[Zope-DB] Re: R: R: ZODBCDA for Python 2.3.3

Casey Duncan casey at zope.com
Fri Apr 2 11:16:41 EST 2004


On Fri, 02 Apr 2004 17:25:36 +0200
Charlie Clark <charlie at egenix.com> wrote:

> 
> On 2004-04-02 at 15:22:29 [+0200], A van Schie wrote:
> > We could spend long discussions about whether this is right or wrong
> > strategy
> > but I like to leave that to managers. Next time I need some
> > Web-based database application, I'll have to stick with Zope 2.6.4
> > or perhaps PHP/MySQL or so.
> 
> mm, is ODBC really the issue here? ie. is the database Access or
> MS-SQL? Wouldn't something like PostgreSQL fit the bill and fit the
> philosophy better?
> 
> There is nothing wrong with Zope 2.6.4!
> 
> In fact I don't currently have 2.7 in production anywhere. But this is
> a red herring. Users of ZODBCDA say that the real problems are
> instability and unreliability so simply recompiling it for Python 2.3
> won't do. In fact I think it's the problems associated with it that
> persuaded ZC to drop support for it. We've discovered that there are
> lots of problems with the (R)DBMS drivers which mxODBC is able to deal
> with.

I won't speak as the authority for ZC, but I will say that we have not
used an ODBC-based DA for any recent project (read: for several years).
Where we do use an RDBMS it is almost always MySQL/PostgreSQL. It is not
practical for us to maintain software which we do don't ourselves use
for production. 

Part of the implied contract of open-source software is that users of
that software are compelled to contribute to it when they perceive it
lacking (or they can find another solution of course). Sometimes the
original author of a piece of software no longer uses it. In that case,
others using that software can take on the task of maintaining it. The
fact that this is possible in the open source world accounts for an
appreciable part of its success.

Where it has come up with prospective ZC customers to connect to MS
databases from Zope, the use of mxODBC has been brought up immediately
and without hesitation. I strongly suspect we would choose to use it
ourselves over updating ZODBCDA. It simply makes no sense from a
business standpoint for us to do so when others already offer a working
solution for a fair price.

Please remember that just because software is released to you for free,
that does not mean that it has no cost to you. When using OSS, you must
be prepared to invest the time needed to integrate it. That may mean
getting your hands dirty and writing some code, or paying someone else
to do so.

-Casey




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