Data sets created by third-party software might be used successfully with one SAS release, but might fail in a higher SAS release. An error message like the following might be issued or SAS might terminate abruptly when using a data set created by third-party software:

Although certain procedures might run without encountering any problems, further processing of the data set can cause SAS to suddenly shut down. This problem might not occur until a customer migrates to a new SAS release. The SAS file format can change between releases in ways that other vendors trying to replicate the format cannot anticipate.

SAS does not guarantee that data sets created by third-party products will work with SAS or that they will continue to work with a later release of SAS. In addition, SAS Technical Support cannot help resolve the problem unless the behavior also occurs with a data set that was created with SAS. If the problem cannot be replicated with a data set that was created with SAS, the error should be pursued directly with the third-party vendor.

A possible workaround is to use the SET statement in SAS to create a new SAS data set from the data set that was created by third-party software. For example:

SAS cannot guarantee the integrity of any operation using the data set unless the data set is created using SAS software.

Operating System and Release Information

Product Family	Product	System	SAS Release
			Reported	Fixed*
SAS System	N/A	z/OS
		Z64
		OpenVMS VAX
		Macintosh
		Macintosh on x64
		Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
		Microsoft® Windows® for 64-Bit Itanium-based Systems
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter 64-bit Edition
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise 64-bit Edition
		Microsoft Windows XP 64-bit Edition
		Microsoft® Windows® for x64
		OS/2
		Microsoft Windows 95/98
		Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
		Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
		Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
		Microsoft Windows NT Workstation
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 for x64
		Microsoft Windows Server 2008
		Microsoft Windows Server 2008 for x64
		Microsoft Windows XP Professional
		Windows 7 Enterprise 32 bit
		Windows 7 Enterprise x64
		Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
		Windows 7 Home Premium x64
		Windows 7 Professional 32 bit
		Windows 7 Professional x64
		Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit
		Windows 7 Ultimate x64
		Windows Millennium Edition (Me)
		Windows Vista
		Windows Vista for x64
		64-bit Enabled AIX
		64-bit Enabled HP-UX
		64-bit Enabled Solaris
		ABI+ for Intel Architecture
		AIX
		HP-UX
		HP-UX IPF
		IRIX
		Linux
		Linux for x64
		Linux on Itanium
		OpenVMS Alpha
		OpenVMS on HP Integrity
		Solaris
		Solaris for x64
		Tru64 UNIX

* For software releases that are not yet generally available, the Fixed Release is the software release in which the problem is planned to be fixed.

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Customers have experienced various errors using data sets created by third-party software. The problem might not surface until the data set is used in a new SAS release. The SAS file format can change between releases in ways that other vendors trying to replicate the format cannot anticipate.

Type:	Usage Note
Priority:

Date Modified:	2011-10-12 15:12:34
Date Created:	2011-09-21 15:39:35