README for DBD::Informix -- an Informix interface for Perl 5 using DBI.

  Portions Copyright (c) 1994,1995,1996  Alligator Descartes
  Portions Copyright (c) 1996,1997       Jonathan Leffler

  You may distribute under the terms of either the GNU General Public
  License or the Artistic License, as specified in the Perl README file.

-- The following is a standard warning for all DBI and DBD::* software --
WARNING: THIS IS ALPHA SOFTWARE. IT IS POSSIBLY UNRELIABLE!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

PREREQUISITES

   If you do not have Perl version 5.003 or later, then build, test and
   install it before doing anything else!  And please ensure that you
   compile it with whatever options are necessary to get __STDC__ defined.

   If you do not have DBI version 0.81 or later installed, then build,
   test and install it.  Note that previous versions of DBD::Informix
   allowed you to use older versions of DBI than the version it was built
   with.  This policy changed with DBD::Informix v0.54.  In addition,
   the code uses ChopBlanks introduced in DBI 0.81.

   To build DBD::Informix, the C compiler must accept function prototypes.
   This is not a problem on any machine to which Informix is currently
   ported (though the HP-UX compiler does not accept prototypes unless
   told to do so).

   You must have a version of Informix-ESQL/C available to you.  You
   should read the Informix.Licence file for information about what you
   need.  At the moment, ESQL/C Versions 4.0x or 4.1x are not supported,
   nor are any earlier versions.  ESQL/C Versions 5.00 upwards should be
   OK.

   *** BEWARE ***

   DBD::Informix version 0.54 has been tested on Informix-Universal Server
   version 9.10.UC2 (on a Sparc 20 running Solaris 2.5.1).  Where the IUS
   database uses the same types as were available in earlier versions of
   Informix products, there doesn't seem to be any problem.  However, it is
   known to fail badly (usually with an assert firing and a core dump) if it
   encounters one of the IUS-specific data types.

   The IUS SysProcedures table in the system catalog has a ParamTypes column
   which is of the type RtnParamTypes, and therefore DBD::Informix will not
   work if you try to select all the columns from this table.  There are
   probably other columns in the system catalog for which this is true.  And
   there may be other tables which won't work for the same reason.

   *** YOU WERE WARNED ***

   DBD::Informix has never been tested with a version 8.x (OnLine XPS)
   version of ESQL/C and database.

   *** YOU WERE WARNED ABOUT THIS TOO ***

   You need to have a fully working Informix environment before you try to
   build and test DBD::Informix.  This means that you will need to have
   access to at least one database where you have at least RESOURCE level
   privileges.  You should consider creating the 'stores' database using
   the dbaccessdemoN program (where N is a version number, such a 7) which
   comes with your server if you don't have DBA privileges on any
   databases.  The multiple connection tests use two databases for
   preference (though the tests will use the same database twice if you do
   not specify two separate databases) and the test will fail if you try
   using olipcshm (shared memory) connections to both databases.  If your
   databases are not on the machine where you are building DBD::Informix,
   you need to ensure that you have the necessary privileges to connect to
   the machine where the databases are.

   Please ensure that you have $INFORMIXDIR set, and that $INFORMIXDIR/bin
   is on your PATH.  The build no longer works unless these environment
   variables are set.  Also, if you are using ESQL/C version 6.x or later,
   you may be using ESQL/C shared libraries which are found in
   $INFORMIXDIR/lib and $INFORMIXDIR/lib/esql.  You need to ensure that
   these will be found when you run Perl with DBD::Informix.  On SVR4
   machines, this means adding these directories to LD_LIBRARY_PATH; on
   HP-UX, the variable is SHLIB_PATH; other systems may have other
   variable names.  You need to set INFORMIXSERVER correctly if you are
   using version 6.0x or later.  You may need to set other environment
   variables too -- consult the Informix manuals for more information.

