Python on z/OS
Running the Python programming language on z/OS, mainly for automation and for working with data where it is stored.
Also written IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Python, ZOAU, Z Open Automation Utilities, Python
Python runs on z/OS. IBM provides it as the IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Python, and it runs in Unix System Services like on any other Unix system. Most standard Python code works, along with many common packages.
On its own, Python works with Unix files. To work with traditional z/OS things, such as datasets, jobs and console commands, sites add Z Open Automation Utilities, ZOAU, which provide Python functions and shell commands for them. A Python script can then list datasets, read a member, submit a job and wait for the result.
The main uses are automation and data. Ansible uses Python on z/OS to run its tasks. Teams write scripts in Python for jobs that might once have been written in REXX, especially when the team already knows Python. And data scientists use it to analyse data on the mainframe without copying it elsewhere.
REXX remains the standard scripting language inside TSO and ISPF. Python is an addition, often chosen for automation that also reaches other platforms.
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- Ansible for z/OSUsing Red Hat Ansible, a widely used automation tool, to run tasks on z/OS such as submitting jobs and managing datasets.
- Unix System ServicesA full Unix environment built into z/OS, with a shell, directories and files alongside the traditional mainframe world.
- REXXA readable scripting language used across the mainframe for automation, tooling and quick one-off tasks.
- ZoweOpen-source tools that let you work with z/OS from a laptop, an editor such as VS Code, or a script.
- Git on z/OSUsing Git, the version control system common on other platforms, to manage mainframe source code.