Thread: Latest ODBC Driver "unstable"

Latest ODBC Driver "unstable"

From
"Gary Doades"
Date:
It looks like the latest build of the PostgreSQL ODBC driver has
problems. I have an application on Windows in .NET that I have been
developing for some time using the ODBC drivers. Until recently I used
the packaged installer to install 7.3.2 version of the driver. This is very
stable with no unexpected problems.

Backend is PostgreSQL 7.4.3 on Fedora Core 2

Recently I installed the latest build (7.5.02) and immediately began to
experience ramdom crashes in my ASP.NET applications and .NET
Windows apps.

Dropping back to the 7.3.2 build all the problems went away. I have
done several tests ONLY changing the ODBC driver and the results are
consistent.

Initially it looks like random buffer overflows/memory scribbling
problems. Occasionally I get error messages from the driver with
random bits of text on the end of the message. In .NET the ODBC
Driver reports errors with a title of "Postgresql %s %s". Either someone
has done something recently with buffer copying or it is the result of
going Unicode-build only.

I am not doing anything with cursors, just straightforward connect,
execute, fetch, disconnect stuff. .NET puts lots of capability calls and
datatype query for resultset calls of course. Looking at ODBC trace
output I see no bad behaviour. The driver just crashes and takes the
program with it sometimes.

I also transfer data from SQLServer to PostgreSQL using DTS and the
postgres ODBC driver. Using build 7.3.2 I get no problems at all. Using
build 7.5.02 I get reports from SQLServer (DTS) like "Critical Error" and
"data exception" at random points during the transfers.

Unfortunately I don't currently have the tools to debug the driver. I will
supply any information that I can, but given that this is Windows, there
ain't a lot.

Given that 8.0 is trying to make it into Windows, an unstable ODBC
driver is going to taint the excellent efforts of the server porting.

Given also that there is no-one to fix these problems it may be better to
revert to a tried and trusted stable version (7.3.2) until this can get
looked into.

Cheers,
Gary.


Re: Latest ODBC Driver "unstable"

From
"Dave Page"
Date:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: pgsql-odbc-owner@postgresql.org
> [mailto:pgsql-odbc-owner@postgresql.org] On Behalf Of Gary Doades
> Sent: 15 September 2004 19:40
> To: pgsql-odbc@postgresql.org
> Subject: [ODBC] Latest ODBC Driver "unstable"
>
> Given that 8.0 is trying to make it into Windows, an unstable
> ODBC driver is going to taint the excellent efforts of the
> server porting.
>
> Given also that there is no-one to fix these problems it may
> be better to revert to a tried and trusted stable version
> (7.3.2) until this can get looked into.

07.03.0200 is the current stable version. Anything newer is a
development snapshot and has never been advertised as anything else.

Regards, Dave.

Re: Latest ODBC Driver "unstable"

From
"Gary Doades"
Date:
On 15 Sep 2004 at 21:00, Dave Page wrote:

>
> 07.03.0200 is the current stable version. Anything newer is a
> development snapshot and has never been advertised as anything else.
>
> Regards, Dave.
>

That's fine, I understand that. It's just that 7.5.02 is being installed with
the Windows binary installer along with 8.0 beta. If someone were
available to process the problems then I would say let it be fixed along
with the main beta cycle, but given your recent comments is that going
to happen?

All I was trying to say is that if no-one is currently available to fix the
7.5.02 problems then it may be better to just distribute the 7.3.2 build
along with the Windows beta. At least folks new to PostgreSQL will only
have to deal with one potential set of problems in the short term. There
appears to be enough people to fix the backend/psql/pgadmin problems
promptly.

Once the beta for the main PostgreSQL is over then the process of
tackling the ODBC driver can begin.

Cheers,
Gary.





Re: Latest ODBC Driver "unstable"

From
"Dave Page"
Date:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: pgsql-odbc-owner@postgresql.org
> [mailto:pgsql-odbc-owner@postgresql.org] On Behalf Of Gary Doades
> Sent: 15 September 2004 21:18
> To: pgsql-odbc@postgresql.org
> Subject: Re: [ODBC] Latest ODBC Driver "unstable"
>
> On 15 Sep 2004 at 21:00, Dave Page wrote:
>
> >
> > 07.03.0200 is the current stable version. Anything newer is a
> > development snapshot and has never been advertised as anything else.
> >
> > Regards, Dave.
> >
>
> That's fine, I understand that. It's just that 7.5.02 is
> being installed with the Windows binary installer along with
> 8.0 beta. If someone were available to process the problems
> then I would say let it be fixed along with the main beta
> cycle, but given your recent comments is that going to happen?

It's unlikely. On the plus side though, one of the reasons I'm busy is
that it's me that's building the win32 installer atm. I'm currently
shipping the version of the driver that happens to be on my machine,
however it will be released with stable versions of *all* code when we
go gold.

> All I was trying to say is that if no-one is currently
> available to fix the
> 7.5.02 problems then it may be better to just distribute the
> 7.3.2 build along with the Windows beta. At least folks new
> to PostgreSQL will only have to deal with one potential set
> of problems in the short term. There appears to be enough
> people to fix the backend/psql/pgadmin problems promptly

Yeah, well pgadmin is my project as well :-) In fact it's the reason why
I originally got involved in the ODBC driver, and now have far less
interest as we use libpq nowadays. I should stress though, that my
involvement with psqlODBC has always been more on the management of
releases and Gborg than the coding, so even if I did have more time, I
wouldn't necessarily be much more help.

Regards, Dave.

Re: Latest ODBC Driver "unstable"

From
"Gary Doades"
Date:
On 15 Sep 2004 at 21:41, Dave Page wrote:

> It's unlikely. On the plus side though, one of the reasons I'm busy is
> that it's me that's building the win32 installer atm. I'm currently
> shipping the version of the driver that happens to be on my machine,
> however it will be released with stable versions of *all* code when we
> go gold.
>

Thanks, even if the problems with 7.5.02 are not solved in the short
term at least a stable version is available.

I too would like to work on the ODBC driver, but just don't have the
time. I feel that with the upcoming Windows port that the ODBC driver
is going to be in more demand than ever. With no OLEDB driver
available, all the non-.NET Windows developer will have is ODBC.

All those VB and Access people out there will certainly test the driver :-)

In the long term I would like to see the ODBC driver use libpq. Looking
at the current source it seems to be re-inventing the wheel for no real
good reason. I'm sure the code would be far less complex using libpq.

Cheers,
Gary.