Defer allocation of working files until they are used

[FALLAI-Denis]

Hi,

The working files necessary for the build are allocated at the start of the process without even knowing if they will be used. If we declare several "languages" in zAppbuild, all the files of all these "languages" are allocated, while the build will probably not use them all, in particular during a userBuild which often only processes a single element and therefore a single “language”.

The allocation of working files should be deferred until they are used:

• at least by "language": it is either the triggering of the build script which must allocate the working files necessary for this "language", or the fact that the "language" was identified during the analysis of the elements to be built
• if possible by "element": in the same "language" there can be build variants, and therefore work files specific to these variables, such as for example a load library dedicated to batch programs and a load library dedicated to CICS or IMS programs, just like a program doing Db2 access needs a DBRM file which will not be necessary for a program not doing Db2 access

Thanks

[dennis-behm]

Hi @FALLAI-Denis,

the allocation is done inside the language scripts. If you only build a COBOL file (let's say via User Build), then only the necessary datasets for the COBOL compilation are created.

See: https://github.com/IBM/dbb-zappbuild/blob/a719842f8b9738133e375eaade8497289c30fc05/languages/Cobol.groovy#L22-L24

Today, zAppBuild does not have the capability to store outputs in dedicated libs for CICS or IMS. Therefore I believe the feature you are asking for already exists. Would you agree with that?

Dennis