Re: RDi 9.6 Fix Pack 11 and iSphere

On Sep 18, 2021, at 7:42 AM, <fhildebrandt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> <fhildebrandt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi Mike,

I researched a little bit in the internet about the shared classes feature
of the JVM you adviced me to turn off. Here is a link with a very good
explanation.

https://developer.ibm.com/tutorials/j-class-sharing-openj9/

On my PC where I have no problems with the new fix pack 11, I listed the
shared caches by using the following command and I could see the RDi shared
chache.

java -Xshareclasses:listAllCaches

After this I used the following command to destroy the cache.

java -Xshareclasses:destroyAll

I restarted RDi and everything worked without any problems. RDi created a
new shared cache, which I could see by entering the listAllCaches command.

Next week I want to activate the the shared classes feature on one with the
pcml problem affected computer again. After this I want to destroy the
shared caches to see, if this could fix the pcml problem too.

From your point of view, is there anything you would say I shoudn`t do that?

Frank



-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: WDSCI-L <wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Im Auftrag von Mike
Hockings
Gesendet: Freitag, 17. September 2021 21:38
An: Rational Developer for IBM i <wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Betreff: Re: [WDSCI-L] RDi 9.6 Fix Pack 11 and iSphere




Hi Frank,

The cache is outside of any JVM or product install and persists over reboots
...

On Windows take a peek under C:\Users{userid}\AppData\Local
\javasharedresources

Mike

Mike Hockings, M.Eng., P.Eng.
DevOps for Enterprise
IBM Developer for z Systems and Power Systems Software Technical Support IBM
Canada Ltd. Laboratory hockings@xxxxxxxxxx voice 1-905-413-3199 T/L 313-3199
ITN 23133199




From: <fhildebrandt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "'Rational Developer for IBM i'" <wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 2021/09/17 02:24 PM
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [WDSCI-L] RDi 9.6 Fix Pack 11 and iSphere
Sent by: "WDSCI-L" <wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>



Hi Steve,

we don`t uninstalled the fix pack. We completly uninstalled RDi, so that the
folders C:\Program Files\IBM\SDPShared and C:\Program Files\IBM\SDP were
deleted. After this we installed RDi again and the problem still occured.

Do you know where in the file system the RDi JVM cache is located? Is there
a way to clean this cache manually?

We are using PCML source files and not serialized PCML files, so this can`t
be the problem.

Please send me the necessary informations to sign up to the beta testing
program.

Frank



-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: WDSCI-L <wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Im Auftrag von Steve
Ferrell via WDSCI-L
Gesendet: Freitag, 17. September 2021 19:28
An: Rational Developer for IBM i <wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Steve Ferrell <Steve.Ferrell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Betreff: Re: [WDSCI-L] RDi 9.6 Fix Pack 11 and iSphere

Hi Frank,

Uninstalling a fix pack won't affect the shared JVM cache location.
Especially if the machine had 9.6.0.10 since it had the JVM update.

A JVM update or a system reboot will, or in Mikes suggestion, not using a
shared location will ensure that the cache will not be used. (Keep in mind
this is different from Eclipse or RDi cache that is stored in the workspace.
These can be cleaned with the preferences or a -clean.)

The JVM cache persists until a reboot. And some cached items can be
preserved even between system restarts.

We take security seriously, so we need to update the JVM for security
updates. Which is why 9.6.0.10 was an iFix to update the JVM only.

It's OK to build for RDP 8.0 and target to Java 5. This way your plugin is
backward compatible. It simply means you cannot use any new methods
introduced in Java 6 to the current level. But because we are running the
latest version of the IBM JVM Java 8, you have all of the security fixes,
while running code compatible to Java 5 call signatures.

The issue occurs when items are normally cached to speed up the process,
either by the JVM or by developers. If you have a PCML program you use, and
pre-compile the PCML and ship it, you may need to "recompile" when the JVM
is updated. I say may, because most of the time a wide character is the same
size in the JVM. Sometimes the JVM redefines sizes, in which case your PCML
will need to be regenerated. These pre-compiled PCML are examples of items
that persist between system restarts.

