FreeTDS Development Group

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

On Mon, 8 Oct 2012 14:10:43 -0400
"O'Brien, Jason K" <Jason.Obrien AT constellation.com> wrote:

> Is there a distinct reason freetds.conf isn't loaded in this case, or
> is it just assumed they will also be conf-less?

The ODBC driver simply never looks at freetds.conf unless referred
there.  The idea is that ODBC users, not to mention DMs, use odbc.ini
to hold DSN properities or don't, as in your case, but instead expressly
include those values in the connection string.  

Because FreeTDS ODBC users might also use another of the 
FreeTDS libraries, the ODBC property "servername" refers the driver to
freetds.conf.  That way the server properties can be captured in just
one place.  

AFAIK, there's no standard equivalent the freetds.conf [global] section
for odbc.ini.  (FreeTDS doesn't define the file format.)  That is
perhaps unfortunate, but surely not the only unfortunate thing about
ODBC.  

Regards, 

--jkl