Created On:  26 March 2011

Problem:

An older version of Server Express was installed on a system. Both older and newer products still co-exist on the system. This error message is then received when using the product:

"cobol version number invalid - Call Technical Support
The contents of the cobver file are incorrect."

This issue can be further diagnosed by executing

cob -V

If something like this is returned:

COBOL Version information:

I see no work
version @(#)cob.c 1.237
PRN=RXCAI/AAP:9d.d5.21.05
PTI=SP1
cobol v2.0.11-e
PRN=RXCAI/AAP:9d.d5.21.05
PTI=SP1

Where lines are repeated or confused, it is a sign that during installation of the older version, the different versions got mixed together somehow.

Resolution:

The resolution is to re-install the product, and then later at runtime, to ensure that the PATH environment variable is pointing to the correct $COBDIR/bin.
Incident #2481866