Any of the Micro Focus COBOL components invoked by the Cob utility might return their own error messages. These are documented in full in your Error Messages. However, in addition to these messages Cob can output its own error messages. Most of these messages are self-explanatory, but the following are worthy of special note:
The options that you have specified to the cob command are not valid.
The specified option requires an argument.
You have defined the symbol "main" in a module other than the specified entry point module. If the first program specified to cob when building an executable is a COBOL module, the COBOL system "main" routine is linked in from the COBOL libraries.
The specified entry point module (which is a non-COBOL module) does not define the symbol "main". This is the compulsory entry point for any non-COBOL modules that are specified as the first program on the cob command line when building an executable file.
The specified entry point symbol is not a valid symbol name. Valid symbol names can consist of any of the characters a through z, A through Z, 0 through 9 or the underscore ( _ ). A name cannot begin with a digit.
The contents of the cobver file are incorrect.
Cob is unable to process the files you have specified as they have already been progressed beyond the specified end-point, or the specified options are not recognized.
You have specified inappropriate parameters that do not match the options you have used.
You must amend the offending argument to ensure it does not exceed this limit.