ACS Application Packages and the ODBC Driver for i
The ODBC driver for IBM i is now available and you can download it in the same way as the application packages.
Access Client Solutions provides optional application packages for additional functionality. The Windows application package provides support for ODBC, .Net, OLE DB, and an AFP print driver. The Linux application package provides support for ODBC.
The Windows and Linux application packages were initially only available via Electronic System Support (ESS), but starting in July of 2018, you could download the English version of these application packages in the same manner as you download the base ACS package.
The ODBC driver for IBM i is now available and you can download it in the same way as the application packages. This ODBC driver was announced with IBM i 7.4 and IBM i 7.3 TR6 and allows any standard ODBC client the ability to communicate to the local database on i. This allows you to develop an application using the ODBC driver provided in the Windows or Linux application package, then deploy that application to IBM i using the same ODBC driver. While announced with 7.4 and 7.3 TR6, it turns out this ODBC driver is also supported with IBM i 7.2.
IBM hasn’t provided much information other than the ODBC driver outside of the announcement material, but now you know how to get it.
The screen capture below shows the options to download the application packages:
There is no application package for Mac; however, there is a request for enhancement (RFE) that has been submitted to IBM. If this is important for you, you may want to vote for this RFE.