Re: Micro Focus COBOL runtime, /clr:pure, etc.

Pete,
I think there is a difference between
- compiling to native code
and
- compiling to native code and INCLUDING all vendor-supplied subroutines in a
"linkable" and/or freely distributable format.

I think the former is and has always been true (an option) for Micro Focus (or
at least since COBOL Level 2 - or whatever that was called).

The latter *was* supported for many years, but is no longer true (and hasn't
been for many years).

And, of course, all of this is slightly different from whether Micro Focus
provides a ".net" product that produces code that can be run under the Net
Framework without any additional non-MS run-time support.

I think that Matt would like there to be an option for using the .NET product to
produce output "code" that can be run wherever CLR is available (with nothing
licensed from Micro Focus). It is my understanding (but I would certainly yield
to Michael on this one) that no such option is available or in the current Micro
Focus business plan.

--
Bill Klein
wmklein <at> ix.netcom.com
"Pete Dashwood" <dashwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:708vp6Fngrv7U1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Michael Wojcik wrote:
Pete Dashwood wrote:

Oddly enough, MicroFocus COBOL in its earliest incarnations (16 bit)
DID compile to native code.

And still does, if you want it to. Compiling to native code is
independent of runtime requirements.

So, I could buy NE, compile everything I write to native code, distribute it,
and NOT have to pay runtime fees?

One last technical question. When working with other languages, the
command line arguments for the compiler are displayed in Visual
Studio's project properties. Does the Micro Focus add-in provide
this feature somewhere?

You know, I don't think it does. But in Project Properties | Build |
Output you can enable Generate Directives File, which will create a
file with all of the compiler directives used to compile that project.
The contents of that file are the compiler configuration, in effect,
and you can use it to compile on the command line. (Of course, you can
always use msbuild for that purpose, too.)

Next you'll be asking for IntelliSense... :-)

That would be silly, since IntelliSense is already in MF .NET COBOL.

I wasn't talking about .NET COBOL... :-)


I would suggest to you that you migrate what you have to a different
COBOL platform. Fujitsu has everything Micro Focus has

NetCOBOL for .NET has support for delegates and events now? Does it
have the streamlined .NET syntax extensions? "instance of" and "type
of" operators? Full support for properties, including implicit getters
and setters? Operator overloading? Value types?

I've no idea, Michael. I don't use it. My comment was intended for the
standard COBOL compiler and reflected the fact that both Micro Focus and
Fujitsu support OO code.

Maybe it does. I haven't looked at it recently.

Technically, you probably have violated the Micro Focus Runtime
agreement,

I don't believe so.

Well, that's good news... :-)

Your options are probably to either pay the licence or migrate the
code. You really should not continue using their software without a
licence.

Matt has a license. He's using Net Express with .NET Personal Edition;
by installing that, he accepted the license that comes with it. That
allows him to use the product for personal use, and as far as I can
see, that's all he's done so far.

The Personal Edition EULA does forbid using the product for "teaching
or training", but I believe that refers only to formal teaching -
leading a class - and not to, say, posting small COBOL programs online
where they may incidentally prove informative to readers.

If he were redistributing the MF runtime assemblies, or selling
anything he created with Personal Edition, or running formal classes,
then he'd be in violation.

Thanks for clarifying this, Michael.

As it stands, I know a number of us here at MF have looked at the
"COBOL the Barbarian" pages on codeplex and at
cobol.tech.officelive.com, and I haven't heard any concerns about
licensing.

Pete.

--
"I used to write COBOL...now I can do anything."



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Micro Focus COBOL runtime, /clr:pure, etc.
    ... DID compile to native code. ... since IntelliSense is already in MF .NET COBOL. ... He's using Net Express with .NET Personal Edition; ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)
  • Re: MF COBOL - Is it hard to learn?
    ... you don't need to use the Micro Focus development ... interface in order to compile Micro Focus source code. ... If your question has to do with what the differences are in source code ... There is a COBOL Standard. ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)
  • Re: Using Python for programming algorithms
    ... You may compile C ... compiling it to native code wouldn't buy you much in terms of raw ... here's how to compile RPython to native code: ... My suggestion was to use code suitable for optimization (not ...
    (comp.lang.python)
  • Re: Micro Focus COBOL runtime, /clr:pure, etc.
    ... MicroFocus COBOL in its earliest incarnations DID ... Compiling to native code is ... file with all of the compiler directives used to compile that project. ... He's using Net Express with .NET Personal Edition; ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)
  • Re: Compiling Delphi .NET to native/asm ?
    ... Yes, it does compile to the native code of platform you are running it at, ... There are specialised programs for decompiling delphi application like DeDe, ...
    (alt.comp.lang.borland-delphi)