt will cause new files to be tagged with the character set. It includes a performance penalty and can cause unexpected results. These recommendations are described in several IBM manuals, e.g. MVS Initialization and Tuning Reference

The installation manual of z/OS Python describes the setting of the variables but does not warn it should not be set in the global profile.

The z/OS Python development team should implement a way to only set these variables when the Python command is used, and probably unset them afterwards.

Idea priority High