IBM has delivered a fix for an issue with the libpq (PostgreSQL) package. The libpq RPM installer script had a subtle issue where the symbolic links did not get created correctly. IBM i users saw warnings like these:
One of the best deals in IBM i services is about to end. Effective January 1, 2025, the “IBM i Service Voucher for Power” program is being withdrawn. The program has long provided Power hardware customers with vouchers for Expert Labs consulting. (Expert Labs was formerly known as Lab Services.) Many companies are not even aware that they are entitled to vouchers.
Code for i’s source comparison feature recently helped me find a bug. While comparing old vs. new versions of an RPG program, I discovered that a CHAIN had been changed to an SQL SELECT, which was fine, except that an important column name had been forgotten. I created a “before and after” Code for i screen shot for the programmer, who then fixed the mistake. As documented on the Code for i “Tricks” page, comparing source code takes only two steps. This technique works both for traditional source members and stream files stored in the IFS.
IBM i continues to deliver SQL interfaces to simplify our work and keep our technology current. Example: We recently needed to test an issue with Apache HTTP Server for i for a support client. IBM Support requested that we check for the latest HTTP PTF Group on our server. (PTF Groups are the names given to logically related fixes, such as those related to HTTP.) To find out if we had the most current group, we used the SYSTOOLS.GROUP_PTF_CURRENCY SQL view.
At Seiden Group’s September 13, 2024, Code for i Fridays meeting, IBM’s Edmund Reinhardt presented a one-hour tutorial on the Better Object Builder (BOB). This comprehensive demo was given by request. A regular attendee had asked for a complete demonstration, start to finish, of how to use BOB to compile source in VS Code; prepare a make file from scratch; and to use Source Orbit. These tools can help developers who wish to use Git with stream files instead of traditional QSYS-based source members.
I had the privilege of hosting security expert Carol Woodbury as she led a roundtable discussion at this past summer’s OCEAN TechCon. Carol is IBM i Security SME and Senior Advisor with our friends at Kisco Systems. Carol’s observations made a strong impression on both me and our CIO guests. Here are just a few.
The Code for i maintainers have updated the Code for i documentation with clearer minimum requirements.
The Code for i extension to Visual Studio Code (VS Code) has become ever more popular and powerful. It’s also free and open source. Seiden Group has been hosting online gatherings to share, learn, solve problems, and contribute improvements to Code for i. Hosted by Alan Seiden, the meetings often include guests such as Liam Allan, the originator of Code for i.
Although there are many reasons—including performance—to update to newer PHP releases, the number one reason is to avoid losing security updates. Each version of PHP (7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, etc.) has three years of support before it is considered end of life. For two years, it gets bug fixes and all security fixes. In the third year, it gets only critical security fixes. After that, nothing!
If you have encrypted your website, API, Telnet server, or other service with TLS (SSL), good for you! Now, do you know when those certificates will expire? If they expire without renewal, your service could become unavailable without warning. In the past, to find expiration dates for digital certificates on IBM i, you’d either have to look in the Digital Certificate Manager (DCM), call the Retrieve Certificate Information (QYCURTVCI, QycuRetrieveCertificateInfo) API, or keep extremely good notes! CERTIFICATE_INFO, an IBM i service recently delivered by IBM, solves all this. This SQL table function, documented here, returns a result table that contains…