Service bulletin 208: APAR management system changes

Content

• After the migration, new z/TPF Database Facility (z/TPFDF) and TPF Operations Server APAR names will be in the form of PJxxxxx, where xxxxx is a unique 5-digit number, consistent with the naming convention for z/TPF APARs. z/TPFDF and TPF Operations Server APARs that are open at the time of migration will not be renamed and will be the last APARs to use the previous naming conventions (PHxxxxx for z/TPFDF and ITxxxxx for TPF Operations Server).
   
• Previously, when the IBM z/TPF lab delivered a fix or enhancement that affected both z/TPF and z/TPFDF, the lab had to deliver 2 co-requisite APARs, one for each product. After the migration, this will no longer be necessary. Any fix or enhancement that affects both products will be delivered in a single PJxxxxx APAR.
  
  Note: This change does not affect the location of z/TPFDF code artifacts within the file hierarchy of APAR deliverables. There is still a unique TPFDF directory. The only difference is that a single APAR might now affect both z/TPF and z/TPFDF code artifacts within their current location in the file hierarchy.
   
• Previously, z/TPF APEDITs were published with a URL in the following form:  https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/apar/aparnumber
  For example, https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/apar/PJ46999
  
  After the migration, this URL will change to the following form:  https://www.ibm.com/mysupport/s/defect/sometoken
  
  You can find the URL that is associated with a particular APAR in the zTPFAPARData files that are available on the z/TPF and z/TPFDF maintenance download page. All APARs (open and closed) will be migrated to the new URL format; redirects from the old URL will be in place for any APARs that exist at the time of the migration.
  
  There will also be some formatting changes on the APEDIT web page; however, the content of the text (.txt) file that is included in the APAR deliverables is not changing. In addition, the website that you download the APAR package from (https://transfer.boulder.ibm.com) is not changing.