Open source on IBM i: yum, bash as the default shell, and starting the SSH daemon

Goal

Get a usable, non-interactive-friendly shell environment on IBM i with the official open-source package manager working.

Prerequisites

• Administrator access to start TCP/IP server jobs.
• The IBM-provided open-source RPM toolset (the successor of the older 5733-OPS product) installed by an administrator; the SSH connectivity and yum bootstrap steps below assume that baseline exists.

Steps

1. Ensure the SSH daemon is running before attempting any remote connection: STRTCPSVR *SSHD. IBM's own install documentation for the yum/RPM toolset calls this out explicitly as a prerequisite for using Access Client Solutions or any SSH-based install path, and it is a common first-time stumbling block because TCP/IP servers on IBM i do not all start automatically. To have it start automatically whenever TCP/IP starts (including after an IPL), set CHGTCPSVR SVRSPCVAL(*SSHD) AUTOSTART(*YES); STRTCPSVR alone does not persist.
2. Connect with ssh user@host. (Only on IBM i 7.3 or earlier do user profile names longer than 8 characters need the system-wide PASE_USRGRP_LIMITED setting changed first; 7.4 and later are not affected.) Create the home directory if it does not exist: mkdir -p $HOME.
3. Change the default interactive shell from the very limited default to bash:

   /QOpenSys/pkgs/bin/chsh -s /QOpenSys/pkgs/bin/bash
   

   then disconnect and reconnect; the prompt should show a bash version string.
4. Put /QOpenSys/pkgs/bin at the front of PATH (IBM's guide appends PATH=/QOpenSys/pkgs/bin:$PATH and export PATH to $HOME/.profile) so yum, git, GNU utilities, and language runtimes installed under /QOpenSys/pkgs resolve ahead of PASE's own older tools.
5. Avoid running open-source tools from a 5250 session; IBM's troubleshooting guide recommends SSH, prefers QP2TERM over Qshell (QSH/STRQSH) if 5250 must be used, and requires QIBM_MULTI_THREADED to be set to Y before launching QSH, or many of these tools fail.

Expected result

An SSH session with a bash prompt, a working yum command, and a PATH that finds the RPM-installed tools without qualifying every command.

Limits and test basis

Package layout and defaults are as documented for the RPM-based open-source stack maintained by IBM; verify current package names and the exact SSHD job name on the target release. No experiment or measurement is claimed.