I'd suggest looking at how your PCML objects are generated. Pre-compiled is
nice when YOU control the JVM updates only. But when you are dependent upon
a user or 3rd party update, you may be better off having them generated at
"JVM startup".

We do appreciate ALL of our Plugin developers, and urge you to take
advantage of our 6 week beta so that if you (or we) need a fix before GA we
have time to do it before the final ship date.

Hope this help!

Steve Ferrell
w. www.helpsystems.com



-----Original Message-----
From: WDSCI-L <wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of
fhildebrandt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, September 17, 2021 10:20 AM
To: 'Rational Developer for IBM i' <wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [WDSCI-L] RDi 9.6 Fix Pack 11 and iSphere

External: Pause and review the sender's email address, any URLs before
clicking links, opening attachments, or following requests. When in doubt,
contact the Service Desk.


Hi Steve,

on the first machine the problem occurred, we uninstalled RDi completly and
installed it from scratch with fix pack 11. This did`t help at all. We still
had the same problem.

I tried multiple things to make it work and at the end I had a workaround
which made it work without Mikes fix, but of course Mikes fix is much
better.

I downloaded all JTOpen versions from 9.6 to 10.6 from the link below. Then
I replaced the JTOpen jt400.jar in folder ...\SDPShared\plugins
\com.ibm.etools.iseries.toolbox_8.5.6109.v20210426_1434
\runtime with the downloaded JTOpen jar. With JTOpen 9.6 and 9.7 the pcml
exception didn`t occur any longer. But after this I got a null pointer
exception in our CMOne NG plugin, which could absolutly not be explained.
Normally we build our CMOne NG plugin with RDP 8.0, which uses a Java 5 JDK.
Now I built our CMOne NG plugin with RDi 9.6.0.11, which uses a Java 8 JDK,
and this fixed the null pointer exception and CMOne NG was able to work.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/jt400/files/JTOpen-full/


My assumption is, that the JRE, which is delivered with RDi 9.6.0.11 has a
problem with jars, who are compiled with a lower target JRE then Java 8. I
checked the jt400.jar in folder ...\SDPShared\plugins
\com.ibm.etools.iseries.toolbox_8.5.6109.v20210426_1434
\runtime. The classes in this jar have a major version of 45. Major version
45 is Java 1.0 and Java 1.1. Wow, was this really intentional?. I bet, if we
could get a jt400.jar for JTOpen 10.5 compiled with a target of Java 8, then
the problem with the pcml exception would not occur. When downloading the
JTOpen from sourceforge the zip file contains a jt400.jar in a folders
java6, java8 and java9. I checked the jt400.jar in the java8 folder and
unfortunately it is not compiled with target Java 8. It is compiled with
target Java 5.

Frank



-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: WDSCI-L <wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Im Auftrag von Steve
Ferrell via WDSCI-L
Gesendet: Freitag, 17. September 2021 16:34
An: Rational Developer for IBM i <wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Steve Ferrell <Steve.Ferrell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Betreff: Re: [WDSCI-L] RDi 9.6 Fix Pack 11 and iSphere

Hi Frank and Mike,

It's likely the issue was caused by users who installed 9.6.0.10 (which was
a JVM update only) caching classes from Java Toolbox.

9.6.0.11 didn't update the JVM, but did update Java Toolbox. A JVM update
clears the cache. Future releases will only update Java Toolbox during a JVM
update.

I would suggest attempting a system reboot BEFORE changing the JVM setting.
A reboot may also clear the cache. Any user who WASN'T affected by the PCML
issue would NOT need to change the JVM setting.

Anyone interested in in joining the 6 week beta program can send me a
message in LinkedIN, or contact IBM Support.

Hope this helps!

