Thread: Windows port installer

Windows port installer

From
"Dave Page"
Date:
Hi,

I'm currently working on the installer for the binary distribution of
the Win32 port of PostgreSQL. We are already including psqlODBC and
Npgsql, and would like to include the JDBC driver as well. Knowing
nothing about JDBC I'm at a bit of a loss however and would appreciate
some guidance on what files to install, and where, as well as any
changes to the environment or registry etc. that may be required.

TIA,

Regards, Dave

[Oh, and please CC me as I'm not on the JDBC list].

Re: Windows port installer

From
"Chris Smith"
Date:
Dave Page wrote:
> I'm currently working on the installer for the binary distribution of
> the Win32 port of PostgreSQL. We are already including psqlODBC and
> Npgsql, and would like to include the JDBC driver as well. Knowing
> nothing about JDBC I'm at a bit of a loss however and would appreciate
> some guidance on what files to install, and where, as well as any
> changes to the environment or registry etc. that may be required.

Here's an opinion from someone who's not really a JDBC driver developer at
all.

There's not really a location to install JDBC drivers onto an operating
system.  They are not native libraries, and are typically packaged with
applications.  The closest thing you could do to an installation would be to
locate JVM install directories via "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/JavaSoft/Java
Runtime Environment/*/JavaHome", and drop the JAR file into lib/ext relative
to that directory; but frankly I'd probably resent your doing so and certainly
wouldn't find it very useful.

If you need to give lip service to including JDBC drivers for political
reasons, then the best approach is probably to just leave the JDBC driver JAR
file somewhere, and provide documentation on how to find it.

--
www.designacourse.com
The Easiest Way to Train Anyone... Anywhere.

Chris Smith - Lead Software Developer/Technical Trainer
MindIQ Corporation


Re: Windows port installer

From
"Dave Page"
Date:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chris Smith [mailto:cdsmith@twu.net]
> Sent: 13 July 2004 15:38
> To: Dave Page; pgsql-jdbc@postgresql.org
> Cc: pginstaller-devel@pgfoundry.org
> Subject: Re: [JDBC] Windows port installer
>
> There's not really a location to install JDBC drivers onto an
> operating system.  They are not native libraries, and are
> typically packaged with applications.  The closest thing you
> could do to an installation would be to locate JVM install
> directories via "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/JavaSoft/Java
> Runtime Environment/*/JavaHome", and drop the JAR file into
> lib/ext relative to that directory; but frankly I'd probably
> resent your doing so and certainly wouldn't find it very useful.

Hmm, probably not the best option as you suggest. I wasn't sure if there
was something like .NET's Global Assembly Cache into which such files
should be installed.

> If you need to give lip service to including JDBC drivers for
> political reasons, then the best approach is probably to just
> leave the JDBC driver JAR file somewhere, and provide
> documentation on how to find it.

That's certainly easy enough - by default it would probably end up in
C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\7.5\JDBC\. Are there any html docs etc. that
should/could be included?

Thanks, Dave.

Re: Windows port installer

From
Kris Jurka
Date:

On Tue, 13 Jul 2004, Dave Page wrote:

> That's certainly easy enough - by default it would probably end up in
> C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\7.5\JDBC\. Are there any html docs etc. that
> should/could be included?
>

There are docs, but not in a packaged form at the moment.  This URL has
about a month old version: http://www.ejurka.com/pgsql/docs/cvs/ For
release we will have something easily downloadable, probably a .tar.gz.
Do you want/need something now to get the process down?

Kris Jurka

Re: Windows port installer

From
"Chris Smith"
Date:
Dave Page wrote:
> Hmm, probably not the best option as you suggest. I wasn't sure if
> there was something like .NET's Global Assembly Cache into which such
> files should be installed.

I'm no .NET expert, but I think the JRE extensions directory is a lot like the
GAC.  It's just not used in the same ways because it's more difficult to find
it from installation kits, and because of historical issues.

--
www.designacourse.com
The Easiest Way to Train Anyone... Anywhere.

Chris Smith - Lead Software Developer/Technical Trainer
MindIQ Corporation


Re: Windows port installer

From
Paul Thomas
Date:
On 13/07/2004 15:37 Chris Smith wrote:
> [snip]
> There's not really a location to install JDBC drivers onto an operating
> system.  They are not native libraries, and are typically packaged with
> applications.  The closest thing you could do to an installation would be
> to
> locate JVM install directories via
> "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/JavaSoft/Java
> Runtime Environment/*/JavaHome", and drop the JAR file into lib/ext
> relative
> to that directory;

Which should totally screw up anyone using Tomcat (and probably a lot of
other apps that use custom class loaders).

