[OT] Re: Oracle Classes using the OCI?
[OT] Re: Oracle Classes using the OCI?
- Subject: [OT] Re: Oracle Classes using the OCI?
- From: Ted Thibodeau Jr <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 4 Nov 2006 13:14:32 -0500
* Jonathan Monroe [2006/11/04 10:25 AM -0600] wrote:
> For Cocoa development, I recommend Andy Satori's open source (BSD)
> ODBCKit:
>
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/odbckit
>
> One nice thing about ODBCKit is that it uses the ODBC libraries
> that Apple ships with Mac OS X, which work great - the additional
> third party iODBC frameworks don't have to be present. Apple's
> libraries are superior to the iODBC frameworks because they always
> look for DSN configuration files in the same place. The iODBC
> frameworks look for the files in 5 different places, and the
> default location where it writes the files seems to change from
> one release to the next. This makes an iODBC framework-based
> application more difficult to support in the field than one based
> on Apple's ODBC libraries.
How may I make this clear...
In simple language -- Apple ships iODBC with Mac OS X. iODBC is not
a third party, in this context.
Apple ships the same source, and the dylibs are built the same as
those from OpenLink, who maintain and support iODBC.
The difference between the dylibs and the Frameworks is ... just
a compilation flag. Apple chose not to build and ship Frameworks,
for reasons which remain mysterious, though Frameworks are the way
to build Cocoa applications. If you run a diff over the dylib and
the same version executable within the Framework -- you can confirm
that they are identical --
diff -s /usr/local/iODBC/lib/libiodbc.dylib \
/Library/Frameworks/iODBC.framework/iODBC
(When you install the SDK from iODBC.org or OpenLink, we install
the current versions of what Apple shipped to /usr/local/iODBC/,
so the versions Apple shipped are not changed. This should not
generally matter, but it would be bad manners to disrupt what they
chose to ship as part of the OS.)
The iODBC Frameworks are not "third party" any more than the dylibs.
And they are all under the same open source BSD license.
There was *one* bad build of iODBC, which included a portation error
(as iODBC is produced for most Unix variants, not just Mac OS X), in
which the default ~/Library/ODBC/odbc.ini location was not properly
set, and so the User-level settings (not the System-level settings)
were written to ~/.odbc.ini, following the standard for non-Mac Unix
variants. This issue can be entirely prevented by creation of two
symlinks in each user's $HOME, if you're really worried about it --
ln -s ~/Library/ODBC/odbc.ini ~/odbc.ini
ln -s ~/Library/ODBC/odbcinst.ini ~/odbcinst.ini
The Apple-shipped libraries did not include this problem because the
Apple-shipped libraries don't apply new releases nearly as often as
they are delivered. The Tiger-bundled iODBC libraries are v3.52.1,
while the latest delivered from the project are 3.52.4. If I recall
correctly, the bad build was 3.52.2.
The Apple-shipped libraries *will* pick up on odbc.ini and other
files in typical Unix locations (/etc/.odbc.ini, /etc/odbc.ini,
~/.odbc.ini) if they are not present in the Mac OS X-standard
locations (/Library/ODBC/odbc.ini, ~/Library/ODBC/odbc.ini) --
and it is perhaps worth noting that the Mac OS X standard location
was, in fact, instituted by OpenLink in the course of porting iODBC
to Mac OS X in 2000-2001.
ODBCKit, though `open source (BSD)`, *is* undeniably third party...
and I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing. I have not yet
worked with ODBCKit, and thus cannot recommend for or against it.
(ObDisclaimer -- I work for OpenLink Software. Jonathan works for
Actual Technologies, a competitor in the ODBC driver space on the
Mac. Actual doesn't have anything to do with iODBC, though they
certainly could log bug reports or submit patches and such -- it's
open source, BSD licensed, and found on SourceForge as well as
http://iodbc.org/.)
Sorry for the off-topic. Misinformation about ODBC on the Mac runs
rampant, and it doesn't serve anyone to let it stick.
Be seeing you,
Ted
--
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| Q: Are you sure?
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| | | Q: Why is top posting frowned upon?
Ted Thibodeau, Jr. // voice +1-781-273-0900 x32
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