1 $Id: README,v 1.10.4.1 2006/07/01 15:09:33 jklowden Exp $
2 README for FreeTDS 0.64
3 Saturday 1 July 2006
4
5 * to build FreeTDS read the file INSTALL,
6 * see also the FreeTDS Users Guide,
7 http://www.freetds.org/userguide/
8
9 FreeTDS is a free (open source) implementation of Sybase's db-lib,
10 ct-lib, and ODBC libraries. FreeTDS builds and runs on every flavor of
11 unix-like systems we've heard of, as well as Win32 (with or without
12 Cygwin), VMS, and Mac OS X. Failure to build on your system is probably
13 considered a bug. It has C language bindings, and works also with Perl
14 and PHP, among others.
15
16 FreeTDS is licensed under the GNU LGPL license. See COPYING.LIB for
17 details.
18
19 Other files you might want to peruse:
20
21 AUTHORS Who's involved
22 BUGS Some things we fixed, or think we did
23 ChangeLog Detailed list of changes
24 NEWS Summary of feature changes and fixes
25 README This file
26 TODO The roadmap, such as it is
27
28 Also, doc/api_status.txt shows which functions are implemented.
29
30 ************************************
31 ** Warning regarding Sybase 12.5! **
32 ************************************
33
34 Do Not Use TDS version 4.2 to connect to Sybase 12.5. Please!
35
36 While we don't like to put the bad news first, neither do we want you to
37 hurt your server. We know that our implementation of TDS 4.2 gives
38 Sybase 12.5 a bad case of heartburn. In short: it crashes the server.
39
40 We don't know what it is about our version of TDS 4.2 that Sybase 12.5
41 doesn't like, and we'd like to figure it out eventually. But in the
42 meanwhile, until we can find the problem and fix it, please don't use
43 that combination. Unless you want to help us test it, that is.
44
45 FreeTDS 0.63 works fine with Sybase 12.5 if you use TDS version 5.0.
46
47 If you are using Sybase 12.5 and anything above is not clear to you,
48 please see the User Guide. If it is still not clear after that, please
49 write to the FreeTDS mailing list. We'd rather answer your questions
50 while your server is still running.
51
52 Thank you. We return now to your regularly scheduled README, already in
53 progress.
54
55 New in this version
56 ===================
57
58 ct-lib
59 ------
60
61 Ct-lib now sports bcp and cursors. The largest missing feature is now
62 placeholder support compatible with Perl's DBD::Sybase.
63
64 ODBC
65 ----
66
67 ODBC continues to be improved. It is now compatible with OpenOffice.org, for
68 example, and even works with Oracle's OTL libary. It has better 64-bit
69 support.
70
71 Applications
72 ------------
73
74 This version includes two new applications, bsqldb and defncopy. See their man
75 pages for details.
76
77 etc.
78 ----
79
80 Naturally, there have been other improvements as well. This version compiles
81 and runs better than its predecessors.
82
83
84
85 Documentation
86 =============
87
88 A User Guide, in sgml and html form, is included in this distribution.
89 Also included is a reference manual, generated in HTML with Doxygen.
90 "make install" installs the HTML documentation, by default to
91 /usr/local/share/doc/freetds-<version>.
92
93
94 Note to Users
95 =============
96
97 Submissions of test programs (self-contained programs that demonstrate
98 functionality or problems) are greatly appreciated. They should
99 create any tables needed (since we obviously don't have access to your
100 database) and populate them. Unit tests for any of the libraries
101 is appreciated
102
103 Notes to Developers
104 ===================
105
106 The code is split into several pieces.
107
108 1) tds directory is the wire level stuff, it should be independent of
109 the library using it, this will allow db-lib, ct-lib, and ODBC to
110 sit on top.
111
112 2) db-lib directory. This is the actual db-lib code which runs on top of
113 tds.
114
115 3) ct-lib directory. This is the ct-lib code which runs on top of tds.
116
117 4) server directory. This will be a set of server routines basically
118 to impersonate a dataserver, functions like send_login_ack() etc...
119
120 5) odbc directory. ODBC implementation over tds. Uses iODBC or
121 unixODBC as a driver manager. You need to have one of those if you
122 are using the ODBC CLI.
123
124 6) unittests directories. Test harness code for ct-lib, db-lib, ODBC and
125 libtds.
126
127 6) samples directories. Sample code for getting started with Perl,
128 PHP, etc...
129
130 7) pool directory. A connection pooling server for TDS. Useful if you
131 have a connection limited license. Needs some hacking to get
132 configured but is quite stable once configured correctly. Contact
133 the list if interested in how to use it.
134
135 Please look at doc/getting_started.txt for a description of what is
136 going on in the code.
137
138 Side note: Brian, as many free software authors, appreciates postcards
139 from all over. So if you live someplace neat (read: not Michigan) and
140 want to send one, email him (brian (a] bruns.org) for his current snail mail
141 address.
142