Free format RPG and TR7

Why do I need an additional and separate PTF?

This past week, there was some questions from some IBM i users about why, after installing TR7, RPG free-form support was missing.

The underlying support for free format RPG was made available via the 7.1 RPG Compiler (5770WDS) PTF SI51094 (or any PTF that supersedes SI51094). This PTF will be included on the next cumulative PTF for 7.1 If you are using embedded SQL support for ILE RPG, you also need to have the IBM DB2 PTF Group SF99701 Level 26 (or later) installed.

To help understand what’s going on, let’s review the process that IBM uses to deliver new function for 7.1.

Technology refreshes were introduced with the 7.1 release as a way to deliver new function without requiring a modification release. In the past, when IBM needed to deliver new function that required significant Licensed Internal Code (LIC) changes, it would be in the form of a modification release (e.g., V5R4M5 or 6.1.1). It was actually quite a lot of work for IBM to deliver function with modification releases and it was also challenging for clients to adopt them due to it being a release upgrade.

The introduction of technology refreshes provided a way to deliver function to support new hardware, firmware and virtualization capabilities without requiring a new release or a new modification release.

In the strictest sense, a technology refresh is simply a bunch of LIC PTFs delivered as a special group PTF. A technology refresh does not include the latest database enhancements, the latest work management enhancements, the latest performance tools enhancements, or any other non-LIC enhancement. It is just LIC PTFs for hardware, firmware or virtualization enhancements.

For full operating system support, you’ll need to get the latest group PTFs – the cumulative PTF, the DB Group PTF, the Performance Tools Group PTF, etc… (Read the blog SF99711 about the PTF group of PTF groups.)

What is probably confusing to many is the fact that IBM announces IBM i content twice a year and the technology refreshes are an important part of those announcements. While the technology refreshes are part of that announcement content, there are many additional enhancements that are announced at the same time and delivered to clients at the same time. Yet many of these enhancements are not actually part of the technology refresh itself. You need to acquire the other PTFs (often delivered in the latest PTF groups) to get the latest enhancements.

Bundling all of these enhancements with the announcement gives more visibility to the enhancements. IBM i content is always included in the major IBM announcements, but it may cause a bit of confusion since the technology refresh often seems to be a key message. It may seem that IBM implies that all the latest enhancements are part of the technology refresh, but the reality is they are not.

Here are some additional references for the RPG free form support:

• • Tim Rowe wrote about the RPG free form support last fall in the article RPG, RDi Free-Format Support Reach GA.
• • The article Free-form RPG Support on IBM i, published on the IBM i developerWorks site, begins with the statement, “RPG programming on IBM i was greatly improved on IBM i 7.1 in the Technology Refresh 7 (TR7) time frame.” 
• • New with IBM i 7.1 TR 7 - Free-form H, F, D and P statements for RPG
• • Additional Free form RPG & Embedded SQL

Hopefully after reading this blog, you have a better understanding what a technology refresh is as well as how IBM delivers enhancements to the 7.1 release.

 

 

SF99711

Prior to the holidays, there was a discussion on the midrange mailing list regarding the relatively new 7.1 PTF group 99711. Since the discussion included some misconceptions about this special PTF group, I thought it would be good to have a short article about it.

I’d like to thank Ellie Streifel from the IBM i PTF team for providing the following information.

I'm sure most of you periodically download and install PTF groups that are applicable to your environment. To make it easier, we've added an "All PTF Groups" PTF group SF99711 for 7.1. This PTF group includes the latest level of all PTF groups for the release except the Cumulative PTF Package group. PTF group SF99711 was created in August 2013 and lists all 7.1 PTF groups as related PTF groups. Note option 9 (Display related PTF groups) on the Work with PTF Groups (WRKPTFGRP) command displays all related PTF groups.

Since the latest level of each PTF group is downloaded, SF99711 itself will rarely be updated—only when a new PTF group is added for 7.1. But, you can choose to order SF99711 as often as you like and only the PTFs you are missing will be downloaded, along with the most recent level of each PTF group applicable to your partition. For example, if you're used to ordering a set of PTF groups once a month, you could instead order SF99711 once a month and get all the recent updates. Any PTF groups that are not applicable (contain PTFs for not-installed products) to your partition will not be downloaded.

You can use either Fix Central or Send PTF Order (SNDPTFORD) command to order PTF group SF99711. However, if you're using SNDPTFORD, you must havePTF SI51438 applied to your partition BEFORE you issue SNDPTFORD to download SF99711. PTF SI51438 contains fixes to SNDPTFORD processing when handling related PTF groups. As usual, install the downloaded PTF groups using your preferred interface (GO PTF option 8 or System i Navigator) and use the WRKPTFGRP command to verify that all PTF groups were installed successfully. After PTF install, the PTF groups should have a status of "Installed", "Not applicable", or "Related group".

• Installed
   All PTFs for products that are installed on this system are temporarily or permanently applied.

• Not applicable
   All PTFs in the PTF group and related PTF groups are for products that are not installed or supported on this system.

• Related group
   The PTF group does not have any PTFs for products installed or supported on the system. However, it is identified in another PTF group as a related PTF group. Deleting a PTF group in this status will cause the dependent PTF group to have a status of Unknown.