Richard Schoen

New QSHONI Commands: Integrate Python, PHP, Java with CL & RPG

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QSHONI integration for IBM i RPG, CL and open sourceA few years ago I introduced you to my QShell on i utility – QSHONI. QSHONI makes it easy for traditional CL, RPG, and COBOL programs to call Python utilities and other QShell/PASE utility programs (PHP, Node, Java, etc.) and directly use their output. QSHONI opened up a whole new world of integrations to open-source apps from traditional IBM i applications.

I keep thinking I will run out of interesting things to add to the library, but the ideas keep on flowing.

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Alan Seiden

What’s in Your ODBC Driver? A 2024 Update

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ODBC with Db2 for IBM iSince IBM announced Yum support for installing the IBM i Db2 ODBC driver, as documented in our 2022 tutorial, users can update their driver more easily.

To help users determine what’s changed, IBM maintains a list of fixes and enhancements for each IBM i ODBC driver release.

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Alan Seiden

Which PHP Versions Get Critical Security Updates?

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PHPAlthough 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!

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Alan Seiden

Node.js v20 and Other Updated Packages Require New IBM i Repositories

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IBM i open source for businessAs we mentioned in our article on installing ODBC via yum, the latest IBM i open source packages require new repositories.

A notable example is Node.js v20. When we hear users say, “I don’t see Node.js v20 listed in available packages, and yum returns ‘No package nodejs20 available‘,” the reason invariably is that the new repositories, ibmi-base and ibmi-release, have not been installed.

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Alan Seiden

What IBM i Users Should Check when Learning of an Open Source Security Vulnerability

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API & web security on IBM iA client asked about a vulnerability found in libwebp, which is used by PHP’s image-handling gd extension.

My first step was to find a reputable source for details. According to this trusted article about the vulnerability, the issue affected only libwebp versions 1.3.1 and earlier. I checked our own system and found we had a patched version from IBM, so we were safe. The client was, too.

Here is the procedure you can use for checking the version of this or any other open source package on IBM i. Read more →

Alan Seiden

Use grep to Search IBM i Source Members (RPG, CL, COBOL, more)

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From the Seiden SmartSupport mailbag:

One issue I keep coming across is the inability to search for text in source members across all libraries. We use a commercial tool, but it is expensive and cumbersome. Coming from the Linux world, where I can “grep” for anything, I find this a ridiculous restriction.

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Amy Lantz

IBM i Modernization Seminar at IBM France

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On December 5, 2023, Alan joins fellow IBM Champions Koen Decorte and Charles Guarino at IBM France for a day-long seminar and networking event focused on IBM i modernization, AI, Business Intelligence (BI), and cyber resilience.

Sponsored by IBM and CD-Invest, the seminar agenda balances educational sessions with opportunities to ask questions and have informal discussions with the presenters and fellow attendees.

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Alan Seiden

Rebuilding the Tomcat Plugin in IBM i 7.5

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Apache Tomcat on IBM iOpen source saves the day once again.

When one of our open source support clients discovered that Tomcat plugin for Apache was not supported on their test IBM i 7.5 system, they needed a solution. They relied on Tomcat to serve their Java web applications.

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Alan Seiden

How to Resolve Yum Command FTP Errors on IBM i

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While installing packages from IBM’s original open source repository, ibm, users may encounter errors, including:

  • [​Errno 12] Timeout on: ftp://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/ibmi/products/pase/rpms/repo/repodata/repomd.xml: (28, ‘Connection time-out’) Trying other mirror. Error: Cannot retrieve repository metadata (repomd.xml) for repository: ibm. Please verify its path and try again.
  • [​Errno 14] FTP Error 451 – server did not report OK, got 451 Trying other mirror
  • [Errno 14] FTP Error 550 – Access denied: 550 Trying other mirror

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Alan Seiden

How to Update the Code for i Extension

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Code for IBM i has been moving quickly. As the popularity of this Visual Studio Code extension has grown, updates and enhancements have arrived regularly.

If you encounter a bug or issue, installing the latest update may resolve it. Updating Code for i requires only a restart of VS Code. Here are some details to clarify how to restart as well as how to roll back the update, if desired.

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