   You should take a look at the documentation in InformixTest.pm, and set
   the DBD_INFORMIX_DATABASE, DBD_INFORMIX_USERNAME, DBD_INFORMIX_PASSWORD
   and DBD_INFORMIX_SERVER environment variables as appropriate for your
   system.  Although the testing does as little damage as possible, it is
   not a good idea to use your prize database for this.  The stores
   database is a good bet (unless you are using an old version of Fourgen
   software and it is using the stores database for its data dictionary).
   Note that these variables only have significance when running the
   DBD::Informix tests.  They are not used by DBD::Informix itself, only
   by DBD::InformixTest.

   One step in the setup process tests that you have permissions on the
   databases which will be used by the testing.  It does this by compiling
   and running a relatively simple ESQL/C program which simply opens a few
   databases, creates and drops some tables, and exits.

BUILDING DBD::Informix

   When Perl, DBI and ESQL/C are all installed do:

       perl Makefile.PL

   The script will attempt to work out what it needs to build the module.
   Then do:

       make

   This should complete without errors, and ideally without warnings
   either.  If you get warnings, I'm interested to know what they are and
   how they could be fixed generically.  If it fails horribly, see below.

   Do NOT hand edit the generated Makefile unless you are completely sure
   you understand the implications (and are willing to make those changes
   manually every time the Makefile is regenerated)!  Always try to make
   changes by editing Makefile.PL, which is extensively annotated.  You
   should also read the section on ExtUtils::MakeMaker in the 2nd Edition
   of 'Programming Perl'.

   You should never need to make any changes to the generated Makefile,
   nor to Makefile.PL.  If you do *please* let me know so that I can try
   to make it automatic in a later release.

   Then run:

       make test

   On the reference system (Sun Sparc 10 running Solaris 2.5.1, compiling
   with GCC 2.7.0 or SUNWspro SC3.0.1), all the tests pass for ESQL/C
   versions 5.03.UC1, 5.07.UC1, 6.00.UC1, 7.13.UC1 and 7.21.UC1.
   Nevertheless, it is a good idea to run:

       make test TEST_VERBOSE=1

   You should inspect the results as not every test compares the actual
   data returned with the data that should be returned (though t/basic00.t
   does do this).  Note that the blob tests pass on SE, because the test
   scripts detect that the engine is SE and do not try to test blob
   handling.

   Additionally, for a really thorough scrutiny of DBD::Informix, you need
   to test with at least 3 different databases: one created MODE ANSI, one
   created with a transaction log but not MODE ANSI, and one created
   without any transaction logs at all.

       DBD_INFORMIX_DATABASE=mode_ansi make test
       DBD_INFORMIX_DATABASE=logged    make test
       DBD_INFORMIX_DATABASE=unlogged  make test

   If you are concerned about both OnLine and SE, then you need these
   databases for both environments.  Also note that the multiple
   connection tests will use two different databases if you set the
   environment variable DBD_INFORMIX_DATABASE2, but the tests assume that
   you don't need to specify the user and password.  This could be fixed,
   but hasn't happened yet.  You can use one SE and one OnLine database
   for the multiple connection testing.

   Once you are satisfied that DBD::Informix is working correctly, you
   should install it:

       make install

   If you ever need to remove it, possibly as a preamble to installing a
   new version, you should use the old version's makefile and run:

       make uninstall

   You can then install using the new version's makefile.  It is important
   to use the correct (old or new) makefiles because the installed files
   may be different, and if some file is made obsolete by the new version
   (is not used by the new version), its makefile will not uninstall the
   obsolete file; over time and multiple versions, this could, eventually,
   lead to 'coronary thrombosis' on your disk drive -- or disk full.

   If you run into problems which suggest that the ESQL/C you have won't
   work as dynamically loaded libraries (eg on HP-UX or SCO), then you
   should create a statically linked version of Perl with DBD::Informix
   linked to it.  Use:

       make perl
       make test_static

KNOWN PROBLEMS:

   * DBD::Informix uses SQL DESCRIPTORS which are not part of ESQL/C
     Version 4.0x or 4.1x.  It also uses string-named cursors and
     statements, which are likewise not supported in 4.0x or 4.1x (or
     earlier) versions.

