What's New

What's New in the SAS 9.2 Companion for UNIX Environments


Overview

SAS 9.2 in UNIX environments has the following new and enhanced features:


Direct File I/O Options

Changes to direct file I/O include the addition of the following new options:


File Locking

File locking has been enhanced in the following ways:


SAS Remote Browser

The SAS Remote Browser enables you to view SAS documentation, URLs that are specified in the WBROWSE command, and some ODS HTML output in the default Web browser on your local computer. By displaying this documentation locally, you have faster access to the documentation. In addition, you free resources on the SAS server that were used by Netscape.

You configure remote browsing by using the following system options:


Multiple Work Directories

SAS makes the distribution of work libraries dynamic by optionally distributing work libraries across several directories. When the argument to work is a list of directories in a file, you can also specify a method to use for choosing which directory to use for Work. METHOD=RANDOM and METHOD=SPACE are available.


Installation and Configuration Changes


64-bit Architecture

You can now run a 64-bit version of SAS on Linux for x64.


SAS Logging Facility

The SAS 9.2 logging facility enables the categorization and collection of log event messages and writes them to a variety of output devices. The logging facility supports problem diagnosis and resolution, performance and capacity management, and auditing and regulatory compliance.


Shared Executable Libraries

Shared libraries in SAS can store useful routines that might be needed by multiple applications. When an application needs a routine that resides in an external shared library, the application loads the shared library, invokes the routine using the ROUTINE statement, and unloads the shared library upon completion of the routine. In the ROUTINE statement, the following three return types for the RETURNS= argument have been added:


SAS Language Elements


Data Set Options

The new USEDIRECTIO= data set option turns on direct file I/O for the library that contains the file to which the ENABLEDIRECTIO option in the LIBNAME statement has been applied.


Functions

The LIBNAME function was removed from this Companion because it is portable.


Procedures

The SORT procedure now supports the DETAILS statement option. The DETAILS statement option specifies that PROC SORT write messages to the SAS log about whether the sort was performed in memory.


Statements

The following statements have been enhanced:


System Options

The following system options are new:

The following system options have been enhanced:

The following system options are obsolete:

The following system options are no longer specific to UNIX, and are documented in SAS Language Reference: Dictionary:


IPv6 Standard

SAS supports the next generation of IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6), which is the successor to IPv4. Rather than replacing IPv4 with IPv6, SAS 9.2 supports both standards. A primary reason for the new version is that the limited supply of 32-bit IPv4 address spaces is being depleted. IPv6 uses a 128-bit address scheme, which provides more IP addresses than IPv4.


Documentation Enhancements

The following documentation enhancements have been made: