Tasking status grants a process a subset of the privileges associated with MCS status, without the process actually having to be an MCS. Tasking status is well suited to interactive programs that service multiple users and need to be able to assume the identity of those users temporarily.
Tasking status allows programs access to some system software features that must be used with care. For example, if a tasking program calls an MCP intrinsic, the MCP omits some of the checking it would perform for other callers. If the tasking program formats a parameter incorrectly, the error might not be detected immediately and could cause later errors or system dumps. Therefore, you should grant tasking status only to programs that use these privileges properly.
A process receives tasking status when the process is executing code from an object code file that has been marked with tasking status. You can mark object code files with tasking status by using the MP (Mark Program) system command. For information about how processes receive privileges from their object code files, refer to Object Code File earlier in this section.
Tasking status provides the same privileges and restrictions as MCS status, with the following exceptions:
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When a process first becomes an MCS, the process automatically receives privileged status in addition to its other MCS privileges. However, when a tasking process is first initiated, tasking status confers privileged status only if the process is nonusercoded. If a tasking process is initiated under a usercode, then privileged status is determined by the privileged status of the usercode and the object code file.
Once an MCS or tasking process changes its own usercode, the privileged status of the process is affected by the new usercode, as previously discussed under “Privileges of an MCS” in this section.
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Tasking status does not grant access to the DCALGOL functions DCWRITE and SETUPINTERCOM.
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Tasking status does not allow a process to make assignments to the SOURCESTATION task attribute.
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Tasking status does not enable a process to set the HSFILECOPY file attribute to TRUE and then modify certain disk file attributes, such as CREATIONDATE and CREATIONTIME, which are normally read-only.
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Tasking status does not cause the process to run in the MCS priority category.
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Multiple instances of the same tasking program can be running at the same time.
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The INHERITMCSSTATUS task attribute does not cause tasking status to be inherited.
