[egenix-users] Install conflict, egenixs-mx-commercial-2.0.5 RPM on RH 7.2

[M.-A. Lemburg]

Malcolm Heath wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I'm attempting to install the RPM
> egenix-mx-commercial-2.0.5-py2.2_1.i386.rpm on a server here.  The
> server is a RedHat 7.2 machine, fully updated, with python2.2 installed
> via RPM.  The command
>
> "rpm -ivh egenix-mx-commercial-2.0.5-py2.2_1.i386.rpm"
>
> fails with the error:
>
> error: failed dependencies:
>         libiodbc.so.2 is needed by egenix-mx-commercial-2.0.5-py2.2_1
>         libodbc.so.1 is needed by egenix-mx-commercial-2.0.5-py2.2_1
>
> So, obviously, I'm missing some libraries.  I then found and installed
> unixODBC-devel-2.0.7-3.i386.rpm and unixODBC-2.0.7-3.i386.rpm, which
> satisfied the first dependency.  Some further exploration of the egenix
> site told me that I also needed libraries from iodbc.org.
>
> I downloaded, and attempted to install libiodbc-3.0.6-2.i386-glibc21.rpm
> but that failed, conflicting with files from unixODBC-2.0.7-3.i386.rpm.
>
> I'm not wondering how to fix this, particularly. What I am wondering, as
> a prospective customer of this software, is why the RPM requires both
> unixODBC and iodbc libraries?  Are they actually required?

No, only one of them is required. The RPM contains subpackages
for both managers since one of them is usually installed on the
target system, so

rpm -i --nodeps egenix-mx-commercial-*.rpm

will work regardless of which one you have installed. We ship the
RPM bundled for two ODBC managers to reduce the confusion on the
user side. The instructions on the download page mentions this:

http://www.lemburg.com/files/python/eGenix-mx-Extensions.html#Install-mxCOMMERCIAL

> We run a large shop here, and managing custom software is a big, and
> often frustrating part of that job.  Having to download, compile or
> install, and keep track of yet another package that my developers don't
> actually need to use is wasteful of my time, and unnecessary.
>
> So, what I'd like to know is if simply doing a --force is going to get
> me over this hurdle, without leaving me with a non-function, or unstable
> install.

Doing so is OK. Just tell your developers which subpackage of
mxODBC to program against (unixODBC in your case).

BTW, the most current unixODBC version is 2.2.3. That version
fixes quite a few bugs in that ODBC manager. I usually tell
people to start with iODBC 3.0.6 and only switch to unixODBC
in case some driver doesn't like iODBC. iODBC has proven to
be much more stable and standards conform than unixODBC.
unixODBC is only necessary in case you plan to do Unicode
over ODBC -- iODBC currently does not support Unicode.

-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
CEO eGenix.com Software GmbH
_______________________________________________________________________
eGenix.com -- Makers of the Python mx Extensions: mxDateTime,mxODBC,...
Python Consulting:                               http://www.egenix.com/
Python Software:                    http://www.egenix.com/files/python/