Install IBM i Open Source Technologies
IBM provides many open source technologies ported to work on IBM i.
BOB, the Better Object Builder, uses quite a few of them - bash, coreutils-gnu, gawk, grep-gnu, make-gnu, python3, python3-ibm_db, sed-gnu. We will double check these are installed later in this document.
Managing open-source tools can be a breeze with ACS. You'll find a straightforward guide on installing and handling those open-source packages here
You can then use the ACS Open Source function or from the command line (if you are feeling techie) to install packages.
Open Source is something you may not be aware of - but you will have definitely heard of it in recent years. It's a growing mainstream component of the IBM i Ecosphere.
In the next few lessons we will cover:
What IBM i authority do you need for Open Source Package Management section in ACS?
To use the Open Source Package Management section in IBM i Access Client Solutions (ACS), your IBM i user profile must have:
*ALLOBJ special authority
This is necessary because the package management tool interacts with system-level components, installs software, and manages dependencies via Yum (the open source package manager for IBM i).
Without *ALLOBJ, you’ll likely encounter authentication errors when trying to connect via SSH or perform package operations.
Additional Requirements
- SSH must be running on your IBM i system (
STRTCPSVR SERVER(*SSHD)) - IBM i must be at version 7.3 or later
- ACS version should be 1.1.9.0 or newer for full functionality
If you’re getting errors even with the correct credentials, it could be due to: SSH not running, incorrect old version of ACS or your profile does not have *ALLOBJ