Preparing to use the CICS build toolkit

How to install, upgrade, and uninstall the CICS® build toolkit, including the Java™ Runtime Environment requirements and Eclipse workspace considerations for running the CICS build toolkit.

Java Runtime Environment requirements

The CICS build toolkit requires a Java 7 compatible Java Runtime Environment (JRE) or Java Development Kit (JDK), either 32-bit (31-bit on z/OS®) or 64-bit. You must set the JAVA_HOME environment variable to refer to the JRE or JDK directory.

Installing the CICS build toolkit

  1. Download the most recent version of the cicsbt_#######.zip file from the IBM CICS Transaction Server build toolkit downloads website.
  2. Transfer the cicsbt_#######.zip file in binary to the system on which you run the CICS build toolkit.
  3. Extract the cicsbt_#######.zip file to create the cicsbt directory. Issue the command unzip cicsbt_#######.zip or, if unzip is unavailable, issue the command jar -xf cicsbt_#######.zip.
  4. If the shell programs are not executable:
    • enter the cicsbt directory and type the command chmod a+x cicsbt on Linux.
    • enter the cicsbt directory and type the command chmod a+x cicsbt_zos on z/OS.

Upgrading the CICS build toolkit

To upgrade the CICS build toolkit to a newer version, delete the cicsbt directory and follow the installation instructions that are contained in the readme file for the new version.

Uninstalling the CICS build toolkit

To uninstall the CICS build toolkit, delete the cicsbt directory.

Managing Eclipse workspaces

When you run the CICS build toolkit, it creates a temporary Eclipse workspace in your user home directory, in which it builds the specified CICS bundles or applications. Do not delete the workspace that is created by the CICS build toolkit while it is in use. This action causes the build process to fail and corrupts your built artifacts.

If you want to run multiple instances of the CICS build toolkit simultaneously from one user account, you can use the --workspace option to specify a workspace directory.

Note: Ensure that you delete the workspace directory after use, and that you use a different source directory for each workspace. This is important because the CICS build toolkit writes to the source directory during the build process.