The mSQL FAQ

$Revision: 1.33 $

$Date: 1997/06/25 08:57:50 $

Preamble

A text copy of this FAQ can be obtained via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/faq.txt
or an HTML copy can be obtained via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/faq.html
This FAQ is maintained by Peter Samuel <Peter.Samuel@uniq.com.au> and is produced independently of Hughes Technologies (the developers of mSQL).

While every attempt is made to ensure that the information contained in this FAQ is accurate, no guarantees of accuracy can or will be made.

This FAQ attempts to deal with mSQL. Because of time and space constraints, other applications, including value added applications provided with the mSQL distribution such as W3-mSQL and Lite, will not be covered in any great detail.

Third party applications mentioned in this FAQ may not be compatible with the current release of mSQL - by necessity their development will lag that of mSQL. If you have any questions concerning their status please contact the mSQL mailing list or the author of the application in question.

New questions in the FAQ are marked with (=). Questions that have been modified since the last release of the FAQ are marked with (-).

Note: BEFORE POSTING A QUESTION TO THE mSQL MAILING LIST, PLEASE READ THE SECTION "How do I post a question to the mSQL mailing list".

Contents

General Information

What is covered by this FAQ?

This FAQ covers mSQL itself. It does not attempt to answer questions about various value added packages such as W3-mSQL, MsqlPerl, msqltcl, PHP/FI, etc in any great detail. Nor does it attempt to address problems integrating HTML and mSQL in anything but a cursory manner.

The reasons for this limited scope are simple - time and space. I maintain the FAQ out of the goodness/madness of my heart. I simply don't have the time to cover everything - if I did cover everything I'd never get any real work done and I'd starve :(

The FAQ is also quite large - 297k as of release 1.32 and growing. If I could include minute details about all the value added mSQL products you'd be looking at a very large document indeed (or several large documents). This is the sort of problem I don't have the time to deal with :)

There is a bright side however. I'm perfectly willing to accept contributions to the FAQ on ANY mSQL related issue - in fact I highly encourage it. If you have details concerning an area of mSQL that you'd like included in the FAQ, write it up and send it to me <Peter.Samuel@uniq.com.au>.

Some of the value added products have mailing lists and home pages. See the "Contributed Code and Third Party Applications" section for details.

What is SQL?

The following section is based on chapter 1 of "Oracle7 Server - SQL Language Reference Manual" - Oracle Corporation, December 1992, part number 778-70-1292.

SQL is an acronym that stands for Structured Query Language. It is often pronounced "sequel". It was developed in the mid 1970s by IBM.

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the International Standards Organisation (ISO) have adopted SQL as the standard language for relational database management systems.

SQL provides commands for a variety of tasks including:

SQL provides easy to learn commands that are both consistent and applicable for all users.

While most relational database management systems - including mSQL - provide support for SQL, each vendor usually has their own unique extensions to the language that may hinder the portability of SQL procedures from one database platform to another.

JCC Consulting http://www.jcc.com maintains a central source of information about the SQL standards process and its current state. For more details visit: 

    http://www.jcc.com/sql_stnd.html

Books on SQL and mSQL

There are countless books available on database design and SQL. Some good starting points (in no particular order) are: 


    C. J. Date
    "An Introduction to Database Systems"
    Vol I, Sixth Edition, 1995
    Addison Wesley
    ISBN 0-201-54329-X
    (http://heg-school.aw.com/cseng/authors/date/intro/intro.html)
 
    C. J. Date and Hugh Darwen
    "A Guide to Sql Standard"
    Fourth Edition, 1997
    Addison Wesley
    ISBN 0-201-96426-0
    (http://heg-school.aw.com/cseng/authors/date/sql/sql.html)
 
    Judith S. Bowman, Sandra L. Emerson and Marcy Darnovsky
    "The Practical SQL Handbook: Using Structured Query Language"
    Third Edition
    Addison Wesley
    ISBN 0-201-44787-8
    (http://www.awl.com/devpress/titles/44787.html)
 
    Terry Halpin
    "Conceptual Schema and Relational Database Design"
    1995
    Prentice Hall
    ISBN 0-13-355702-2
    (http://www.prenhall.com/allbooks/ptr_0133557022.html)
 
    Joe Celko
    "Instant SQL Programming"
    1995
    Wrox Press
    ISBN 1-874416-508
    (http://www.wrox.com/scripts/bookdetail.idc?Code=508)
 
    Martin Gruber
    "Understanding SQL"
    1990
    Sybex Publishing
    ISBN  0-89588-644-8
    (http://www.sybex.com/cgi-bin/bookpg.pl?644back.html)
 
    Jeff Rowe
    "Building Internet Database Servers with CGI"
    1996
    New Riders Publishing
    ISBN 1-56205-573-9
    (http://merchant.superlibrary.com:8000/catalog/hg/PRODUCT/PAGE/15620/bud/1562055739.html)
 
    Perkins & Morgan
    "Teach yourself SQL in 14 days"
    1995
    SAMS Publishing
    ISBN 0-67230-855-X
    (http://www.connection.se/cgi-bin/shop/method=showitem/sid=bm/uid=78F52F3/item=067230855X
    or
    http://merchant.superlibrary.com:8000/catalog/hg/PRODUCT/PAGE/06723/bud/067230855X.html)
 
    Connolly, Begg & Strachan
    "Database Systems: A Practical Approach to Design,
	Implementation and Management"
    1996
    Addison Wesley
    ISBN 0-201-42277-8
    (http://heg-school.aw.com/cseng/authors/connolly/databsys/databsys.html)
 
    Melton & Simon
    "Understanding the New SQL: A Complete Guide"
    1993
    Morgan Kaufmann
    ISBN 1-55860-245-3
 
    Mike Morgan & Jeff Wandling
    "Webmaster Expert Solutions"
    1996
    QUE books
    ISBN 0-7897-0801-9
    (http://merchant.superlibrary.com:8000/catalog/hg/PRODUCT/PAGE/07897/bud/0789708019.html)
    (see http://www.speakeasy.org/~jdw for errata)
 
    Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Navathe
    "Fundamentals of Database Systems"
    Second Edition
    Addison Wesley
    ISBN 0-8053-1748-1
    (http://heg-school.aw.com/cseng/authors/elmasri/Dbase2e/Dbase2e.html)

What is mSQL?

mSQL is mini SQL, a light weight database engine developed by David J. Hughes <bambi@hughes.com.au> at Bond University, Australia. It has been designed to provide fast access to stored data with low memory requirements. As its name implies mSQL offers a subset of SQL as its query interface. Although it only supports a subset of SQL, everything it supports is in accordance with the ANSI SQL specification.

What platforms will it run on?

mSQL has been developed under Sun OS 4.1.1 but has been tested under Solaris 2.x (release 2.3, 2.4 and 2.5), Ultrix 4.3, Linux, and OSF/1 (cc not gcc). That said, it should "autoconf" and build on most BSD derived systems, SVR4 based systems or POSIX O/S's (that should cover most of them). It has been reported that it works out-of-the-box on HP-UX, NeXT, SCO, Sequent, Cray, Tandem, *BSD and a few others.

Is it free?

David Hughes writes: 

    "mSQL has been released in the past under terms known as
    'conscience-ware', the basic concept of which was that companies
    that used the software could contribute a small amount to the
    continued development of the software without any strict rules
    being placed upon such 'donations'. Although the concept sounds
    fair, it failed badly with only 3 contributions being made from
    over 3,600 copies of mSQL-1.0.5 that were ftp'ed from my machine
    alone. Over 1,000 of those copies went to commercial organisations
    and I receive many questions a day from companies using mSQL behind
    their WWW servers etc who are looking for free support. 

 
    In an attempt to balance this out and allow me to devote some time
    to mSQL (rather than other pursuits that I do to generate an
    income), mSQL is now shareware. I still believe in free software
    over the Internet and cooperation in research so the new license is
    designed not to hurt Universities, research groups and other people
    that _should_ have free access to software. Commercial
    organisations that are using this so that they don't have to buy an
    Oracle or an Ingres will now have to buy mSQL (at a minute fraction
    of the cost of one of the commercial offerings). 

 
    Please read the doc/License file to see if you are required to
    register your copy. An invoice is included in both Postscript and
    ASCII format to ease the generation of payments."
You may freely use mSQL if and only if you fall into the categories outlined in the mSQL License file: 

    You can use this software free of charge if you are an educational
    institution (excluding commercial training organisations),
    non-commercial research organisation, registered charity,
    registered not-for-profit organisation, or full-time student.
If you do not fall into any of these categories, you will have to pay a license fee to use mSQL. As of release 1.0.16, the cost of mSQL is: 

    Commercial Installation - AUD $225
 
    Private Installation - AUD $65
Exchange rates may vary wildly, but at the time of preparing this FAQ, the Australian dollar was trading at about 0.75 US dollars. This information is provided as an indication only. You MUST check your local exchange rates before preparing to purchase mSQL.

An online currency conversion system developed by Olsen & Associates is available at http://www.olsen.ch/cgi-bin/exmenu.

Another online currency conversion system is available from http://www.DynaMind-LLC.com/services/utilities/currency.cgi.

Where can I get it?

mSQL 1.x can be obtained via anonymous ftp from Bond University, Australia. The latest version of release 1.x can be found in the directory: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/
The latest beta version of 2.x can be found at: 

    http://hughes.com.au/software/msql2/current.htm

Are there any mirror sites for mSQL?

If you would like to mirror the mSQL FAQ, please contact <Peter.Samuel@uniq.com.au>.

The following sites mirror the mSQL FAQ:

The following sites mirror the mSQL 1.x software distribution:

The following sites mirror the mSQL 2.x software distribution:

The following sites have a complete mirror of http://hughes.com.au:

What is the latest version?

At the time of compiling this FAQ, the latest released version was 1.0.16.

It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/msql-1.0.16.tar.gz
    (195705 bytes)

When will the next version be released?

David has suspended all development work on mSQL version 1.x and is concentrating his efforts on version 2.x. However, he will continue to provide any necessary bug fixes for the current release of mSQL.

mSQL development is NOT David's primary role. He does this work in whatever spare time he has available so PLEASE don't pester him with requests about when we can expect future releases. Take the zen approach and just let it happen :)

A beta snapshot of mSQL version 2.0.x was released on May 8 1997. It is available from: 

    http://hughes.com.au/software/msql2/msql-2.0-B7.1.tar.gz
    (373261 bytes)
Note: Do NOT download the mSQL-2.0B7.0 distribution. If you do so you will not be able to compile the Lite modules. Use the mSQL-2.0B7.1 distribution instead.

It is also mirrored at a number of other sites. See the section above titled "Are there any mirror sites for mSQL?" for details on these mirror sites.

More details on mSQL 2.0.x can be found by visiting the Hughes Technologies web pages at http://hughes.com.au.

What is Beta-release software?

Bambi is very interested in making mSQL work as well as possible for as many people as possible. To make that happen quickly, Bambi has released versions of mSQL which are not fully tested, with the hope that people will try them under more circumstances than he could ever have the time or equipment to do himself.

This means, however, that this Beta software MAY NOT WORK CORRECTLY for you. If you cannot tolerate hangs, crashes, or loss of data, you should use the latest released version and any recommended patches (currently mSQL version 1.0.16 with the "lost table patch"). However, if you can use the new version, please do so and report bugs to the mailing list and to the bugs list so they can be fixed in the next release.

Why is David called Bambi?

Bambi is a nickname that David acquired quite a long time ago. He claims there are no derogatory implications associated with the name. If you'd like to find out more send him some mail at <bambi@hughes.com.au>.

How is this FAQ prepared?

The FAQ is written in HTML and proofread using version 3.01Gold of the Netscape Navigator running under Solaris 2.5.1. The HTML syntax is checked using version 1.017 of Neil Bowers' <neilb@khoral.com> weblint package. Text versions of the FAQ are created by saving the document as a text file from within the Netscape Navigator.

(See http://www.cre.canon.co.uk/~neilb/weblint.html for more details on weblint).

How can I contribute to the FAQ?

If you find any errors or omissions in the FAQ, please contact me, Peter Samuel <Peter.Samuel@uniq.com.au>. I will be happy to correct any errors or add elements to the FAQ.

If you want something added to the FAQ, it would be a great help if you could write a section and forward it to me - then I can simply insert it in the appropriate location.

Remember, I don't own the FAQ - I'm just its caretaker on your behalf.

Help and Support

Are there any recommended patches to the latest version?

There are no official patches to any release of mSQL. If modifications need to be made, a new version of mSQL will be released.

The above not withstanding there is one unofficial patch that should be applied to mSQL version 1.0.16.

This patch comes from David Hughes <bambi@hughes.com.au> and fixes the very old and very obscure problem of the occasionally disappearing table.

David writes: 

    After sitting here banging my head against the old "missing table"
    bug with my partner in crime Jason  <jason@fan.net.au> , we've fixed
    it !!!!!  This is yet another very obscure bug.  So, can it be
    reproduced?  Yup, once you know the problem.
 
	o Fill the table cache
	o Cause a reference to a table that doesn't exist
	o The oldest cache entry will have the table definition list
	  set to NULL but with the name, DB, and age fields still set
 
    We all owe a debt of thanks to Jason as it was his inability to type
    table names correctly that found the problem :)

*** ./src/msql/msqldb.c.orig    Sun Jul  7 16:47:09 1996
--- ./src/msql/msqldb.c Tue Jul 30 17:07:42 1996
***************
*** 1398,1403 ****
--- 1398,1406 ----
                safeFree(entry->rowBuf);
                safeFree(entry->keyBuf);
                entry->def = NULL;
+               *(entry->DB) = 0;
+               *(entry->table) = 0;
+               entry->age = 0;
        }
 
        /*
To avoid conflicts with mismatched whitespace, apply this patch using the "-l" option of patch. (That's an "el", NOT a "one" or an "eye").

David assures us that this patch will be rolled into version 1.0.17.

Are there any known bugs or problems with the current release of mSQL?

Since the release of mSQL 1.0.12, several problems have been reported to the mSQL mailing list. These are outlined below.

What are the current problems with mSQL 2.0Bx?

Note: This section is temporary. It will be merged into the rest of the FAQ as mSQL 2.x matures.

Note: Some parts of this section have been compiled by Lloyd Parkes <Lloyd.Parkes@vuw.ac.nz>.

There are a few known problems with the current release of mSQL 2.0Bx. This list is undoubtedly incomplete and will probably remain so because of the "moving target" nature of new software.

Are there any other patches available?

This FAQ only details those recommended patches that are necessary for the general operation of mSQL. There are a number of other user contributed patches that enhance the operation of mSQL. Some of these patches are available via anonymous ftp while others are available from the mSQL mailing list archives.

Some of these patches are for older releases of mSQL. They may have been rolled into subsequent releases of mSQL or they may not work with later releases of mSQL or they may break the successful operation of later releases of mSQL. Use them at your own risk.

A brief and no doubt incomplete list of these patches follows:

How do I apply patches to the mSQL source?

Patches are distributed as context based difference listings. That is the line by line differences between the original file and the new file are listed with surrounding lines of code to provide some context information. They are usually generated by using a program such as diff.

The easiest way to apply these patches is to use Larry Wall's patch program: 

    Patch will take a patch file containing any of the four forms of
    difference listing produced by the diff program and apply those
    differences to an original file, producing a patched version. By
    default, the patched version is put in place of the original, with
    the original file backed up to the same name with the extension
    ".orig".
Patch is available from a number of anonymous ftp sites worldwide. Latest versions of patch are being distributed by the Free Software Foundation as part of the GNU suite of products.

If you're having difficulty finding the latest version of patch, you can download version 2.1 via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Misc/patch-2.1.tar.gz
    (74856 bytes)
While some patches are fairly simple - often involving minor changes to a single line of code - others are quite complex and attempting to apply these patches by hand is definitely NOT recommended. Use the patch program whenever you need to apply a patch.

To apply the patches listed in this FAQ, use this procedure:

  1. Save the patch to a file - say /tmp/msql-patch1. Only save the patch information - the patch program can usually determine which parts of the file are patches and which parts are not but its easier for you to strip out any unnecessary information before running patch.

    You should be left with a file containing a number of sections similar to: 

    *** ./src/msql/net.c.orig	Tue Oct 17 11:24:03 1995
--- ./src/msql/net.c	Tue Dec 12 15:24:11 1995
***************
*** 66,72 ****
 
 
 
! void writePkt(fd)
	int	fd;
  {
	u_char	*cp;
--- 66,72 ----
 
 
 
! int writePkt(fd)
	int	fd;
  {
	u_char	*cp;
  2. Change directories to your mSQL source repository. For example: 

        cd /usr/local/src/db/Minerva/msql/msql-1.0.16
  3. Apply the patch as follows: 

        patch -l < /tmp/msql-patch1
    The "-l" option is used to tell patch to ignore any whitespace mismatches between lines in the patch file and lines in the mSQL source file. (That's an "el", NOT a "one" or an "eye").

