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Arnaud GARNIER edited this page Sep 11, 2026 · 9 revisions

Welcome to the com.castsoftware.labs.ibmi.bind wiki!

Warning: The Extension described in this document is delivered as-is. This Extension is made available by CAST Labs Community and governed by Open Source License. Please consider all necessary steps to validate and to test the Extension in your environment before using it in production.

The extension is published under GNU LGPL v3 open source license

Table of content

Introduction

This extension adds support for IBM i ILE (Integrated Language Environment) binding relationships — the module/program/service-program/binding-directory dependency graph that the native RPGLE, CLLE, COBOL, and C source parsers cannot see, because ILE binding is resolved by the system binder (CRTPGM/CRTSRVPGM), not by anything visible at the source-code call site.

It modelizes the main artifacts as follows:

  • ILE Program
  • ILE Service Program
  • ILE Module
  • ILE Binding Directory

The extension does not compile or connect to a live IBM i system. It consumes four flat-file extracts (produced from QSYS2.PROGRAM_INFO, QSYS2.BOUND_MODULE_INFO, QSYS2.BOUND_SRVPGM_INFO, and QSYS2.BINDING_DIRECTORY_INFO) that are delivered alongside the RPGLE/CLLE/COBOL/C/binder source, and reconstructs the binding topology from them.

In what situation should you install this extension?

Install this extension when your application is built on IBM i using the ILE model (as opposed to the legacy OPM model) and uses service programs, binding directories, or bound modules — i.e. any shop using CRTPGM, CRTSRVPGM, CRTRPGMOD, CRTCLMOD, CRTCMOD, CRTCBLMOD, CRTSQLRPGI, CRTBNDDIR, or ADDBNDDIRE.

Use cases

This extension provides the following support:

  • Knowledge Discovery: a green tick indicates that Impact Analysis within Enlighten is supported, as far as links accuracy permits.
  • Function Points (transactions): a green tick indicates that OMG Function Point counting and Transaction Risk Index are supported.
  • Sizing: a green tick indicates that the quality model can measure technical sizes.
  • Quality: a green tick indicates that a minimum set of Quality Rules exists.
Knowledge Discovery FP count Sizing Quality
✅ ❌ ❌ ❌

CAST AIP versions compatibility

This extension is compatible with the following releases :

CAST AIP Core release Support
CAST Application Intelligence Platform (AIP) 8.3.x ✅
CAST Imaging Core 8.4.x ✅

Supported DBMS servers

This extension is compatible with the following DBMS servers (hosting the Analysis Service):

CAST AIP release CSS3 CSS4 PG on Linux
All supported releases ✅ ✅ ✅

Supported IBM i versions

The extraction of additional information requires specific release of IBM i:

IBM i version Standard support Enhanced* support
Up to IBM i 7.3 ❌ ❌
IBM i 7.3 TR7 / 7.4 TR1 or later ✅ ❌
IBM i 7.4 TR6 / 7.5 or later ✅ ✅
  • QSYS2.BINDING_DIRECTORY_INFO requires IBM i 7.4 TR6 / 7.5 or later.

Configuration instructions

Define AU by creating User Defined UA Job by Selecting IBMI ILE from the technology list.

Operation instructions

Source preparation and analysis configuration instructions

This extension does not read RPGLE/CLLE/COBOL/C source directly for binding purposes — it reads four flat-file extracts that must be generated before analysis, from either:

  • a live IBM i system, via the QSYS2 SQL Services views, or
Source Type Required Extension Mandatory/Optional
Program/service program inventory .csv_program_info Mandatory
Module binding data (bind by copy) .csv_bound_module_info Mandatory
Service program binding data (bind by reference) .csv_bound_srvpgm_info Mandatory
Binding directory contents .csv_binding_directory_info Optional — improves accuracy where programs resolve bindings via a binding directory rather than direct MODULE()/BNDSRVPGM() parameters

Expected column layout (delimiter: ;):

.csv_program_info

PROGRAM_LIBRARY;PROGRAM_NAME;PROGRAM_TYPE;OBJECT_TYPE

.csv_bound_module_info

PROGRAM_LIBRARY;PROGRAM_NAME;BOUND_MODULE_LIBRARY;BOUND_MODULE

.csv_bound_srvpgm_info

PROGRAM_LIBRARY;PROGRAM_NAME;BOUND_SERVICE_PROGRAM_LIBRARY;BOUND_SERVICE_PROGRAM

.csv_binding_directory_info

BINDING_DIRECTORY_LIBRARY;BINDING_DIRECTORY;ENTRY_LIBRARY;ENTRY;ENTRY_TYPE

Preprocessing

If extracting from a live system, run the following queries (adjust the library filter as needed) and export each result set as a ;-delimited flat file with the matching extension above:

