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IBM Engineering Lifecycle Optimization - Method Composer 7.6.2 SR1

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Abstract

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Optimization - Method Composer (MEC) 7.6.2 SR1 has been made generally available.

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Table of Contents
Sections Description

The Change history section provides an overview on what is new in this release with a description of any new functions or enhancements when applicable.

The How critical is this fix section provides information related to the impact of this release to allow you to assess how your environment may be affected.

The Prerequisites section provides important information to review prior to the installation of this release.

The Download package section provides the link to obtain the download package for installation in your environment.

The Installation instructions section provides the installation instructions necessary to apply this release into your environment.

The Known side effects section describes known issues and contains a link to the open defects identified at the time of this release.

Supporting Documentation
Document Description

Click to review the detailed system requirements information for a complete list of hardware requirements, supported operating systems, prerequisites and optional supported software, with component-level details and operating system restrictions.

IBM Knowledge Center provides an entry point to product documentation. You can view, browse, and search online information related to the product.

Click to review a complete list of the defects (APARs) resolved in this release including a list of resolved defects for the entire version family.

Find technical developer content and resources.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites include:

Floating/Token licensing

Method Composer ships with a trial license key that enables you to try the product for a period of 30 or 60 days. During the trial period, the product is fully functional. You will get a warning message when the trial period is about to expire. After the expiration date, the product will not function.

Setting up the license server

You must have administrative privileges on the machine that you want to import license key information in License Key Administrator.

  1. Install IBM Rational License Key server 8.1.6
  2. Go to Start > All Programs > IBM Rational® > License Key Administrator and the License Key Administrator wizard opens.
  3. Select Import a License File, click Next.
  4. Browse and select a valid license file to import, click Import.
  5. In the Confirm Import window click Import.
  6. In the File imported successfully window, click OK.
  7. In the Restart License Server window, click Yes.

 

Enabling floating licenses

Method Composer supports Floating/Token licenses. You can configure a connection to one or more license servers to obtain access to floating/token license keys installed on a license server.

Before enabling floating license, you must obtain the license server connection information from your administrator.

  1. In the IBM Installation Manager, click Manage Licenses.
  2. Select a version of a package and then select Configure Floating license support. Click Next.
  3. Read and accept the license agreement and click Next.
  4. Select Enable floating license enforcement and click the + icon to add the license server information.
  5. Select the Single Server option.
  6. In the Name field, enter the host name of the license server.
  7. In the Port field, enter the port number of the server.
  8. Click Test Connection to verify that you can successfully connect to the server.
  9. Click OK, then click Next.
  10. In the license usage summary page, verify the product and version, click Finish.

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Installation Instructions

Because this release includes an update to the underlying Eclipse platform, you must do a brand new installation of the product, rather than update an existing installation.

To download and install from PassPort Advantage:

  1. Sign in to Passport Advantage and download the zip file.
  2. Extract the zip file.
  3. Follow the instructions in Installing from the Launchpad Program.

To download and install from Jazz.net:

  1. Go to: https://jazz.net/downloads/method-composer/
  2. Click the desired release version.
  3. Follow the instructions on that page to download and install.
If installing on RHEL 8.x refer to the "Known side effects" section below for additional instructions.

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Download Package

The following sections provide detailed information related to this release.

How critical is this fix?

Impact Assessment
Impact Description

Recommended

This release contains new features and fixes for client-reported and internally found defects.

Test Results

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Definitions

Regression: An error in the Maintenance Delivery Vehicle (MDV) that produces incorrect or unexpected behavior causing a supported feature to stop functioning as designed.
This includes:

  • Coding errors that cause a regression
  • Documentation or packaging problems that cause a regression
  • Errors reported in a new function delivered in a MDV that cause a regression

Incomplete: An error in the MDV has not regressed, but does not work as designed.
This includes:

  • Fixed APARs which did not solve the original problem but did not break anything new
  • APARs reporting documentation errors, such as readme errors, that cause problems applying an MDV but do not lead to a regression

Notes:
  • Regression and incomplete APARs are considered fix-in-error or MDV-in-error
  • Definitions above apply only to valid APARs that result in product fixes (APARs returned as working-as-designed are not assessed for being fix-in-error)
  • Issues in major releases due to new functionality do not apply in this definition

There are no known regressions to report.

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Problems Solved

Defects resolved

No defects are solved in this service release. However, in response to the security vulnerabilities identified in Log4j v1.x, MEC has updated EWM suppliers to include Apache Log4j version 2.17.1.

Known Side Effects

Review the following list of known issues and open defects:
 

Defects fixed in interim fixes

Installing on RHEL 8.x

If installing on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.x, you must first install the libnsl library.

Execute the command 'yum install libnsl' to install the library, and then proceed with the regular installation instructions.