    Patch will respond with output similar to: 

        Hmm...  Looks like a new-style context diff to me...
    The text leading up to this was:
    --------------------------
    |*** ./src/msql/net.c.orig        Tue Oct 17 11:24:03 1995
    |--- ./src/msql/net.c     Tue Dec 12 15:24:11 1995
    --------------------------
    Patching file ./src/msql/net.c using Plan A...
    Hunk #1 succeeded at 66.
    Hunk #2 succeeded at 84.
    done
    If you have problems applying the patch, you may wish to consider using some or all of the following arguments to patch:

  4. Recompile mSQL. If you have third party applications that use the mSQL library, you'll probably have to recompile them as well.

Is online documentation available?

A set of WWW pages for mSQL, W3-mSQL, ESL and Minerva are now available from 

    http://Hughes.com.au
Jeff Rowe <beowulf@cscsun4.larc.nasa.gov> has converted the mSQL documentation to HTML format. It is available from: 

    http://cscsun1.larc.nasa.gov/~beowulf/msql/msql.html
Tim Finin <finin@umbc.edu> has created an online mSQL tutorial. It is available from: 

    http://www.cs.umbc.edu/~finin/461/msql
Mike Carpenter <mikec@emi.net> has begun to collate the available mSQL documentation into a single site. He hopes to have a wide range of resources available for value added mSQL products such as the Perl and Java interfaces. His work can be found at: 

    http://www.emi.net/~mikec/tech/msql.html

Is there a mailing list for mSQL?

Yes.

To subscribe to the list, send the word "subscribe" in the body of your message to msql-list-request@bunyip.com.

To unsubscribe from the list send the word "unsubscribe" in the body of your message to msql-list-request@bunyip.com.

Postings should be addressed to msql-list@bunyip.com.

Archives of the mailing list are available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://ftp.bunyip.com/pub/mailing-lists/msql-list.archive/
Each month's archive is stored in a file: 

    msql-list.archive.YYMM
where YYMM represents the year and month. So the archive for October 1995 would be in the file: 

    msql-list.archive.9510
These files are also available from the majordomo mailing list server at bunyip.com. To receive a list of the archive files available as well as the majordomo help file send a message to majordomo@bunyip.com with the text: 

    index msql-list
    help
    END
in the body of the message.

To reach a human for help regarding the mailing list send a note to: 

    owner-msql-list@bunyip.com
or 
    listmaster@bunyip.com
The mailing list discusses issues that arise from the use of mSQL and W3-mSQL (both products developed by David Hughes). Often discussions on contributed software arise but it is probably best to take these discussions off line and summarise solutions back to the list.

Traffic on the list is fairly high. There were approximately 1100 postings between April 1 1996 and May 31 1996 which gives an average of around 550 messages per month. (If you think this is high, try subscribing to the firewalls list - this has an average of around 1000 postings per month!)

Turn around times for postings can sometimes be a little slow. It is not unusual for messages sent from Australia to take a few hours to appear on the list. List subscribers from other countries have also reported similar turn around times. Please be patient.

Is there a mailing list digest for mSQL?

Yes. To subscribe to the list digest, send the words "subscribe msql-list-digest" in the body of your message to majordomo@bunyip.com.

To unsubscribe from the list digest send the words "unsubscribe msql-list-digest" in the body of your message to majordomo@bunyip.com.

Are there any HTML archives of the mSQL mailing list?

A number of sites have set up a web based archive of the mSQL mailing list (among others). Their locations and features are summarised below:

Archive Location Features
http://tacyon.spectrum.com.au/mail/msql
(Thanks to Matt Perkins <matt@spectrum.com.au>). 		Threaded archive, list archive, old list archives.
http://cure.medinfo.org/lists/programming/index.html
(Thanks to the folks at Medinfo http://cure.medinfo.org). 		Threaded archive, browse current month, search list archive. Currently Unavailable.
http://www.nexial.nl/cgi-bin/msql
(Thanks to Kim Hendrikse <kim@nexial.nl>). 		Fuzzy searchable archive.
http://www.findmail.com/listsaver/msql-list
(Thanks to FindMail Communications http://www.findmail.com). 		Listed by subject thread, date or author. Archives from October 1995.

Is there a news group for mSQL?

No.

This question comes up about every three months or so - usually from new subscribers to the mSQL mailing list who haven't seen the previous threads.

There seem to be two distinct groups of people involved in this discussion:

  1. Those who prefer the mailing list.

  2. Those who would prefer a news group.

While opinion is divided among these camps, the dominant force at present is for the mailing list to continue without the establishment of a global newsgroup. However, this does not preclude you from setting up a local news/mail gateway such that incoming mail items are sent to a local newsgroup at your site and outgoing news postings are sent to the mailing list. Consult your nntp documentation for more details.

Nor does it preclude you from establishing a global news group. There are well defined channels established within the Usenet community for the creation of new news groups.

One publicly available mail/news gateway is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://ftp.vix.com/pub/inn/contrib/newsgate.tar.Z
    (443025 bytes)
It includes the programs mail2news and news2mail.

How do I post a question to the mSQL mailing list?

Before you post a question to the mSQL mailing list, read the manual that came with the mSQL distribution as well as the rest of this FAQ. Also, ask yourself the following question: 

    Is there any way I can find the answer to this question myself?
If you can figure out a way to simply find the answer, then it will probably be quicker than asking the list. If you think your answer would be helpful to others then post a summary to the mailing list.

Postings should be addressed to msql-list@bunyip.com.

IF YOU POST A QUESTION TO THE LIST ASKING FOR HELP, YOU MUST INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION!

  1. The operating system you are using - for example Solaris 2.4 or Linux 1.3.1. On Unix like systems, this can usually be obtained by running the command: 

        uname -a
  2. The processor type - for example sparc, Intel 386, HP PA-RISC, mc68020. Often the same operating system may run on different processors.

  3. The output of the command: 

        msqladmin version
  4. Which, if any, unofficial patches you have applied to the version of mSQL you're using.

  5. The name and version details of any third party application you are using with mSQL.
Failure to include these details makes it almost impossible to pinpoint the cause of your problem.

I've found a bug. How can I tell if it's been fixed yet?

The status of the development is reflected in the HISTORY file. An on-line copy of the HISTORY file is kept on the Hughes Technology web pages. This file is updated as each modification is made to the sources. Any bugs that have been fixed in the code since it was last release will be mentioned in the on-line release history information. You can access this file on the web as: 

    http://Hughes.com.au/product/msql/history.htm

How do I report a bug in mSQL?

The first thing to remember is that you should NOT mail David Hughes (aka Bambi) directly with your questions - this just makes the process slower. Any questions you have should be sent to the mSQL mailing list.

If you want to report a bug, send a report to the mSQL bug reporting address at msql-bugs@hughes.com.au. You may also wish to copy your report to the mSQL mailing list at msql-list@bunyip.com.

When making your bug report, please include the following information:

You should also ensure that you are running the latest (stable) version of mSQL before posting a bug report as David fixes bugs in every version.

How do I contribute a patch to mSQL?

Following this procedure will standardise the manner in which unofficial mSQL patches are distributed to the mSQL user community.

  1. Ensure that you are patching the latest version of mSQL.

  2. Ensure that you have applied any necessary unofficial recommended patches to the latest version.

  3. Make your changes to the "src" hierarchy of mSQL. For example, if you need to patch the file: 

        msqld.c
    Save the original file as follows: 

        cp ./src/msql/msqld.c ./src/msql/msqld.c.orig
    Make your changes to the file: 

        ./src/msql/msqld.c
  4. Test, double test and triple test your patch to make sure it REALLY fixes a problem.

  5. Generate a difference listing suitable for use by Larry Wall's patch program: 
        diff -c ./src/msql/msqld.c.orig ./src/msql/msqld.c
  6. Post this difference listing and an explanation of the patch to the mSQL mailing list.
If at all possible, try to avoid posting 'monster' patches. If your patch modifies a number of separate aspects of mSQL, split each of these into different patches. This makes it easier for people to apply feature specific patches to mSQL while avoiding unwanted feature patches.

How do I contribute code to the mSQL community?

Contributed code can be uploaded to the ftp server at Bond University Australia. Place your code in the directory: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Incoming
then notify David at <bambi@hughes.com.au>. He will move your contribution to the mSQL contributions directory: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib
Note: The directory permissions for ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Incoming prohibit the viewing of any files contained therein. This is a security feature implemented by the system administration staff at Bond University to eliminate recent attempts to use the ftp server as a relay for the unauthorised transfer of commercial software. If you upload any software to this directory, you must notify <bambi@hughes.com.au> to have it moved to ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib.

You may like to discuss your proposed code with others on the mSQL mailing list. The subscribers to this list may be able to help you with improvements or modifications to your code or advise you of work already available in your area.

Where can I find examples of code that interface with mSQL?

If you're writing code in the C programming language, examine the mSQL distribution itself. All the auxiliary programs use the mSQL API in a variety of ways. Pay particular attention to:

If you're writing code in other languages, have a look through the distribution of the mSQL language extension itself for examples. Another good place to look is the mSQL mailing list archives.

Are there any non Unix ports of mSQL?

Both mSQL version 1.x and 2.x have been ported to a few other operating systems - namely MS Windows, MS Windows 95, MS Windows NT and OS/2. For more details on these ports and any other ports, please see the "Contributed Code and Third Party Applications" section of this FAQ.

Features and Limitations

What support programs are bundled with mSQL?

mSQL is bundled with the following programs:

Support Programs bundled with mSQL version 1.x
msqld the mSQL database server.
msqladmin handles administrative details such as creation and deletion of databases, server shutdown etc.
msql the mSQL monitor. It provides a user interface for making SQL queries on databases.
msqldump Dumps a database in ASCII format. The dump takes the form of SQL commands so that the entire database can be re-created from the dump file.
relshow The mSQL schema viewer. Shows table details for a given database.

Support Programs bundled with mSQL version 2.x
msql2d the mSQL database server.
msqladmin handles administrative details such as creation and deletion of databases, server shutdown etc.
msql the mSQL monitor. It provides a user interface for making SQL queries on databases.
msqldump Dumps a database in ASCII format. The dump takes the form of SQL commands so that the entire database can be re-created from the dump file.
msqlexport Dumps a database in ASCII format. The dump takes the form of user defined character delimited fields suitable for importing into other vendor's databases.
msqlimport Loads a flat file in ASCII format into an mSQL database.
relshow The mSQL schema viewer. Shows table details for a given database.
w3-msql CGI program that allows users to embed mSQL statements in their HTML documents.
w3-auth Access control and authentication module for use with w3-msql
lite A stand alone mSQL scripting language.

For more details on these programs see the documentation that comes with mSQL.

What SQL commands are supported?

mSQL version 1.x supports the following SQL commands:

mSQL version 1.x 
CREATE TABLE table_name (
    col_name col_type [ not null | primary key ]
    [, col_name col_type [ not null | primary key ] ]**
)

DROP TABLE table_name

INSERT INTO table_name [ ( column [ , column ]** ) ]
    VALUES (value [, value]** )

DELETE FROM table_name
    WHERE column OPERATOR value
    [ AND | OR column OPERATOR value ]**
 
	OPERATOR can be <, >, =, <=, >=, <>, or LIKE

SELECT [ DISTINCT ] [table.]column [ , [table.]column ]**
    FROM table [ = alias] [ , table [ = alias] ]**
    [ WHERE [table.]column OPERATOR VALUE
	[ AND | OR [table.]column OPERATOR VALUE]** ]
    [ ORDER BY [table.]column [DESC] [, [table.]column [DESC] ] [LIMIT n]
 
	OPERATOR can be <, >, =, <=, >=, <>, or LIKE
	VALUE can be a literal value or a column name

UPDATE table_name SET column=value [ , column=value ]**
    WHERE column OPERATOR value
    [ AND | OR column OPERATOR value ]**
 
	OPERATOR can be <, >, =, <=, >=, <>, or LIKE

For more details see the documentation that comes with mSQL version 1.x.

mSQL version 2.x supports the following SQL commands:

mSQL version 2.x 
CREATE TABLE table_name (
    col_name col_type [ not null ]
    [, col_name col_type [ not null ] ]**
)

CREATE [ UNIQUE ] INDEX index_name ON table_name  (
    col_name [, col_name ]**
)

CREATE SEQUENCE ON table_name
    [ STEP step_val ] [ VALUE initial_val ]

DROP TABLE table_name

DROP INDEX index_name FROM table_name

DROP SEQUENCE FROM table_name

INSERT INTO table_name [ ( column [ , column ]** ) ]
    VALUES (value [, value]** )

DELETE FROM table_name
    WHERE column OPERATOR value
    [ AND | OR column OPERATOR value ]**
 
	OPERATOR can be <, >, =, <=, >=, <>, LIKE, RLIKE or CLIKE

SELECT [ DISTINCT ] [table.]column [ , [table.]column ]**
    FROM table [ = alias] [ , table [ = alias] ]**
    [ WHERE [table.]column OPERATOR VALUE
	[ AND | OR [table.]column OPERATOR VALUE]** ]
    [ ORDER BY [table.]column [DESC] [, [table.]column [DESC] ] [LIMIT n]
 
	OPERATOR can be <, >, =, <=, >=, <>, LIKE, RLIKE or CLIKE
	VALUE can be a literal value or a column name
	WHERE clauses may contain parentheses () to nest conditions

UPDATE table_name SET column=value [ , column=value ]**
    WHERE column OPERATOR value
    [ AND | OR column OPERATOR value ]**
 
	OPERATOR can be <, >, =, <=, >=, <>, LIKE, RLIKE or CLIKE

For more details see the documentation that comes with mSQL version 2.x.

Does mSQL support keys?

Yes.

Under mSQL version 1.x any single field of a table can be designated as the PRIMARY KEY. These keys are, by definition, unique. mSQL version 1.x does not support multiple keys within a table.

The creation of a PRIMARY KEY is made during the table declaration, for example: 

    CREATE TABLE employee (
	employee_number		INT PRIMARY KEY,
	department		CHAR(20),
	first_name		CHAR(20) NON NULL,
	last_name		CHAR(20) NON NULL
    )
 
    CREATE TABLE department (
	department_name		CHAR(20) PRIMARY KEY
    )
For more details see the documentation that comes with mSQL version 1.x.

mSQL version 2.x has disposed of the PRIMARY KEY in favour of an indexing mechanism.

An INDEX may be created for any field of a table at any time, for example: 

    CREATE UNIQUE INDEX idx1 ON employee(employee_number)
    CREATE INDEX idx2 ON employee(first_name, last_name)
This examples shows that the first INDEX, idx1, is unique. This is identical to the PRIMARY KEY concept used by mSQL version 1.x. The second INDEX, idx2, need not be unique. idx2 also spans two fields within a table which will improve performance whenever a search is made based on these two fields.

These indices will be used automatically whenever a query is sent to the database engine that uses those fields in its WHERE clause. The user is not required to specify any special values in the query to ensure the indices are used to increase performance.

What datatypes are supported?

mSQL version 1.x supports the following datatypes: 

    int		(4 bytes)	-2147483646 <= i <= 2147483647
    real	(8 bytes)	4.94E-324 <= x <= 1.79E+308, -1.79E+308 <= x <= -4.94E-324
    char
The internal storage for types int and real is held at 4 bytes and 8 bytes respectively, regardless of the system architecture you're using. So even on 64 bit Crays a real will be 8 bytes.

There is NO fixed limit on the size of a character field. Provided you declare it correctly when the table is defined, mSQL will handle fields of at least several thousand characters without problems. You may run into difficulty actually using fields of this size in whatever language you choose to interface to the mSQL database engine.

Note: If you declare a char field with a large size, each and every row in the table will allocate sufficient storage space for the char field - whether the full size of the field is used or not. This may lead to very large database tables indeed.

