Release notes

These release notes provide information about the current version of the IBM® z/OS® Package Manager in IBM Z® and Cloud Modernization Stack. For release notes about other products in IBM Z and Cloud Modernization Stack, see Release Notes®.

This product contains components with the following versions:

Component Version
IBM z/OS Package Manager 2.0.1
IBM z/OS Package Manager Operator 2.1.1

If the IBM z/OS Package Manager is modified between releases of IBM Z and Cloud Modernization Stack, more versions might be available. For the latest information about product versions, always check the IBM Z and Cloud Modernization GitHub community.

What's New?

The table provides information about new features in each release for IBM z/OS Package Manager and IBM z/OS Package Manager Operator in respective columns.

IBM z/OS Package Manager Operator IBM z/OS Package Manager
Version 2.1.1

Updates
  • Updated operator to use z/OS Package Manager CLI 2.0.1.
  • Updated operator to only allow installation of z/OS products from the official IBM Cloud Container registry (ICR).
    • Only z/OS Product OCI Artifacts hosted on icr.io (and related regional servers) are now supported.
 Version 2.0.1

Updates
  • Security vulnerability fixes
Version 2.1.0

Updates
  • Updated operator to use z/OS Package Manager CLI 2.0.0.
  • Added support for specifying a registry when installing a z/OS Product via the operator. This allows users to either pre-configure a product registry when installing z/OS Package Manager or leave it blank and provide a registry when installing a z/OS Product.
    • Registries that are specified in the Install z/OS Product instance take precedence over a pre-configured registry in the z/OS Package Manager instance.
    • For registries that require authentication, a credential (secret) must be selected in the z/OS Package Manager operator configuration instead of it being provided in the z/OS Cloud Broker Endpoint UI. The instructions to create an encrypted registry credential by using zoscb-encrypt CLI can be found here.
    • The following fields have been updated:
      • z/OS Package Manager resource
        • Registry Location is now an optional field.
        • New optional fields Registry User Credential and Registry Proxy User Credential are added.
      • Install z/OS Product resource
        • Registry Location field added for users to specify a registry URL or override a pre-configured registry in z/OS Package Manager.
        • Registry User Credential is added to allow a credential secret to be selected for registries that require authentication.
  • Removed support for older Python OCI Artifacts versions. Python 3.10.x.x versions removed due to EOS approaching in 2024.

Bug Fixes
  • Fixed an issue where upgrading z/OS Package Manager operator would fail to reconcile Install z/OS Product and Validate z/OS Product instances that were created in an older version of the operator with the error zpm_registry is undefined.
  • Improved a user facing error message where the conditions section displayed an improperly evaluated string {{ product_image }}{{ image_ver }} when a product is already installed on the z/OS endpoint.
  • Minor improvements in error reporting and user facing messages for z/OS Product Install, Uninstall, and Validate workflows.
 Version 2.0.0

Updates
  • Added support for IBM z/OS product OCI Artifact specification 2.0.0.
  • Added new flags to install and uninstall commands
  • Security vulnerability fixes
  • Upgrading deprecated dependencies
Version 2.0.1

Updates
  • Updated operator to use z/OS Package Manager CLI 1.1.1.
  • Added support for installing products from registries other than IBM Cloud Container Registry (ICR).
    • Product OCI Artifacts that are hosted on other registries such as ICR or a Docker registry type are now also supported.
    • Tabs for z/OS Product Install and z/OS Product Validate can now be used for products from non-ICR registeries.
    • Renamed z/OS Product Name field to z/OS Product OCI Artifact Name. The input type for this field has changed from a drop-down list to a free-form text field so that OCI Artifact names other than IBM products on ICR can be used as input.
    • GitHub community page is updated to include Product OCI Artifact names and the new OCI Artifact versions for 2023.2.1 release (June 2023).
    • Added compatibility with an earlier operator version 2.0.0 to support product installation and validation after the upgrade of the z/OS Package Manager Operator.
  • Removed support for older OCI Artifacts versions for Go and Node.js.
    • Go 1.19.x.x removed due to the introduction of semantic versionings starting with Go 1.20. Go 1.19 will be deprecated soon.
    • Node.js 18.0.0.1 removed due to change in C/C++ install directory. Older Node.js OCIs are no longer compatible with the latest C/C++ OCI artifacts.
  • Updated product OCI artifact name for IBM C/C++ for Open Enterprise Languages from opencpp to oelcpp.
    • C/C++ install location has changed to include oelcpp instead of opencpp.
    • Product OCI artifact version 2.0.0.1 is added.
    • Any older instances that are created with OCI name C/C++ or opencpp must be deleted (uninstalled) and re-created with the name oelcpp.
  • Fixed bug in product install, uninstall, and validate workflows where the role pre-check was failing with the product_image is undefined error.
  • Updated maximum supported OCI versions for Golang to 5.0.0.0 and Node.js to 30.0.0.0.
  • Updated z/OS Package Manager ConfigMap to include zpm_registry field so other resources (tabs) in the operator can retrieve the configured registry location. z/OS Cloud Broker uses ConfigMap to update the corresponding z/OS endpoint objects in Red Hat OpenShift.
 Version 1.1.1

