To avoid  storage fragmentation,  the SIGNUP  FILE will no  longer be  kept in
GLOBALV  storage.  The complete  file  will  be  held in  LSVFILER  file-cache
storage, which takes about  30% less storage and results in  only one chunk of
DMSFREE storage being allocated instead of N (where N is 1650 at FRECP11, 2200
at CEARN and 4800 at BITNIC). This also speeds up the startup procedure, since
the file no longer has to be loaded into GLOBALV storage. The compression time
(the file must be compressed if it  had been altered) has also been halved, so
that if the file doesn't have to  be compressed, the startup time is zero, and
half what it was before if the file must be rebuilt.
 
Access to  a given  name is  now a  bit slower  (maybe 5  times slower  than a
GLOBALV  call,  but  then  this  is  still <<  the  time  spent  in  the  REXX
instructions :-) ),  and postmasters will be  able to choose not  to cache the
file in  storage at  all if  they so desire.  This would  double the  CPU time
required  to search  something in  it (no  big deal,  0.01/0.02 -->  0.02/0.04
(4381-11) :-) ), but it DOES take more wall clock time to execute. This can be
particularly painful when a  list is PUT and every name  must be accessed, but
on the other  hand it can save you  up to some 200k of  storage (assuming 5000
entries). The default will be to keep the file in storage.
 
  Eric