An example of each mSQL version 1.x datatype within a table declaration follows: 

    CREATE TABLE table_name (
	    field_name_1	INT PRIMARY KEY,
	    field_name_2	REAL,
	    field_name_3	CHAR(10) NOT NULL,
	    field_name_4	CHAR(80),
	    field_name_5	INT	NOT NULL,
	    field_name_6	REAL
	)
For more details see the documentation that comes with mSQL version 1.x.

mSQL version 2.x supports the following datatypes: 

    int		(4 bytes)	-2147483646 <= i <= 2147483647
    uint	(4 bytes)	0 <= i <= 4294967295
    real	(8 bytes)	4.94E-324 <= x <= 1.79E+308, -1.79E+308 <= x <= -4.94E-324
    char
    text
    date			dd-mon-yy, for example 12-May-97
    time
    money
The internal storage for types int/uint and real is held at 4 bytes and 8 bytes respectively, regardless of the system architecture you're using. So even on 64 bit Crays a real will be 8 bytes.

There is NO fixed limit on the size of a character field. Provided you declare it correctly when the table is defined, mSQL will handle fields of at least several thousand characters without problems. You may run into difficulty actually using fields of this size in whatever language you choose to interface to the mSQL database engine.

Note: If you declare a char field with a large size, each and every row in the table will allocate sufficient storage space for the char field - whether the full size of the field is used or not. This may lead to very large database tables indeed.

text (or other 8 bit data) fields are defined with an expected average length. Values longer than the specified length will be split between the data table and external overflow buffers. text fields are slower to access than char fields and cannot be used in an index or in LIKE tests.

An example of each mSQL version 2.x datatype within a table declaration follows: 

    CREATE TABLE table_name (
	    field_name_1		INT,
	    field_name_2		REAL,
	    field_name_3		CHAR(10)	NOT NULL,
	    field_name_4		CHAR(80),
	    field_name_5		INT		NOT NULL,
	    field_name_6		REAL,
	    field_name_7		TEXT(25),
	    field_name_8		DATE,
	    field_name_9		UINT,
	    field_name_10		TIME,
	    field_name_11		MONEY
	)
Note: The storage of real numbers is highly machine dependent. If you store the number 10.03 don't be surprised if it is actually stored as either 10.03 or 10.03000000001 or 10.02999999999.

Note: The upper and lower limits for real numbers are also highly machine dependent. Both mSQL version 1.x and 2.x obtain these values from the system include file: 

    /usr/include/limits.h
If you plan on storing very big numbers (positive or negative numbers with exponents approaching 308) or very small numbers (positive or negative numbers with exponents approaching -324) you MUST check whether your operating system will support them.

Note: When dealing with real numbers it might be advisable to either convert the real number to an integer if possible. For example if you are dealing with decimal currency, it may be preferable to work in units of cents rather than dollars - note that mSQL 2.x now has a MONEY type which handles this concept - or to perform some sort of delta check when retrieving values. The following logic demonstrates one possible application of this concept: 

    delta = 0.00001
    select a real number from a table
 
    if abs(number - expected value) < delta
    then
	proceed
    else
	fail

What functions does the mSQL API provide?

The mSQL API provides the following functions and macros:

mSQL version 1.x
Return Type Prototype Type
int msqlConnect(char *host); FUNCTION
int msqlSelectDB(int sock, char *dbname); FUNCTION
int msqlQuery(int sock, char *query); FUNCTION
m_result * msqlStoreResult(); FUNCTION
void msqlFreeResult(m_result *result); FUNCTION
m_row msqlFetchRow(m_result *result); FUNCTION
void msqlDataSeek(m_result *result, int pos); FUNCTION
int msqlNumRows(m_result *result); MACRO
m_field * msqlFetchField(m_result *result); FUNCTION
void msqlFieldSeek(m_result *result, int pos); FUNCTION
int msqlNumFields(m_result *result); MACRO
m_result * msqlListDBs(int sock); FUNCTION
m_result * msqlListTables(int sock); FUNCTION
m_result * msqlListFields(int sock, char *tableName); FUNCTION
void msqlClose(int sock); FUNCTION

For more details see the documentation that comes with mSQL version 1.x.

Note: The PostScript documentation that comes with mSQL version 1.x lists the function msqlClose() as type int. This is incorrect. It is actually type void.

mSQL version 2.x
Return Type Prototype Type
int msqlConnect(char *host); FUNCTION
int msqlSelectDB(int sock, char *dbname); FUNCTION
int msqlQuery(int sock, char *query); FUNCTION
m_result * msqlStoreResult(); FUNCTION
void msqlFreeResult(m_result *result); FUNCTION
m_row msqlFetchRow(m_result *result); FUNCTION
void msqlDataSeek(m_result *result, int pos); FUNCTION
int msqlNumRows(m_result *result); MACRO
m_field * msqlFetchField(m_result *result); FUNCTION
void msqlFieldSeek(m_result *result, int pos); FUNCTION
int msqlNumFields(m_result *result); MACRO
m_seq * msqlGetSequenceInfo(int sock, char *table); FUNCTION
m_result * msqlListDBs(int sock); FUNCTION
m_result * msqlListTables(int sock); FUNCTION
m_result * msqlListFields(int sock, char *tableName); FUNCTION
m_result * msqlListIndex(int sock, char *tableName, char *index); FUNCTION
void msqlClose(int sock); FUNCTION
char msqlUnixTimeToDate(char *date); FUNCTION
char msqlUnixTimeToTime(char *date); FUNCTION
time_t msqlDateToUnixTime(char *date); FUNCTION
time_t msqlTimeToUnixTime(char *date); FUNCTION

For more details see the documentation that comes with mSQL version 2.x.

Note: The HTML documentation that comes with mSQL version 2.x lists the function msqlClose() as type int. This is incorrect. It is actually type void.

Are views or virtual tables supported?

No.

This feature may be included in mSQL version 2.

Does mSQL support table aliasing?

Yes.

As an example, consider this method to find the list of grandparents from a child/parent tuple: 

    SELECT t1.parent, t2.child from parent_data=t1,parent_data=t2
	WHERE t1.child=t2.parent
mSQL also supports the SQL standard method of table aliasing which uses either a space character or the keyword AS instead of an = character. So the above example can also be written as either: 

    SELECT t1.parent, t2.child from parent_data t1,parent_data t2
	WHERE t1.child=t2.parent
or 
    SELECT t1.parent, t2.child from parent_data AS t1,parent_data AS t2
	WHERE t1.child=t2.parent

Are column constraints supported?

No.

Are stored procedures supported?

No - that's getting beyond the scope of Mini SQL (see Oracle :)

Are access privileges supported?

Yes.

mSQL has an access control file which allows the database administrator to control access on a user and host level.

For more details see the documentation that comes with mSQL.

mSQL does not support access control from within SQL commands.

Does mSQL support BLOBs?

BLOBs are Binary Large OBjects. Typical examples would be large blocks of text, graphics or audio data.

The current release of mSQL has NO direct support for BLOBs. However, you can always store the path name of a file that points to the BLOB in one of the fields of your table. Then your application can deal with the file name appropriately.

If you're dealing with large blocks of text, you may also wish to consider this approach from Pascal Forget <pascal@wsc.com>: 

    Another possible hack would be to have the "block_text"
    record contain a pointer to a "text_lines" table. This
    table would contain a linked list of text lines like this:
 
	CREATE TABLE text_lines (
	    line_id	int primary key,
	    string	char(80),
	    next_line	int
	)
Mike Eggleston <mikee@sys8.wfc.com> offers this solution: 

    What I prefer to do in databases where I have text fields containing
    near infinite amounts of text is to define several tables like:
 
	create table prog (
	  id int,
	  name char(40),
	  programmer char(40),
	  ....
	)\p\g
 
	create table descript (
	  id int,
	  line int,
	  descript char(100)
	)\p\g
 
    Then in a program I break up the text as necessary and put one line
    of text in each record of <descript>. When I want it back, by
    program, I [use]
 
	select line, descript from prog, descript
	    where prog.id = descript.id
	    and name = 'foobar' order by line\p\g
Later versions of mSQL may have support for BLOBs.

Are the transaction commands, BEGIN, COMMIT, and ROLLBACK supported?

No, and they will probably never be supported (once again that's beyond the scope of mSQL).

The mSQL server handles requests serially - that is only one user's request is handled at a time. Therefore there is no danger of a user reading from a table that is currently being updated by another user.

However, there is the possibility that the same read operations may straddle another user's write operation so that different data will be returned from each read.

mSQL version 2 will provide client initiated locking.

What are the limits on table and field names?

A table or field name MUST begin with an alphabetic character. The remainder of the name may be any of the following 63 characters:

The maximum name length is set to 20 characters. That's for a table or a field in a table. This allows for 813621925049196536663393538834956800 possible naming combinations using the characters listed above. For the mathematically inclined that's: 

	   19
	 -----
	 \
	  \        i
   52 *   /      63   =   813621925049196536663393538834956800
	 /
	 -----
	 i = 0
Though in practise, many of these combinations will probably remain unused.

While not recommended, the default maximum name length value of 20 can be changed by editing the mSQL source code. However, if you change it AFTER you have already created ANY databases, the old databases will be unreadable. To avoid this problem, follow this procedure:

  1. Dump your old databases to ASCII files using msqldump.

  2. Drop your old databases using msqladmin.

  3. Shutdown the mSQL database server msqld using msqladmin.

  4. Edit the mSQL source and modify 
        ./src/msql/msql_priv.h
    Change the line reading 

        #define NAME_LEN	19		/* Field/table name length */
    to suit your needs. Ensure that you use a number that is one less than the maximum value you desire. For example, if you wish to have a name length of 36 you would change the line to read: 

        #define NAME_LEN	35		/* Field/table name length */
  5. Recompile and install the modified mSQL.

  6. Start the new mSQL database server msqld.

  7. Create new databases using msqladmin.

  8. Repopulate your databases using msql and the ASCII dumps from step 1.

What other limits can be modified?

The file 

    ./src/msql/msql_priv.h
contains the definitions of the internal mSQL limits: 

    #define MAX_FIELDS	75		/* Max fields per query */
    #define MAX_CON	24		/* Max connections */
    #define BUF_SIZE	(256*1024)	/* Read buf size if no mmap() */
    #define NAME_LEN	19		/* Field/table name length */
    #define PKT_LEN	(32*1024)	/* Max size of client/server packet */
    #define CACHE_SIZE	8		/* Size of table cache */
If you want to increase them you can just edit this file and recompile. Don't change MAX_CON or CACHE_SIZE without understanding why these limits are set (maximum file descriptors per process etc).

Changing any of these parameters will almost certainly make any existing databases unreadable. To avoid this problem, follow this procedure:

  1. Dump your old databases to ASCII files using msqldump.

  2. Drop your old databases using msqladmin.

  3. Shutdown the mSQL database server msqld using msqladmin.

  4. Edit the mSQL source and modify 
        ./src/msql/msql_priv.h
    changing the definitions to suit your needs.

  5. Recompile and install the modified mSQL.

  6. Start the new mSQL database server msqld.

  7. Create new databases using msqladmin.

  8. Repopulate your databases using msql and the ASCII dumps from step 1.

How much data can mSQL address?

mSQL can theoretically address tables with a maximum size of 4 gigabytes. In practise you'll probably run up against operating system limitations well before this theoretical limit.

Are there any limitations in the way mSQL handles logical expressions?

mSQL version 1.x has a very simplistic approach to logical expressions.

Consider the SQL query: 

    SELECT something from somewhere WHERE
	name='jan' or country='italy' and sex='female' or title='ms'
Under mSQL version 1.x, the parser will scan the condition from left to right. So in this example the condition reads: 

    ((name='jan' or country='italy') and sex='female') or title='ms'
mSQL version 1.x does NOT support parentheses in logical expressions, so there is NO way to change this parsing.

Ted Harding <Ted.Harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk> provides some solutions for three component queries.

Ted writes: 

    Let's get something clear: ALL 3-component (or equivalent) queries
    can be implemented in mSQL (without parentheses and using the mSQL
    left-to-right evaluation). There are only the following:
 
	    (A and B) and C  =  A and (B and C)  =  A and B and C
	    (A or B) or C    =  A or (B or C)    =  A or B or C
	    (A and B) or C   =  A and B or C
	    A and (B or C)   =  (B or C) and A   =  B or C and A
	    (A or B) and C   =  A or B and C
	    A or (B and C)   =  (B and C) or A   =  B and C or A
 
    Queries like A and B and C and (E or F) are the same as (A and B
    and C) and (E or F) which is the same form as G and (E or F).
 
    The trouble starts with 4-component queries such as (A or B) and (C
    or D) for which there is no one-pass generally correct mSQL
    representation.
mSQL version 2.x allows parentheses within logical expressions so this limitation is eliminated.

How does mSQL return values?

mSQL returns all values as ASCII strings. If, for example, you are expecting an integer result you may have to do some internal conversions depending on the language you're using.

In C, for example, see the manual pages on atoi().

How does SELECT return rows?

On Tue, 4 Jul 1995, Karri-Pekka Laakso wrote: 

    Does SELECT return the rows always in order 'first inserted first',
    if there is no ORDER statement given, and the rows are selected
    from one table only, and there has been no DELETEs on that table?
    It seems be so, but is it guaranteed?
David Hughes replied: 

    This is guaranteed. The only time the rows will be returned in
    another order is if you have deleted a row and it's then filled by
    a later insert.

Can mSQL nest tables?

On Tue, 25 Jul 1995, Jerome Stoller wrote: 

    I am new at mSQL, and have a beginner question: Is it possible to
    create a table "normally", and to have the fields of one
    of the column being[sic] another table?
David Hughes replied: 

    You can't nest tables in mSQL (don't think you can in ANSI SQL
    either). What you can do is to use a common value as a key to join
    the contents of two tables (eg. a part number or a user ID).

What storage overheads does mSQL have?

mSQL stores each database in its own directory under the 'msqldb' directory of wherever you specified mSQL should be installed. For example if you specified that mSQL should be installed in: 

    /usr/local/Minerva/
then the databases will be created in the directory: 

    /usr/local/Minerva/msqldb/
Note that this can be overridden by specifying the MSQL_HOME environment variable when starting msqld.

Each table in the database is stored as a number of files:

Therefore to calculate the storage requirements for a table, use one of the following formulae:

Tables with a primary key: 
    table_storage_requirements
	=  expected_max_rows *
	    (
		number_of_fields + 1 + total_chars +
		(4 * total_ints) + (8 * total_reals) +
		(size_of_key + 1) +
		(4 * expected_deletion_ratio)
	    ) +
	(total_fields * 64)
Tables without a primary key: 
    table_storage_requirements
	=  expected_max_rows *
	    (
		number_of_fields + 1 + total_chars +
		(4 * total_ints) + (8 * total_reals) +
		(4 * expected_deletion_ratio)
	    ) +
	(total_fields * 64)
Using the keyed table above, if we expect it to contain a maximum of 10000 rows and we expect to have a 10 percent deletion ratio (that is at any one time we expect that 10 percent of our rows have been deleted but not replaced by new rows), we should allow for: 

    10000 *
	(
	    7 + 1 + 13 +
	    (4 * 2) + (8 * 4) +
	    (13 + 1) +
	    (4 * 0.10)
	) +
    (7 * 64)
 
	=  10000 * ( 21 + 8 + 32 + 14 + 0.4) + 448
	=  754448 bytes
plus a handful of bytes to store file names in directories.

Note that this is the maximum storage allocation. Unlike some other database systems, mSQL only uses disk space when it has data to add to a table - it does NOT allocate a large block of empty disk space and then proceed to fill it. If our example only had 1000 rows the storage requirements would only be 75848 bytes.

Does msqld allocate more RAM to itself as new databases are added?

On Fri, 11 Aug 1995, Andrew Waegel wrote: 

    does msqld allocate more ram to itself as new db's are added? i.e.
    is any part of the database held in ram or does it just access the
    database files directly from disc? I need to do some planning, and
    want to know if I need to plan to get more simms...
David Hughes replies: 

    If your OS supports mmap() (e.g. Solaris, SunOS, *BSD, BSDI, Linux
    1.3.x, HP-UX >9.x) then the more memory you throw at it the
    better things will get if you are using big databases. The data is
    left on disk but is accessed via the virtual memory subsystem so it
    will be in memory some of the time.
 
    If you are not using mmap() then data is just read from disk as it
    is needed. There's a small buffer in the read code to make things
    faster but that's about it. It doesn't matter how many databases
    you have defined it only uses 1 buffer.

Does performance degrade as the number of databases increase?

On Fri, 11 Aug 1995, Andrew Waegel wrote: 
    Does performance degrade at all as the number of databases
    increases? That is, say a query from database A took n seconds when
    database A was the only one served by msqld. After adding databases
    B, C, D and E, should the database A query take any longer? It
    seems like 'no' from my experience, but...
David Hughes replies: 

    No. It will degrade if people are hitting the new databases at the
    same time as they are hitting database A though. msqld only handles
    1 query at a time so if 2 queries come in they are queued and
    processed in order.

