View source for System Support Program

{{Infobox Software
| title = System Support Program
| image = S36 SSP.png
| intro = xx, 197x (S/34), xx, 198x (S/36), xx, 199x (A/36)
| discon = xx, 198x (S/34), xx, 199x (S/36), xx, 200x (A/36)
| isa = System/34, System/36
}}

'''System Support Program''', commonly abbreviated to SSP, is the operating system used on the [[System/34]] and [[System/36]] midrange computers, and in the [[Advanced/36]] emulation environment for [[OS/400]]. It is an evolution of the operating systems found in the [[System/3]] and the [[System/32]], and was designed for source code compatibility with both prior machines. Applications were typically written in [[RPG II]], with support for BASIC, FORTRAN, and an assembler available. Scripting and batch processing was typically handled via the use of [[Operational Control Language]].

System Support Program originated on the System/34 in 1978 and was supported until Release 9. Its only user interface was an OCL command line at the bottom of the screen.

The System/36 version of SSP added the familiar menu-driven user interface and support for lowercase characters in user applications, including the operating system itself. Later versions of SSP would also support the [[DisplayWrite/36]] application and [[PC Support/36]], as well as extra hardware options such as tape drives and token-ring support.

The final version of SSP was Release 7 and was exclusive to the Advanced/36 emulation environment. It was modified so that the operating system depended on certain low-level functions of the PowerPC AS processor and the emulator software and as such does not run on an actual System/36. However, the userland of SSP Release 7 is the same as Release 5, so any existing System/36 application could continue to run, unchanged. Advanced/36 and therefore SSP support ended when [[OS/400 V4R5]] was released, which dropped all support for the Advanced/36 emulator.

IBM continues to support SSP applications on [[IBM i]] through the use of the System/36 Execution Environment, a special set of compilers that will compile System/36 RPG II source code to a present-day IBM i application. Notably, this does require that source code is available as the Execution Environment does not emulate a System/36 and cannot run SSP executables.

== Notable Versions ==


== Archived Versions ==
=== System/34 ===
SSP R7

SSP R8

SSP R9

=== System/36 ===
SSP R1M0

SSP R3M0

SSP R5M0

SSP R5M1

=== Advanced/36 ===
SSP R7

[[Category:Software]] [[Category:Operating Systems]]