Date: Tue, 4 May 2010 10:31:02 -0400
Reply-To: Mike Rhoads <RHOADSM1@WESTAT.COM>
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From: Mike Rhoads <RHOADSM1@WESTAT.COM>
Subject: Re: Incompatibilities between SAS versions
In-Reply-To: <037AB3FF38D44C4BAFB5DFF3D06B57BA4190FEC2@EX-CMS01.westat.com>
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Also on the PDF front, there was an excellent paper presented last month at SAS Global Forum, Getting the Right Report (Again): Your Compatibility Guide for ODS.pdf 9.2 by Scott Huntley and Bari Lawhorn of SAS.
http://support.sas.com/resources/papers/proceedings10/035-2010.pdf
And a general trick I picked up somewhere -- when searching the SAS Notes, try specifying the keyword "sascompat".
Mike Rhoads
RhoadsM1@Westat.com
-----Original Message-----
From: SAS(r) Discussion [mailto:SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Michael Raithel
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2010 8:29 AM
To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Incompatibilities between SAS versions
Dear SAS-L-ers,
Jim Groeneveld posted the following:
> Hi friends,
>
> We may expect that the different SAS versions are always downwards
> compatible.
> Yet I would like to know whether there is a list of incompatibilities
> if any.
> I am thinking of:
> - different defaults;
> - different reaction to coding errors;
> - outdated features (procedures, statements);
> - different (unsupported) dataset and catalog formats.
>
> In particular I am interested in incompatibilities between vs 9.2[.x]
> and
> 9.1[.3], between 9.1[.3] and other 9.1 versions, between 9.1[.3] and
> 8.2,
> between 8.2 and 6.12. How about vs 9.0[.x]? In all cases, how should
> code be
> adapted to obtain the same results?
>
Jim, very interesting thread idea! I realize that you are talking about in-language incompatibilities, but here are two "incompatibilities" that took us by surprise here at SAS Mecca:
1. PDF files created using the Output Delivery System (ODS) in SAS 9.2 end up being much larger than those created by the same code executed in SAS 9.1.3. This happens because SAS now embeds a number of fonts into PDF's. There are two SAS Notes about this phenomena and how you can address it:
SAS Support Usage Note 34277 http://support.sas.com/kb/34/277.html
SAS Support Usage Note 31474 (http://support.SAS.com/kb/31/474.html
2. The directory structure for SAS 9.2 TS2M2 (M2) changed from that of SAS 9.2 TS2M0 (M0) for Windows Client/Server installs. This necessitates a COMPLETE REINSTALL of SAS 9.2 in order to apply the M2 maintenance release to SAS 9.2:-( The same will be true for SAS Windows Client/Server sites that need to upgrade from M2 to M3 when it comes out in... say June. We decided to chuck the whole Windows Client/Server paradigm and go to local installs.
I will be interested in reading what other 'L-ers have to write in this thread!
Jim, best of luck in all of your SAS endeavors!
I hope that this suggestion proves helpful now, and in the future!
Of course, all of these opinions and insights are my own, and do not reflect those of my organization or my associates. All SAS code and/or methodologies specified in this posting are for illustrative purposes only and no warranty is stated or implied as to their accuracy or applicability. People deciding to use information in this posting do so at their own risk.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Michael A. Raithel
"The man who wrote the book on performance"
E-mail: MichaelRaithel@westat.com
Author: Tuning SAS Applications in the MVS Environment
Author: Tuning SAS Applications in the OS/390 and z/OS Environments, Second Edition
http://www.sas.com/apps/pubscat/bookdetails.jsp?catid=1&pc=58172
Author: The Complete Guide to SAS Indexes
http://www.sas.com/apps/pubscat/bookdetails.jsp?catid=1&pc=60409
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I'd rather have Lockheed deliver the mail than ride around
in a plane built by the post office. - Anonymous
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