- Security vulnerability fixes
- Added zpm search command to query a list of Product OCI artifact names and versions from the configured registry (ICR/Docker types).
Version 2.0.0

Updates
  • Updated operator to use z/OS Package Manager CLI 1.1.0.
  • Consolidated z/OS Language operators into z/OS Package Manager Operator.
  • Added Install z/OS Product and Validate z/OS Product workflows for the following z/OS products:
    • IBM 64-bit SDK for z/OS, Java Technology Edition
    • IBM C/C++ for Open Enterprise Languages on z/OS
    • IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Go
    • IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Node.js
    • IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Python
    • IBM Z Open Automation Utilities (ZOAU)
  • Added support for migrating z/OS Language Operator instances during operator upgrade.
    • Previous versions of stand-alone language operator Install and Validate instances are automatically migrated to the new tabs (custom resources) when upgrading to z/OS Package Manager Operator 2.0.0.
  • Updated requirement from community.kubernetes 2.0.1 to kubernetes.core 2.4.0 for z/OS Cloud Broker 2.2.0 compatibility.
  • Updated license file for z/OS Package Manager CLI 1.1.0.
  • Removed support for older OCI artifacts versions for Go, Node.js, and C/C++.
    • Go 1.18.x.x versions removed due to EOS.
    • Node.js 16.x.x.x and C/C++ 1.x.x.x versions are removed as they are not compatible with the newer OCI Artifact releases.
  • Added zoscb tag to the Galaxy collection so z/OS Cloud Broker can filter the collection for its Galaxy Import operator page.
  • Improved error reporting for check related to a product already being installed by another instance.
  • Updated Readme file for 2.0.0 release.

Bug Fixes
- Fixed Install z/OS Product instance deletion (uninstall) when the specified version number is invalid or outside of the supported range. This allows the instance to be deleted successfully.
- Fixed Product installation, uninstallation, and validation errors when z/OS Package Manager is not installed or operational. These errors are now detected early and shown in a user-friendly way.		 Version 1.1.0
- Security vulnerability fixes
Version 1.0.5

Updates
- Updated operator to use z/OS Package Manager CLI 1.0.2.

Bug Fixes
- Fixed Registry Proxy Port setting so it resolves z/OS Package Manager install failure when using a proxy.		 Version 1.0.2

- Security vulnerability fixes
- Fixed to correctly set z/OS Package Manager proxy port number.
Version 1.0.4

Updates
- Updated operator to use z/OS Package Manager CLI 1.0.1.		 Version 1.0.1

- OCI artifacts are signed and the signature that is created can be verified. For more information, see OCI Artifacts.

For operator collection assets, visit Ansible Galaxy and GitHub release pages.

Note: Collection verification files, including signatures and public key, are available on the GitHub release page.

Known issues and limitations

  • It is highly recommended to use IBM 'icr.io/zpm' as the product registry location when installing software products using IBM z/OS Package Manager.

  • The OCI Artifacts' config.mediaType can be application/vnd.ibm.zosadk.config.v1+json or application/vnd.oci.image.config.v1+json and the artifact can contain layers with mediaType application/vnd.oci.image.layer.v1.tar+gzip. The custom mediaType application/vnd.ibm.zosadk.config.v1+json is supported by IBM Cloud® Container Registry (icr.io) and Artifactory.

  • If your ZPM_STATE_DIR environment variable is set to default and the default directory /var/zpm has not been created the IBM z/OS Package Manager configuration list prints an error.

  • It is highly recommended to create only one instance of oelcpp within the default IBM z/OS Package Manager install_hlq even if a different namespace is specified.

  • Installing more than one z/OS Package Manager instance on the same z/OS endpoint is not recommended.
    This is not permitted from the same OpenShift namespace. Installing more than one z/OS Package Manager instance on the same z/OS endpoint can have unintended consequences on existing z/OS Product Install and Validate instances where they might fail or reinstall the product to a different installation directory (if different) and loose association with any previously installed product directory locations.

  • If upgrading to z/OS Package Manager operator 2.0.1 from an older version, Install z/OS Product and Validate z/OS Product resource instances that were created in an older version of the operator fail to reconcile with zpm_registry is undefined error. The workaround is to upgrade to operator version 2.1.0 or newer or delete and re-create z/OS Package Manager resource instance that is associated with the product installation and validation instances.

  • Sometimes after upgrading to z/OS Package Manager 2.1.0, Validate z/OS Product instances can reconcile into a failed state with the following error.

    cd:: EDC51291 No such file or directory.
/.env: not found.

    The workaround is to delete and re-create the Validate z/OS Product instance to resolve the issue.