System 21 at OS400 V5R2 -- SYSTEM21

As most of you are aware, Geac had recommended that System 21 customers
should not to upgrade their AS400 operating system to V5R2 unless they were
at Service Pack 4 (SP4) of System 21.  This was due to issues with embedded
SQL statements in RPG programs in which data files may not get updated.

 

Since moving to SP4 was a huge task for us, and Geac was unwilling to
provide customers with a list of the programs that required modifications, I
decided to forge ahead on my own (with some help from Ram Hari at
Wasserstrom).  There were also several companies that contribute to this
list that had already upgraded to V5R2 without being at SP4 and have not had
any problems with the SQL.

 

Being conservative I spent a good portion of today and yesterday getting
together a list of all of our System 21 programs that use SQL.  This came to
266 programs.  I then did a DSPOBJD (Display Object Description) to a file
to determine which programs have been used in the last couple of years.
This narrowed my list down to 72 programs.

 

I then loaded (load only not install) the SP4 PTF's and source and started
to compare the source for differences in the SQL statements between SP3 and
SP4.  After going through about 25 programs I did not see a single
difference.  I seemed to be wasting my time.

 

I put a message into Answerlink stating, once again, that I would really
like to know exactly which programs using SQL need to be modified in SP3.  I
then called Geac's Teri Willouby, who started to work on my Answerlink case,
and she stated that only customers that use Vendor Scheduling and Style
customers need to be concerned when going to V5R2.  See her response to me
below.

 

We don't use Vendor Scheduling and are not a Style customer.  This is
completely different from Geac's previous response.  However, I can now
continue for forge ahead with my upgrade and we can put this one to bed.

 

Take Care,

 

Steve

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Summary

Need to know exactly which programs using SQL need to be fixed

 

Hi Steve,

There are fixes to Vendor Scheduling programs in Americas Solution Pack
AP2.4.  There are also fixes to some Style Distribution programs after AP2.4
that were issued as a GA PTF.  Since speaking with you on the phone, and now
knowing that you do not use Style nor Vendor Scheduling, then you should be
perfectly fine to uplift your OS to V5R2. 

As discussed on the phone, I will go ahead and close this case at this time.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Best Regards,

Teri Willoughby/Geac S21 Support