Choosing and installing a client

IBM® Developer for z/OS® provides an IDE (integrated development environment) built on the Eclipse platform. IBM Developer for z/OS Select is a bundle that offers a choice of two IDEs, one built on the Eclipse platform and one built on the Microsoft Visual Studio Code (VS Code) platform. IBM Developer for z/OS Enterprise Edition provides a similar choice of Eclipse-based and VS Code-based IDEs that you can work in, plus additional components and advanced features enabled for those components. Developer for z/OS Enterprise Edition also includes AI integration using Model Context Protocol (MCP) server technology.

  • The Developer for z/OS Eclipse client is installed on a Windows or macOS workstation. It offers a robust and extensible suite of end-to-end tools for developing, analyzing, debugging, testing, and building z/OS applications. It supports development of source code from a variety of traditional mainframe and modern cloud-native sources, such as z/OS, z/OS UNIX System Services, Git, and Jazz®.
  • IBM Developer for z/OS on VS Code extends the functions of VS Code to provide z/OS developers with a familiar and straightforward edit, build, and debug experience. IBM Developer for z/OS on VS Code consists of the IBM Z® Open Editor and IBM Z Open Debug VS Code extensions.

The licensing terms for the different editions of IBM Developer for z/OS are an important factor to consider as you plan client installations. Developer for z/OS and Developer for z/OS Select are licensed for Authorized Users. This is a user-based entitlement. Developer for z/OS Enterprise Edition is licensed by Value Units purchased. This is not strictly a user-based entitlement. Understanding the offering you purchased and its licensing terms impacts how you determine entitlements needed.

Developer for z/OS and Developer for z/OS Select entitlements allow each Authorized User to have multiple client installations, which may be used sequentially or concurrently. IBM provides a means to scan customer machines to discover IBM product installations. This can assist your governance efforts by determining where Developer for z/OS Clients are installed. In the case of Authorized User entitlements, you will need to match installations found to Authorized Users and ensure enough entitlements have been purchased to cover the actual number of users accessing client software found, according to the definition of an Authorized User. Please refer to the IBM License Information document for the offering you purchased to review the exact definition of an Authorized User.

Developer for z/OS Enterprise Edition uses a Product Enablement method to activate clients since Value Unit entitlements do not correlate to an exact number of users. This is a method requiring the installation of software on the IBM Z platform and configuring clients to communicate with that software. You can use the IBM Sub-Capacity Reporting Tool (SCRT) to check usage within entitlement. See Product Enablement in IFAPRDxx for more information on client configuration for Developer for z/OS Enterprise Edition.

To install a Developer for z/OS client, follow the instructions in these topics.