> The idea of programmers installing software via CD into product > libraries they have access to scares the willies out of me. It is one > of two issues I have with this.
I can see some fear of the unknown, but I don't see any reason for panic. If your shop controls access to production libraries then there's nothing a user can do from FTP that they can't do from TSO/ISPF. There is no black magic behind the FTP curtain. > "What changed?" becomes an increasingly difficult question to answer. > I'm not sure change control in most of the shops I've been in > would have prevented this sort of product from getting installed. Maybe, or maybe not. If the tool used standard z/OS facilities (in particular, SMP/E) and operated with the identity of a properly authorized person (which it must anyway) then there is only a difference in the means of delivery. The content and methods are essentially the same as those you are used to now. Or so it is with ours. We use FTP to download SMP/E installable materials into libraries specified by the user. Then we use FTP to write SMP/E receive/apply etc. jobs into the JES unput stream and retrieve their results. The person running the install uses their own userid and password and they control the names of the CSI and the DLIBs and TLIBS. Just as they would in ISPF. If they are authorized (in the RACF sense) to do those things then it works just as if they did it all the long way via ISPF. If they are not appropriately authorized then the logon and/or subsequent steps fail, just like you would expect them to. On that basis its functionally identical with the "normal" way of doing a full function product install, its just driven a bit differently. We also provide the same materials on ordinary carts and you can either spin them yourself, or use our older ISPF-based installer to drive the process. The ISPF way is not as flexible and it takes a lot longer, but the materials are essentially the same and the resulting installed product(s) is the same. I am not going to argue one is inherently superior to the other. They both work, they both serve their purpose and the choice of which to use is largely one of personal preference. CC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
