Nick Litten

The 3am Wake-Up Call You Didn’t Need: Service Account Password Expiration If your web services or overnight batch jobs have ever thrown a wobbly because a password decided to expire at the worst possible moment, you are not alone. On IBM i systems, password expiration is one of those security features that works brilliantly for normal interactive users and can become a right pain for everything…

Mapepire on My IBM i System: Finally Database Connections That Dont Make Me Want to Scream into the Void! Picture this: you are building a slick modern app and you just want it to chat nicely with Db2 for i without wrestling ancient ODBC drivers or wrestling with client libraries that feel older than your first green screen. Enter Mapepire the open source superhero that runs a super light daemon…

Mapepire, a type of pit viper native to South America, boasts a logo that’s arguably the best creation from Big Blue since the original IBM emblem. As for how to say it, IBM-i Mapepire GitHub says Mapepire is pronounced ‘mapəpɪə’ or ‘MAH-pup-ee’ which seems nonsense to me! I’ve been pronouncing this as Mape (like Vape) Pire (like Fire) in my head while I am writing this. Let’s see if I can…

TOBi Builder MAKEi Fails with BLEUUURGH Error Code – A Quick Debugging Tale Hey there, fellow IBM i programmers. Today we’re diving into a real-world head-scratcher I hit while working with TOBi (the IBM i Object Builder) and its MAKEi component. If you’ve ever tried to compile from your local source copies and instead of the usual nice “X programs compiled, Y failed” summary, you got a…

New to the IBM-i platform? Read on…Experienced IBM-i Admin? Don’t bother! If you are Older, Experienced, Gray Haired and Grumpy on the IBM-i platform, like me, then stop reading now because this stuff is for beginners. If you know your way around the IBM-i command line, you will definitely know each of these commands in details, so I suggest you go and enjoy a nice cup of tea in the garden…

DISCLAIMER: This is not my usual style of programming video. It’s long format, lots of me muttering at the camera while trying to fix some RPG code. I started recording with no idea if it would work or not. Spoiler – it did in the end. Also featuring an AI generated video, a growling version of me with fantastically lunatic hair. If you are a new programmer, or maybe considering a career in IBM-i…

Why do IBM i ACS 5250 characters suddenly look like they’re auditioning for a modern art exhibit whenever Font Scaling is enabled? If you fire up Access Client Solutions on a modern high resolution monitor and find yourself squinting at blurry text in your 5250 sessions, you are not alone. Those crisp green screens that used to look razor sharp suddenly turn into a fuzzy watercolor painting.…

I think we all know that AI the Future of IBM i Development? Well, I reckon AI is absolutely going to be a big part of the future for IBM i development, but it is not going to wave a magic wand over decades of fixed-format RPG and turn everything into shiny free-format perfection overnight. Tools like IBM BOB are already showing real promise by helping us refactor legacy code, explain what that…

Hey there, esteemed IBM i beginners and learners! If you have already powered through my earlier post over at https://www.nicklitten.com/10-essential-ibm-i-commands-every-beginner-must-master/ then you are probably feeling pretty comfortable at the green screen by now. Excellent work! Today, as a direct follow-up, I am going to whip through ten more everyday commands that every new IBM i…

Hey there, fellow IBM i RPG Nerds. I was revisiting a couple of old posts about source code commenting and compile directives and it got me thinking about these marvelous, often overlooked features of IBM-i source code. Today, let’s dive into RPG compiler directives! If you have ever stared at a mile-long compiler listing wondering why it looks like it was formatted by a sleep-deprived robot,…

This morning, it’s time to revisit an old blog titled “IBM i ACS – Download SPLF (Spool Files) as PDF” and check it’s still accurate and add a little sparkle for newcomers to the IBM i (aka AS400 & ISERIES) world… If you’re anything like me, you’ve spent way too many hours staring at green-screen spool files, squinting at those endless lines of report data, and thinking, “I wish could just yank…

The Mysterious “M” in Your DDS: Naming Conventions vs Keyboard Shifts This morning I opened a DSPF and spotted what looked like a data type of “M” against a field that smelled numeric. My first thought? “Since when did IBM i add an M type?” Turns out the original developer had a very correct reason for using ‘M’ and I had simply not seen it for so long (shhh… its been decades) and I had…

…and it has a couple of cool/must-have updates Current Latest Version Version 1.1.9.12 — Build date: April 2026 This is the freshest drop. IBM pushes these updates a few times a year, so always grab the newest one. Previous Recent Releases 1.1.9.11 — January 2026 (includes a critical security fix) 1.1.9.10 — November 2025 Why You Should Update Right Now Version 1.1.9.11 fixed a nasty XML…

(Before You Become a Walking Error Message) If you’re new to the IBM i world, congratulations – you’ve just stepped into one of the most powerful, stable, gloriously quirky computing platforms ever built. But before you can call yourself anything other than “that person who keeps locking QSYSOPR,” you need to memorise a handful of core commands. These aren’t optional. These are the commands…

If you have ever stared at a dusty fixed-format RPG III program from the 1990s and thought “there has to be a better way”, then IBM’s latest AI-powered sidekick might just be your new best friend. Meet IBM BOB (yes, that’s the official name now – Project Bob has grown up). BOB is IBM’s AI-first development partner, built right into a VS Code based IDE and tuned specifically for IBM i workloads.…

AKA – Taming the wild west of RPGLE/SQLRPGLE source code comments with IBM i BOB, turning cryptic developer scribbles into a perfectly standardized, comment utopia. If you spend any time maintaining IBM i systems like I do, you know how messy legacy RPGLE and SQLRPGLE source can get. One program after another with zero comments, or worse, random comments scattered everywhere that tell you…