ENDEVOR PACKAGES

    ENDEVOR packages are used move code from stage “U”to “P” (UAT to Production. The ENDEVOR TSO ID TS51NDR has the authority to move code into PRODUCTION as long as it has the appropriate approvals.  The reason packages are named "PR", is to control what LPAR they are executed on. The "PR" packages are executed on the "A" LPAR . This is important because of DB/2 binds. "PR" packages will only successfully bind DB01 binds because the DB/2 catalog for the DB01 subsystem is located on the "A" LPAR. .
    Packages are not necessary to move code from "3" to "U" because there are no authorizations needed. While logged on the "W" LPAR you can place an "O" next to the member in QuickEDIT and a job will be submitted to move the code. If you have more than one element to move you can use the BATCH function to move as many elements as need be moved. This is a more efficient way of moving code because you are in control and do not have to wait for the ZEEK/ENDEVOR package initiator to execute every 20 minutes or so.

CASTING ERRORS

    When a package is cast it will perform a mock move and give you all of the errors that you would have seen if you had done the move. It also gives warnings. One warning it will always give, when moving code to PRODUCTION is an authorization warning. This is because your TSO ID is doing the cast and is not authorized to move to production. This is ok because when the actual move is made TS51NDR will be the ID doing the move and it is authorized.
     The majority of the errors that appear in the cast report are "SYNC" errors. When a "SYNC" error occurs it is probably because of a version discrepancy. When you get a "SYNC" error you should verify there is no problem and then turn the  "SYNC" option on and re-CAST the package.

Synchronization of Source Code

When creating an ENDEVOR/PACKAGE the Synchronization default value is "N". The "N" specifies ENDEVOR will not SYNC up the code when it is moved to the next stage. This is ENDEVOR working as designed. It saves only the member changes in the DELTA file when saving a next version of an NDVR dataset member. When SYNC=Y, ENDEVOR saves a full version delta and should only be used when a Synchronization error is detected.  If SYNC=Y is used as default it would cause a problem. The DELTA file would become larger than the actual NDVR dataset.

Synchronization errors are detected during the CASTING of the package. They are usually caused by a discrepancy in the version numbers or could be a high percentage of differences in the code from old version and the new version. Before SYNC=Y should be used the reason for the error should be determined and resolved. This is done by using the ENDEVOR/PDM compare facility (O.O.L;2).

The ENDEVOR/PDM compare facility will display differences in the code and let you merge any changes needed. The newly merged version can then be put into a separate package with SYNC=Y and then reCAST, APPROVED and MOVED to Production.