One of our last AIX customers is moving to a Linux VM in October.

We can choose the version of Linux of install. We will still be staying with 32bit ashell for now so what would be the current recommended combo of Linux/Ashell ?

Tough question. Can I start with one of my own and ask why you want to stick with the 32 bit version? (If not for that, I'd say Debian seems to be the most popular choice, but it's only 64 bit.)

Despite the fact CentOS has gone away, CentOS 7 probably remains the predominant platform for active A-Shell sites. (It remains pretty stable as an application server, and people have a strong tendency to put off painful decisions and conversions as long as possible.) But clearly the clock is running down on all those procrastinators, and since you have to convert anyway, if you insist on sticking with 32 bit, I would say your only options are:

• RHEL 9
• Rocky Linux 9
• AlmaLinux 9

RHEL is fully commercial (fee-based). Prices start around $400 but you'll have to study their web site to understand all the options, configurations, subscriptions, etc.

Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux are free, like CentOS. Both are very similar, essentially picking up up the mantle from CentOS. (There are numerous web sites comparing them; the differences seem to be more in the structure of the organizations behind them than in the actual code. But you can decide.)

All three are similar enough that they can run the same version of A-Shell (-el9). And we have sites in all three categories, although -- full disclosure -- I have not installed any of them. (I'm currently using Centos 9 to compile the -el9 version but I expect to install either Rocky Linux or AlmaLinux soon to use in place of CentOS.

I wish I could lock all of the A-Shell developers in a room and not let them out until they all agreed on a single platform! (I actually tried the friendly version of that, without locking the doors, at the last Conference. It was a total failure. I think there might have been more preferences than there were developers, and I don't remember any two of them being in agreement. (Your compadre Steve I think was in the CentOS Stream camp at the time.) At least one pointed out that developers/dealers don't necessarily even have control over that decision, as larger end-users in particular may have their own IT staff dictating the platform requirement. So I gave up on that fantasy and have resigned myself to supporting a multiplicity of platforms.

A collateral downside of that failure is that I can't make the decision for you. The best I can offer you is unlimited free downloads of all the versions we support (currently 8) for your testing pleasure!

While Dominic ponders I think I can answer the ask why you want to stick with the 32 bit version? its primarily because we have not tested the 64bit version in any real sort of way apart from me using it time-to-time on my at Home/Development/Synology NAS/CentOS and I cant say thats been hit hard by little me over the last few months.
But we are open and could be convinced and persuaded for 64bit if many others out there have large live system on it now....

Ahh I see. So it's like you're moving from the UK to British Columbia, but in order to hold on to some semblance of the old country, you're bringing your right-side-steering-wheel car with you?

That's not to pretend that there haven't been 64 bit-related bugs, or to promise that their won't be more to come!

But I guess my thinking would be that given...

• How much fun (not!) converting is
• How often you do it
• The fact that most of your sites are probably on obsolete versions of LInux and thus will need to do a conversion before long
• The conversion from AIX to Linux is almost certainly more dramatic than from 32 bit to 64 bit
• Like it or not, the days of 32 bit are numbered (at least in the Linux world)

... maybe it makes sense to just bite the bullet and go in whole-hog. In for a penny, in for pound. Rip the band-aid off. (Pick your metaphor.)

On the other hand, since your Linux sites are all in the CentOS camp now, if you don't expect to migrate them anytime soon, maybe you want to stick with the CentOS offspring rather than having to maintain a diplomatic presence in both countries (CentOS/yum vs Debian/apt) And in that case, perhaps there's less downside to sticking with 32 bit, since in yum country, you can switch from 32 to 64 bit just by launching a different ashell executable. (You can even run them simultaneously, which besides flexibility, also provides an ideal 64 bit testing environment.)

Oh decisions, decisions, decisions…..

Or I know, I’ll let Dominic decide!

Thanks for your thoughts or is it mudding the waters..

Thank you for your time and thoughts Jack.

Converting from 32bit to 64bit worries me a lot more than AIX to Linux, which has been painless, so far, at least since networks became all Gb.

It is not crashes or obvious errors that worry me, as those are fixable.

It is the potential for subtle errors where we have done something in the past that happened to not be a problem but with 64bit becomes a rounding or similar issue that isn't noticed for 6 weeks, past any realistic backup restore solution but leads to accounts not matching etc.and we have to just guesstimate the figures and apologise. I feel like I am moving from a situation where I know nothing like that exists to one where it might.

Plus this customer has been with us for 40 years!!! So I just want to do the safe thing.

FWIW We have been running 64 bit with no issue for quite some time.

ps: I can be rented out for a pint and maybe some bangers and mash

Thats good to know Frank, and you living the the edge with no issues is good feed back.

just a pint and bangers and mash, sell yourself short there! you need to at least chuck in a demand for a Pork Pie, Scotch Egg, Sausage Roll and some Black Pudding..

I am not sure if it is helpful or not as we don't have any field experience with this yet, but we are getting ready to start migrating our customers from CentOS 7 to Debian 12.

Hey John, Thanks all feed back is great.

ashell 7.0.1762.4 up and running on Rocky 9 for testing