hi Murray,

 ML>     Thanks, Hugo, but I write my little REXX utilities with the idea
 ML> of sometimes publishing them.  As such, I cannot use a DLL that isn't
 ML> included in OS/2 itself, or is compiled and linked from source code
 ML> in the piece.  The "electronic distribution" of the piece includes
 ML> any linked DLLs whose source code is included, so anyone with an
 ML> installed OS/2 system can run the program with no outside aids.  So I
 ML> wrote my own specialized verion of the DLL.

 ML>     I am thinking of writing a piece on using PL/I but I am deterred
 ML> by the thought of asking the editor to include 1.5MB (Zips to a
 ML> little over 750KB) of PL/I run-time DLLs, even though they can be
 ML> distributed royalty-free!

Er, you plan to write your own specialized PL/I RTLs too?  Good luck! :-) 
You could had have redistributed the free YdbaUtil stuff by the same
reasoning (not that an example of how to write your own REXX DLL will
deminish the value of your article, au contrair).

regards,
         hugo