Does mSQL support cursors?

Pascal Forget replies to a posting by Brian Bartholomew: 
    > To browse the database, I want mSQL to return me the first row
    > in the database, and keep a pointer to it. Then sometime later
    > I can ask it for the second row, and so on.
 
    mSQL does not provide support for cursors.
 
    You'll have to issue a SELECT query each time you want the next
    row. mSQL has no provisions for modifying a result set once it has
    been created. I suggest you add a field containing a unique
    identifier for each row, then fetch the next row using:
 
	SELECT ... FROM mytable where unique_field > last_id LIMIT 1
 
    > How do I express this in sql?
 
    If you find a way to express it, it most certainly won't be in
    standard SQL, as the language has no support for cursors.
 
    > I see that I could add an explicit field that was an arbitrary
    > row number, and query for the current row number +/- 1, but over
    > time with insertions and deletions there would be gaps and the
    > query would break. How is this problem usually solved?
 
    The select statement I gave you won't break even if there are gaps
    in the unique identifiers. You can periodically "compact" the
    numbers if you want.

Does mSQL support different character sets?

Patrik Faltstrom writes: 

    Yes, as long as the client that fetches the characters knows what
    character set you are using. I.e. there is no support in mSQL for
    keeping track of the character set name, but mSQL is 8bit clean so
    you can store 8bit characters (in whatever character set).
 
    In Digger, the Whois++ server, we store UNICODE characters by
    encoding them first into UTF-8 which is an 8bit encoding scheme
    described in UNICODE 1.1.
Neil Bowers <neilb@cre.canon.co.uk> has written a paper on "Processing Japanese Text with mSQL and Perl". It is available from: 

    http://www.cre.canon.co.uk/~neilb/jmSQL.html

Why doesn't mSQL work when installed in disk space served by the Andrew File System (AFS)?

Jon Leech <leech@cs.unc.edu> writes: 

    AFS does not support some Unix file system behaviour that's needed
    by mSQL. You cannot create Unix domain sockets in AFS space, and
    mmap() does not work on at least some client-server combinations,
    if not all.
 
    You should install mSQL and its databases in NFS or local Unix
    filesystems.
Other users have also reported problems when running mSQL from NFS mounted partitions. To be absolutely safe you should only run msqld from the same machine on which the physical disks containing the mSQL databases are attached.

Installation Problems

Under IRIX (SGI) I get problems relating to my username

Colin Surprenant reports: 

    The solution to the problem with using the socket and then nsl
    libraries with NIS in IRIX 5.2 is:
 
    1. Do not link them if they are not needed :) This is the case for
       mSQL.
 
    or
 
    2. link libc BEFORE the socket and the nsl libraries.
 
    For those who didn't know, the problem is that if you use NIS and
    link socket or nsl, the getpwuid() function doesn't work.
To ensure that the unnecessary libraries are avoided, edit targets/your-architecture/site.mm and change the line 
    EXTRA_LIB=  -lsocket -lnsl -lgen -ldl
so that it reads: 

    EXTRA_LIB=

On OSF/1 or HP-UX I have trouble starting msqld at boot time

David-Michael Lincke reports: 

    Looks like the same thing that happens under HP-UX with background
    processes in rc scripts. They are killed off on exit of the ksh
    functions.
 
    Create yourself a wrapper for msqld. In there you do a fork and
    exit the parent process in the child process you do a call to
    setsid() to get rid of the controlling terminal followed by a call
    to execl() to launch msqld. You might also want to close all open
    file descriptors before calling exec.
An alternative to this approach is to place the following in /etc/inittab 
    msql:3:respawn:/usr/local/Minerva/bin/msqld </dev/console >/dev/console 2>&1
This assumes that your mSQL super user is "root".

The next version of the FAQ will attempt to address this issue in detail.

Should I use cc or gcc when building mSQL on my Dec Alpha running OSF/1?

Rick Beebe writes: 

    DEC Alphas running OSF/1 (Digital Unix): The original mSQL docs
    recommended using cc rather than gcc on this platform. In my
    experience this is still good advice. If you have gcc on the
    machine, however, autoconf will find it and default to it. After
    running 'setup' edit site.mm and change 'gcc' to 'cc' and
    'bison -y' to yacc.

Does mSQL work with Linux mmap()?

Version 1.3 or greater of the Linux operating system has full mmap() support. If you're using such a version of Linux, mSQL will work perfectly well using mmap().

If you have an earlier version of Linux you can either upgrade or ensure that mmap() support in mSQL is disabled by running the 'setup' program and then editing 

    ./targets/your-architecture/site.mm
and ensuring the mmap() directive reads: 

    MMAP=
and then recompile the mSQL package.

Does mSQL work with HP-UX?

Arley Carter (via David Hughes) writes: 

    I just built msql-1.0.10 on hpux 9.05. It appears that you have
    slain the mmap bug. Good job. The only mods I [made] are in site.mm
 
	CC= cc -Ae +O3 +Z
 
    Remove -g flags also or you'll get a lot of annoying messages about
    opt not compatible with debug. The test suites for msql and
    msqlperl ran flawlessly.

I'm having trouble compiling MsqlPerl with mSQL under HP-UX

Arley Carter writes: 

    This problem has to do with the way HP-UX deals with shared
    libraries.
 
    Ensure the EXTRA_CFLAGS option in the file:
 
	./targets/your-architecture/site.mm
 
    reads:
 
	EXTRA_CFLAGS= -Ae +O3 +Z
 
    and recompile mSQL.
 
    The +Z option ensures that "position independent
    code" is used when creating object files. For more information
    see the manual pages on your compiler.

How can I install mSQL on a SCO Unix system?

Note: This fix has had some conflicting results. Please let me (<Peter.Samuel@uniq.com.au>) know if it works OR fails. If it fails, let me know exactly where (if possible) and how you fixed it (if you did).

The following is a summary of the efforts required by Andrew Cash <cash_a@sls.co.uk> to install mSQL version 1.0.8 on a SCO Unix system. It should work perfectly well for version 1.0.9 as well. 


*** msql/msql_yacc.c.orig	Fri Jan  5 13:07:02 1996
--- msql/msql_yacc.c	Fri Jan  5 13:09:34 1996
***************
*** 329,362 ****
     Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.  */
 
 
- #ifndef alloca
- #ifdef __GNUC__
- #define alloca __builtin_alloca
- #else /* not GNU C.  */
- #if (!defined (__STDC__) && defined (sparc)) || defined (__sparc__) || defined (__sparc) || defined (__sgi)
- #include <alloca.h>
- #else /* not sparc */
- #if defined (MSDOS) && !defined (__TURBOC__)
- #include <malloc.h>
- #else /* not MSDOS, or __TURBOC__ */
- #if defined(_AIX)
  #include <malloc.h>
-  #pragma alloca
- #else /* not MSDOS, __TURBOC__, or _AIX */
- #ifdef __hpux
- #ifdef __cplusplus
- extern "C" {
- void *alloca (unsigned int);
- };
- #else /* not __cplusplus */
- void *alloca ();
- #endif /* not __cplusplus */
- #endif /* __hpux */
- #endif /* not _AIX */
- #endif /* not MSDOS, or __TURBOC__ */
- #endif /* not sparc.  */
- #endif /* not GNU C.  */
- #endif /* alloca not defined.  */
 
  /* This is the parser code that is written into each bison parser
    when the %semantic_parser declaration is not specified in the grammar.
--- 329,335 ----
***************
*** 607,618 ****
        yystacksize *= 2;
        if (yystacksize > YYMAXDEPTH)
  	yystacksize = YYMAXDEPTH;
!       yyss = (short *) alloca (yystacksize * sizeof (*yyssp));
        __yy_bcopy ((char *)yyss1, (char *)yyss, size * sizeof (*yyssp));
!       yyvs = (YYSTYPE *) alloca (yystacksize * sizeof (*yyvsp));
        __yy_bcopy ((char *)yyvs1, (char *)yyvs, size * sizeof (*yyvsp));
  #ifdef YYLSP_NEEDED
!       yyls = (YYLTYPE *) alloca (yystacksize * sizeof (*yylsp));
        __yy_bcopy ((char *)yyls1, (char *)yyls, size * sizeof (*yylsp));
  #endif
  #endif /* no yyoverflow */
--- 580,591 ----
        yystacksize *= 2;
        if (yystacksize > YYMAXDEPTH)
  	yystacksize = YYMAXDEPTH;
!       yyss = (short *) malloc (yystacksize * sizeof (*yyssp));
        __yy_bcopy ((char *)yyss1, (char *)yyss, size * sizeof (*yyssp));
!       yyvs = (YYSTYPE *) malloc (yystacksize * sizeof (*yyvsp));
        __yy_bcopy ((char *)yyvs1, (char *)yyvs, size * sizeof (*yyvsp));
  #ifdef YYLSP_NEEDED
!       yyls = (YYLTYPE *) malloc (yystacksize * sizeof (*yylsp));
        __yy_bcopy ((char *)yyls1, (char *)yyls, size * sizeof (*yylsp));
  #endif
  #endif /* no yyoverflow */

Why won't my third party applications compile under Solaris 2.x?

Solaris 2.x is an SVR4 version of Unix. When compiling programs that require network support (this includes any program that uses the mSQL library), you must explicitly reference the networking libraries socket and nsl: 

    gcc -o prog prog.c -Imsql_install_dir/include \
	-Lmsql_install_dir/lib -lmsql -lsocket -lnsl

Why does setup fail when building mSQL on a Linux system?

Did you install the Linux kernel sources?

If you installed Slackware and didn't get the K series disks then you will be missing a lot of C header files that you need to compile mSQL. Go back and grab the kernel sources disks and install them on your box.

Why can't I run setup under Linux?

This problem involves an interaction between the Linux setup program, the mSQL setup program and your $PATH environment variable.

After unpacking the mSQL distribution and running the make target command, the next step in installing mSQL is to change directories to: 

    targets/target
and run the setup command. If you have /sbin in your $PATH ahead of ., or you don't have . in your $PATH at all (which is a good idea if you happen to be root) then your shell will attempt to run the Linux setup program ahead of the mSQL setup program.

This can be avoided (for all flavours of Unix) by issuing the command as: 

    ./setup
This will force your shell to run the setup program in the current working directory, regardless of the contents of your $PATH.

Why do I get errors about "sys/bitypes.h" when compiling under Solaris 2.5?

Paul Gregg <pgregg@tibus.net> writes: 

    Q: When I try to "make all" mSQL on Solaris (2.5 confirmed) it
    fails with the error:
	../makedepend/makedepend: warning: msqld.c (reading /usr/include/arpa/inet.h,
	line 68): cannot find include file "sys/bitypes.h"
	    not in /usr/include/arpa/sys/bitypes.h
	    not in ../sys/bitypes.h
	    not in /usr/include/sys/bitypes.h
	../makedepend/makedepend: warning: msqld.c (reading /usr/include/arpa/inet.h,
	line 72): cannot find include file "sys/cdefs.h"
	    not in /usr/include/arpa/sys/cdefs.h
	    not in ../sys/cdefs.h
	    not in /usr/include/sys/cdefs.h
 
    A: You have installed BIND 4.9 on your system. Bind replaces your existing
    /usr/include/netdb.h, but forgets to include the compatability includes
    cdefs.h and bitypes.h
 
    Solution: locate the cdefs.h and bitypes.h files in your BIND source code
 
	bind/compat/include/sys/cdefs.h
	bind/compat/include/sys/bitypes.h
 
    and copy these two files to /usr/include/src mSQL should now make
    cleanly.
 
    Credit should be given to Emir Mulabegovic <mulabego@mcs.anl.gov> for this
    answer.

Why do I get errors about "POSIX_C_SOURCE" when compiling under Solaris 2.5?

This only occurs when you are compiling mSQL version 1.x. This version of mSQL ships with a compile time utility called makedepend developed by the X consortium. This utility is used in the pre compile phase to establish the dependencies of all the source code used by mSQL.

The version of makedepend that ships with mSQL version 1.x does not appreciate the ANSI C syntax used by the Solaris 2.5 include files and gives a number of errors such as: 

    "strlib.c":225:  defined(__EXTENSIONS__) || defined(_REENTRANT) ||
	(_POSIX_C_SOURCE - 0 >= 199506L)
				    ^--- expecting )
These messages can be safely ignored. The actual compilation of the mSQL source is unaffected.

If you wish to avoid seeing these messages you can use the following procedure to use the makedepend that is shipped with OpenWindows 3.5 instead of the version of makedepend shipped with mSQL version 1.x.

  1. cd msql-1.0.16/src/makegen

  2. edit both library.mm and object.mm and change all references to 
        @$(TOP)/makedepend/makedepend
    so that they read: 

        @/usr/openwin/bin/makedepend
  3. cd ../../targets/Solaris-2.5/Sparc

  4. make
This will avoid the error messages listed above but you will now see the following warning messages: 

    /usr/openwin/bin/makedepend:  ignoring option -a
These too can be safely ignored.

Why do I get errors about "weak definitions" when compiling under IRIX?

If you're compiling under Silicon Graphic's IRIX operating system and see error messages such as: 

    ld: WARNING 134: weak definition of pmap_getport in /usr/lib/libnsl.so
	preempts that weak definition in /usr/lib/libc.so.
as well as unresolved symbols, you'll need to ensure that unnecessary libraries are not being used during the compilation.

Edit targets/your-architecture/site.mm and change the line 

    EXTRA_LIB=  -lsocket -lnsl -lgen -ldl
so that it reads: 

    EXTRA_LIB=

How can I build mSQL version 1.0.16 for an AIX system running on an IBM PS/2?

mSQL assumes that any AIX system will be running on an RS6000 processor. If you are running AIX on an IBM PS/2 the make target will fail.

David Schuler <schuld@btv.ibm.com> provides the following patch to solve this problem: 

*** scripts/sys-arch.orig	Fri Mar 28 16:25:49 1997
--- scripts/sys-arch	Fri Mar 28 16:29:19 1997
***************
*** 43,52 ****
 
  if test "$os" = "AIX"
  then
- 	machine="rs6000"
  	maj=`uname -v`
  	min=`uname -r`
  	rev="$maj.$min"
  fi
 
  echo "${os}-${rev}-${machine}" | sed 's/ /_/g'
--- 43,57 ----
 
  if test "$os" = "AIX"
  then
  	maj=`uname -v`
  	min=`uname -r`
  	rev="$maj.$min"
+ 	if test $maj -eq 1
+ 	then
+ 		machine="i386"
+ 	else
+ 		machine="rs6000"
+ 	fi
  fi
 
  echo "${os}-${rev}-${machine}" | sed 's/ /_/g'
To avoid conflicts with mismatched whitespace, apply this patch using the "-l" option of patch. (That's an "el", NOT a "one" or an "eye").

How can I make w3-auth.c work with my Apache HTTPD server?

You need to patch the Apache server itself. The following patch from Simon Kershaw <Simon.Kershaw@Smallworld.co.uk> works against Apache 1.2b7: 


*** src/util_script.c~      Mon Feb 10 11:47:24 1997
--- src/util_script.c       Tue Mar 25 15:53:14 1997
***************
*** 174,180 ****
        else if (!strcasecmp (hdrs[i].key, "Content-length"))
            table_set (e, "CONTENT_LENGTH", hdrs[i].val);
        else if (!strcasecmp (hdrs[i].key, "Authorization"))
!           continue;
        else
            table_set (e, http2env (r->pool, hdrs[i].key), hdrs[i].val);
      }
--- 174,181 ----
        else if (!strcasecmp (hdrs[i].key, "Content-length"))
            table_set (e, "CONTENT_LENGTH", hdrs[i].val);
        else if (!strcasecmp (hdrs[i].key, "Authorization"))
!           table_set (e, "HTTP_AUTHORIZATION", hdrs[i].val);
!           /* continue; */
        else
            table_set (e, http2env (r->pool, hdrs[i].key), hdrs[i].val);
      }
To avoid conflicts with mismatched whitespace, apply this patch using the "-l" option of patch. (That's an "el", NOT a "one" or an "eye").

Runtime Problems

msqladmin will not let me create a database

This one is straight from the manual section on msqladmin. It states that the only person who is allowed to create a database is the person nominated as the "root user" during installation. If you indicated that the database would be running as root then you must be root to create a database.

If you indicated that it would not be running as root, you would have then nominated a username for the "root user". In that case, you must be logged in as the user you nominated before you can perform admin functions like creation of databases.

The manual also states that you can only perform the admin functions of msqladmin (i.e. any function other than 'version') from the local host. For security reasons you cannot perform administrative functions in a client/server manner of a network.

