[Tiny-cobol-users] htcobrun - executing COBOL programs as modules

[David E. <de...@us...>]

Some users have inquired if TC has a feature, found on many COBOL
compilers (i.e. cobrun and runcbl), enabling users to run COBOL
(sub)programs as modules.

While a TC compiled COBOL program can use the 'CALL identifier ...'
statement to load and run a module, there was no special program.

A new program, called 'htcobrun', is now available on SF CVS in the
cobrun directory.

It enables TC COBOL (sub)programs, or modules, compiled with TC as
shared libraries (DLL's), to be dynamically loaded and run.

Example:
$htcobrun dyntest

Note that the (sub)programs, or module name, is the 'PROGRAM-ID' name,
not the actual shared library file name.
The actual file (shared library) may contain one or more modules.

Why use 'htcobrun' ?

The 'htcobrun' program can be compiled to fully include the full
run-time (static) library (Not currently available on MinGW version).
This approach yields substantial runtime performance improvements.

The COBOL (sub)programs can be built as shared libraries, which may
contain one or more modules, and are loaded and run dynamically.

Are there any problems in using this approach.

Currently, there is no support for passing 'LINKAGE SECTION' parameters
to sub-programs.

All comments and suggestions are welcomed.