The Natural nucleus is a collection of service programs such as memory administration, string handling, operating system interfaces, the compiler and the runtime environment which comprise the kernel of Natural. It is independent of the operating-system and the TP system.
The Natural nucleus consists of the environment-independent and the environment-dependent nucleus. The environment-independent nucleus can be used by several mainframe operating and TP systems. The environment-dependent nucleus contains components that depend on the operating and TP systems. For further information, see Natural Nucleus Components in the Installation for z/OS, Installation for BS2000 and Installation for z/VSE documentation.
This document describes the advantages of linking Natural objects to the Natural nucleus and provides information on how to proceed.
This section covers the following topics:
Linking Natural objects to the Natural nucleus provides the following benefits:
Better Performance
The objects are executed from the nucleus and not from the Natural buffer pool. This
saves space in the buffer pool and also results in fewer database calls. (If Natural
cataloged objects are not linked to the Natural nucleus, they are stored in a database
file, for example Adabas, and the actual code must be loaded from this file into the
buffer pool before it can be executed.)
Consistency
As an object which is linked to the Natural nucleus is always executed from the
nucleus, there is no effect if the cataloged object from which it was derived is
deleted or changed in the Natural system file. Thus, during each TP-monitor session,
the status of the object remains unchanged. A new version of an object which is linked
to the nucleus can be obtained by unloading it with ULDOBJ (see below),
relinking the new version to the Natural nucleus and refreshing the Natural module.
(Refreshing implies that a new copy of a module is loaded into the TP monitor
region.)
Global Error Handling
If a cataloged object fetches another program to handle errors (for example, by
using the Natural system variable *ERROR-TA), and the
error-handling program cannot be loaded into the buffer pool, the original error might
be missed and any subsequent error may mask the first error and lead to confusion. To
prevent this situation, you can link a user-written global error-handling program to
the nucleus.
You can use the ULDOBJ utility to link Natural cataloged objects to the
Natural nucleus. With the ULDOBJ utility, you generate an object module from
a Natural cataloged object and write it to a Natural work file. The generated object
module is then processed by the linkage editor and linked to the Natural nucleus.
Under z/OS and z/VSE: When an environment-independent Natural nucleus is used, the generated object module has to be linked to the environment-independent part of the nucleus.
To invoke the ULDOBJ utility
Log on to the library SYSMISC and issue the command
ULDOBJ.
15:49:39 ***** NATURAL OBJECT MAINTENANCE ***** 2012-02-13
User: XYZ - NATURAL ULDOBJ UTILITY - Library: SYSMISC
Opsys .. z/OS
Specify parameters below ....
Object ...... ________ (Enter '.' to exit)
Library ..... SYSMISC_
OP System ... z/OS____
|
Specify and confirm the following parameters:
Object |
The name of the cataloged object to be processed. The object can be a program, subprogram, subroutine, helproutine or map. | ||||||
Library |
The name of the library containing the cataloged object. | ||||||
OP System |
The name of the operating system for which the object module is to be
generated. (Different operating systems have different rules to which the
object module must conform.) The name of the operating system must be one of
the following:
|
For each object processed, the ULDOBJ utility displays a report
containing the following information:
the object type (Program, Subprogram, Subroutine, Helproutine, Map, Adapter); see Objects for Natural Application Management in the Programming Guide.
the name of the cataloged object processed;
the programming mode (S = structured mode, R = reporting mode);
the name of the library containing the cataloged object;
the name of the operating system for which the object deck was generated;
the size of the cataloged object and optimized code (if applicable);
the Natural version of the cataloged object (see Version in the Glossary);
statistics about the last cataloging of the object, including user and terminal IDs.
ULDOBJ prompts for another object and library after the data from the
initial input have been processed. The operating system is not requested, because it
does not make sense to generate object modules for more than one operating system
for the same Natural work file.
To terminate the ULDOBJ utility
After the last cataloged object has been processed, enter a "." in the first input field (Object) and press ENTER.
The generated object module conforms to the format of the specified operating system. It is in relocatable format with non-executable code and consists of:
an external symbol directory (ESD),
a relocation dictionary (RLD),
text with the instructions and data corresponding to the program,
an END statement
(end-of-module indicator for the load module).
The generated object module is written to a Natural work file, which is used as
input to a linkage editor. (Depending on the operating system, it may be better to
use ULDOBJ in batch mode.)
The generated object module must be processed by the linkage editor of the
corresponding operating system before the code is executable as a load module (see
the example given below). Each load module is valid once it is linked to
the Natural nucleus and defined by an NTSTAT entry definition in the Natural configuration
module NATCONFG (see Natural
Configuration Tables).
Once a cataloged object has been unloaded by the ULDOBJ utility and linked
to the Natural nucleus, the cataloged object can be deleted from the Natural system
file.