When I start msqld it complains about an ACL file

The ACL file is the file that contains Access Control Lists for mSQL. It is located in the installation directory and is called msql.acl (e.g. /usr/local/Minerva/msql.acl). The warning indicates that msqld couldn't locate an ACL file. This doesn't stop mSQL from operating, it just implies that everyone on every machine on your network has read/write access to your databases.

A sample ACL file is installed in the installation directory. You could copy this file to msql.acl and edit it to reflect the access you want to offer to your databases.

When I start msqld it complains about a PID file

The PID file is just a file in which msqld writes its process ID. If it can't write to the PID file, msqld will still function correctly.

If you are seeing an error regarding the PID file, then one of the following could be the cause:

During the installation, the setup program asked you where to store the PID file: 

    Top of install tree ? [/usr/local/Minerva]
    Will this installation be running as root ? [y] n
    What username will it run under ?  peters
    Directory for pid file ? [/var/adm]
You must ensure that this directory exists. The mSQL installation procedure will NOT create this directory for you.

If you did not specify root as the mSQL administration user when you answered the questions: 

    Will this installation be running as root ? [y] n
    What username will it run under ?  peters
you must ensure that the user you specified has write permissions in the directory in which msqld will store its PID file.

Under IRIX 5.3 the /var/adm directory can only be written to by the root user, so if your mSQL administration user is NOT root then you'll have to choose some other location such as /var/tmp or /var/share.

If you need to change the location of this directory, you can either rerun the setup program, or edit the file: 

    ./targets/your_architecture/site.mm
and change the line: 

    PID_DIR= /var/adm
to suit your needs.

I've just installed the latest version of mSQL and now my own applications won't work!

Whenever you install a new version of mSQL you MUST remember to recompile any third party applications - including those you developed yourself - to ensure that they are linked with the new version of libmsql.a. You should also recompile third party applications after installing any patches to mSQL.

Failure to do this will almost certainly guarantee that your applications will fail at some stage while talking to the new mSQL database server. You may also miss out on some new feature provided by the new mSQL API.

Access control doesn't work with my setuid applications

Note: This only applies to mSQL version 1.0.10 and previous versions. mSQL version 1.0.12 (and above) does NOT suffer from this problem. This section will be removed in future versions of the FAQ. It is included in this release to accommodate the transitional period following the recent release of version mSQL 1.0.12.

Consider the following scenario:

This occurs because of the way in which mSQL passes user information to the database server. It uses the getuid() system call which returns the real user id of the calling process rather than the effective user id.

mSQL version 2 will have radically different security mechanisms.

Why do I see an "Address already in use" error message when I attempt to start msqld?

If you're running Linux or SCO Unix, this message can be seen if you killed the msqld process WITHOUT executing: 

    msqladmin shutdown
The TCP/IP port will remain bound for about 90 seconds or so. After this time the port should be available and msqld can be started successfully.

Another possibility to consider is that something is already using the TCP/IP port that msqld is trying to use. For a default installation these port numbers are 1112 for a root user or 4333 for an ordinary user. In this case user means the name of the user you entered when answering the setup question(s): 

    Will this installation be running as root ?
    What username will it run under ?
There are a number of ways you can check for something using the TCP/IP port:

If you found something using the TCP/IP port that msqld would like to use, examine the output of your operating system's ps command to check if you already have a running msqld process. If you have then shut it down it by executing: 

    msqladmin shutdown
If you don't have a running msqld process then something else may be using the port that msqld is trying to use. Examine /etc/inetd.conf and /etc/services (or the services NIS map if you're running NIS) to see if anything else is using the port. The output from one of the netstat commands listed above may be helpful.

If you find such a program you have two options:

  1. Change the port number the other program is using so that it doesn't conflict with mSQL

  2. Ensure that mSQL uses a different port number. This can be done by either:

Why do I see a "Can't start server : UNIX Bind : Permission denied" error message when I attempt to start msqld?

This usually occurs because of a permission problem involving the Unix domain socket used by msqld when it communicates with processes on the same host as itself.

Under mSQL version 1.x this file is typically /dev/msql or /tmp/msql.sock while under mSQL version 2.x it is typically %I/msql2.sock where %I is a reference to the directory specified by Inst_Dir in the mSQL configuration file.

These permission problems usually involve the socket itself or the directory in which it resides. The general rule here is that the directory should have read and write permission for the mSQL root user, and the socket (or named pipe on some operating systems) should be owned by the mSQL root user. (Note: The mSQL root user is the user you specified during the setup stage during the installation of mSQL version 1.x or the user specified in the msql.conf file for mSQL version 2.x).

Some operating systems, such as HP-UX 10.x, ship with dr-xr-xr-x permissions on /dev which makes it difficult for msqld to write to the socket. In these circumstances a better place for the socket would be /var/msql.

The installation instructions for mSQL 2.x state: 

    8.      Ensure that the installation directory (and everything under it)
	    is owned by the user that mSQL will run as (e.g. the msql user).
	    To do this, issue a command like "chown -R msql /usr/local/Hughes".
	    Substitute the correct username and installation directory if
	    you are running a non-default installation.
If you decide to place the mSQL Unix domain socket in one of the temporary directories such as /tmp /usr/tmp or /var/tmp please read the section in this FAQ titled "Where did my mSQL socket file go?"

You should also read the section in this FAQ titled "Where did my mSQL socket file go?" if your operating system does not ship with write permission on /dev.

Why do I see "Couldn't create temporary table" error messages?

mSQL uses a temporary area to store the results of table joins while it is processing a query. This area lives in the directory: 

    msqldb/.tmp
under the directory in which you elected to install mSQL.

If the .tmp directory does not exist, or doesn't have permissions that allow the mSQL super user to create files then you'll see the "Couldn't create temporary table" message.

To fix this, check for the existence of the directory and ensure that it has permissions: 

    drwxr-xr-x   2 owner  group      512 Jan 28 16:10 .tmp
where owner is the user name of the mSQL super user and group is whatever is appropriate to the way in which you want to run your system (in other words it isn't terribly important in this case).

If you're going to do really big table joins then have a look at the section in the FAQ titled "How can I avoid running out of space when doing certain complex table joins?".

How can I avoid running out of space when doing certain complex table joins?

Some mSQL operations involving table joins can consume large amounts of temporary disk space. You can change the location of this temporary storage area using the following procedure:

msqld is suddenly dumping core and complaining about bzero()

Rasmus Lerdorf writes: 

    This looks to me like you have compiled your msqld binary on a
    machine with bzero() in your libc but you are running it on a
    machine that does not have the bzero() function in its libc. Could
    it be that you compiled on a Solaris 2.5 box, but you are running
    it on a Solaris 2.4 machine? Sun made the brilliant decision to add
    bzero, bcopy and rindex to the Solaris 2.5 libc which means that
    Solaris 2.5 and 2.4 are not completely binary compatible anymore.
    When you compile msql on Solaris 2.5 it will see that bzero and
    bcopy are available and thus try to use them.
 
    The fix is to either link your msqld statically with the Solaris
    2.5 libc, or perhaps more preferable, recompile msql to not use the
    silly bzero, bcopy, bcmp and rindex functions.
 
    Edit common/config.h and make sure you do not have HAVE_BCOPY and
    HAVE_RINDEX defined. If you do, comment out these definitions and
    recompile. The resulting binary should then run on both target
    machines.
The exact error message you'll see when running a Solaris 2.5 compiled msqld on a Solaris 2.4 machine is: 

    peters@wheel[710] ./msqld
 
    mSQL Server 1.0.10 starting ...
 
    ld.so.1: ./msqld: fatal: relocation error: symbol not found: bzero:
    referenced in ./msqld
    Killed

Why does relshow drop the first two characters from its output?

Desmond writes: 

    Wonder if anyone encountered this weird display while using relshow?
 
    relshow bookmarks
 
    Database = bookmarks
 
    +---------------------+
    |       Table         |
    +---------------------+
    | okmarks             |
    | st                  |
    +---------------------+
 
    notice that the first two letters of the table names are missing.
    Please help. Thanks in advance!
David Hughes replies: 

    I've seen this on Solaris if you link against the oh so broken BSD
    compatibility library (libbsd.a). Please make sure that libbsd.a
    isn't mentioned in your site.mm file.
And from the comp.unix.solaris FAQ: 

    6.19) Why doesn't readdir work?  It chops the first two characters of
	all filenames.
 
	You're probably linking with libucb and didn't read question
	6.18. Readdir in libucb.so wants you to include sys/dir.h,
	but many SunOS 4.1.x programs included <dirent.h>,
	consequently, you're mixing native <dirent.h> struct dirent
	with libucb readdir(). The symptom of this mixup is that the
	first two characters of each filename are missing. Make sure
	you use the native compiler (default /opt/SUNWspro/bin/cc,
	which may not be in your PATH), and not /usr/ucb/cc.
If you haven't shelled out the cash for Sun's compiler you can substitute gcc for /opt/SUNWspro/bin/cc above.

Why won't msqladmin work?

When running msqladmin you may occasionally see error messages: 

    mSQL command failed!
    Server error = Permission denied
msqladmin has the following restrictions:

  1. it can only be run by the msql root user. That is the user you specified when you compiled msql. This is a security feature.

  2. it can only be run on the machine on which msqld is running - it will NOT work via tcp/ip connections. This is a security feature.
The exception to the above restrictions is 

    msqladmin version
this command can be run by any user, even over a network connection.

Why won't mSQL work with the compressed file system under AIX?

It seems that mSQL will corrupt its database files if they are stored using the compressed file system running under AIX. The reasons are not yet clear but may be related to AIX's implementation of mmap().

The corruption can be avoided by ensuring that the database files are not stored in a compressed file system.

Why do I see "Protocol mismatch" errors under HP-UX?

The following error message: 

    Protocol mismatch. Server Version = 0 Client Version = 6
may indicate that the version of index() being used is broken. This is true with some implementations of HP-UX 9.x.

mSQL's autoconf build procedure will use index() if it finds it. The fix is to modify: 

    ./targets/your_architecture/common/config.h
and remove (or comment out) the line that reads: 

    #define HAVE_RINDEX 1
Then recompile mSQL.

Why do I see "Can't start server : UNIX Bind : Invalid argument" errors running msqld under a MachTen BSD Unix system?

Mark Murphy <markm@desktop.tyrell.com> writes: 

    At 12:10 PM 9/17/96, I wrote:
    >I'm trying to install mSQL on a MachTen BSD unix system and am having
    >problems. The compile and installation went great (with only a warning
    >that it could not detect 'uname' on the system). But when I tried to start
    >the server from root with:
    >
    >/usr/local/Minerva/bin/msqld&
    >
    >I get the following:
    >
    >Can't start server : UNIX Bind : Invalid argument
    >
    >Anyone have any suggestions on what I am doing wrong or what is missing?
 
 
    Thought I'd let everyone know what the problem was in case anyone else is
    thinking of using MachTen BSD Unix
 
    There's a bug in the <sys/un.h> file.  It reads:
 
    /*
     * Definitions for UNIX IPC domain.
     */
    struct  sockaddr_un {
	    short   sun_family;             /* AF_UNIX */
	    char    sun_path[108];          /* path name (gag) */
    };
 
 
    And it should be:
 
    /*
     * Definitions for UNIX IPC domain.
     */
    struct  sockaddr_un {
	    short   sun_family;             /* AF_UNIX */
	    char    sun_path[106];          /* path name (gag) */
    };
 
 
    It seems sun_path was a little too long and the call to 'bind' in msqld
    does a check on the parameter's structure size... thus giving an invalid
    argument error.
 
    On another note....
 
    After I got that bug fixed, the server started, but when exercising the
    tests, msql crashed MachTen!  YES... I mean crash!  So much for protected
    memory!
 
    But the real problem is yet another bug with MachTen.
 
    It seems MachTen's mmap function "has not been fully
    tested" (as one tech support person finally admitted). So
    while mmap exists, it really doesn't work.
 
    Borrowing from the msql FAQ:
 
	>Version 1.3 or greater of the Linux operating system has full mmap support.
	>If you're using such a version of Linux, mSQL will work perfectly well using
	>mmap.
	>
	>If you have an earlier version of Linux you can either upgrade or ensure that
	>mmap support in mSQL is disabled by running the 'setup' program and then
	>editing
	>
	>    ./targets/your-architecture/site.mm
	>
	>and ensuring the mmap directive reads:
	>
	>    MMAP=
	>
	>and then recompile the mSQL package.
 
    This also works for MachTen since it seems mmap is "not fully tested"...
    and in reality it damn well crashed the machine.
 
    These two issues took two full days to resolve.... with calls to Tenon tech
    support in the morning, suggestions that were nowhere near fixing the
    problem during the day... and the "real" answers coming near 5pm when tech
    support closes... that these are bugs in MachTen.
 
    While their tech support staff was always nice and tried to be very
    helpful, I wish they would have been able to answer my questions when I
    first called.  It would have saved me two days of work on these issues.
 
    They had me try all kinds of things until the call was elevated to another
    tech (he doesn't get in until late afternoon) who had the answers... it's a
    MachTen bug!
 
    Very frustrating.
 
    However on a positive point, MachTen has been running very good as my
    internet server for the past six months or so without a glitch.

Where did my mSQL socket file go?

Consider these two scenarios:

  1. Your machine has just been rebooted and suddenly applications running on the same host cannot connect to msqld. After some investigation you discover that /tmp/msql.sock has been removed - why?

  2. Your mSQL database server has been running fine for a week or so and suddenly applications running on the same host cannot connect to msqld. After some investigation you discover that /tmp/msql.sock has been removed - why?

You've probably been bitten by an operating feature and/or some good system administration practise. Firstly some background.

The two classic temporary areas under most flavours of Unix are /tmp and /usr/tmp (/var/tmp in some systems). They are usually on different file systems but don't have to be.

Under some versions of Unix, /tmp is cleared whenever the system is rebooted. Other versions don't do this. Most versions of Unix do NOT clear /usr/tmp on reboot.

Some operating systems - such as Solaris 2.x and SunOS 4.x under certain configurations - take advantage of unused portions of the swap partition to provide /tmp. (This happens by default under Solaris 2.x and can be turned on using the TMPFS file system under SunOS 4.x). Because this area is not a real file system /tmp only has a transient lifetime and is guaranteed to be empty after each reboot.

While the system is running, some versions of Unix regularly clear /tmp and possibly /usr/tmp of files older than some arbitrary period (usually a few days or more). This procedure is handled by root via cron. Some versions of Unix are shipped with a root crontab to perform this cleanup, others aren't. Often the entry in crontab is draconian enough to remove everything older than the required period - including directories, named pipes, sockets etc. Other entries will only remove files. In is not unusual for system administration staff to add a similar entry to root's crontab if it doesn't already exist.

So what this boils down to is that files in /tmp and /usr/tmp (/var/tmp) are TEMPORARY and should be treated as such. If you need to create a socket for mSQL you should follow these simple rules:

  1. If root is your mSQL master user, the socket should go in /dev. This happens by default under both mSQL version 1.x and 2.x.

    However some operating systems such as HP-UX 10.x ship with dr-xr-xr-x permissions on /dev. In this case, you should choose a different location entirely for the mSQL Unix domain socket. /var/msql is one possible choice.

    For both mSQL version 1.x and 2.x this can be accomplished by editing: 

        ./targets/your-architecture/site.h
    and modifying the value of 
        #define MSQL_UNIX_ADDR  "/dev/msql"
    for mSQL version 1.x, or 
        #define MSQL_UNIX_ADDR  "/dev/msql2"
    for mSQL version 2.x.

    Then re-compile.

  2. If root is not your mSQL master user, the socket should go in a directory that the mSQL master user can read/write but not one of the temporary directories /tmp, /usr/tmp or /var/tmp.

Why does it take such a long time to connect to the mSQL database server?

Sometimes you may have difficulty in connecting to the mSQL database server - msqld.

msqld is a single threaded application and therefore can only deal with one SQL query at a time. If msqld is busy servicing an SQL query you may not be able to make another connection until the SQL query has finished. mSQL version 1.x is extremely inefficient in performing table joins. So an SQL query with only a single table join may take many minutes to complete.

There is no solution to this problem in mSQL version 1.x. The only possible workaround is to ensure that your database schema is designed in such a way as to avoid table joins at all costs.

Table joins are much more efficient under mSQL version 2.x so the problem will rarely be encountered.

Why do I see "This Beta test release expires in 57 days" when I start msql2d?

The current releases of mSQL version 2.x are beta versions. By their very nature, beta versions are still in development. Hughes Technologies has released the beta versions in an attempt to leverage off the existing user base in order to do final testing and bug fixing.

