Opening a SAVF without an IBM i

jSAVF reads an IBM i save file on a PC, with no connection to a system. The current version is 1.83, from 7 December 2025, downloadable from the author's site. It also opens ISO9660 and AWSTAPE tape images.

It is for the cases where DSPSAVF cannot be run: a vendor sends a SAVF and you want to know what is in it before restoring, or what is left is the backup of a machine that has been switched off, and there is no system to load it on.

What it reads

Once the file is open, the object list looks like DSPSAVF's, and can be printed to a text file like DSPSAVF ... OUTPUT(*PRINT).

What it extracts

• Sources: members of source files (QRPGLESRC, QCLLESRC, QSQLLESRC and the others) in three forms: text only, source format with line number and date, or CSV. Always in UTF-8.
• Tables and physical files: as CSV, with most column types (numeric, dates, text, LOBs). The author warns that some text fields can come out mis-decoded when the encoding cannot be worked out, and that very large LOBs may not export in full.
• Data areas: as DSPDTAARA would show them.
• SAVFs inside the SAVF: exported as valid SAVFs, which jSAVF itself opens.
• IFS files (*STMF) in saves made with SAV: exported without conversion.

Other object types are exported raw.

Checking it is whole

jSAVF compares the file size with the one in the header, so it notices a truncated SAVF; it checks the blocks it reads against their checksums; and from a menu it verifies every block and the overall checksum. It is the first check to make on a SAVF that arrived by email or through an FTP transfer in text mode instead of binary.

Stated limits

• limited support for SAVFs made from the IFS with SAV;
• it may fail on SAVFs made with uncommon SAV* commands or by very old OS/400 releases;
• it needs OpenJDK 25 or later; the Windows installer includes it. Anyone installing a JRE separately must select every option, because some EBCDIC conversion tables are optional.

A SAVF is a piece of a system. It contains real data, often customers'. The author asks not to be sent SAVFs without agreeing it with the data owners: that also goes for anyone thinking of opening one with some other tool found online.

Example

Library and file names are made up.

A vendor sends PATCH0925.SAVF with fixes to the ERP, and asks for it to be restored with RSTOBJ into the production library. Before doing so:

1. jSAVF opens and verifies the file: size and blocks are fine.
2. The list shows four programs, a QRPGLESRC source file with four members and a physical file ITEMS.
3. The physical file was not announced. Exported to CSV, it holds the item master of another of the vendor's customers.

The SAVF goes back unrestored: an RSTOBJ of *ALL would have replaced the production ITEMS file.

Which releases

jSAVF runs on the PC, so it does not depend on the system release; the limit is on the SAVF, which must not come from a very old release. On an IBM i the same list information comes from DSPSAVF and from the SQL services QSYS2.SAVE_FILE_INFO and QSYS2.SAVE_FILE_OBJECTS, named on the 7.6 DSPSAVF page.

Sources

• IBM: Display Save File (DSPSAVF), 7.6