To override one or more directives, create a flat system-wide directives file named cobol.dir, and list the directives in the file. Place cobol.dir in the directory specified by the COBDIR environment variable.
The Compiler automatically process the directives in the system-wide directives file. It looks for a cobol.dir file first in the current directory, and then in the %COBDIR%\etc directory.
Compilation terminates if the Compiler rejects a directive, if that directive is on the command line or in a directives file specified on the command line. Therefore, whenever you create or change a cobol.dir file, run a trial compilation and watch for "Rejected" messages at the beginning when the directives are processed.