Reclaim space in VARCHAR field

We are developing an application which will use a data compression algorithm
to pack extra data into a DB2/400 binary capable VARCHAR field (CCSID
65535). We are exploring the possibility of storing the raw data into the
field with RPG ILE, then compressing the field contents later with GZIP and
UPDATE via java program.

When a VARCHAR field is updated with a smaller string, DB2 doesn't seem to
reclaim the space allocated when the field was initially set. Even RGZPFM
wouldn't help? How can the storage be reclaimed, other than with
delete/write back?  We are at V4R4 and we are using JDBC driver.
File was created with DDS and field has length of 32000(buffer length 32002)

Any help you can give us would be appreciated.

Thanks.



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