--
Paul Thomas
+------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| Thomas Micro Systems Limited | Software Solutions for
Business             |
| Computer Consultants         |
http://www.thomas-micro-systems-ltd.co.uk   |
+------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+

Re: Windows port installer

From
Dave Cramer
Date:
My suggestion would be to put it wherever you are putting the postgresql
libraries, then tell the user how to set the CLASSPATH.

Dave
On Tue, 2004-07-13 at 13:33, Chris Smith wrote:
> Dave Page wrote:
> > Hmm, probably not the best option as you suggest. I wasn't sure if
> > there was something like .NET's Global Assembly Cache into which such
> > files should be installed.
>
> I'm no .NET expert, but I think the JRE extensions directory is a lot like the
> GAC.  It's just not used in the same ways because it's more difficult to find
> it from installation kits, and because of historical issues.
--
Dave Cramer
519 939 0336
ICQ # 14675561


Re: Windows port installer

From
"Dave Page"
Date:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kris Jurka [mailto:books@ejurka.com]
> Sent: 13 July 2004 17:56
> To: Dave Page
> Cc: Chris Smith; pgsql-jdbc@postgresql.org;
> pginstaller-devel@pgfoundry.org
> Subject: Re: [JDBC] Windows port installer
>
>
>
> On Tue, 13 Jul 2004, Dave Page wrote:
>
> > That's certainly easy enough - by default it would probably
> end up in
> > C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\7.5\JDBC\. Are there any html docs etc.
> > that should/could be included?
> >
>
> There are docs, but not in a packaged form at the moment.
> This URL has about a month old version:
> http://www.ejurka.com/pgsql/docs/cvs/ For release we will
> have something easily downloadable, probably a .tar.gz.
> Do you want/need something now to get the process down?

No, Idon't need one as such, just wondered if there was a simple HTML
starter guide or similar that could be included (there is one for
Npgsql).

Regards, Dave.

Re: Windows port installer

From
"Dave Page"
Date:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chris Smith [mailto:cdsmith@twu.net]
> Sent: 13 July 2004 18:34
> To: Dave Page; pgsql-jdbc@postgresql.org
> Cc: pginstaller-devel@pgfoundry.org
> Subject: Re: [JDBC] Windows port installer
>
> Dave Page wrote:
> > Hmm, probably not the best option as you suggest. I wasn't sure if
> > there was something like .NET's Global Assembly Cache into
> which such
> > files should be installed.
>
> I'm no .NET expert, but I think the JRE extensions directory
> is a lot like the GAC.  It's just not used in the same ways
> because it's more difficult to find it from installation
> kits, and because of historical issues.

OK, I'll just leave the jar files under the main installation directory
for now then.

Thanks, Dave.

Re: Windows port installer

From
"Dave Page"
Date:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave Cramer [mailto:pg@fastcrypt.com]
> Sent: 13 July 2004 20:18
> To: Chris Smith
> Cc: Dave Page; pgsql-jdbc@postgresql.org;
> pginstaller-devel@pgfoundry.org
> Subject: Re: [JDBC] Windows port installer
>
> My suggestion would be to put it wherever you are putting the
> postgresql libraries, then tell the user how to set the CLASSPATH.

Hi Dave,

I'm trying to keep each component of the installation in a separate
directory for simplicity/cleanliness/organisation etc. so unless there's
a specific need to put them in \lib, I'd rather avoid doing so. I'll
certainly do something about the classpath though - we should be able to
automate that - thanks.

Regards, Dave.

Re: Windows port installer

From
Dave Cramer
Date:
Dave,

there's no reason to put it there, however as someone pointed out
putting it in jre/ext will be a problem for Tomcat.

Dave
On Wed, 2004-07-14 at 03:28, Dave Page wrote:
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Dave Cramer [mailto:pg@fastcrypt.com]
> > Sent: 13 July 2004 20:18
> > To: Chris Smith
> > Cc: Dave Page; pgsql-jdbc@postgresql.org;
> > pginstaller-devel@pgfoundry.org
> > Subject: Re: [JDBC] Windows port installer
> >
> > My suggestion would be to put it wherever you are putting the
> > postgresql libraries, then tell the user how to set the CLASSPATH.
>
> Hi Dave,
>
> I'm trying to keep each component of the installation in a separate
> directory for simplicity/cleanliness/organisation etc. so unless there's
> a specific need to put them in \lib, I'd rather avoid doing so. I'll
> certainly do something about the classpath though - we should be able to
> automate that - thanks.
>
> Regards, Dave.
>
>
>
> !DSPAM:40f4e09a219968623010599!
>
>
--
Dave Cramer
519 939 0336
ICQ # 14675561


Re: Windows port installer

From
Kris Jurka
Date:

On Wed, 14 Jul 2004, Dave Page wrote:

> No, Idon't need one as such, just wondered if there was a simple HTML
> starter guide or similar that could be included (there is one for
> Npgsql).
>

A one page quick start guide would indeed be useful.  Got a link to the
Npgsql version?

Kris Jurka