FreeTDS Development Group

[Sam Denton <denton AT wantec.com>]

I agree completely with your "other fragments".

My initial reply referenced the fact that I'm running a config very similar
to the one of interest (and, yes, I'm pretty sure that I filled out the
survey).  As I worked on my reply, however, I decided that it might be
better to provide a more general reply that could go near the top of the
freetds FAQ (and probably several other projects' FAQs as well).  If that
happens, your comments should certainly be merged in.

Sam Denton, WAN Technologies, INC.
(314) 428-0888 / (800) 926-7771 Main Office


-----Original Message-----
From: James Cameron [mailto:james.cameron AT hp.com] 
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2002 6:28 PM
To: TDS Development Group
Subject: [freetds] RE: RTFM? (was: patches (odbc and tds7.txt))


Sam Denton wrote:
> So, is there anyplace where you can find an answer to the query, "Does TDS
> support connecting to MS SQL from solaris 5.8? I am develping in  PHP
...".
> No, but the preceeding FAQ entries imply that this combination might work.
> Is there anyone who is using that particular combination of tools?  Maybe,
> maybe not.  If there is such a person, does that mean that it will work
for
> you as well?  No, because there can be many other subtle differences in
> system configurations.

Agreed, but I shall throw in a few other fragments of data.

About this time last year I ran a survey[1] of FreeTDS users in order to
generate a "works on" matrix.  Some of this information could be used by
posters such as Will.  The answer won't be definite, but "worked for
someone" is much better data than none at all.  It is nearing time to
run it again, perhaps in July.

The survey data shows 10 people who attempted to use FreeTDS on Solaris
or SunOS.  One of those said it never worked, the others imply it
worked.  40 people responded to the survey.

On the process ...

The question "is it supported" is usually taken to mean "will someone
help me fix it if it doesn't work", rather than "has it worked".  It
comes from the IT industry, where software is often purchased with a
support agreement.  The vendor will normally test the software on a
standard configuration, and if it passes, will then state the software
passed their qualification process for that configuration, and is
therefore "supported".  If it does not work, then they mark that
configuration "unsupported".

In the FreeTDS context, being an open source product without a
monopolistic vendor, you're best bet is to find out if someone had got
it to work with a configuration close to yours.  You may well be able to
persuade or pay someone to figure out why it doesn't work on a
particular configuration, but when it comes down to it if the solution
is too difficult, then it won't get done.

References:

[1]  http://quozl.linux.org.au/freetds-survey/

-- 
James Cameron                                     (james.cameron AT hp.com)

http://quozl.linux.org.au/         (or)         http://quozl.netrek.org/