Version 1.25.0 (October 2021)

Welcome to the Version 1.25.0 release of Zowe!

To see a full list of release enhancements and fixes, see New features and enhancements and Bug fixes.

Release demo: Watch the Zowe v1.25.0 System Demo to see a demo of what's new in this release.

Download v1.25.0 build: Want to try new features as soon as possible? You can download the v1.25.0 build from Zowe.org.

Notable changes

Running Zowe in Kubernetes

With v1.25.0 release, Zowe provides new downloadable zowe-containerization-1.25.0.zip to help you deploy Zowe into Kubernetes cluster. Check the Zowe architecture when running in Kubernetes cluster section to learn more about architecture differences, and follow instructions in Installing Zowe containers to deploy.

You can also read this blog Running Zowe in Kubernetes written by Jack Jia for a more detailed introduction.

New features and enhancements

Zowe installation and packaging

• Deprecating Node.js SDK for z/OS version 8 #2364
• Optional activating class CDT in ZWESECUR JCL #2353

Zowe API Mediation Layer

• Add controller for public key provisioning. This feature makes it possible to retrieve public keys to verify JWT tokens. (#1824) (5acb9e9), closes #1824
• Per service configuration to direct the API Gateway to add headers. This feature enables APIML to add or override headers in responses. (#1812) (25bbdbe), closes #1812
• Per service configuration to ignore certain headers on the API Gateway. This feature makes it possible to select which headers are stripped from requests that go through the Gateway to a particular service. (#1806) (b258732), closes #1806
• Certificate authentication for static API refresh endpoint. This feature makes it possible to authenticate via certificates for the static refresh endpoint in the API Catalog. (#1782) (d4a91b0), closes #1782
• Server Sent Events Handler for accessing Turbine SSE events through API Gateway. This feature enables the Gateway to route server-sent events. (#1723) (9bea501), closes #1723
• Service onboarding Wizard improvements (#1772) (20dd70b), closes #1772
• Controllers are now provided which makes it possible to delete the static definition file. (#1759) (e4c22dc), closes #1759
• Provide compression for specific paths only. It is now possible to delegate compression of a response to the API ML while limiting the paths that are compressed. (#1755) (cc612e5), closes #1755
• Static API enpoints protected by SAF check. Static API definition files are now only available to authorized users. (#1764) (e2d95df), closes #1764
• Static Definition creation endpoints in API Catalog. Controllers are now provided which make it possible to either create or override the static definition file. (#1735) (2976db5), closes #1735
• Service onboarding Wizard Automatic registration of static definition. Static definitions now can be automatically onboarded. (#1751) (3228249), closes #1751
• Service onboarding Wizard can now produce NodeJS & Micronaut enablers configurations. Configuration files have been added for the NodeJS and Micronaut onboarding methods. (#1733) (1e077e8), closes #1733
• Service onboarding Wizard UX tweaks have been introduced to improve Wizard usablity. (#1752) (47c5414), closes #1752

Zowe Application Framework

• Unified container and non-container behavior. Changed how app-server scripts locate app-server directories so that they work in container mode, where the folder layout is different.
• If the hostname is not explicitly specified, use GATEWAY_HOST environment variable over ZOWE_EXPLORER_HOST to find mediation layer gateway.
• Zlux Server Framework improved callRootService when targeting agents such as ZSS to issue the direct request to destination rather than using an additional loopback request to the app-server. This improves performance, reduces the need for the app-server being a client of itself, and allows for more request options when calling the agent.
• Allowed timeout parameter to be specified in a callService or callRootService command, such as when needing a long timeout to request an agent response.
• Removed the requirement for app-server to be a client of itself when using the callService API by adding the option for requests to this API to be executed that is internal to app-server. This option is compatible with the pre-existing use of callService however, it is disabled by default to avoid disruption. You can enable it by setting the server configuration property node.internalRouting=true.
• Allowed new pluginDefinition webContent destination variable for substitution, ZWE_EXTERNAL_PORT that matches the environment variable value, or if absent, the gateway or app-server ports conditional to configuration.
• App-server's uninstall-app.sh script is now available in the instance bin folder.
• Zss's zis-plugin-install.sh script is now available in the instance bin/utils folder.
• Added an endpoint for PassTicket generation.
• Added an endpoint for user information.
• Added method to read and set loglevel of dataservices.
• Updated material UI.
• Updated webpack build and dev configuration.

The following enhancements were added to the Editor:

• Added previously selected content comparison (Diff viewer).
• Removed the Cancel button and replaced it with ‘X’ button on all dialogue pop-ups.
• Added toggle bar to show and hide File Explorer.

