V7R3 PASE CCSID Error - Tried All Standard Fixes

[Foodcoman]

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to connect to a Power 9 system running V7R3 using VS Code with the "Code for IBM i" extension. I'm getting the common PASE environment error: "The PASE environment variables PASE_LANG and QIBM_PASE_CCSID are not set correctly..."

The root cause appears to be that my SSH job is starting with User Job CCSID: 65535.
I have followed all the standard troubleshooting paths with no success and am hoping someone has seen this specific behavior before.

Here is what we have tried and confirmed:

• User Profile: My user profile has been correctly set with CHGUSRPRF ... CCSID(37).

• Shell Profiles (.bashrc / .profile): We tried adding export QIBM_PASE_CCSID=1208 and PASE_LANG=en_US. We also tried a "self-repair" command (CHGJOB CCSID(1208)) at the top of .bashrc. The logs show these files are not being executed by the VS Code connection, or the job is too broken for the commands to work.

Job Description: I confirmed the SSH server uses the default QDFTSVR. Our OS version is old enough that CHGJOBD and CRTJOBD do not have the CCSID parameter, so we cannot override it at this level.

Client-Side SSH Config: I tried using the RemoteCommand directive in the Mac's ~/.ssh/config file to force a CHGJOB. The logs show this command was ignored by the server.

The System-Level Fix: I ran CHGSYSVAL SYSVAL(QCCSID) VALUE(37) and then performed a full system IPL.
The Result:

Even after the CHGSYSVAL and a full IPL, when I connect with VS Code, the "Code for IBM i" output log still shows User Job CCSID: 65535. This indicates the system-level change did not stick or is being overridden during startup.

I've exhausted all the standard fixes. It seems something on my system is forcing the SSH jobs to start with a broken CCSID, despite the QCCSID system value supposedly being changed.

Has anyone ever encountered a system this resistant to being fixed? Any ideas on what could be overriding the QCCSID value post-IPL?

Thanks in advance.

[chrjorgensen]

@Foodcoman Please follow the documentation for setting environment variables...

I would also advice to install the latest PTF groups for 7.3 (although probably not needed for the SSH server issue).

[Foodcoman]

Excellent, thank you for the document. It’s a new area for me and I needed a boost. Looks like what’s left for me to try is: Job CCSID. I did this already to 37. CHGUSRPRF USER(x) CCSID(y) Sshd CCSID. Need to check this. DSPJOB OPTION(*DFNA) looking for ‘Default coded character set identifier’ I saw an article about creating a sshd2 on port 2222 with the correct setting to avoid messing with other stuff. I hadn’t got that far. This is a great reference to check first. The only thing we have running on 22 currently is STAYLINK for Android based Honeywell scanners on forklifts Thank you so much Barry (Noob, sorry)

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On Sat, Jul 12, 2025 at 4:12 AM Christian Jorgensen < ***@***.***> wrote: @Foodcoman <https://github.com/Foodcoman> Please follow the documentation <https://codefori.github.io/docs/tips/ccsid/#setting-environment-variables> for setting environment variables... I would also advice to install the latest PTF groups for 7.3 (although probably not needed for the SSH server issue). — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#2789 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AEEAEPFQQJBLPIVATM7UCOD3IDURZAVCNFSM6AAAAACBLOAXKSVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTGNZTHA2DGMY> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>