Continuous delivery in Db2 13

Db2 13 evolves continuous delivery of new capabilities and enhancements in a single service stream as soon as they are ready. With continuous delivery, your business can take advantage of the newest capabilities and enhancements in Db2 for z/OS as soon as you are ready, without waiting for the next full release. Many enhancements become available as soon as you apply the PTF for the APAR that introduces them. Where necessary to control the adoption of new application capabilities, function levels and application compatibility levels enable your business to control the adoption and use of new-feature capabilities by applications in your Db2 for z/OS environments.

Tip: If you are preparing to migrate to Db2 13, you can find an comprehensive list of all new capabilities and enhancements that are currently available in Db2 13 in Overview of what's new in Db2 13.

New-function APARs in Db2 for z/OS continuous delivery

Function levels and application compatibility levels in Db2 13 enable your business to control the adoption of new-feature capabilities by applications in yourDb2 for z/OS environment. However, many new-function APARs introduce enhancements that become available immediately as soon as you apply the PTF for the APAR that introduces them.

For a list of enhancements and new-feature capabilities that become available as soon as you apply the APAR PTF that introduces them, see New-function APARs for Db2 13.

Function levels in Db2 for z/OS continuous delivery

Function levels and application compatibility levels enable your business to control the adoption of new-feature capabilities by applications in your Db2 for z/OS environment.

Function levels are mainly used for new-feature capabilities that require the functional code to be applied consistently on all members of a Db2 data sharing group, and especially when the Db2 catalog must be updated to support the new-feature capability.

The building blocks of each Db2 function level are a series of APARs that introduce deactivated new-function code to Db2, followed by an APAR that enables you to issue the ACTIVATE command for the function level. In most cases, use of new function capabilities also requires the applications to run with the equivalent or higher application compatibility level.

For the list of available function levels in Db2 13, see Db2 13 function levels.