To: J3                                                     J3/20-103
From: John Reid
Subject: FORM TEAM and invalid NEW_INDEX= values
Date: 2020-February-18
Reference: 18-007r1, 19-181, 19-242


1. Introduction
This paper is a fresh request for one of the interpretations requested
in 19-181. 19-242 explains why the editor did not accept it. Here, we
make a fresh request to address the same problem. It is self-contained
and does not require the reader to consult 19-181 or 19-242. The
suggested response is based on that in 19-242 rather than that in
19-181.

2. Question
What happens if it was intended for the execution of a FORM TEAM
statement with a NEW_INDEX specifier to form a new team with 16 images
but one of the 16 images is found to have failed?

3. Suggested response
If none of the other 15 images fails before completing execution of
tha FORM TEAM statement and none of them specifies 16 as its
NEW_INDEX value, the new team will consist of these 15 images; if
the statement has a STAT= specifier, it will return the value
STAT_FAILED_IMAGE. The standard (11.6.9, para 3) requires of each
NEW_INDEX= value that "It shall be ... less than or equal to the
number of images in the team". The program would not satisfy this
condition if an active image specified 16 as its NEW_INDEX value
because the new team would consist of at most 15 images; in this case
the standard specifies no semantics for the program.

4. Suggested edits
None.