Running open source on z/OS allows it to better integrate with off-platform solutions. It also provides user interfaces familiar to engineering and computer science students, who, we hope, will become the next generation of z/OS programmers and sysadmins. Of course, no technology is ever a complete superset of another, and each has its drawbacks. This article discusses breaking changes that can break your system.
Enterprise environments today are heterogeneous, and IBM is working hard to transform the z/OS experience into one that is more consistent with Linux, the popular open-source operating system.
The approach so far has been to:
- Modify the z/OS infrastructure in ways that enable and encourage the use of popular open source tooling on z/OS.
- Sponsor numerous open source projects both on and off the platform.
- Provide IBM-vetted locations for clients to obtain open source code compatible with z/OS.
What are breaking changes?
As the name suggests, a breaking change is any change that can break a client’s application. Usually, breaking changes involve modifying or deleting existing parts of an API.
To be clear, no software is perfect, and no design can foresee every possible future requirement. Any software that’s being regularly enhanced on any platform might be forced to occasionally implement a breaking change.
That said, I have observed significant differences in the quantity of breaking changes when comparing open source to enterprise software. My enterprise software experiences stretch back more than four decades. My open source experience is roughly half a dozen years…
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