FreeTDS Development Group

[Steve Langasek <vorlon AT netexpress.net>]

Hi Claudio,

On Tue, 27 Feb 2001, Claudio Cicali wrote:

> I need just a little hint(s).
> Using 'native' freetds calls (from Linux) I'm able to get data from
> a Sql server. This works fine.

> Now I have to make a step forward: I need ODBC calls.

> I'm porting a win32 application to Linux and I need to mantain
> the current interface it has with the database. It use ODBC.

> Reading the README of freetds, I read that it uses iODBC as the CLI.

> So, I have downloaded the current release of iODBC and carefully
> read the code you provide (./src/odbc/odbc.c).
> What is not clear is:
> Have I to call the iODBC API which then use the tds driver as the
> odbc driver ?

Yes, you would use the iODBC API, and load a DSN that uses the tds driver.

> If this is the case, how can I actually perform this operation ?
> In which way I can instruct iODBC to use the freetds ?

If you are familiar with setting up a DSN under Windows, the procedure
is  much the same for Linux.  I use unixODBC instead of iODBC, so some things
may be different; but on my server I have a file, /etc/odbcinst.ini, which
lists my drivers in this format:

[Name]
Description     = description
Driver          = /path/to/odbc-driver.so
Setup           = /usr/lib/libodbc<odbctype>.so
FileUsage       = 1
<other options>

For instance, the MyODBC entry looks like this:

[MySQL]
Description     = ODBC for MySQL
Driver          = /usr/local/lib/libmyodbc-2.50.36.so
Setup           = /usr/lib/libodbcmyS.so
FileUsage       = 1

'Driver' points to the ODBC driver that supports your type of SQL server, and
'Setup' points to a driver that lets you set up DSNs through a graphical
interface (this part would be optional).


Then in /etc/odbc.ini I have my system DSNs, with all the same information you
would have under Windows:

[mysqltest]
Description     = myodbc
Driver          = MySQL
Trace           = No
;Trace           = Yes
;TraceFile       = /tmp/mysql.log
Server          = <host>.netexpress.net
Port            = 3306
Socket          =
Database        = <databasename>
User            = <user>
Password        = <password>


> There is also a reasonable probability that all this works in
> a production environment ?

I have not (yet) used freetds as an ODBC driver from Linux, so I don't know
how well it works.

HTH,
Steve Langasek
postmodern programmer