Reasons for allocation errors when copying files

If another job allocates a member with too strong a lock state, the copy operation might end with an error message. This is also true if the library containing the file is renamed during the copy operation.

When a copy command runs, the to-file might be locked (similar to an *EXCL lock with no time-out) so that no access is possible. Any attempt to use a function that must touch the to-file locks up the workstation until the copy command completes. For instance, you should not use the following functions on a to-file that you are copying:

   WRKACTJOB
      Option 11 (Work with Locks)
      Option 5  (Work with Job Member Locks)
      Option 8  (Work with Object Locks)
   DSPDBR
   DSPFD
   DSPFFD
   WRKJOB
      Option 12 (Work with Locks, if active)
      Option  5 (Work with Job Member Locks)
      F10 (Display Open Files, if active)
   WRKLIB
      The library containing the to-file
   DSPLIB
      The library containing the to-file
   WRKOBJLCK
   WRKRCDLCK

If you want to display any information about a to-file, you must anticipate the requirement and force the copy command to use block record-at-a-time operations by specifying ERRLVL(1).

If you anticipate that problems might arise because of this, you can preallocate the files and members using the Allocate Object (ALCOBJ) command.