Re: TWOFA - A 2FA Two-Factor Authentication solution 100% native to the IBM i -- MIDRANGE-L

Hi Steve,

I don't think, that you will get a lot of backlash for your opinion.

But I would second Jon - if someone write something new an shiny like 2FA in RPG - it's sad, that it's not **FREE.

Not because **FREE is better - because it looks more modern. You, Jon and I know, that the result is of course the same - but someone new looks at the code and sees columnar or **FREE - what does he/she thinks of the code?

But hope is not lost - using Bob Cozzys RPG/IV to **FREE converter and maybe some Bob-coins, and the whole repository is **FREE and looks new, modern and shiny.

Regards,
Daniel

Am 10.05.2026 um 20:30 schrieb Steve M <steven.meisinger@xxxxxxxxxxx>:

Even as I am typing this I know it's a bad idea, but I can't stop myself.

There's a real world out there, Jon, and a lot of the leaders in our industry, like yourself, I think sometime forget that. It's columnar RPG, not free. It's left-hand indicators and L1/LR logic. It's O-specs and not PRTF. It's F-specs and not imbedded SQL. It's S36 legacy. It's PF/LF (even fixed length F-Spec) and not DDL.

Just like the millions upon millions of COBOL out there that still runs the backbone of systems today, RPG is no different. One must accept this as fact; like it or not. As you put it, "hard to read" or not. That you, or someone else might write it today, or not.

Client to client, company to company, I continue to encounter this truth. Maybe you have the luxury of being selective to the best and brightest of code - but a lot of us, I dare to say most of us, are slugging it through legacy day in/day out. It's what got us here - it's what keeps the platform relevant and even in use in most cases. Without it, they'd fold it up and close it down.

I know there is going to be a holy-war on this one; entrenched positions, desires and beliefs, and even defiance. Sorry all, it is what it is. That's the system. Again, no different than COBOL, so I strongly encourage we embrace it, support it, and even write in that fashion when the client/company says, "we want our changes to look just like the rest and not bounce back and forth old and new." Not every company has the time, money, or more so the desire to want to enhance/upgrade/modernize. That's okay - as long as they keep our platform alive we should encourage them, support them, and assist them and not battle with them over a meaningless hill to die upon; the hill of that's older code and you (client/company) need to upgrade it. No, they don't. It's theirs to do as they wish.

I am prepared for the onslaught of replies back at me arguing the opposite, but to those who do I ask you this - why argue it at all? It's a fact. It's out there. It's staying. If you don’t like to deal with it wherever you are today then find a different shop to work and be happy. But as long as your shop desires the old way, help them the absolute best you can to make them be the absolute best they can be. For that, right there, is what makes an IBM i developer different than any other language or platform - we want the best for our client; not always ourselves.

Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Jon Paris
Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2026 13:01
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: TWOFA - A 2FA Two-Factor Authentication solution 100% native to the IBM i

Agreed but sad to see that so much of it is fixed form, though. Even the calcs in some cases.

I know ... I'm getting old and cranky, but I really find it hard to read fixed form calcs these days - so many years since I wrote any.

Jon Paris
Jon.Paris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On May 10, 2026, at 1:15 PM, Richard Schoen <richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

This looks very interesting.

Regards,
Richard Schoen
Web: http://www.richardschoen.net
Email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

----------------------------------------------------------------------

message: 1
date: Sun, 10 May 2026 12:53:14 +0800
from: Vengoal Chang <vengoal@xxxxxxxxx>
subject: TWOFA - A 2FA Two-Factor Authentication solution 100% native
to the IBM i

Please reference
https://github.com/vengoal/TWOFA

--
Best Regards,

Vengoal Chang

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