RE: Prior release support (was: open source rpg compiler)

I agree that it seems like a good idea to PTF support for say, V5R2 BIFs
back to V4R5.  There are several things to consider with this:

1) Code I compile on my V5R2 system may or may not compile 
   on your V4R5 system, depending on what PTFs you have loaded.
2) Code I run on my V5R2 system may or may not run on your
   V4R5 system, depending on what PTFs you have loaded.
3) I, the software vendor need to keep track of the PTFs
   required to compile and run my code on several releases
   of OS/400, and presumably download all of them so I have 
   them on hand for a customer on a non-supported release.
   This is an added chore for vendors who already support
   multiple releases of OS/400.
4) You, the software customer need to understand and accept
   that you can no longer buy iSeries software or copy source
   code from a web site and expect it to run as-is.  You must
   expect to do some research to discover what PTFs need to be
   applied in order to make the software run/compile.

This is similar to the Microsoft situation where an .avi file might need
Media Player 8.  You can't tell until you try to play it, and then you need
to go grab the needed software from the net.  Or trying to compile a Linux
source and finding out you need a different version of MAKE, which you go
grab off the net.  Unless your network guys have restricted FTP access...

It's not impossible by any means but it requires a significant change in the
mindset of existing iSeries software consumers.  Today, if I compile for
TGTRLS(V5R2), I only need to tell my customers that this software runs on
V5R2.
  --buck