However, this is not true for an object of type "subroutine". A subroutine has two names:
the name specified in the statements PERFORM and DEFINE SUBROUTINE and
the name of the object that contains the DEFINE SUBROUTINE
statement.
Natural internally associates these two names, but this is possible only if the cataloged object still exists on the Natural system file. If the cataloged object were deleted, this association would be lost and the subroutine linked to the nucleus would not be executable.
The object module is generated in different ways, according to the operating system. These differences are listed below.
| Platform | Requirement |
|---|---|
| z/OS | A NAME control statement is generated as the last card of the
object module. It specifies the replace function. For example: NAME TEST (R)
|
| z/VSE | The object module(s) will be in LIBR format. A
CATALOG control statement is generated as the first card and a
"/*" as the last card of the object module. For example: CATALOG TEST.OBJ REPLACE-YES ... ... object module ... /+
When the |
| BS2000 | The object module(s) will be in LMS format. An ADD
control statement is generated as the first card and an END statement as the last card of
the object module. For example: ADDR >TEST ... ... object module ... END When the If multiple cataloged objects are unloaded during execution of the utility, the object decks are appended to each other. |
If, for example, the objects LOGPROG and EDITPROG in the
library SYSLIB are to be linked to the Natural nucleus, the following steps
could be taken:
Identify the cataloged objects to be linked.
Object Library -------------- -------------- LOGPROG SYSLIB EDITPROG SYSLIB
Set up the batch Natural job stream. Assuming a z/OS environment, include the following cards:
//CMWKF01 DD DSN=ULD.NAT.PGMS,UNIT=SYSDA,DISP=(,KEEP), // SPACE=(CYL,(3,1),,RLSE),VOL=SER=VVVVVV, // DCB=(RECFM=FB,BLKSIZE=800,LRECL=80) //CMSYNIN DD * LOGON SYSMISC ULDOBJ LOGPROG,SYSLIB,OS EDITPROG,SYSLIB . FIN /*
Set up the linkage editor job stream.
//JOBCARD JOB (ACCTING),CLASS=A,MSGCLASS=X //* //* GENERATE OS LOAD MODULE FROM ULDOBJ UTILITY //* //LINK1 EXEC PGM=IEWL,PARM='LIST,LET,XREF,NCAL,RENT,REUS' //SYSLMOD DD DSN=NATURAL.USER.LOAD,DISP=SHR //SYSUT1 DD UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(1024,(200,20)) //SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=X //SYSLIN DD DSN=NAT.ULD.PGMS,DISP=OLD,UNIT=SYSDA,VOL=SER=VVVVVV /*
This step places the load modules LOGPROG and EDITPROG in
the NATURAL.USER.LOAD data set.
With an additional link-edit job, these modules can be linked together as a single load module before being linked to the nucleus in Step 5.
//JOBCARD JOB (ACCTING),CLASS=A,MSGCLASS=X //* //* OPTIONAL JOB TO LINK CATALOGED OBJECTS TOGETHER //* //LINK2 EXEC PGM=IEWL,PARM='LIST,LET,XREF,NCAL,RENT,REUS' //SYSLMOD DD DSN=NATURAL.USER.LOAD,DISP=SHR //SYSUT1 DD UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(1024,(200,20)) //SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=X //SYSLIN DD * INCLUDE SYSLMOD(LOGPROG) LOGON NATURAL PGM INCLUDE SYSLMOD(EDITPROG) EDITOR NATURAL PGM NAME XXXXXX(R) /*
Define the statically linked Natural programs in source module NATCONFG
in the NSTATIC table for linked Natural programs:
NTSTAT INPL,TYPE=W NTSTAT INPLLIB,TYPE=W NTSTAT AERROR,TYPE=W NTSTAT LOGPROG <==== your entries NTSTAT EDITPROG <====
TYPE=W means that a "weak" external reference to the
specified program is generated rather than a normal one.
Review the linkage editor job stream for the Natural nucleus and include the following:
//* //* INCLUDE DDNAME AND DSN OF DATASET WHERE OBJECTS RESIDE //* //SYSLMOD DD DSN=NATURAL.USER.LOAD,DISP=SHR //NATLIB DD DSN=NATURAL.USER.LOAD,DISP=SHR//* //SYSLIN DD* ... ... INCLUDE MODULES FOR NUCLEUS ... INCLUDE NATLIB(nat-parm-module) NATURAL PARAMETER MODULE INCLUDE SYSLMOD(LOGPROG) LOGON NATURAL PGM INCLUDE SYSLMOD(EDITPROG) EDITOR NATURAL PGM ... ... INCLUDE ENTRY AND NAME CARDS ... /*
nat-parm-module represents the name of the
Natural parameter module.
If the cataloged objects were linked together (as done optionally in Step 3), include this load module instead of the individual load modules in the link of the nucleus.