Zowe CLI

The following enhancements were added to the core CLI:

• Removed the misleading workflow-name option for the zowe zos-workflows list definition-file-details help example. #659
• Exposed new option modifyVersion for the zowe zos-jobs delete job and zowe zos-jobs cancel job commands. #1092
• Add support for PEM certificate based authentication.
• Update post-install script to display a message when the CLI successfully installs due to increased error messaging from USS SDK when optional pre-requisites are not installed.

The following enhancement was added to the Imperative CLI Framework:

• Export the Imperative Command Tree on the data object of the zowe --ac command when --rfj is specified.
• Implemented the ability to authenticate using client certificates in PEM format.

Zowe Explorer

• Added a check to ensure that a base profile exists before running the function that combines base and service profiles #1500.
• Added Imperative logger access for extenders #1433.
• Added documentation for Imperative logger for extenders #1467.
• Implemented separate console windows for TSO and MVS commands #1478.

Zowe JES/MVS/USS Explorers

• Replaced the File APIs with z/OSMF APIs

Bug fixes

Zowe API Mediation Layer

• Add handling in case of PassTicketException (#1810) (f962361), closes #1810
• Add https://${ZOWE_EXTERNAL_HOST}:${ZWE_EXTERNAL_PORT} to ZAF API Catalog pluign definition (#1829) (6527a32), closes #1829
• api-catalog app failed to load in desktop if Gateway service is registered as NodePort (#1827) (ec45915), closes #1827
• Add ZAF pluginDefinition.json to API Catalog package (#1822) (4745548), closes #1822
• Define appfwPlugins instead of desktopIframePlugins for API Catalog ZAF plugin definition (#1814) (371cc0b), closes #1814
• Periodically update the Gateway url during Gateway Lookup (#1817) (7016ea5), closes #1817
• PJE enabler sample and password validation fixes (#1819) (45a4001), closes #1819
• Display multiple APIs with multiple different versions in API catalog (#1800) (6400aa3), closes #1800
• Handle API Catalog errors during parsing apiversions and wrong URLs in service definition (#1788) (7a0346f), closes #1788
• Support for ZOSMF APAR PH34201 (#1795) (5503e4b), closes #1795
• Fix flaky unit test (#1771) (58d9656), closes #1771
• API Catalog static definition file generation (#1761) (b6790cb), closes #1761
• ZAAS client to not send a certificate during authentication requests (#1763) (691036a), closes #1763

Zowe Application Framework

• Fixed an issue with using app2app where incorrectly formatted data would not honor launch/message requesthp.
• app-server would ignore when VERIFY_CERTIFICATE=false was set, and try to verify APIML servers. This would lead to login failures when APIML server was on a different system than app-server. Now, app-server will verify APIML certificates based on VERIFY_CERTIFICATE value.
• Fixed an issue where app-server could throw an uncaught exception when a proxied server had a socket error.

The following bugs were fixed in the Editor:

• Fixed an issue where switching from the Diff viewer to code editing body causes rendering bugs.
• Fixed an issue when fileCopy incorrectly processed files tagged as binary and mixed.
• Fixed an issue where Unixfile Copy and Rename API doesn`t support distinct error status response.
• Fixed an issue where dataset contents API returns invalid error status for undefined length dataset update request.
• Fixed an issue where Unixfile Copy service incorrectly processed files tagged as binary and mixed.
• Fixed an issue where Unixfile Copy and Rename directory API does not support forceOverwrite query.
• Fixed the error message and phantom tab when opening undefined length dataset.

Zowe CLI

The following bugs were fixed in core Zowe CLI:

• Reverts hiding the cert-key-file path so users can see what path was specified and check if the file exists.
• Updated dependencies to resolve problems with the ansi-regex package.

The following bug was fixed in the Imperative CLI Framework:

• Reverts hiding the cert-key-file path so users can see what path was specified and check if the file exists
• Updated dependencies to resolve problems with the ansi-regex package
• Updated js-yaml to resolve a potential security issue

The following bug was fixed in the z/OS FTP Plug-in:

• Fixed Windows path problem when using delete uss-file command.

Zowe Explorer

• Fixed the bug that caused the check credentials pop-up to disappear too quickly #1486
• Fixed the bug that kept the command text box while escaping the process of entering a TSO command. Now the command text box does not pop up if you cancel entering a TSO command #1479. Thanks @katelynienaber
• Fixed the bug that caused issues with deleting data set members in Ecplipse Theia or Che #1487
• Fixed the bug that caused the deletion of selected data sets while removing a single data set member by using the right-click action. #1483