The DCB for Earl SYSEARL can vary depending on the OPTION PRINTER=nnn. How can I determine the DCB?
EARL
The DCB for SYSEARL can be a bit tricky.
If no DCB is specified, the LRECL is dependent upon the OPTION PRINTER=nnn size.
The PRINTER=nnn is limited to 216.
If no DBC is specified, the RECFM will default to FA.
When FA, the LRECL is PRINTER nnn+1 to accommodate the carriage control character.
You can allocate SYSEARL with LRECL greater than the PRINTER=nnn size (maximum of 216) but the actual formatted print line will be the size of the PRINTER=nnn value.
The resulting RECFM will be FA or FBA.
While FA is the default, FBA will result when you provide full DCB of RECFM, LRECL, and BLKSIZE. RECFM FB, VB, or VBA will be overridden by Earl.
There is a special APAR LS67896 which will allow you to specify BLKSIZE=0. Since this is a "custom" APAR, it is not sourced into Earl Service or Earl products and you would have to SMP/E RESTORE and re-apply LS677896 for each new service pack of Earl Service in Common Components and Services or Earl.
A series of tests were run to illustrate the results using various DCB.
In the following chart, the Test Name can be interpreted as:
LnnnDEF test with OPTION PRINTER=nnn and allowing SYSEARL DCB to default. Lnnnxxx test with OPTION PRINTER=nnn and SYSEARL allocated with DCB=(RECFM=xxx,LRECL=nnn,BLKSIZE=0) ZnnnDEF test with APAR LS67896 and OPTION PRINTER=nnn and allowing SYSEARL DCB to default. Znnnxxx same tests as Lnnnxxx with APAR LS67896 applied. Note, the only difference was when FBA not specified. Test Name DSORG RECFM LRECL BLKSIZE --------------------------------------------------- L090DEF PS FA 91 91 L090FA PS FA 90 90 L090FB PS FBA 90 27990 L090FBA PS FBA 90 27990 L090VA PS FBA 90 27990 L090VB PS FBA 90 27990 L090VBA PS FBA 90 27990 L216FA PS FA 216 216 L216FB PS FBA 216 27864 L216FBA PS FBA 216 27864 L216VA PS FBA 216 27864 L216VB PS FBA 216 27864 L216VBA PS FBA 216 27864 Z090DEF PS FBA 91 27937 Z090FA PS FBA 90 27990 Z090FB PS FBA 90 27990 Z090FBA PS FBA 90 27990 Z090VA PS FBA 90 27990 Z090VB PS FBA 90 27990 Z090VBA PS FBA 90 27990 Z216FA PS FBA 216 27864 Z216FB PS FBA 216 27864 Z216FBA PS FBA 216 27864 Z216VA PS FBA 216 27864 Z216VB PS FBA 216 27864 Z216VBA PS FBA 216 27864