RE: [cobalt-developers] Interbase on the Raq 550 + PHP

["Studds McButt" <studds@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

William:

You have given me much food for thought. I'm not keen on installing new
software on our raq 550, because any interruption of service would have
big consequences, and I'm not an expert in command-level Linux. (My
university training in computer science is from the early '70s when the
world was a lot simpler) MySQL, InterBase and Postre are all installed
on the raq at the factory, and my inclination is to stay with one of
them. IB Manager (but not IB console) worked on the Raq 4 and it works
on the Raq550. There were absolutely no problems with it on the raq4,
and it seemed like the path of least resisance was to stick with it on
the 550, notwithstanding the fact that there are better SQL
applications. I'm not doing anything complicated, and I'm using SQL
mainly just to get the efficiency of pre-defined procedures. On the
raq4, it works well with PHP. I have seen dozens of posts from people
with the same "cannot attach to password database" issue, but not a
single solution. I think that you're right and that Interbase 6 is
essentially obsolete and I will probably move on, but I will first
follow your advice and try the Yahoo list before I give up. 

Thanks again for your thoughts

Ken

-----Original Message-----
From: cobalt-developers-admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:cobalt-developers-admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of William L.
Thomson Jr.
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2003 9:41 PM
To: Cobalt Developers Group
Subject: RE: [cobalt-developers] Interbase on the Raq 550 + PHP


On Mon, 2003-08-25 at 21:24, Studds McButt wrote:
> Thanks for your insights.
> 
> The reson for using Interbase in the first place is that it runs out 
> of the box on the raq4 and it ran fine for the past few years.

Regardless of software running out of the box. Software always evolves
and must be maintained upgraded. The version that was shipped on Cobalt
has many bugs. Which seems you were not effected by any. Hopefully you
applied the back door account patch, bringing you to IB 6.01. Either way
it's antiquated outdated software.

>  After
> migrating to the raq 550, the same databases work OK with IBManager, 
> so from what you say this means that the raq550 includes the Super 
> Server version.

It's possible. If IBManager works with the 550 and not the Raq4 then
yes.

>  There is no mention of this version issue in the Raq 550 manual.

It's possible IBManager can connect to Classic. That might be a
limitation of IBConsole. I know it can only connect to the Super Server
not Classic. However I worked very little with Classic server before
installing Super Server edition. The SS version was not mature enough
when Cobalt's were released.

The 550 should never have been released with IB. Instead it should have
had Fb, since it was actively being developed and maintained. Unlike
Open Source IB 6.0. Check the sourceforge.net project activity for IB.

> In any event, I can use IBManager to open the databases, view the 
> data, and manipulate the database. From the commend line, I change 
> users and passwords using GSEC. So I'm not having any problem with the

> database itself, I just can't access it from PHP, because of the 
> "cannot attach to password database" issue. The password database, 
> isc4.gdb, may be located in a place where PHP is not looking for it, 
> but I can't find any explanation of this problem.

That sounds very strange. Until Fb 1.5 the password db is only found in
one place. /opt/interbase/isc4.gdb. Not sure why PHP is giving this
error and nothing else.

> Under the circumstances, the quickest solution might be to switch to 
> mySQL, since it seems to be much more thoroughly documented.

Not more than Firebird. Not to mention MySQL is not SQL-92 compliant or
SQL-99. The only some what equal replacement would be PostgreSQL.
However it does not have the history.

>  I undersand
> the advantages of Firebird in principle, but as I said, the only 
> reason for using Interbase in the first place was that it was simple. 
> That was then, this is now, and I think I'll move on.

It still is simple. You are having problems with PHP not IB itself.
Switching from IB to FB is as simple as removing one RPM and installing
another. Of course back up and restore your password file/db.

I would then recommend compiling the interbase.so module.
I would go to Yahoo and do a search of fb-support and PHP. I have seen
many posts on it, and many people are using it.

I would still say no matter what you have to do it will be less work
with Firebird than with PostgreSQL or MySQL.

Final call is up to you.

-- 
Sincerely,
William L. Thomson Jr.
Support Group
Obsidian-Studios, Inc.
http://www.obsidian-studios.com

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