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Toolmaker software and IBM i - version
Since Q2/2016 V7R1 the minimum release of the IBM operating system for Toolmaker products.
As of Q1/2021 V7R3 the minimum release of the IBM operating system for Toolmaker products.
Newer versions of products or new corrections (Toolmaker PTFs) even for older versions can then only be delivered with the current release.
IBM i - release change
If you currently have a license for your Toolmaker product no valid maintenance contract and you want to upgrade your Toolmaker product as part of the IBM release upgrade, please contact Toolmaker Sales first. You will need an upgrade quote to estimate the cost of the Toolmaker software.
Current questions about V7R1-V7R4
Status 2020-10
Currently, a release upgrade from V7R1 to V7R3 or V7R4 is planned for many systems.
In general, if the Toolmaker product is already running successfully on your IBM i under V7R1, compatibility with V7R3 and V7R4 is given. The Toolmaker Hotline has no negative experience with V7R4.
As long as there are no changes to the IBM i hardware and the partition number remains the same, all Toolmaker license codes will be retained in the event of a release upgrade.
After a release upgrade, certain steps may be required
The release upgrade itself changes IBM system objects such as subsystem descriptions (*SBSD) and message files (*MSGF) in library QSYS.
Also commands of Toolmaker products, which must be in QSYS for technical reasons, can be missing after the release upgrade. Therefore there are notes for some products, which steps have to be performed after the release upgrade. These notes can be found in the respective product "homepage" here in the Wiki in a separate section.
In the TIM (Toolmaker Installation Manager) menu you will also find the selection 29, with which you can check before and after the release upgrade whether default values of parameters of individual commands (supplied by Toolmaker) have been changed.
Upgrade from IBM i version V5R4 or older
Moving from V5R4 or older to V7R1 and higher requires special attention, because all program objects must have Observability, otherwise they cannot be migrated to V6 or V7 format.
The IBM command ANZOBJCVN can be used under V5R4 to find objects that cannot be converted.
According to the experience of the hotline so far, Toolmaker software that already runs under V6R1 can also be used under V7R1 and higher (but there is an exception, see notes at the product dataxpress).
Using an older version of our product
Basically, we always recommend to use the latest version of our products, as support for previous versions cannot be guaranteed.
However, if you cannot or do not want to use the latest version on the new machine, please let us know the version of the product you are actually using.
The reason is the type of license used with new product versions, which works with a certificate file, while older versions require passwords to be entered.