Migrating data from z/OS to Git

Introduction to migrating data

Migrating your source code data from z/OS® to Git is one of the first steps in implementing a modern CI/CD pipeline. Once you have planned your to-be Git repository layouts, you can use the steps in the following section to migrate your data from z/OS to Git. During the migration process, it is important to be aware of potential issues with migrating non-printable or non-roundtrippable characters, and to have a plan for how to handle them if you encounter them. You can read more about how to handle these characters in Managing code page conversion.

Steps for migrating data from z/OS to Git

At a high level, the steps for migrating data from z/OS to Git are as follows:

1. Unload the source code from the legacy version control system to PDS libraries: Legacy version control systems often store data in a proprietary format, which IBM®'s Dependency Based Build (DBB) cannot directly access. Therefore, the source code should first be unloaded to PDS libraries.

2. Load files from PDS libraries to a Git repository on z/OS UNIX System Services (z/OS UNIX) using one of the following methods:

   • DBB migration tool: The DBB migration tool is provided with DBB, and is the most commonly-used method for migrating data from z/OS to Git.
   • SCLM-to-Git migration tool: You can use the SCLM-to-Git migration tool if you are moving away from SCLM as your current library manager.
   • Manual migration: Manual migration of source code from z/OS to Git is possible, but is generally not recommended since it tends to be slower, more tedious, and prone to human error.

3. Synchronize the new repository on z/OS UNIX with a remote repository on your chosen enterprise Git service provider.