COBOL-IT Compiler Suite Quickstart Guide
This document describes how to install and how to use the COBOL-IT Compiler Suite.
Installing COBOL-IT
The COBOL-IT compiler cobc requires that a C Compiler be installed on the host platform.
For a complete port list, including C Compilers that have been tested and are supported, see Port List with Supported C Compilers.
Installing the binary distributions (Linux/Unix)
The COBOL-IT Linux/Unix 32-bit binary distributions are intended to be installed in
/opt/cobol-it4.
The COBOL-IT Linux/Unix 64-bit binary distributions are intended to be installed in
/opt/cobol-it4-64.
These are provided as gzipped tar files.
An example with a 32-bit Linux binary distribution:
As a root user, download the binaries that are compatible with your platform. From the folder in which the COBOL-IT binary is located:
Unzip/unpack the file:
#tar zxpf cobol-it-4.1.0-20181123-14-enterprise-32-i786-pc-linux-gnu.tar.gz -C /opt
This will unpack the distribution in /opt/cobol-it4.
Copy your license file to /opt-cobol-it4 (32-bit Linux/UNIX).
Copy your license file to /opt/cobol-it4-64 (64-bit Linux,UNIX).
Run the cobol-it-setup script to set all needed environment variables:
$ source /opt/cobol-it4/bin/cobol-it-setup.sh
$ . /opt/cobol-it/bin/cobol-it-setup.sh
Installing the binary distributions (Windows)
Click on the Windows-Setup executable to launch the setup. The Windows setup requires that you indicate which version of Visual Studio you have installed on your machine. If COBOL-IT does not detect the C compiler selected during installation on your Windows machine, it will return an error message.
After the setup is complete you will have a Quick Launch Shortcut, which will cause the setenv_cobolit.bat file to be executed when you open your command shell. Setenv_cobolit.bat sets all the environment variables needed to begin using the COBOL-IT Compiler Suite.
Citlicense.xml
By default, the citlicense.xml should be located in the installation directory.
Windows 32 C:\COBOL\COBOL-IT
Windows 64 C:\COBOL\COBOL-IT64
UNIX/Linux 32 /opt/cobol-it4
UNIX/Linux 64 /opt/cobol-it4-64
Compile and run hello.cbl
COBOL-IT creates compiles to a shared object format by default. Compiler with cobc and run with cobcrun.
>cobc hello.cbl
>cobcrun hello
Copy files
The COBOL-IT compiler can be directed to search for copy files in directories using the -I <dir> compiler flag. Default copy file extensions are .cpy, .cob, .cbl and [no extension]. If you have any other copy file extension, you should use the -ext [extension] compiler flag.
-ext <extension> Add file extension to list of default extensions
-I <directory> Add <directory> to copy/include search path
>cobc -I ./copy hello.cbl
CALL’ed programs
When you compile your source code, you probably will want to create the compiled objects in a separate directory, and run them from this separate directory. To create compiled objects in a separate directory, use the –o compiler flag.
>cobc –o ./object hello.cbl
To run shared objects from a separate directory, set the COB_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable. The COB_LIBRARY_PATH is the directory used by the runtime to locate share objects.
>export COB_LIBRARY_PATH=./object
Data files
Locate your data files using the COB_FILE_PATH runtime environment variable. The COB_FILE_PATH is the path to the data files used by the application.
>export COB_FILE_PATH=./data
Runtime error messages
Capture runtime error messages using the COB_ERROR_FILE runtime environment variable. The COB_ERROR_FILE is the file to which all runtime error messages are written that would otherwise be written to stderr.
>export COB_ERROR_FILE=coberr.txt
For details about all compiler flags and runtime environment variable, see the Compiler & Runtime Reference Manual.
Using the COBOL-IT Debugger
The COBOL-IT Debugger (cobcdb) runs shared object files that have been created by the COBOL-IT Compiler (cobc) and that have been compiled with the –g compiler flag. Run the COBOL-IT debugger from the command line with the command >cobcdb [program-name].
For example:
C:\COBOL\CobolIT\samples>cobcdb hello
Step through the code with the step command.
(cobcdb)
Terminate the debugging session with the stop command
(cobcdb)
For details about all of the COBOL-IT Debugger options and parameters, see the COBOL-IT Compiler & Runtime Reference Manual.
COBOL-IT E-Learning
For more information, please visit COBOL IT Resources for access to COBOL-IT’s E-Learning modules.