Steve Ferrell
w. www.helpsystems.com
l. www.linkedin.com/in/steve-ferrell-rdi


-----Original Message-----
From: WDSCI-L <wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Mike
Hockings
Sent: Friday, September 17, 2021 8:00 AM
To: Rational Developer for IBM i <wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [WDSCI-L] RDi 9.6 Fix Pack 11 and iSphere

External: Pause and review the sender's email address, any URLs before
clicking links, opening attachments, or following requests. When in doubt,
contact the Service Desk.


Hi Frank,

Yes, I figured it out and told Farzi about it so she could let you know. I
thought I should put it in the WDSC-L so that more folks might know and be
able to take corrective action as needed.

My hypothesis was that there was an bad entry in the shared classes cache in
the JVM to changing the setting just turns off using the cache. You can
also tinker at clearing the cache or naming it differently and see if the
issue comes back. Here is a link to the JVM parm
https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/sdk-java-technology/8?topic=options-xshareclasse

s

The only down-side of the setting is performance but this is unlikely to
affect small-scale interactive usage like RDI but could affect a large WAS
server for example.

I don't think that there is anything that the RDI team can directly do about
it and without a clear test-case to reliably cause the problem it is
unlikely that we could get the Java team to look into it. However
historically I have seen this sort of issue fixed by the next Java update,
when that will be, I don't know, sorry.

Hopefully this helps a bit with understanding the underlying issue.

As the HelpSystem folks may have said, they recommend all plugin developers
to get onboard with the Beta program so you have a preview of what is to
come with each release.

All the best, Mike

Mike Hockings, M.Eng., P.Eng.
DevOps for Enterprise
IBM Developer for z Systems and Power Systems Software Technical Support IBM
Canada Ltd. Laboratory hockings@xxxxxxxxxx voice 1-905-413-3199 T/L
313-3199
ITN 23133199




From: <fhildebrandt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "'Rational Developer for IBM i'" <wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 2021/09/17 07:39 AM
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [WDSCI-L] RDi 9.6 Fix Pack 11 and iSphere
Sent by: "WDSCI-L" <wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>



Hi Mike,

Farzi from the RDi technical support team already pointed me to this.

On all affected systems we know this worked. In case of iSphere and in case
of CMOne NG too.

One of the users with this problem has a question. He asked "Do you have any
clue what other effect it is going to have, just in case I come across a
"difference" later?"

I have a question too.

When I informed Farzi, that this worked he asked me, if he can close the
ticket. Is this the permanent solution we have to apply on all affected
systems manually in the future or will IBM supply something else?

Frank




-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: WDSCI-L <wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Im Auftrag von Mike
Hockings
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 16. September 2021 21:01
An: Rational Developer for IBM i <wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Betreff: Re: [WDSCI-L] RDi 9.6 Fix Pack 11 and iSphere

Hi Frank,

Edit the eclipse.ini in the RDI install directory and locate the line:
-Xshareclasses:name=IBMSDP_%u
then modify the line to be:
-Xshareclasses:none
and save the eclipse.ini then restart RDI.

Let me know if that fixes the iSphere search issue or not, thanks.

Mike Hockings, M.Eng., P.Eng.
DevOps for Enterprise
IBM Developer for z Systems and Power Systems Software Technical Support IBM
Canada Ltd. Laboratory hockings@xxxxxxxxxx voice 1-905-413-3199 T/L
313-3199
ITN 23133199




From: <fhildebrandt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 2021/09/16 07:35 AM
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [WDSCI-L] RDi 9.6 Fix Pack 11 and
iSphere
Sent by: "WDSCI-L" <wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>



Hi,



if you are using iSphere you shouldn`t update your RDi 9.6 Installation to
fix pack 11. On some boxes with RDi 9.6 Fix Pack 11 we get a PCML exception,
if we use the iSphere source file search. On most of the boxes with RDi 9.6
Fix Pack 11 everything works fine. At the moment the problem is not
reproducable. We have opened a ticket at IBM to find a solution for this
problem



Regards



Frank Hildebrandt



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