IBM Mainframe Forum

Hi,
I have got a situation where some cobol module source codes are missing. We have only executable files to run the jobs. Is there any way to get the source code using the executable files?

Regards
Rahul

As a general rule of thumb, it is not possible to recover source code from executable code. There are some exceptions to this rule (such as when something like Xpediter makes a copy of the source during the compilation process for debugging), but those exceptions are usually well understood in advance. Reasons for this include assembler code changes due to optimization, loss of variable names, loss of record and group identifiers, and loss of procedure names.

I believe that it's been mentioned elsewhere, which came about as a result of Y2K, that there are companies that can perform this process with some level of success.

Thanks for response. Our code is micro-focus cobol modules.

Hello and welcome to the forum,

Well, source is typically source.

When i've worked with Micro-Focus COBOL, the source has been stored away from the mainframe.

Where have you looked for the source?

Thanks Dick scherrer ..It's a new system which we got access recently and we are just exploring it right now.

Hello,

If this new system is from some vendor, it is most likely that they do not intend to share their source. . .

Check with www.source-recovery.com.

They've been recovering Cobol source code since 1994.

Hello,

Something to consider is that in many cases it is illegal to "reverse engineer" from a purchased/leased executable to source. . .

Hello -

First, there are always a few modules at any shop, that do not have the source code. Source code recovery is a project in itself. There's no magic by which you get the source back. It turns out that the company I worked for, did outsource this work to one such firm with source-code recovery expertise. We all had our load-modules(and dbrms) shipped to them in the xmi format over e-mail. After months, they sent us the source code, and I was happy.

This is not just a mainframes-centric phenomenon. I once had my manager, pull his hair out when they had lost the source-code of a few DLLs, of an application on MS Windows platform, and the client had asked for a small change.

Thank you very much.