Re: Get CHKLNK, CHKPFM, FNDSTR, etc programming utilities -- MIDRANGE-L

I didn't mean to imply that the iSeries Toolkit had the tools you want, I
was trying to answer the question about creating a common open source place
where these tools could be developed.  It sounds like the tools you have
already written would be a good addition to the iSeries Toolkit.

I think you need to face reality, and the reality is that IBM is not going
to make OS/400 Open Source.  I am not even sure what value it would be if
it was, because I do not think any of it is even developed on an iSeries or
with iSeries tools and languages.  At least that is what I heard once.

Your best bet is to develop the tools yourself and try to join others in
building an open source movement for iSeries utilities like the ones you
have developed.  I must admit that it is not immediately obvious to me why
I would want generic* support on CHKOBJ, and we use that command a lot.
That is really beside the point though.  If you developed it and need it,
great.  What would be even better though would have been if you took David
Morris' command that checks for an IFS object, and enhanced it to include
generic support.  Presumably that would have saved you some work, as well
as enhanced the tool for others that might need it.

Mark



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      Subject:    Re: Get CHKLNK, CHKPFM, FNDSTR, etc programming utilities
craigs@xxxxxxxxx
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10/06/2003 03:27 PM
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Thanks Mark!  I loaded that toolkit.  It appears someone else has already
done the check for IFS object existence.  Unfortunately, this command would
not help us since we NEED to have the object generic.  These files are
FTP'd by customers and I check for files starting with certain characters
to know which ones to process.  I have a special command called FTPIFS to
FTP IFS files from one system to another (copy, move, get/put, directory,
generic, whatever).  I then use CHKLNK to make sure the IFS objects got
there before deleting them on the remote system.  Some interesting programs
in that toolkit.  Sorry, but I was hoping for some turbo-powered
enhancements to the base utilities.  I knew of some other links to free
tools but some of those started charging now.  Why should I have to
reinvent the wheel every time I need to do something that IBM doesn't
support?  If someone else has already done that, it would save us time.
Now, I will ask the ultimate question.  How much further could we go if IBM
open-sourced their utilities?  At least in the basic utilties.  CHKOBJ is
how old and there is still not a generic option?  Is no one else bothered
by this?

Thanks,
Craig Strong

** Mark wrote:
I would recommend contacting David Morris and see if you can add your
utilities to his open source iSeries Toolkit.

http://www.iseries-toolkit.org/

There are a lot of other individual open source projects out there.  I
think it would be better to contribute to an existing one than it would be
to start another.

Mark







craigs@xxxxxxxxx
Sent by: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
10/06/2003 02:15 PM
Please respond to Midrange Systems Technical Discussion

To:     midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
cc:
Subject:        Get CHKLNK, CHKPFM, FNDSTR, etc programming
utilities






I (and others here) have developed utilities to help us in programming and
maintenance.  Most of these (at least I) bypassed IBM because they would
have to go through all these committees, decisions, and programming time.
We need them now!  We have done a majority of the programming on
utilities,
so it seems like IBM would just have to make a decision.  I developed a
command called CHKLNK during V5R1 to check for the existence of IFS
objects
(generic).  Allows "*" (up to) and "?" (any wildcards) even allowing "*"
at
beginning.  For example, CHKLNK OBJ('/dir/*EFG?I*Q*').  I wrote my own
procedure for scanning a generic pattern and just copied it to programs
that should use it.  I thought, okay, if IBM hasn't even mentioned any
utilities like this and it is already V5R2, forget it.  More and more
programmers are asking for a way to check the existence of an IFS object
and I direct them to the CHKLNK command.  It returns a generic CPF9898 but
it does the job well.  There are many others that we worked around.  Does
IBM just not care about enhancing utilities?  Does anyone care?
If I could get my hands on the CHKOBJ command, I could allow all those
objects to be input generic like it should have been in the first place.
I'm doing it now with the CHKLNK command.  I developed a utility to find
strings in source and someone else developed a utility to find the
location
of source given a member.  There are utilities to FTP automatically given
a
script with error-checking and without passwords being open to prying
eyes.
With a little more time we could even develop an alternative to almost
every SNADS command.  I asked IBM if it was possible to send a message
from
one system to another without using SNADS.  They said no.  I thought a
little more and proved them wrong.  Just use FTP with the "quote rcmd"
using sndmsg as a remote command.  There are others that we just developed
instead of pushing IBM.

Now, I am looking at creating something like a CHKPFM for the sole purpose
of allowing generic member names to be checked easily.  I am thinking of
using this to check the status of batch jobs.  Each job would do an ADDPFM
using a 4 char id and a 6 char job number.  Right before the job finishes,
do a RMVM.  That way no job would be in contention for the physical file.
Then the calling job could loop and run a command to check for any members
starting with that 4 char id to know if a job is in MSGW or not.  Not
really good though if a job is cancelled.

Anyway, does anyone know of some PTF's or some websites with some good and
free utilities for iSeries?  Is there an open source for iSeries?  Any way
we could get our hands on the source and make our own version?  Should I
try to push IBM on some of these utilities or share utilties on some
website somewhere?

Thanks,
Craig Strong


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