On Mon, Jul 18, 2016 at 10:34 AM, Aaron Bartell <aaronbartell@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The bottom line is that the Zend PHP experience on the i has been smoother
and generally better, by typical midrange standards, than the experience
with Node.js, Python, and 5733-OPS in general.
I am not IBM, but I am wondering if you could expound on what hasn't been
as smooth so IBM can hear.
Well, keep in mind I am not an administrator. I don't have personal
experience installing any of the things mentioned above. I was mainly
trying to take Jon's comments and your comments as both true, from
your respective viewpoints. And I've read other people's anecdotes on
these lists of their attempts to get things working. (I've only really
heard 5733-OPS stories, nothing regarding PHP for i.)
Given all that, I simply found myself more sympathetic to Jon's
position. It's not for folks from other platforms to say "hey you
midrangers, our stuff is so easy and works so awesome on our platform;
it's not fair for you to say our stuff is not easy just because it's
not easy on your platform". Well, midrangers aren't on Linux or even
Windows. They are on IBM i. And if it's not easy on IBM i, then it's
not easy for them. Period. How do we (all of us, collectively) improve
the situation?
I would think the bumpy ride for installation and setup of 5733-OPS is
already evident to you. And Kevin Adler has been not just monitoring
but actively participating in the process of getting you and others
set up. So I don't know what else I can offer in terms of expounding
on what hasn't been smooth.
I can *imagine* what a smooth installation would look like. To me, the
iSeriesPython installation is quite smooth. I mean, not as smooth as a
Windows installer, but at least the instructions given were very clear
and easy to follow, with not too many steps.
Conversely, I have always found licensed programs and PTFs and all
that jazz very arcane, unintuitive, and not easy or smooth. But that's
me. What I can say is, that kind of stuff is evidently *familiar* to
midrangers, and familiarity breeds a *sense* of ease. (I will note
that Jon said PHP for i had a *familiar* installation process, not an
easy one.) Since I don't have the required authority to install PTFs
even if I wanted to (and actually, I have wanted to!), there's no way
for me to develop the familiarity and thus ease with the typical IBM i
way of doing things. All I know is that it sounds complicated to me,
and even super-knowledgeable people like Rob can get tripped up by the
myriad PTFs involved. The situation seems to be improving (for
example, with the "grouped" PTFs, I don't remember the official
terminology), but I can't tell firsthand.
Also, I think it would be good to log RFEs so
we can vote on what we'd like to see changed.
It would be good. I don't feel I'm the one to log them. At least not
regarding installation issues.
John Y.
midrange.com
