IBM CMS dumpfile idiocy

Chuck Guzis cclist at sydex.com
Wed Dec 16 12:08:16 CST 2015


On 12/16/2015 07:57 AM, Paul Koning wrote:

> IBM standard labels are older than ANSI.  Then again, IBM (in OS/360
> at least) had something they called "ANSI label" that were not
> actually ANSI at all.  They used "8 bit ASCII" which was a bizarre
> code created from standard 7 bit ASCII by moving one or two of the
> bits (bit 6 to bit 7?  I don't remember).

Then there's 6 bit ASCII/USASCII.  I was trying to avoid using jargon 
that some would not understand.  I'm quite familiar with IBM EBCDIC "SL" 
tape labels.

My point was that the CMS dumpfile tape isn't even a standard labeled 
tape.  It just starts out with the first block of data and ends with a 
double filemark.  No standard labels anywhere.  Any non-CMS system would 
not know what the heck the thing was.

--Chuck


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