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Hi Dan
Merlin is intended, as I recall, to integrate various comtemporary development techniques into one package - DevOps, CI/CD, git, etc., with the plumbing needed for all that. I suppose the idea is to give customers a structure that means they don't have to figure out what to use of the several options in the world today. This would seem to require a broader knowledge base, and it does include more than just VS Code for i extension, an obvious statement, I suppose.
With all that does come some complexity behind the covers, granted. But with the intent that an end developer doesn't need concern himself or herself with those details. As stated in the overview on the Merlin page, "Merlin is capable of replacing all aspects of your existing source control management, developer IDE, and application build capabilities with a fully integrated modern approach..." - but then we will have to be willing to actually replace the tools that provide those capabilities.
*Regards*
*Vern Hamberg*
IBM Champion 2025 <cid:part1.JL8GkVfS.nvYUnuSO@centurylink.net> CAAC (COMMON Americas Advisory Council) IBM Influencer 2023
On 3/24/2025 1:10 PM, Dan Bale wrote:
Last I looked, there was a high cost to entry with Merlin, both in terms of dollars and specific technical expertise. Given that a lot of developers are still refusing to give up SEU, I honestly don't see a lot of shops making that investment.
We have RDi licenses here, but just last week a developer trying to upgrade to 9.8 had a devil of a time with applying the permanent license. RDi kept returning extremely vague error messages and it wasn't until I discovered that the user's install somehow managed to have a floating license instead of the permanent license, even though our instructions for users to install RDi 9.8 are crystal clear and the user in this case is not one for PEBKAC errors. After several days before we finally determined the issue and had to get IBM to tell us how to delete the floating license, he was ready to jump ship to VS Code for i.
I've got both RDi and VS Code for i installed on my work laptop. I primarily use RDi due to my several years of experience with it, but I am learning to use VS Code for i on my personal laptop for when I work on PUB400. Does anyone who has used both have a good reason to recommend RDi over VS Code for i?
- Dan Bale
-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L<midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Rob Berendt
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2025 12:38 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion<midrange-l@lists.midrangecom>
Subject: Merlin
According to the Fortra Survey at
under application development tools Merlin is used by 2% of IBM i shops.
While RDi and Visual Studio Code are neck and neck at 54% and 53%.
So, does one attend the IBM i Guided Tour on Merlin on Wednesday or not?
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