FreeTDS Development Group

["James K. Lowden" <jklowden AT schemamania.org>]

On Mon, 24 Mar 2003 07:21:16 +0100, Frank von Daak <f.vondaak AT gingco.net>
wrote:
> 
> I'm writing a KDE-"QueryAnalyzer"  for connecting MS-SQL Databases
> (C++). The application uses nearly the same functionalitiy as
> "src/apps/tsql.c".
... 
> To avoid upgrading my application on every new FreeTDS-Version, I would
> like to include the 0.60-tds-sources and ship them with the application,
> so that there are no dependencies to an already installed
> freetds-version.

As a legal matter, of course it's possible, provided you comply with the
terms of the LGPL.  FreeTDS is free software, and it's your right to
exploit it in any way that suits your needs.  Go ahead.  

As a technical matter, you're making a mistake, if I may say so, tying
your application to libtds directly.  We're intent on fleshing out the
vendor-promulgated APIs: db-lib, ct-lib, and ODBC.  The tds library is a
convenience to that end, nothing more.  We expect and intend to change it
frequently, as and when it suits us.  That's a natural outcome of adding
functionality to the client libraries, seeing commonality, and factoring
it out.  Furthermore, as we fully exploit the TDS protocol (and as it
changes with new version from the vendors), libtds will have to change,
whereas the client APIs will not.  

What you might want to do -- we can discuss it if you're interested -- is
add your application to FreeTDS.  That way at least as changes are made to
libtds, the effect on your application would be immediately obvious to the
(other) developers.  

But the best strategy is to pick an API and use that instead of libtds. 
That's your best guarantee for continued support and stability.  

Regards, 

--jkl