SELECT PROGRAM_LIBRARY, PROGRAM_NAME, PROGRAM_TYPE, OBJECT_TYPE
FROM QSYS2.PROGRAM_INFO
WHERE PROGRAM_LIBRARY IN ('YOURLIB1','YOURLIB2')

SELECT PROGRAM_LIBRARY, PROGRAM_NAME, BOUND_MODULE_LIBRARY, BOUND_MODULE
FROM QSYS2.BOUND_MODULE_INFO
WHERE PROGRAM_LIBRARY IN ('YOURLIB1','YOURLIB2')

SELECT PROGRAM_LIBRARY, PROGRAM_NAME, BOUND_SERVICE_PROGRAM_LIBRARY, BOUND_SERVICE_PROGRAM
FROM QSYS2.BOUND_SRVPGM_INFO
WHERE PROGRAM_LIBRARY IN ('YOURLIB1','YOURLIB2')

SELECT BINDING_DIRECTORY_LIBRARY, BINDING_DIRECTORY, ENTRY_LIBRARY, ENTRY, ENTRY_TYPE
FROM QSYS2.BINDING_DIRECTORY_INFO
WHERE BINDING_DIRECTORY_LIBRARY IN ('YOURLIB1','YOURLIB2')

Note: QSYS2.PROGRAM_INFO, BOUND_MODULE_INFO, and BOUND_SRVPGM_INFO require IBM i 7.3 TR7 / 7.4 TR1 or later. QSYS2.BINDING_DIRECTORY_INFO requires IBM i 7.4 TR6 / 7.5 or later. Verify availability with:

SELECT TABLE_NAME FROM QSYS2.SYSTABLES
WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = 'QSYS2'
  AND TABLE_NAME IN ('PROGRAM_INFO','BOUND_MODULE_INFO','BOUND_SRVPGM_INFO','BINDING_DIRECTORY_INFO')

On older releases, use DSPPGM/DSPSRVPGM/DSPBNDDIR with OUTPUT(*OUTFILE) (driven via QSYS2.QCMDEXC if staying SQL-only) as a fallback.

Create manually a single Analysis Unit for all the languages and select the root of source code (including the four CSV extracts) in the Deploy folder.

Analysis processing

Analyze your delivered application source code in console using a User Defined UA Job by Selecting IBMI ILE from the technology list.

Checks to be performed upon analysis

As for any analysis, the following checks must be performed in order to ensure correct results:

  • Check the logs described above:

    • Errors should be fixed.
    • Warning messages should be explained or fixed.

  • Check Analysis Unit content:

    • Check that the AU content has a reasonable number of ILE Program / ILE Service Program / ILE Module / ILE Binding Directory objects, in line with the source code delivered.

What results can you expect?

Custom objects and links will be created in the Analysis Service as follows:

List of custom objects

Custom object type Source CSV
ILE Program .csv_program_info (OBJECT_TYPE = *PGM)
ILE Service Program .csv_program_info (OBJECT_TYPE = *SRVPGM)
ILE Module .csv_bound_module_info, .csv_binding_directory_info (ENTRY_TYPE = *MODULE)
ILE Binding Directory .csv_binding_directory_info

List of links between custom objects

Link type Caller type Callee type Source CSV Meaning
containLink ILE Program / ILE Service Program ILE Module .csv_bound_module_info Bind by copy — the module's compiled code is physically part of the caller
containLink ILE Program / ILE Service Program ILE Module .csv_binding_directory_info (ENTRY_TYPE = *MODULE) Bind by copy, resolved via a binding directory
callLink ILE Program / ILE Service Program ILE Service Program .csv_bound_srvpgm_info Bind by reference — resolved dynamically at activation time
callLink ILE Program / ILE Service Program ILE Service Program .csv_binding_directory_info (ENTRY_TYPE = *SRVPGM) Bind by reference, resolved via a binding directory
containLink ILE Binding Directory ILE Module / ILE Service Program .csv_binding_directory_info Build-time symbol resolution list — not itself a runtime dependency
matchLink ILE Module RPG III/IV Module - -
matchLink ILE Program RPG III/IV Program - -

Sample graphical view in Enlighten

AU content

List of quality rules

None at this time.

Known issues

None

Limitations and potential enhancements

None

Release Notes

Version 1.0.0

Initial version created by Labs Community

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