Exit 6 gets control of a job for every converter/interpreter text record that is created, and it also gets control of a job at the end of conversion processing to perform any final processing. Because Exit 6 is called directly out of the subtask, it is running in the JES2 SUBTASK execution environment. This environment is similar to the USER environment, except that register 11 is the HCT address in the SUBTASK environment.

In z/OS 2.1, this same processing cannot be run in the JES2CI address space. This processing will not run in the SUBTASK environment because it cannot access the HCT in private storage. When this processing is done in the JES2CI address space, it must be run in the USER environment where register 11 points to the HCT.

In z/OS 2.1, Exit 6 cannot be called when processing is done in the JES2CI address space. USER environment Exit 60 is called instead, at the same point in job processing that Exit 6 is called in the JES2 address space.

If your exit 6 routine only involves passing data areas on to the interface, your exit 6 does not require changes for z/OS 2.1. However, if your exit 6 accesses fields in the converter DTE that have been moved to the CIWORK data area, you must change your references to these fields. All fields names have been updated consistently. The address of the CIWORK data area is passed to Exits 6 and 60.

If you use Exit 6 to create an Exit 60, you must update your Exit 60 routine to reference fields in the JES2CI address space instead of in JES2 private storage. If your data areas are locally-defined, they might also require being relocated to common storage (31 or 64 bit) or to a data space. If they are data areas that are owned by JES2, check to see if they have already been copied to an accessible data area that you can use.

In z/OS 2.1, both Exit 6 and Exit 60 include a new XPL data area, which is passed to the exit in register 2. This standardizes the method for accessing fields that are passed to these exits by using field names instead of hardcoded offsets. This also allows you to determine if your routine is being called as an Exit 6 or an Exit 60.

The sample Exit 60 (HASX60B) that is provided in z/OS 2.1 is an example of how to use a single USER environment routine for both Exit 6 and Exit 60. It includes one example Exit 6 that switches to the USER environment and calls a specific Exit 60 routine. A second example Exit 6 switches to the USER environment and uses the $EXIT facility to invoke all the Exit 60 routines that are defined. Both example exits provide a single routine which performs both Exit 6 and Exit 60 functions.