Pairing open source with traditional IBM i programs works great for APIs, web, and mobile applications. But how do you stay on top of your business’s requirements for speed and scalability?
OCEAN User Group recently asked Alan to help answer that question. In the recording of their November meeting (also linked from the graphic below), he covers:
Git has become the de facto standard for open source version control. Nevertheless, while your team may be using Git for open source code, your traditional IBM i programs and other code may use no version control at all, or be stuck in a repository that is difficult to access.
In this article, we’ll cover why you might want to move code to Git and suggest tools that make the move practical for IBM i teams.
Every post about Code for IBM i thus far has been how it can be used for writing RPG, CL, COBOL, etc. But what about other languages? Of course, PHP is another one of those very popular languages on IBM i. Calvin wrote a little while ago about how it’s possible to use RDi to write PHP code on the server, which is great. I think we can take it up a notch, which brings us to this post.
If recent customer requests for Git training are any indication, this popular, free, open source tool for managing source code is gaining momentum and will soon be mainstream on IBM i.
Standard Git provides source control; GitHub adds collaborative web-based tools that spark discussion and encourage team cooperation.
We’ve seen a surge of interest in Git version control on IBM i, so a recent video about Git caught my eye.
The Git trend makes perfect sense as IBM i teams adopt languages such as PHP, Javascript, and Python to develop web user interfaces, APIs, and other functionality. That said, Git also supports the traditional IBM i language, RPG.
One of my favorite jobs here at Seiden Group is to introduce developers to the Git version control system. I’ve delivered talks, workshops, and individual Git training.
Fast, popular, and open source, Git can be hosted on varied platforms, such as cloud-based repositories (Github, Bitbucket), internal servers (GitLab), and on our trusty IBM i servers.
The 5733-OPS package discussed in this post is obsolete, replaced by RPM-based open source packages. Updated instructions are provided at
How to Set Up the IBM i Open Source Environment
The Seiden Group team is headed to Orlando May 6-10 to participate in COMMON 2017. In addition to teaching sessions and workshops on best practices for using PHP and other open source technologies on IBM i, we’re looking forward to meeting up with our clients and friends.
One of our favorite opportunities at COMMON is to meet professionals at all levels of the IT organization. Understanding the challenges faced by each member of the IT team — from admin to CIO — strengthens our ability to build effective solutions that are easy to use, easy to extend, easy to maintain.