Authorized Program Analysis Report

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An APAR (Authorized Program Analysis Report) [1] (pronounced A-PAR, rhymes with far) is an IBM designation of a document intended to identify situations that could result in potential problems. It also serves as a request for the correction of a defect in current releases of IBM-supplied programs.

Contents

The Process

"Occasionally" [2] IBM software has a bug.

Once it has been ascertained that the situation has not been caused by problems in third-party hardware or software or the user's configuration errors, IBM support staff, if they suspect that a defect in a current release of an IBM program is the cause, will file a formal report confirming the existence of an issue. In addition to confirming the existence of an issue, APARs include information on known workarounds, information on whether a formal fix is scheduled to be included in future releases, and whether or not a Program Temporary Fix (PTF) is planned. [2]

Documenting the problem

IBM has a program to facilitate documenting the problem. [3] [4]

Solution levels

There are at least 2 levels of fix: [5]

Program temporary fix or Product temporary fix (PTF), sometimes depending on date, is the standard IBM terminology for a single bug fix, or group of fixes, distributed in a form ready to install for customers. Customers sometime explain the acronym in a tongue-in-cheek manner as permanent temporary fix or more practically probably this fixes, because they have the option to make the PTF a permanent part of the operating system if the patch fixes the problem.

A PTF is a permanent correction with respect to the VRM (Version, Release, Modification) level of the product to which it is applicable, and is a temporary fix in the sense that the problem correction will temporarily be available as a permanent fix, and later will be incorporated into the product base code, and will thereby no longer be a fix, although the associated PTF and/or APAR numbers will, as a rule, be included in the source documentation associated with the ensuing base code update.

System Improvement/Difficulty Report

SIDR was Xerox's acronym, covering APAR and PTF.

The acronym referred to: System Improvement / Difficulty Report. [9]

System Improvement Request

SIR (System Improvement Request) is a terminology that Digital Equipment Corporation used, much as Xerox used SIDR. [10]

Digital Equipment Corporation, using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1950s to the 1990s.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Authorized program analysis reports".
  2. 1 2 "Issues with Cognos and other IBM software can arise from configuration errors, problems in third-party hardware or software, and occasionally, because of a bug in the IBM product itself." "IBM Support – Authorized Program Analysis Reports". AmitechSolutions.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-08. Retrieved 2017-12-07.
  3. ↑ "An authorized program analysis report (APAR) is an IBM-supplied program that allows you to create a diskette file or a tape file. The file contains information from your system to help software service representatives to correct programming problems." "Using authorized program analysis reports".
  4. ↑ There is no date atop this document, which does not mention eMail options.
  5. ↑ "An APAR fix is usually replaced later by a permanent correction called a PTF." Ebbers, Mike; Kettner, John; O'Brien, Wayne; Ogden, Bill (2012). Introduction to the New Mainframe: z/OS Basics (PDF). ISBN   0738435341.
  6. ↑ "PTF - Permanent Temporary Fix (humor)". AcronymFinder.com.
  7. ↑ "Diff between PTF,APAR,INTERMFIX". August 7, 2011.
  8. ↑ Gabe Goldberg (June 12, 2013). "IBM's APAR process provides the tools for dealing with software issues". destinationz.org (MSP TechMedia).
  9. ↑ "Xerox Program Availability List" (PDF).
  10. ↑ "The Emacs text editing program for VAX/VMS". Tech Insider. October 1984. ... taken from VAX System Improvement Request F83-33. ... DEC should ...
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