What Host Software should I know about on my IBM i System?
Let's look at what software must be installed on your IBM i system prior to utilizing VSCode based IDE's (ie: VSCODE, CURSOR, BOB) for software compilation.
IBM i Open Source Technologies
IBM provides many open source technologies ported to work on IBM i.
The extension Code for IBM-i uses quite a few of them - bash, coreutils-gnu, gawk, grep-gnu, make-gnu, python3, python3-ibm_db, sed-gnu.
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
I recommend you keep it simple and use the ACS Open Source function or, if you really want to get technical and extra granular, you can also install SHELL command line.
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
In the following lessons we will cover:
- PASE for i
- Install IBM i Open Source Technologies
- Use internet time server to sync timestamps
- Ensure the SSH daemon is running
Ready? Fill your coffee cup and let's dive in...