Introduction › How You Prevent Attribute Modification and PDS Directory Overwrites

How You Prevent Attribute Modification and PDS Directory Overwrites

You can use the EDIF attribute verification feature to prevent these common types of data set damage:

• Attribute damage that occurs when the attributes in the JCL of a job, on a TSO command, or in the data control block (DCB) of a program are different from those in the DSCB of the data set. Your libraries also can be damaged by attribute modification. If you specify the name of a source library that has a record format of FB on a //SYSLMOD DD statement in a LINK step, then the record format of the library is changed to U, making the library unusable.
• Overwrites to PDS directories that occur when a PDS is the target of a sequential output operation. This can happen if you forget to specify a member name for the output from an assembly program. The data set organization of the PDS is changed from partitioned to sequential, making the PDS directory unusable.

You can control exactly how EDIF handles attribute violations. If you want EDIF to detect violations for testing purposes, then you can record violations in a system management facilities (SMF) record and then use the EDIF SMF activity report to analyze statistics about attribute violations. You also can tell EDIF to abend programs to prevent attribute changes from occurring.

EDIF also lets you create lists of programs that are exempted from attribute verification. You can use these lists to identify programs that should not be checked by EDIF.