The expiration messages are reminders to the users of the beta version that Hughes Technologies expects to have either a new beta version or a completed version released within the time limit suggested by the message.

If the time limit has elapsed, msql2d will cease to operate and you will be presented with a message: 

    This Beta test release has expired!
    Check out www.Hughes.com.au for a new release!
This site has a few problems at present. Use http://hughes.com.au instead.

If a new version of mSQL 2.x (beta or otherwise) is not available after the time limit has expired, it is a simple matter to disable this feature using one of the patches listed below. Once you have applied the patch you MUST recompile and re-install. There is no need to recompile any third party applications as this patch only affects the operations of the database server.

To avoid conflicts with mismatched whitespace, apply the patch using the "-l" option of patch. (That's an "el", NOT a "one" or an "eye").

Can I use IP addresses in the mSQL ACL file?

Yes.

I. Chazakis <ioannis@acropolis.net> reports: 

    I've been using ip addresses in acl files since day one, without
    any problems in version 1.xx, so I guess it should work for you as
    well.

What does the "Protocol mismatch. Server Version = 22 Client Version = 6" error mean?

Messages similar to this mean that your client software is attempting to connect to an mSQL database server which is running a different version of the mSQL protocol. This could be a result of an old client attempting to talk to a new server or a new client attempting to talk to an old server.

The numbers mentioned in the message give an indication of which versions of mSQL each end of the session is using. In the example given, the client was compiled with mSQL version 1.x (specifically 1.0.16) because the protocol version is less than 10, and the server is mSQL version 2.x because the protocol version is greater than 20.

This problem can be rectified by recompiling your third party mSQL code (that is any client code that did NOT come with the mSQL distribution, including software such as MsqlPerl etc) against the latest version of mSQL available to you.

Also see the section in the FAQ titled "I've just installed the latest version of mSQL and now my own applications won't work!".

Why does mSQL take longer to return the same results when I change the order of my query?

Michael Wiedmer <mwiedmer@eso.org> writes: 

    mSQL behaves like a charm - mostly. That is, depending on the ordering
    of the tables in the FROM clause of a SELECT query, mSQL will return
    the results in different time scales - if at all!
 
    These two SELECT queries only differ in the FROM clause. You will
    notice that the "component" table comes last and first, respectively.
 
      SELECT component.location
	FROM instrument, has_dpr, data_product, component
       WHERE instrument.ins_id LIKE 'SUSI'
	 AND instrument.ins_id = has_dpr.comp_id
	 AND has_dpr.dpr_id = data_product.dp_id
	 AND component.comp_id = data_product.comp_id
	 AND data_product.type = 'PRG'
 
 
      SELECT component.location
	FROM component, instrument, has_dpr, data_product
       WHERE instrument.ins_id LIKE 'SUSI'
	 AND instrument.ins_id = has_dpr.comp_id
	 AND has_dpr.dpr_id = data_product.dp_id
	 AND component.comp_id = data_product.comp_id
	 AND data_product.type = 'PRG'
 
    In version 1.0.16, the latter fails miserably (it returns after 5
    minutes or so), whereas the former completes the query correctly
    within seconds.
 
    In version 2.0 beta 6, the latter returns after 30 seconds, whereas
    the former completes the query wrongly!!
 
    Could you tell me whether this is a known feature and whether there
    are any workarounds or fixes? Of course, I'd gladly be informed of any
    nonsense in my queries.
Robert Sum replies:

<sumrn@crd.ge.com> 

    A two part answer:
 
      Part 1.  Neither version of mSQL has a particularly aggressive
    optimiser and they default to following the FROM and WHERE lines in
    the order in which they are entered while performing the query.
    Joins generally result in the formation of temporary tables (on the
    disk); consequently, they are highly sensitive to the amount of
    data processed.  If the order of the query is such that the
    temporary tables are large (i.e., the first clauses to be processed
    don't reduce the overall amount of data by much), then it will be
    slower.  Therefore, if one knows what tables and clauses will
    result in the smallest sizes for intermediate results, a query
    written with those tables and clauses considered first will run
    faster than other possible queries.  Though not apparent in these
    examples, some versions of mSQL 2.0 Bx also have a glitch in the
    query mechanism that causes extra parenthesis to generate extra
    temporary tables.  So, it is best to use parentheses only when
    necessary.  (mSQL 1.x does not do parentheses.)  Finally, there is
    an initialisation overhead whenever a table must be read/mapped
    into memory which will often cause the first time a query is
    executed to be slower than succeeding times, provided that
    preceding queries have not used the same tables.
 
      Part 2.  Each of mSQL 1.x and 2.0 Bx have various bugs in their
    LIKE operations: one of them being the ability to run off the end
    of the data into mismatch and core-dump lands.  While trying not to
    blow my own horn, the mailing list archives have my patches that
    fix most the problems.  However, the use of a bug-free LIKE in
    these specific examples would only be a performance penalty
    because  "LIKE 'SUSI'" is the same as "= 'SUSI'".

Why don't my SELECT statements work across multiple tables?

Jonathan Loh <jloh@netjet.com> writes: 

    I'm trying to do a join and each time it gives me an error.
 
	select * from t1,t2 where t1.key=t2.key
 
    This always gives me:
 
	Reference to un-selected table ""
 
    I'm using the 1.0.16 version
Chris Lambrou <chrislambrou@internetmci.com> replies: 

    There's one I've never seen! Try this instead:
 
	select t1.*, t2.* from t1,t2 where t1.key=t2.key
And Joshua Kugler <jkugler@inreach.com> also replies: 

    I found it in the UMBC mSQL Tutorial, at
 
	http://www.cs.umbc.edu/~finin/461/msql:
 
    Minor limitation: can't use "SELECT *" over multiple tables
 
    In mSQL's SELECT you can not use * for the fields you want in the
    answer if there are two or more tables involved. Note that this
    limitation does not reduce the "expressive power" of mSQL
    but it is somewhat annoying. Here is an example. Suppose we define
    T1 and T2 as:
 
      create table t1 (a int, b int)
      create table t2 (b int, c int)
      insert into t1 values (1,2)
      insert into t2 values (2,3)
 
    Then these queries generate errors:
 
      mSQL > select * from t1, t2 where t1.b=t2.b \g
      ERROR : Reference to un-selected table ""
 
      mSQL > select * from t1,t2 \g
      ERROR : Reference to un-selected table ""
 
    But explicitly specifying the fields to return works:
 
      mSQL > select t1.a,t1.b,t2.b,t2.c from t1, t2 \g
 
       +----------+----------+----------+----------+
       | a        | b        | b        | c        |
       +----------+----------+----------+----------+
       | 1        | 2        | 2        | 3        |
       +----------+----------+----------+----------+
 
      mSQL > select t1.a,t1.b,t2.c from t1, t2 where t1.b=t2.b \g
 
       +----------+----------+----------+
       | a        | b        | c        |
       +----------+----------+----------+
       | 1        | 2        | 3        |
       +----------+----------+----------+

How do I ...?

How do I embed single quotes in a field?

To handle a single quote, escape it with a backslash character. So the string 

    'Bambi's'
would be entered as 

    'Bambi\'s'.
Note: This applies when using msql - the database monitor program. If you're developing your own application you may have to escape other characters that are special to the language you're using - for example perl, C or tcl.

What other characters need special treatment?

When specifying table or field names or when inserting values into fields, the only other character that requires special handling is the mSQL escape character backslash. To handle a backslash, escape it with another backslash. So the string 

    c:\windows\system\
would be entered as 

    'c:\\windows\\system\\'
When using regular expressions in queries of the form: 

    SELECT table.column FROM table WHERE table.column LIKE 'regexp'
the following rules apply:

Use this table for mSQL versions 1.0.13 and below
To search for
this character 		Use this
string 		or this
string 		To search for
this character 		Use this
string 		or this
string
$ \\\\$ [$] [ \\\\[ [[]
% \\% [%] \ \\\\\\\\ [\\\\]
' \' ^ \\\\^ [^]
( \\\\( [(] _ \\_
) \\\\) [)] | \\\\| [|]
? \\\\? [?]

Use this table for mSQL versions 1.0.14 and above
To search for
this character 		Use this
string 		To search for
this character 		Use this
string
$ [$] [ [[]
% [\\%] \ cannot be searched
' \' ^ cannot be searched
( [(] _ \\_
) [)] | [|]
? [?] ] []]

Note: This applies when using msql - the database monitor program. If you're developing your own application you may have to escape other characters that are special to the language you're using - for example perl, C or tcl.

If you are using mSQL via web interfaces, you may wish to use special HTML characters instead. For example, a single quote can be represented as: 

    &#39;
A complete list of the HTML coded characters can be found at: 

    http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/MarkUp/html-spec/html-spec_13.html
While we're on the topic of regular expressions, this explanation from Robert Sum <sumrn@crd.ge.com> may shed some light on what happens inside mSQL:

Robert writes: 

    In mSQL 1.0.x, any time you use LIKE, you use an unusual form of
    "regular expressions" which are the way they are because of some
    historical implementation decisions that, in retrospect, were,
    perhaps, not the right ones. Consequently, mSQL 1.0.x does the
    following for a LIKE pattern which is somewhere between globbing
    and full regular expressions:
 
    1. it tries to force a match of the whole data string by implicitly
       prepending the pattern with the beginning-of-pattern operator ^
       and appending the end-of-pattern operator $ to the pattern
       (which makes the use/non-use of these operators a little quirky
       [see below]),
    2. it does NOT allow the ., *, and + regexps (they are plain characters),
    3. it does allow character classes using [] (i.e., any single
       character within the [] is matched unless the first char is ^ in
       which case any single character not in the [] is matched),
    4. it does allow alternation using |,
    5. it does allow grouping using (),
    6. it does allow optional characters or groups using ?,
    7. it allows _ to represent any single character (what would
       ordinarily be the . above),
    8. it allows % to represent any string of characters (what would
       ordinarily be the combination .*),
 
    As you can derive from above, the characters
 
	^, $, [, ], |, (, ), ?, _, %, \
 
    are all special in one way or another. There is a way to search for
    everything, it just might not be completely obvious. For instance,
    using the msql program, one can use
 
       \\_ to match _
       \\% to match %
       \\^ to match ^
       \\$ to match $
       \\\\ to match \
 
    Basically, there are three places where \ is used as the escape
    character:
 
      1. The msql program (always treats \ as an escape character),
      2. The translation process (treats \ as an escape only when
	 followed by % or _), and
      3. The regular expression evaluator (always treats \ as an escape
         character).
 
    In the first two examples above, steps 1 and 2 strip backslashes.
    In the next three examples, steps 1 and 3 strip backslashes.
    Things are actually a bit more consistent than folks realize, I
    think. (Note:  If you are using Perl or Tcl or some such, then
    replace 1. with appropriate activity of that application.)
 
    Furthermore, a recent message asked about
 
	SELECT * FROM doc_info
	WHERE foo LIKE 'x' or foo LIKE 'y' or foo LIKE 'z'
	and bar LIKE 'a' or bar LIKE 'b' or bar LIKE 'c'
 
    to which I replied, try
 
	SELECT * FROM doc_info
	WHERE foo LIKE '(x)|(y)|(z)'
	AND bar LIKE '(a)|(b)|(c)'
 
    Well, I forgot about rule number 1. above, which means this
    conversion may not be quite right and the original sender may need
    to fudge things a bit using either an additional set of parenthesis
    to force a match of the whole data string as in
 
	SELECT * FROM doc_info
	WHERE foo LIKE '((x)|(y)|(z))'
	AND bar LIKE '((a)|(b)|(c))'
 
    or if he really wants a match anywhere within the string
 
	SELECT * FROM doc_info
	WHERE foo LIKE '$|(x)|(y)|(z)|^'
	AND foo <> ''
	AND bar LIKE '$|(a)|(b)|(c)|^'
	AND bar <> ''
 
    then this should work, but as noted, one must be careful about the
    empty string. (If you want the empty string, just leave out the
    not equal clauses.)

How do I handle null fields?

For the NULL values, just use the NULL keyword.

For example 

    insert into foo values ( NULL, 1, 2, 'some text' )

How do I perform case insensitive matches?

mSQL uses Henry Spencer's regular expression library with a few modifications. To perform case insensitive searches, your query should take the form 

    SELECT * FROM my_table WHERE my_field LIKE '[Ss][Oo][Mm][Ee]
    [Vv][Aa][Ll][Uu][Ee]'
Sol Katz's <skatz@blm.gov> Object Oriented HTML API includes a C routine that converts a string into its case insensitive form. You may wish to use this in any C code that you write. See the section below on "Contributed Code and Third Party Applications"

Alternatively, you can create an additional field in each table that will hold a single case version of the information you are likely to be searching for.

For perl users, Michael Cowden <cowden@leithaus.leitess.com> has contributed this code example: 

    The following statement turns mSQL into [mM][sS][qQ][lL]
 
    $string = "mSQL";
    $string =~ s/(.)/\[\L$1\E\U$1\E\]/g;
Vivek Khera <khera@kci.kciLink.com> suggests a simpler method for perl users: 

    Personally, I use this in Perl, as there is no need to complicate
    the regular expression with non-alpha characters.
 
       $string =~ s/([A-Za-z])/\[\L$1\U$1\]/gi;
Rasmus Lerdorf's <rasmus@vex.net> Personal Home Page Construction Kit includes built in operations for case insensitive searches by way of its msql_RegCase(string) command.

Version 2 of mSQL will support functions similar to upper() and lower() which will obviate the need for the above.

How do I add a column to an existing table?

You can't! Once a table is created it must stay the way it is.

One possible solution is to use msqldump to create an ASCII dump of the entire database. Then edit this dump file by hand and add the extra field to the CREATE clause. You'll also need to edit each INSERT clause to ensure that the new field is referenced. Once you've modified the dump file, drop and recreate the database using msqladmin and re-populate the new database using the dump file and msql.

This procedure could be automated by a shell or perl script.

Note: Use the -c option to msqldump to ensure that a complete dump of the table is produced.

As an example consider this output from msqldump 

    #
    # mSQL Dump  (requires mSQL-1.0.6 or better)
    #
    # Host: localhost    Database: test
    #--------------------------------------------------------
 
 
    #
    # Table structure for table 'test'
    #
    CREATE TABLE test (
      name CHAR(40),
      num INT
    ) \g
 
 
    #
    # Dumping data for table 'test'
    #
 
    INSERT INTO test VALUES ('item 999',999)\g
    ...
    INSERT INTO test VALUES ('item 0',0)\g
If you wish to insert a field, say "discount", then you will need to modify the dump file as follows: 

    #
    # mSQL Dump  (requires mSQL-1.0.6 or better)
    #
    # Host: localhost    Database: test
    #--------------------------------------------------------
 
 
    #
    # Table structure for table 'test'
    #
    CREATE TABLE test (
      name CHAR(40),
      num INT,
      discount REAL
    ) \g
 
 
    #
    # Dumping data for table 'test'
    #
 
    INSERT INTO test VALUES ('item 999',999,0.0)\g
    ...
    INSERT INTO test VALUES ('item 0',0,0.0)\g
Notice that every insert clause MUST be changed as well as the table definition.

When should I call msqlConnect() in a parent/child situation?

If both the parent and child processes want to talk to the mSQL server then you must call msqlConnect() AFTER you fork. They mustn't share the same socket.

Can I use mSQL reserved words as field or table names?

No. The mSQL parser gets very confused if you attempt to use reserved words as the name of a table or field. The full list of reserved words for both version 1.x and 2.x (as obtained from msql_lex.c) is:

Reserved words in mSQL 1.x
< >= by distinct integer not real update
<= all char drop into null select values
<> and create from key or set where
= as delete insert like order smallint
> asc desc int limit primary table

Reserved words in mSQL 2.0B6
< all by delete insert limit on select sum update
<= and char desc int max or sequence table value
<> as clike distinct integer min order set text values
= asc count drop into money primary slike time where
> avg create from key not real smallint uint
>= avl date index like null rlike step unique

Remember that mSQL reserved words are case insensitive so UPPER case or MiXeD cAsE reserved words are also forbidden in table or field names.

How do I find the maximum or minimum value in a table?

To obtain the maximum value use: 

    SELECT number FROM table ORDER BY number DESC LIMIT 1
To obtain the minimum value use: 

    SELECT number FROM table ORDER BY number LIMIT 1
This will only work with mSQL 1.0.9 and above unless you have applied the unofficial LIMIT patch to earlier versions. See the mSQL mailing list archives for details on this patch. (Before searching for this unofficial patch, you should seriously consider upgrading to the latest version of mSQL).

