History of OS/400

The operating system, like the hardware of the midrange family, has changed significantly since its release on August 26, 1988 as OS/400 Release 1. The latest version is known as i5/OS V5R4 and was released to general availability on February 11, 2006.

Predecessors

• Wikipedia:System/3
• Wikipedia:System/32
• Wikipedia:System/34
• Wikipedia:System/36

Release history and life cycle

Release	Announce date	GA date	Announce end of marketing	Effective end of marketing	End of program support	Program support extension available
Rel 1	06/21/1988	08/26/1988
R01M00 aka V1R1M0
R01M01 aka V1R1M1
R01M02 aka V1R1M2	06/21/1988 [1]	11/25/1988
R01M03 aka V1R1M3
V2R1	04/22/1991	05/24/1991		03/12/1993	06/30/1994
V2R1.1	04/22/1991	03/06/1992		03/12/1993	06/30/1994
V2R2	02/18/1992	09/18/1992		09/16/1994	03/31/1995
V2R3	02/16/1993	12/17/1993		12/29/1995	05/31/1996
R7.5 SSP	02/20/1996	03/08/1996	02/09/1999	02/25/2000	05/31/2000
V3R0.5 aka V3R0M5	05/03/1994	06/03/1994	02/11/1997	05/16/1997	05/31/1997
V3R1	05/03/1994	11/25/1994	02/11/1997	05/16/1997	10/31/1998
V3R2	06/04/1996	06/21/1996	02/10/1998	02/25/2000	05/31/2000
V3R6	06/21/1995	12/22/1995	08/19/1997	11/21/1997	10/31/1998
V3R7	09/03/1996	11/08/1996	09/01/1998	12/01/1998	06/30/1999
V4R1	08/19/1997	08/29/1997	02/09/1999	02/25/2000	05/31/2000
V4R2	02/10/1998	02/27/1998	02/09/1999	02/25/2000	05/31/2000	01/31/2001
V4R3	09/01/1998	09/11/1998	02/15/2000	12/29/2000	01/31/2001
V4R4	02/09/1999	05/21/1999	02/13/2001	05/31/2001	05/31/2001	11/30/2001
V4R5	05/22/2000	07/28/2000	02/12/2002	07/02/2002	07/31/2002	12/31/2002
V5R1	04/23/2001	05/25/2001	07/29/2003	11/21/2003	09/30/2005
V5R2	06/04/2002	08/30/2002	02/08/2005	10/01/2005	04/30/2007
V5R3	05/04/2004	06/11/2004	02/06/2007	01/04/2008	04/30/2009
V5R4	01/31/2006	02/14/2006
V6R1	01/29/2008	03/21/2008

• Source: Release life cycle

Current releases

• IBM i5/OS & OS/400 release support

Previous release support

Values for TGTRLS parameter

Installed release	*CURRENT	*PRV	Other valid values
V5R3	V5R3M0	V5R2M0	V5R1M0 V5R2M0 V5R3M0
V5R2	V5R2M0	V5R1M0	V4R5M0 V5R1M0 V5R2M0
V5R1	V5R1	V4R5	V4R4M0 V4R5M0 V5R1M0
V4R5	V4R5M0	V4R4M0	V3R2M0 V4R2M0 V4R3M0 V4R4M0 V4R5M0
V4R4	V4R4	V4R3	V4R2 V3R2
V4R3	V4R3	V4R2	V4R1 V3R7 V3R2
V4R2	V4R2M0	V4R1M0	V3R2M0 V3R7M0 V4R1M0 V4R1M4 V4R2M0

• from PDF

iSeries - AS/400 RISC Model to OS Level Mapping

iSeries - AS/400 RISC Model to OS Level Mapping

Type	Model	V3R6	V3R7	V4R1	V4R2	V4R3	V4R4	V4R5	V5R1	V5R2	V5R3	V5R4	Next Release
9401	150		X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
9406	170				X	X	X	X	X	X	X
9406	250							X	X	X	X
9406	270							X	X	X	X	X
9402	400	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
9402	436		X	X	X	X	X	X	X
9406	500	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
9406	50S	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
9406	510	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
9405	520										X	X	X
9406	520										X	X	X
9406	530	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
9406	53S	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
9406	550										X	X	X
9406	570										X	X	X
9406	595										X	X	X
9406	600			X	X	X	X	X	X	X
9406	620			X	X	X	X	X	X	X
9406	640			X	X	X	X	X	X	X
9406	650			X	X	X	X	X	X	X
9406	720					X	X	X	X	X	X
9406	730					X	X	X	X	X	X
9406	740					X	X	X	X	X	X
9406	800									X	X	X	X
9406	810									X	X	X	X
9406	820							X	X	X	X	X
9406	825									X	X	X	X
9406	830							X	X	X	X	X
9406	840							X	X	X	X	X
9406	870									X	X	X	X
9406	890									X	X	X	X
9406	S10			X	X	X	X	X	X	X
9406	S20			X	X	X	X	X	X	X
9406	S30			X	X	X	X	X	X	X
9406	S40			X	X	X	X	X	X	X
9406	SB1			X	X	X	X	X	X	X
9406	SB2							X	X	X	X	X
9406	SB3							X	X	X	X	X

• Source: http://www-304.ibm.com/jct01004c/systems/support/i/planning/upgrade/osmapping.html

i5/OS and OS/400 upgrade paths

To: From:	V4R2	V4R3	V4R4	V4R5	V5R1	V5R2	V5R3	V5R4
V4R1	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
V4R2		Yes	Yes	Yes
V4R3			Yes	Yes
V4R4				Yes	Yes
V4R5					Yes	Yes
V5R1						Yes	Yes
V5R2							Yes	Yes
V5R3								Yes

• Source: Draft of PDF of IBM System i Overview: Models 515, 525, 595, and More (redp5052) at IBM Redpapers

See also

• Hardware model availability with charts