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Informix Error -4616: The 4GL program database does not exist. Create via PROGRAM section.

Cause and resolution

The 4GL program database does not exist. Create via PROGRAM section.

In UNIX, the program database, named syspgm4gl, is not accessible. If you select the Program menu option you will be asked if you want to create it. If you think that this database ought to exist already (for instance, if you have previously defined multi-module programs), then exit the Programmer's Environment and check the value of the DBPATH environment variable. It determines which databases are visible (if you are using the IBM Informix SE). If it is correct, or if you are using an OnLine database server, then the program database either never existed or has been dropped.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-4616 fires when the Application Builder can't access the 4GL program database, named syspgm4gl on UNIX — per the official guidance, selecting the Program menu option offers to create it, but there are also scenarios where its absence is unexpected.

  1. syspgm4gl genuinely doesn't exist yet, per the official guidance — the program database has never been created.
  2. DBPATH doesn't point at the expected database, per the official guidance — this determines which databases are visible under IBM Informix SE.
  3. syspgm4gl existed before but has since been dropped, per the official guidance — relevant if multi-module programs were previously defined and are now unexpectedly missing.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Select the Program menu option and agree to create it, per the official guidance, if the program database genuinely doesn't exist yet.
  2. If you expected it to already exist, per the official guidance: exit the Programmer's Environment and check DBPATH.
  3. If DBPATH is correct (or an OnLine database server is in use), per the official guidance, the program database either never existed or has been dropped, and needs to be recreated.
Examples
Checking DBPATH before recreating
$ echo $DBPATH
Diagnostic Checks
  1. Check DBPATH to confirm the expected database is visible, and either let the Application Builder create syspgm4gl, or investigate why an expected one is missing.
Related Errors / Related Topics
  • -4611 — "There is no 4GL source available for this program." A related lookup failure, about a missing source file rather than the program database itself.

The 4GL program database (syspgm4gl on UNIX) doesn't exist or isn't visible — check DBPATH, and create it via the Program menu option if it genuinely doesn't exist yet.