I realize that I have taken Open Source on IBM i for granted.\u00a0 Having run open source applications on IBM i for over 15 years, I just assume everybody knows that IBM i on Power is a great Open Source platform.\u00a0 I mean, the “i” is for INTEGRATION…uh, duh!\u00a0 But, it seems that there is only a subset of IBM i folks who realize that in many ways, they, too, have been running Open Source on i.\u00a0 For a decade even.<\/p>\n
Let’s start with web serving.\u00a0 The early HTTP server was based on the CERN open web server.\u00a0 Apache Tomcat has run almost forever on IBM i.\u00a0\u00a0 PHP has been on i since 2006.\u00a0 Apache has been the HTTP server on IBM i since, what, 2002?\u00a0 Regardless of whether I got my dates right, the truth is IBM i has been running Open Source software (commonly referred to as OSS) forever in ‘technology years’.<\/p>\n
IBM upped the ante in the past two years by adding a new licensed program (free to those on SWMA) that contains a few, and soon, many open source packages that used to take a “real” bit-twiddler to configure and compile.\u00a0 Now it is all done for you in a nice, clean package and there is more to come.\u00a0 So what is the holdup in getting the community behind it?\u00a0 I am not exactly sure.\u00a0 Bill Gravelle<\/a>, admittedly new to open source, happened to be in San Antonio this week and we sat down and had lunch and talked about Open Source and the IBM i community.\u00a0 I think we are on the same page (he’ll let me know if I am not) in thinking that:<\/p>\n There are multiple sources for open source information in the IBM i and I will be completely forthcoming in my interest promoting a more consolidated forum for finding solutions and sharing knowledge in the community.\u00a0 Bill thinks that the fragmentation is a naturally occurring and will eventually coalesce into a more manageable few over time.\u00a0 I am not sure who is right because I have tried multiple times to start a “central repository” of open source information (Open source on i <\/a>was one such attempt) and I am trying again with the www.common.org\/open-source website.\u00a0 Will this next attempt work?<\/p>\n Well, it will<\/strong> work if we contribute, so that is what I ask.\u00a0 Just send me an email about stuff you find helpful in your open source efforts (send it to opensource at the common.org domain).\u00a0 I’ll take a look and post it up if it is helpful.\u00a0 We need to start somewhere!\u00a0 You can contact me either here at petesworkshop.com\u00a0 (send it to pete @) or at the opensource email address at common.org.\u00a0 Either will get to me.\u00a0 And, don’t be shy…..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I realize that I have taken Open Source on IBM i for granted.\u00a0 Having run open source applications on IBM i for over 15 years, I just assume everybody knows that IBM i on Power is a great Open Source … Continue reading \n