A colleague asked me for a catchy quote about why IBM i aficionados should choose PHP. Some thoughts to start with:
1. With PHP you can build your dreams.
2. PHP lets you start simply and grow.
3. PHP combines open source with the stability and support of IBM i.
4. Learn PHP and you’ll gain a skill you can use everywhere, but that you’ll WANT to use on IBM i.
I’d like to address questions about DB2 support in Zend Framework 2.x. Because I helped create the IBM i-friendly DB2 adapter for Zend Framework 1.x, I’ve followed the development of a similar adapter for ZF2.
(updated January 30, 2013, upon the release of ZF 2.1)
Q. Does ZF 2 include an adapter for DB2?
A. Yes! Starting with ZF 2.1, which was released today.
Q. Is Alan’s IBM i-friendly DB2 adapter for Zend Framework 1.x needed in 2.x?
A. No. Because ZF’s Zend_Db equivalent in 2.x works differently than in 1.x, my 1.x component is not needed in 2.x.
Q. Does ZF 2.1’s DB2 adapter work with IBM i?
A. Yes! Please try it and provide feedback to the ZF team.
Over the past week I’ve received several emails, ranging in tone from panicked to angry, seeking clues to the fate of MySQL on IBM i. The database vendor Oracle—recent buyer of Sun Microsystems, and therefore of MySQL—has issued an end-of-life notice for MySQL distributions on IBM i.
IBM i’s primary database is still db2, but many in the community have grown to trust MySQL when deploying MySQL-based applications such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and SugarCRM. Some have trusted MySQL enough to let it into their inner application sanctum, using the IBM DB2 for i Storage Engine (IBMDB2i) to share data between MySQL-based applications and traditional db2-based apps and languages (think RPG).
Now that trust seems to be shattered.
Fortunately, MySQL is an open source product. Zend is still distributing existing versions of MySQL for i, and even if Oracle ceases to create new distributions, someone else can pick up the slack. An article in IT Jungle quotes IBM’s Allison Butterill and Ian Jarman as offering hope that IBM can find a way to maintain MySQL as an officially supported database, possibly with Zend’s help. It’s all speculation at this stage, but IBM seems to be considering the alternatives and wants to choose the right path.
Forgive me if I seem unduly sanguine about the situation, but many of us ran MySQL on the i before any of these official distributions existed. Back in 2005, the now-defunct site i5php.net hosted distributions of both PHP and MySQL that were compiled for for the IBM i (called the i5 at that time).
The dust hasn’t settled yet. Anything can happen. Yet I believe that MySQL’s open source licensing will, in the end, rescue it from Oracle’s decisions, allowing MySQL to remain viable on the IBM i—with the help of those who care.