IBM System i Versioning and Automated Builds

Curtis_oc5izt

We have an IBM System i (AS/400) which has a combination of COBOL code, Control Language and Java code. I know Bitbucket and Bamboo are great for Java developers, but I'm not so sure how or even if it is possible to get Bitbucket and Bamboo tied in to the IBM system for COBOL and CL.

Has anyone done this before that can give me the lowdown on it?

Thanks,
Curtis 

Bob Swift

Bamboo is a general build tool that can help building almost any code provided you have appropriate build scripts to run. For IBM i, you would need to run IBM compilers using remote commands, etc... You would want to use IFS stored or referenced versions of the source code.

Bitbucket is also a general source control tool that can store whatever source you want to put into it.

So, it is possible, but practically, there are a number of difficulties and, I would guess, few companies doing the same kind of thing to help and share experiences with. Moreover, the tools do not provide any specific help for your class of code (Cobol, CL) nor are there any/many add-ons covering that user scenario. So, your investment would need to be high in order to get benefits.