Note: Rasmus Lerdorf writes: 

    The LIMIT statement limits the number of records actually
    transferred from the server to the client. It doesn't limit the
    scope of the search at all in any way. That means that if you are
    looking for the maximum value in a table with 30,000 entries, the
    query will first build the entire sorted result in memory in the
    server, but when it comes time to transferring the result to the
    client, it only sends the first item.
 
    In many cases, especially when you have a lot of fields, or long
    fields, the time it takes to transfer the data from the server to
    the client is actually many times that of the actual search. And
    the msqld daemon is tied up and not available to other clients
    while it is wasting time sending result records that will never be
    used. So, if you do queries and you know you will only be looking
    at the first couple of them, you should use the limit clause and
    cut down on the amount of useless records being sent across the
    socket.

How can I determine the structure of a database?

Use the relshow application that comes bundled with the mSQL software distribution.

What happens when the mSQL server goes down between requests?

If the mSQL database server process, msqld, dies and is subsequently restarted, or the host on which it was running is rebooted, any processes that were connected to the mSQL database server MUST be reconnected. This is not unique to mSQL, the Oracle database server behaves in a similar manner.

Programs that were connected to the mSQL database server should be either restarted or have some internal mechanism whereby they notice the server has died and attempt a reconnection.

One possible method for checking the status of the database server would be to examine the return status of the msqlSelectDB() call.

Can I run more than one copy of msqld on the same CPU?

Steve A. Olson writes: 

    I'm looking for a way to provide the full 25 connections to each of
    many mSQL databases running on a single box. Here's an idea, will
    it work? or is there a better way?
 
    (korn shell example)
    $ export MSQL_TCP_PORT=3000; msqld
    $ export MSQL_TCP_PORT=3001; msqld
    $ export MSQL_TCP_PORT=3002; msqld
 
    Then connect to the database as follows:
    $ export MSQL_TCP_PORT=3000; msql db_a
 
    While the above runs, another user connects:
    $ export MSQL_TCP_PORT=3001; msql db_b
David Hughes replies: 

    Well, sort of. By running 'msql db_a' you are using the local UNIX
    socket not the TCP socket so you'd have to use MSQL_UNIX_PORT not
    MSQL_TCP_PORT.
 
    The other thing is that you should run 3 MSQL_HOME areas
    (/usr/local/Minerva for example). If two of these servers __ever__
    access the same database at the same time then you are stuffed.
 
    So, something like
 
    export MSQL_UNIX_PORT=/dev/msql_1; export MSQL_HOME=/Minerva1; msqld&
    export MSQL_UNIX_PORT=/dev/msql_2; export MSQL_HOME=/Minerva2; msqld&
 
    and
 
    export MSQL_UNIX_PORT=/dev/msql_1; msql db_a
    export MSQL_UNIX_PORT=/dev/msql_2; msql db_b
 
    would do the job.

How can I automatically ensure that each record receives a unique primary key?

mSQL version 1.x does not have an automatic key assignment functionality. A number of solutions to this problem are available.

mSQL version 2.x has an automatic sequence number associated with each table. More on this in later FAQs.

How can I avoid compiler redefinition errors when compiling my own mSQL applications?

When building your own mSQL applications you may encounter compiler errors similar to: 

    /usr/local/Minerva/include/msql.h:30: redefinition of `m_row'
    /usr/local/Minerva/include/msql.h:32: redefinition of `struct field_s'
This occurs because the mSQL header file msql.h has been included more than once.

To avoid this, apply the following patch to msql.h contributed by Vesa Tuomi <vesa@cardinal.fi> 


*** ./src/msql/msql.h.orig Wed Mar  6 09:27:20 1996
--- ./src/msql/msql.h      Thu Mar  7 10:29:46 1996
***************
*** 16,21 ****
--- 16,23 ----
  **
  */
 
+ #ifndef       __MSQL_H__
+ #define       __MSQL_H__
 
  #if defined(__STDC__) || defined(__cplusplus)
  #  define __ANSI_PROTO(x)     x
***************
*** 109,111 ****
--- 111,115 ----
  #ifdef __cplusplus
        }
  #endif
+
+ #endif        /* __MSQL_H__ */
and rerun the make install phase of the mSQL installation procedure. This will remake all the core mSQL applications and install the modified msql.h file in your installation include directory. It will also reinstall the core mSQL applications in your installation bin directory. There is NO need to recompile any other third party applications.

How do I link the mSQL library with my own code?

Most compilers will search a well defined list of standard directories for include and library files. These are typically /usr/include, /usr/lib, /lib and occasionally /usr/local/include and /usr/local/lib. If you wish to use files that are outside these locations you must tell your compiler which directories to search.

Most C compilers understand the command line arguments: 

    -Iinclude_directory
and 
    -Llibrary_directory
to mean "search the directory include_directory for include files and search the directory library_directory for libraries".

If you wish to compile a program that will communicate with the mSQL database server you must tell the compiler where the mSQL include and library files were installed. Assuming you installed mSQL in /usr/local/Minerva and you use gcc, the syntax would resemble: 

    gcc -c -I/usr/local/Minerva/include your_prog.c
    gcc -o your_prog your_prog.o -L/usr/local/Minerva -lmsql
Note: Libraries MUST be specified last. Most compilers will give strange errors if you specify the library paths and libraries before any .c or .o files.

Note: that the mSQL library name has been truncated. The actual mSQL library file name is libmsql.a. However, the compiler (and the link loader) only need the unique part of the file name so the lib and .a components should be removed when passing the library name on the command line.

If you are using an SVR4 version of Unix (such as Solaris 2.x) you may also have to include some networking libraries: 

    gcc -o your_prog your_prog.o -lsocket -lnsl -L/usr/local/Minerva -lmsql

How can I find the number of rows in a table?

If you're writing code in C, the following will work: 

    msqlQuery(dbsocket, "SELECT * from blah");
    result = msqlStoreResult();
    number = msqlNumRows(result);
    msqlFreeResult(result);

How can I delete all the rows in a table without destroying the table structure?

If you wish to clear the contents of a table without actually dropping the table, use the following syntax: 

    DELETE FROM table_name\g

How can I import flat files or other database formats into an mSQL table?

For users of mSQL version 1.x, use Pascal Forget's <pascal@wsc.com> msql-import utility. Details on how to obtain this utility can be found in the "Contributed Code and Third Party Applications" section. Look for the subsection titled "Flat File Importer".

msql-import is bundled with mSQL version 2.x.

How can I determine the number of rows affected by my last query?

David Hughes <bambi@hughes.com.au> writes: 

    In mSQL 2.0 the return value from msqlQuery() tells you the number
    of rows "touched" by the query (i.e. deleted for a
    DELETE, returned for a SELECT, modified for an UPDATE etc).

How can I get w3-msql to work with w3-auth?

Jason Hudgins <hudginsj@smtp.dancooks.com> has written a paper on "The Unofficial Guide to W3-AUTH". It is available from: 

    http://www.dancooks.com/~jason/w3-msql/w3auth.html

Contributed Code and Third Party Applications

Note: Many of the URLs in this section have changed to reflect a directory reorganisation at ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib. The packages in question will not be flagged as changed unless the package itself has been updated since the last release of the FAQ.

A number of people have contributed additional software that works with mSQL. The contributed software falls into two categories - that developed by David Hughes (mSQL's author) and that developed by others.

Note: Please consult the documentation that comes with each of these applications to determine the licensing obligations that may be involved in their use.

Note: Some of these applications are available via anonymous ftp from the mSQL contributed code directory ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib. There is often a delay of a day or so for newly released files to be moved from the ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Incoming directory to the ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib directory.

ESL mSQL Tools
w3-msql mSQL User Interface for Windows
Lite (=) msutil - an alternative C API for mSQL
Addf-Secure MS Windows
Apache NeXTSTEP EOF
Applixware Object Oriented HTML API
Backup Script OCX
Bind ODBC
Command Line Tool Onyx
Dbadmin (=) Open Systems Cafe
DBASE OS/2
DBI/DBD Perl
DBunk PHP - Home Page Construction Kit
Dbview PTS
Digger Python
Emacs RADIUS
Flat File Importer REXX
HTML Interface to mSQL Simple SQL
ICI SQLBase
Jate Tcl
Java Time and date utilities
Jio tkmSQL
LISP/Scheme Unique sequence number generator
Lite Repository Virtual Database
Meta-HTML VirtuFlex
MS Access to mSQL Visual Basic
MS Access and dBase III WDB
mSQL CGI Websql
mSQLexpire Wojciech Tryc's Repository
mSQL Export XfSQL
mSQL Keeper Xsqlmenu
mSQL Summary Z Classes for C++

ESL
David developed mSQL as the database component of a larger network management project called Minerva (Minerva was the Roman goddess of knowledge and information). Another component of Minerva is an Extensible Scripting Language called ESL. This has a C like syntax and provides support for the complete mSQL API as well as full SNMP support. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/esl/esl-0.3.tar.gz
    (407046 bytes)
W3-mSQL
David has also developed W3-mSQL which is an interface between the World-Wide Web and mSQL. It is a mechanism that can be used to greatly simplify the use of an SQL database behind a web server. Using W3-mSQL, you can embed SQL queries within your pages and have the results generated on the fly. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/w3-msql/w3-msql-1.0.3.tar.gz
    (54811 bytes)
W3-mSQL version 2.0 is bundled with mSQL 2.x. It uses the bundled Lite language embedded within HTML tags.

W3-mSQL version 2.0 is incompatible with version 1.x.

More details on version 2.0 of W3-mSQL can be found in the documentation distributed with mSQL 2.x.

Lite
Bundled with mSQL version 2.x is Lite. Lite has a C like syntax and is designed as a stand alone scripting language for use with mSQL.

More details on Lite can be found in the documentation distributed with mSQL 2.x.

Addf-Secure
Max Levchin <mlevchin@ampere.scale.uiuc.edu> has written a utility that will allow you to securely add a new column to an mSQL table. More details can be found at: 

    http://ampere.scale.uiuc.edu/~mlevchin/addf
Apache
Dirk van Gulik <Dirk.vanGulik@jrc.it> has developed some code for use with HTML and HTTP servers with specific reference to the Apache HTTP server. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://ftp.ceo.org/pub/ewse-mSQL-apache-demos/apache-msql-demo.1.0.1.tar.gz
    (12723 bytes)
If you require a module that allows the Apache httpd daemon to perform authentication via an mSQL database, grab the file: 

    http://www.apache.org/dist/contrib/modules/mod_auth_msql.c
    (9269 bytes)
Applixware
Cameron Newham <cam@sspl.demon.co.uk> has written a shared library and query utility for Applixware, interfacing to MSQL 2.0. You can find more details at: 

    http://www.iinet.com.au/~cam/applix.html
Backup Script
C Latham <clatham@nerosworld.com> has written a shell script that will backup mSQL databases. It is reprinted here in full: 


#!/bin/sh
#       $Id: msqlbckp v. 1.0 1996/6/22 $
#       by: clatham@nerosworld.com
#
#       usage: msqlbckp [-h host] 'backup directory'
#
#   This script creates daily backups of mSQL databases. Input parameters are
#   host machine (if msqld is not running on local machine) and the pathname
#   of a directory where the backups will be made. The backups will be named:
#   {table name}.{day of week}.gz  (They are gzipped).
#
#   The structure of the backup files are in a format that can be read
#   by the 'msql' program to completely restore the database, by first
#   dropping the corrupt table, then recreating the table and populating it
#   with data (it is required that the database itself already exists, which
#   may require the database administrator to use msqladmin to create the
#   database in extreme circumstances).
#
#   Access is required to msqldump, relshow and gzip.
#
#   Set crontab to execute this script at, say, 4 am every day, every other
#   day, or however often you want backups of your databases.
#
 
err( ) {
	echo usage: msqlbckp [-h host] 'backup directory'
	exit 1
}
 
case $# in
1)
	bdir=$1
	;;
3)
	if [ $1 = "-h" ]
	then
		host="-h "$2
	else
		err
	fi
	bdir=$3
	;;
*)
	err
	;;
esac
 
dow=`date '+%A'`   # Get the day of the week
 
# Use relshow to get a list of the available databases, and pare that down
# into a file listing one database name per line...
relshow ${host} | \
	sed -n -e '/^....[ \-].*/d' -e 's/  \| //' -e 's/ *\|//p' \
	>${bdir}/db.names
 
# Get each database name from the file for table processing
dbline=1
while [ 1 ]     # Do forever until no more db names
do
	dodb=`cat ${bdir}/db.names | sed -n "${dbline}p"`
	if [ "${dodb}" = "" ]   # if no more db names to do
	then
		break
	fi
 
	cf=${bdir}/${dodb}.${dow}       # Define current working file
 
echo "#
# mSQL Dump of Database: ${dodb}
#
# Begin by dropping all tables
#---------------------------------------------
 
" > ${cf}
 
	# Now add commands to 'drop' each table in the database
	relshow ${host} ${dodb} | \
	sed -n -e '/^....[ \-].*/d' -e 's/  \| //' -e 's/ *\|//p' | \
	awk '($0 !~ /^$/) { print "DROP TABLE", $1, "\\g" }' >> ${cf}
 
	echo " " >> ${cf}
 
	# Dump the database structure and data into the backup file
	msqldump ${host} ${dodb} >> ${cf}
 
	# Finally, gzip the file
	gzip -f ${cf}
 
	# Next database name
	dbline=`expr ${dbline} + 1`
done
 
rm ${bdir}/db.names     # Get rid of temp file
Bind
Chris Seawood <mgrcls@nextwork.rose-hulman.edu> has extended the DNS naming service - BIND - to support mSQL databases. It is available in the contrib/msql directory of the current release of BIND which can be obtained via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://ftp.vix.com/pub/bind/release/bind-4.9.3-REL.tar.gz
    (1682741 bytes)
Chris has also released a beta version of msql_bind that works with mSQL version 2.x. For more details see: 

    http://www.seawood.org/msql_bind
Command Line Tool
Kai Mysliwiec <kvm@camelot.de> has developed an mSQL tool that allows you to send SQL queries from the command line. It is available from: 

    http://www.camelot.de/~kvm/progs/sql.tar.gz
    (14083 bytes)
Dbadmin
James Harrell <gt4960a@prism.gatech.edu> has developed a CGI application that allows database administration using a web based form interface. A demonstration can be seen at: 

    http://bauhaus.skiles.gatech.edu/~jharrell
Source code is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/dbadmin/dbadmin_v1.0.1.tar.gz
DBASE
Maarten Boekhold <M.Boekhold@et.tudelft.nl> has written a dbase to mSQL conversion utility. It handles the dbf data types string, num, real and date. It does not yet handle memo-fields because mSQL 1.x lacks support for variable length char fields. Maarten is aware that this may be insufficient for some users' needs but he is releasing the utility as 'do-whatever-you-want' software. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 
    ftp://ftp.nerosworld.com/pub/SQL/dbf2sql/dbf2sql-2.2.tar.gz
    (18207 bytes)
DBI/DBD
Tim Bunce <Tim.Bunce@ig.co.uk> is working on a generic database driver (DBI) which allows perl to interface to any database in a standardised way. Details of Tim's work are available from: 

    http://www.hermetica.com
Alligator Decartes <descarte@hermetica.com> has added an mSQL driver to Tim's work and his contributions can be obtained via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://ftp.mcqueen.com/pub/dbperl
It is also available from any CPAN (Comprehensive Perl Archive Network) site in the "modules" directory. For more information about CPAN see: 

    ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN
The latest blurb describing Alligator's work can be obtained from: 

    http://www.hermetica.com/technologia/DBI
DBunk
Dave Shevett <shevett@homeport.org> has written DBunk - a Java based graphical front end to mSQL. Source code is available from: 

    http://www.homeport.org/~shevett/dbunk.tar.gz
Dbview
Gian Paolo Ciceri <gp.ciceri@it.net> has written a utility similar to relshow.

It shows the structure of an mSQL database as well as indicating the number of records in the tables.

It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/dbview/dbview.c.lsm
    (563 bytes)
 
    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/dbview/dbview.c
    (16933 bytes)
Digger
The folks at Bunyip Information Services (the current maintainers of the mSQL mailing list) have used mSQL as the database component of their Digger system.