   * Some desirable features are not implemented.  A number of these are
     listed in the POD file.

   * Some Oracle-inspired functions which are listed as part of DBI are
     not implemented for lack of sufficient definition of what is actually
     required.

   * Some problems have been encountered on HP-UX 9.x when building shared
     libraries using 5.0x and 6.0x ESQL/C.  This seems to be because the
     HP-UX compilers and loader do not accept code not compiled for shared
     libraries inside a shared library.  Help (or reassurance) is needed on
     this.

   * Some problems have been encountered on SCO which seems to be related
     to the equivalent of LD_LIBRARY_PATH on System V Release 4 machines.
     Again, help or reassurance is needed on this.

   * If you are using GCC to compile the software on Solaris, ensure that
     you also use GCC to build the shared libraries, rather than trying to
     use 'ld'.  If you use ld instead, you are likely to run into problems
     with an undefined symbol __eprintf.  If you have this problem, the
     fix is usually to reconfigure (and therefore rebuild) Perl to use GCC
     to create the shared libraries.  It is not clear why using GCC gives
     this problem.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Error: Undefined symbols __cg92_used at link time.
Environment:  Solaris, GCC

If you compile with the SparcWorks SPARCompiler, you need to add the
command line option on -xcg92 to resolve these symbol problems cleanly.

Alligator Descartes <[email protected]>

JL notes: the detailed compiler versions are not known, but SC3.0.1 has not
shown any problems on Solaris 2.4.

This was originally reported for DBD::Oracle; may be relevant to some
versions of Informix-ESQLC on Solaris.  Versions 5.00 through 5.03 of
ESQL/C on Solaris 2.3 used libraries with names of the form libsql_cg92.a
and you may run into problems with these.  (Notably, Makefile.PL will warn
you that your ESQL/C may not be properly installed, even though it actually
is OK.)

Separately, for some reason, the STMT_START and STMT_END macros are not
being created using the 'if (1) ... else (void)0' version of the macros on
Solaris 2.4 with SPARCompiler version 3.0.1, even when -Dsun=1 or -D__sun__
is used on the command line.  I have not managed to figure out why.  This
leads to unwanted warnings about loop termination code not being reached.
JL 96-11-19

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS:

Firstly, check the Frequently Asked Questions, Known Bugs and any other
pertinent documents at:

   http://www.hermetica.com/technologia/DBI

If this does *not* resolve your problem, please post the details of your
problem to [email protected] and CC them to me at [email protected].
Please include:

1. A complete log of a complete build:

   perl Makefile.PL           (do a make realclean first)
   make
   make test
   make test TEST_VERBOSE=1

   You can also use (with Bourne/Korn Shells) to get a lot more debug
   information, but don't send this unless asked to do so:

   PERL_DBI_DEBUG=2 make test TEST_VERBOSE=1

2. A complete, sorted dump of your environment:

   env | sort

3. Full details of which version of Informix-ESQL/C and Perl you're using.
  The output of "perl -V" gives the Perl information.

5. If you get a core dump, try to include a stack trace from it.  If the
  stack trace mentions XS_DynaLoader_dl_load_file then rerun make test
  after setting the environment variable PERL_DL_DEBUG to 2.  Similarly,
  get the Devel::CoreStack module and use it.

6. Please don't post problems to comp.lang.perl.misc or perl5-porters.

7. If you are not currently subscribed to the mailing list please subscribe
  via http://www.fugue.com/dbi.  If you do not have WWW access, then send
  email to [email protected].  There are 3 mailing lists:
  [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected].

Regards,
Jonathan Leffler ([email protected])

@(#)README      54.3 97/05/14 17:19:54

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE: This document is derived from the DBD::Oracle README.  Many of the
points made in that will apply to DBD::Informix too.

Original document: (c) Tim Bunce <[email protected]>
Amendments 1:      (c) Alligator Descartes <[email protected]>
Amendments 2:      (c) Jonathan Leffler <[email protected]>

You are viewing proxied material from ftp.icm.edu.pl. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.