 Accepting changes from source control and other file changes

If file changes are made that affect your open library (such as accepting changes from source control), you must reopen your library. Otherwise, MEC may overwrite those changes with cached information.

 

The Method Composer integration with Jazz source control

In some instances, there might be an extra lock being acquired for files that do not need to be changed. One example is that when a content package is added to a method plug-in, some of the configuration files will be locked, too. This is harmless and users should just release all the locked files when delivering the changes in a change set.

 

User-defined types, custom relationships, and custom attributes

Support for user-defined types, for custom relationships is currently implemented for the authoring perspective and for publishing. The following areas are not currently supported for user-defined types, custom relationships, and custom attributes:

  • CSV file report
  • Package copy across plug-in
  • Using the plug-in creation wizard to copy a plug-in
  • The Tailoring perspective and other areas such as BIRT-based reporting

Publishing configuration error

Try to avoid using HTML comments in HTML table definition in your Method Composer contents, as this generates errors in the log files when publishing to Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF.
This is a known BIRT issue (https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=324612).

Sharing a project in Rational ClearCase

After sharing a project in Rational ClearCase, you might get error messages when trying to edit Method Composer contents. This is because the project is moved from Method Composer workspace to Rational ClearCase space after sharing.
The workaround for this issue is to reload the workspace library after sharing.

Installation Manager limitation for updating Practice library

When starting Method Composer for the first time, the default Practice library is loaded. This might cause Installation Manager not to be able to update this library in the future because of the time flag changes in some library files. It is recommended to make a backup of your Practice library and load that when launching Method Composer.

Uninstalling Method Composer

There is a menu option under Help > Manage Licenses > Uninstall that does not uninstall the product and must be ignored. To uninstall Method Composer, Use the Uninstall feature of IBM Installation Manager.

Search applet/application for file-based browsing

The Classic skins include a java applet-based search that is now removed.  Current browsers no longer allow java applets to execute.

The MEC Simple skin includes a java application-based search.  This also has stopped working in recent browser releases.

If you require the search feature, you must host the published web site on a web server.

File-based browsing on Chrome

If using Google Chrome to browse a website published with the "MEC Simple" skin using file:// protocol, then you must launch Chrome with the switch "--allow-file-access-from-files".

File-based browsing on Firefox

If using Firefox to browse a website published with the "MEC Simple" skin using file:// protocol, you need to go to about:config and disable the restriction privacy.file_unique_origin.

Search on Android devices

Search does not work when using file-based browsing with Android devices.

Deploying web sites to Jazz (Liberty) Server

Search will work only if you deploy an unzipped war file. See Integrating with Engineering Workflow Management

Duplication configuration dropdown menu

Sometimes a duplicate non-functional select a configuration dropdown menu may appear.  This is due to a bug in the underlying Eclipse framework and will be fixed when MEC is upgraded to a newer version of Eclipse.

Shell-sharing is not supported

In previous versions of MEC, you could install MEC into an existing compatible Eclipse, such as the IBM Engineering Workflow Management Eclipse Client.  This shell shared Eclipse would use the parameter "-product com.ibm.rmc.rcp.ui.75.ide".  You could also use this parameter in a standalone MEC installation to make a "switch workspace" menu option become available.  This parameter (and shell-sharing) is not supported for this release, however, the switch workspace menu option has been made available in the standard MEC interface.

 

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Change History

What's new

No new enhancement has been made in this service release. However, in response to the security vulnerabilities identified in Log4j v1.x, MEC has updated EWM suppliers to include Apache Log4j version 2.17.1.

Windows 11 Enterprise x86-64 OS support added for MEC 7.6.2 SR1.

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  • Visit the IBM Support Portal to configure your support portal experience and review FAQs, lists of known problems, fixes, and a wealth of important support information.
     
  • Visit the IBM RFE Community to submit enhancement requests.
     
  • Visit the Jazz Community  to interact directly with the Method Composer development team and other community members, download product trials and betas and track development progress.
 
 

Helpful Hints For Obtaining Technical Assistance:

 

Before you contact IBM Technical Support, gather the background information that you need to describe the problem. When you describe a problem to an IBM support specialist, be as specific as possible and include all relevant background information so that the specialist can help you solve the problem efficiently. To save time, know the answers to these questions:


  • What software versions were you running when the problem occurred?
  • Do you have logs, traces, or messages that are related to the problem?
  • Can you reproduce the problem? If so, what steps do you take to reproduce it?
  • Is there a workaround for the problem? If so, be prepared to describe the workaround.
 

For more information contact  IBM Technical Support.

 


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Product Synonym

RMC;MEC;Method Composer;Rational Method Composer;Engineering Method Composer;Engineering Lifecycle Optimization - Method Composer;IBM Engineering Lifecycle Optimization - Method Composer

Document Information

Modified date:
29 July 2022

UID

ibm16348054

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