IBM i what use is PASE

Question

What use is PASE to me as an RPGLE and Java coder.

If I am a Java coder what use is PASE to me on IBMi. Any example practical things that you have done in your professional life would help?

So if I was a node developer would I install in the PASE container, and call rpgle to do DB2 access, I know you could use SQL directly from node?

Regards, Jemrug

Answer 1

Here are my notes on PASE (from https://github.com/MandyShaw/iPerimeter/blob/master/IBMi/CallPASE/ILEtoPASEProofOfConcept.pptx)

Portable Application Solutions Environment, or PASE:

AIX code running exactly as it would on AIX, though with limitations to maintain the integrity of IBM i and of its stored objects

Unix (AIX) artefacts in /QOpenSys/bin, etc.

CALL QP2TERM or CALL QP2SHELL

Can also be called direct from an ILE program, although interfacing is complex [see my ppt]; PASE memory is not accessible from ILE except via specific IBM APIs, and relevant documentation is sparse

PASE is used extensively by IBM i and its licensed programs

From V6R1 onwards, IBM i Java uses PASE

Also used by some third party IBM i products

Free-of-charge IBM i Developer Tools, 5799-PTL, deliver several important PASE-based tools, specifically PERL, plus some Posix-based tools

IBM i database via CLI or JDBC – no special treatment

Creation of PASE programs on IBM i requires AIX C compiler installed - open source gcc, or IBM supplied (chargeable). 5799-PTL requires the latter

You should be able to use the usual Java Toolbox jt400.jar JDBC driver from inside PASE, though I'm honestly unclear why you would bother when you could run the same Java from inside IBM i.

I had to do the interfacing in the ppt to make an RPG program talk to a third party product running in PASE. I used ILE C rather than ILE RPG for the actual interfacing because there were no sufficiently usable RPG examples on the web. I then ran the ILE C module via a service program call from the ILE RPG program (as I recall, I couldn't link it into the program because of the necessary teraspace compilation option).

PASE isn't a 'container', it's just an AIX instance hiding alongside IBM i.