Digger is a Distributed Directory Service for the Internet based on Whois++ technology. For more information about digger send mail to <digger-info@bunyip.com> or have a look at Bunyip's web pages: 

    http://www.bunyip.com/products/digger
Emacs
Igor Romanenko <igor@frog.kiev.ua> has contributed some lisp code to provide emacs with hooks into mSQL. It allows the msql monitor to run in an emacs window, so you can use emacs for editing and command recall. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/mSQLEmacs/sql-mode.tar.gz
    (6883 bytes)
Flat File Importer
Pascal Forget <pascal@wsc.com> has contributed a program that will import flat file databases directly into mSQL databases. It supports both the version 1.x and 2.x releases of mSQL. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://ftp.wsc.com/pub/freeware/msql/msql-import-0.1.4.tar.gz
    (14281 bytes)
Notwithstanding any bug fixes, this will be the last "stand alone" release of msql-import that can be used with mSQL version 1.x. Future versions will be bundled with mSQL version 2.x.

HTML Interface to mSQL
Sol Katz <skatz@blm.gov> has written some C code that demonstrates an HTML interface to mSQL. Unlike other applications, this program does not need to be modified when new mSQL tables or databases are created. All required information is contained in the html.

It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/mSQLCGI/msqlc2.zip
    (29002 bytes)
and also from: 

    ftp://ftp.blm.gov/pub/gis/msqlc2.zip
    (29002 bytes)
It can be seen in operation at: 

    http://www.blm.gov/gis/msql/vertical/test2.html
ICI
Yiorgos Adamopoulos <Y.Adamopoulos@noc.ntua.gr> has written an mSQL extension for the ICI programming language. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://ftp.ntua.gr/pub/lang/ici/iciMsql.tar.gz
    (249077 bytes)
Yiorgos has set up a mailing list for iciMsql. Questions can be sent to: 

    iciMsql@noc.ntua.gr
Jate
Josef <ht@aiace.lnf.infn.it> has developed Jate - a CGI program that builds HTML interfaces to mSQL databases. More details can be found at: 

    http://aiace.lnf.infn.it/~ht/JATE.html
(-) Java
Darryl Collins <darryl@minmet.uq.oz.au> has developed a version of the mSQL API for the Java programming language.

MsqlJava for mSQL version 1.x is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://dada.minmet.uq.edu.au/pub
MsqlJava for mSQL version 2.x is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://dada.minmet.uq.edu.au/pub/MsqlJava-1.2.0.tar.gz
    (23483 bytes)
For more details see: 

    http://www.minmet.uq.oz.au/msqljava
George Reese <borg@imaginary.com> has developed a Java Database Connection (JDBC) class library using MsqlJava. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://ftp.imaginary.com/pub/Java/database/mSQL-JDBC.tar.gz
    (33063 bytes)
For more details see: 

    http://www.imaginary.com/Java
Douglas Beeson <beesond@ecworld.org> reports: 
    Sun has just released its Java Servlets API that includes, among other
    things, a Java runtime that works from within Netscape servers, similar
    to a plug-in. The same servlet runner is available for ISAPI and the
    Apache server. With a servlet written in Java and using the Java-mSQL
    package cited in the FAQ, you can open a connection to an mSQL database
    on the local or remote server, query the DB and return the result as
    HTML using an http response object pre-defined in the servlet API.
    Best of all, the servlets API is free.
 
    http://jserv.javasoft.com/products/java-server/sdk/index.shtml
Jio
Simon Kenyon <S.Kenyon@koala.ie> has developed Jio which is a dynamic web content generation system written as a Java servlet. It uses JDBC to connect to mSQL which contains the data. All generated pages are created using templates. Source code is included and it is free for commercial use. See the COPYRIGHT file included with the Jio distribution for details.

It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    http://www.koala.ie/jio/dist/jio-1.3.tar.gz
    (35104 bytes)
LISP/Scheme
George J. Carrette <gjc@world.std.com> has developed SIOD which is "a small-footprint implementation of the Scheme programming language that is provided with some database, unix programming and cgi scripting extensions". SIOD provides interfaces to Oracle, Sybase, mSQL and Digital RDB databases.

Details of the current release of SIOD can be found at: 

    http://people.delphi.com/gjc/siod.html
The latest copy of SIOD can usually be found at: 

    ftp://ftp.std.com/pub/gjc/siod.tgz
    (156846 bytes)
or 
    http://people.delphi.com/gjc/siod.tgz
    (156730 bytes)
George has used SIOD as part of a system to: 

    abstract html tricks from programming tricks by considering html
    files, or portions of html files, to be templates or chunks of html
    upon which simple substitutions are made
More details of "Chunk HTML" can be found at: 

    http://people.delphi.com/gjc/chtml.html
Lite Repository
Jeanne Gold <goldj@Ix.netcom.com> has established a site for Lite contributions. For more details see: 

    http://www.gold-cousins.org/lite_site
Meta-HTML
Universal Access Inc has released a version of their Meta-HTML scripting language which has extensions for connecting to mSQL databases.

Henry Minsky <hqm@ua.com> writes: 

    <Meta-HTML> is a programming language specifically designed
    for working within the World Wide Web environment. Although it is a
    genuine programming language, suitable for large-scale symbolic
    manipulation, it provides the most commonly wanted Web
    functionality as built-in primitives, so you don't have to write
    them.
More details (including source code) can be found at: 

    http://www.metahtml.com
There is also an anonymous ftp site for those of you without web access: 

    ftp://ftp.metahtml.com/pub
MS Access to mSQL
Brian Andrews <brian@informate.co.nz> has written a function for use with MS Access version 7. This function will take an Access 7 database and generate the appropriate mSQL INSERT statements for importing the Access 7 data into an mSQL database.

Brian's original function is available from the mSQL mailing list archives for the month of January 1997.

Jon Hilton <jon@hisa.org.au> has taken Brian's work and corrected a few bugs and included support for mSQL version 2.x.

Jon's function is available from the mSQL mailing list archives for the month of February 1997. It is also included here in full: 


Function export_mSQL()
 
    ' Exports the database contents into a file in mSQL format
    ' IS NOT SELECTIVE! (exports ALL tables)
 
    Dim dbase As DATABASE, tdef As Recordset, i As Integer, fd As Integer
 
    Set dbase = CurrentDb()
 
    ' Open the export file
    Open "E:\cota\infocom1.txt" For Output As #1
 
    Print #1, "# Converted from MS Access to mSQL "
    Print #1, "# by Brian Andrews, (c) InforMate Technologies, 1997"
    Print #1, ""
 
    ' Go through the table definitions
 
 
    For i = 0 To dbase.TableDefs.Count - 1
        Print #1, "# TableDefs.Count - 1 =" & dbase.TableDefs.Count - 1
        Print #1, "# This is table " & i
        ' Let's take only the visible tables
 
        If ((dbase.TableDefs(i).Attributes And DB_SYSTEMOBJECT) Or
(dbase.TableDefs(i).Attributes And DB_HIDDENOBJECT)) Then
 
        Else
 
            ' We DROP the table in case it already exists
            ' and then create it again
 
                    tname = "" & dbase.TableDefs(i).Name
                    Print #1, "# Access table " & tname
 
            'remove spaces from tablename
 
                        For j = 1 To Len(tname)
 
                        If j < Len(tname) Then
 
                        If Mid$(tname, j, 1) = " " Then
 
 
                        s = Left$(tname, j - 1)
                        's = s & "" & Right$(t.Fields(j), Len(t.Fields(j)) - i + 1)
                        s = s & "" & Right$(tname, Len(tname) - j)
                        j = j + 1
                        found = True
                        tname = s
                        'Exit For
 
                        End If
                        End If
 
                        Next j
 
            'restrict tablename to 19 chars
 
            tname = Left$(tname, 19)
 
            Print #1, ""
            Print #1, ""
            Print #1, "DROP TABLE " & tname & " \p\g"
            Print #1,
            Print #1, "CREATE TABLE " & tname & "("
 
 
            ' Step through all the fields in the table
 
            For fd = 0 To dbase.TableDefs(i).Fields.Count - 1
 
            'All fields are char at the moment - can be changed
 
                Dim tyyppi As String, pituus As Integer, comma As String
                Select Case dbase.TableDefs(i).Fields(fd).Type
                    Case DB_BOOLEAN
                        tyyppi = "char (8)"
                    Case DB_INTEGER, DB_BYTE, DB_LONG
                        tyyppi = "int"
                    Case DB_DOUBLE, DB_SINGLE, DB_CURRENCY
                        tyyppi = "real"
                    Case DB_TEXT
                        pituus = dbase.TableDefs(i).Fields(fd).Size
                        tyyppi = "char (" & pituus & ")"
               ' Need to leave enough room in date fields for date & time
                    Case DB_DATE
                         tyyppi = "char (17)"
               ' For some reason, DB_GUID doesn't seem to be noticed - 15 is the value
                    Case DB_MEMO, DB_GUID, DB_LONGBINARY, 15
 
               'Special case fields - specific to one of my projects
 
                        If dbase.TableDefs(i).Fields(fd).Name = "Fund Summary " Then
                        tyyppi = "char (1500)"
                        ElseIf dbase.TableDefs(i).Fields(fd).Name = "Fund Analysis " Then
                        tyyppi = "char (3000)"
                        Else
                        tyyppi = "text (100)"
                        End If
 
                End Select
 
                ' Don't print the separating comma after the last field
 
                If fd < dbase.TableDefs(i).Fields.Count - 1 Then
                    comma = ","
                Else
                    comma = ""
                End If
 
                ' Print the field definition
 
                'remove spaces from fieldname
 
                       stuff = "" & dbase.TableDefs(i).Fields(fd).Name
 
                        For j = 1 To Len(stuff)
 
                        If j < Len(stuff) Then
 
                        If Mid$(stuff, j, 1) = " " Then
 
 
                        s = Left$(stuff, j - 1)
                        's = s & "" & Right$(t.Fields(j), Len(t.Fields(j)) - i + 1)
                        s = s & "" & Right$(stuff, Len(stuff) - j)
                        j = j + 1
                        found = True
                        stuff = s
                        'Exit For
 
                        End If
                        End If
 
                        Next j
 
               stuff = Left$(stuff, 19)
 
               'mSQL 1 primary key declaration - always on first field
               'mSQL 2 - now we need to use CREATE INDEX. Don't bother for now.
 
               'If fd = 0 Then
                'Print #1, "     " & stuff & " " & tyyppi & " primary key" & comma
                'Else
                Print #1, "     " & stuff & " " & tyyppi & comma
               'End If
 
            Next fd
 
            Print #1, ")\p\g"
            Print #1, ""
 
 
            Dim recset As Recordset
            Set recset = dbase.OpenRecordset(dbase.TableDefs(i).Name)
 
            ' Step through the rows in the table
            reccount = recset.RecordCount
            If reccount <> 0 Then
            recset.MoveFirst
            Do Until recset.EOF
                Dim row As String, it As String
 
                row = "INSERT INTO " & tname & " VALUES ("
 
                ' Go through the fields in the row
 
                For fd = 0 To recset.Fields.Count - 1
                    Dim is_string As String
 
                    is_string = ""
                    stuff = "" & recset.Fields(fd).Value
                    Select Case recset.Fields(fd).Type
              ' For some reason, DB_GUID doesn't seem to be noticed - 15 is the value
                    Case DB_TEXT, DB_MEMO, DB_GUID, DB_DATE, DB_LONGBINARY, DB_BOOLEAN, 15
                        is_string = "'"
                    Case Else
                         If stuff = "" Then
                            stuff = "0"
                         End If
                    End Select
 
 
 
 
                    '**** escape single quotes
                    x = InStr(stuff, "'")
                    While x <> 0
                            s = Left$(stuff, x - 1)
                            s = s & "\" & Right$(stuff, Len(stuff) - x + 1)
                            stuff = s
                            x = InStr(x + 2, stuff, "'")
                    Wend
 
                    row = row & is_string & stuff & is_string
                    If fd < recset.Fields.Count - 1 Then
                        row = row & ","
                    End If
                Next fd
 
                ' Add trailers and print
 
                row = row & ")\p\g"
                Print #1, row
 
                ' Move to the next row
 
                recset.MoveNext
            Loop
 
            recset.Close
            Set recset = Nothing
 
        End If
    End If
    Next i
 
 
 
    Close #1
 
    dbase.Close
    Set dbase = Nothing
 
End Function
MS Access & dBase III
Brian Bartholemew <bb@wizard.pn.com> has written some scripts that translate dBase III tables saved from MS Access into tab-separated formats.

Brian writes: 

    Here are three scripts, the first two are clean ones that break out
    tables saved from access in dBaseIII format into a tab-separated
    format that a set of database-operator scripts called rdb can use.
    The first breaks out .dbf files and the second breaks out .dbt
    files which contain the text of variable-length-text memo fields;
    the .dbf and .dbt can be joined by the block offset number given in
    the text field. These scripts have only been tested on the field
    types my database happens to have. Since the first one breaks out
    the table definitions it's the obvious candidate to generate table
    definitions for msql. The third script is a hack to get data into
    msql so I can play with msql, but it's a starting point. The first
    two scripts were written to be free of data-dependent bugs, the
    third is somehow confused about null fields in Pascal's msql-import
    program which I've hacked around to enter the complaining fields as
    the text "NULL"; debugging is welcomed. The third script
    needs rdb, available from rand.org:/pub/RDB-hobbs. I do MS Access
    -> rdb -> msql because I use rdb as a prototyping tool, the
    format is trivial to generate and modify, I have a forms-based
    emacs front-end to rdb, and the tables compress nicely in rcs.
    However, someone may wish to modify these scripts, (a) so that they
    generate msql dump files instead of rdb files, thereby bypassing
    the msql-import bug and the rdb dependency and probably some data
    dependencies with maximum portability, or (b) so that they talk to
    the database directly. If so please post diffs. Trigger the new
    behaviour by a command-line option so the non-msql-perl behaviour
    continues to run under vanilla perl. These programs are gpl'ed.
They are available from the mSQL mailing list archives for the month of February 1996.

mSQL CGI
Alex Tang <altitude@petrified.cic.net> has written an mSQL front end as a CGI program. For more details see: 

    http://petrified.cic.net/MsqlCGI
mSQLexpire
Scott Burkett <scottb@dcicorp.com> has developed an mSQL utility that provides a mechanism for automatic expiration of records based on age. Further details can be seen at: 

    http://www.dcicorp.com/~scottb/projects/msqlexpire
mSQL-Export
Kerry Garrison <garrison@delta.net> has developed a Perl script that will export an mSQL table to a delimited text file. Further details can be seen at: 

    http://design.delta.net/msqltools
mSQL Keeper
Chris Lambrou <chrislambrou@ineternetmci.com> has written an mSQL maintenance utility called mSQL Keeper.

"mSQL Keeper is a collection of perl scripts that enables easy management of an mSQL database. It requires no knowledge of SQL. All database maintenance functions are executed through a GUI front end, and SQL statements are built and submitted to the mSQL engine from mSQL Keeper."

mSQL Keeper currently supports mSQL 1.x databases. Chris has plans for an mSQL 2.x version once mSQL 2.x stabilises.

More details can be found at: 

    http://www.cglis.com/msql_keeper
mSQL Summary
David Perry <deperry@nerosworld.com> had someone write a program for him that takes an SQL select statement (such as select distinct fieldname, fieldname2, fieldnameN from tablename order by fieldname) and propagates a second table with the results. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://ftp.nerosworld.com/pub/msql/Contrib/mSQLsummary/mSQL_summary.tar
mSQL Tools
Kerry Garrison <garrison@delta.net> has setup a site that catalogues a number of mSQL tools. It can be found at: 

    http://design.delta.net/msqltools
mSQL User Interface for Windows
Chris Mai <chrissde@aol.com> has developed a user interface for Microsoft Windows that will connect to mSQL databases. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/mSQLui/msql-ui.zip
(=) msutil - an alternative C API for mSQL
Rich Bryant <rbb@iseek.com> has developed an alternate C API for use with mSQL. Details on msutil can be found at: 

    http://iseek.com/biztek/docs/msutil
MS Windows
Dean Fuqua <fuqua@niehs.nih.gov> has contributed an mSQL API for MS Windows platforms. To use this software you need some Winsock compliant stack. (i.e. Trumpet Winsock, MS TCP/IP-32, Chameleon, etc.) It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/mSQLwinapi/winapi.zip
    (87211 bytes)
Not included in winapi.zip is an msql.ini file. Its contents should resemble 

    [Server]
    IP=your.server.host.name
    Port=1112
    Username=YourUsername
There also appears to be a later version of Dean's work which includes compiled executables in 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/Win-mSQL/winmsql7.zip
    (306827 bytes)
Peter Tillemans <pti@net4all.be> has taken Dirk Ohme's <dohme@transtec.de> OS/2 port of mSQL and used it to produce a Windows 95/NT version of mSQL. This port can be obtained via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/Win-mSQL/msql116b-w32.zip
    (755355 bytes)
Peter Tillemans <pti@net4all.be> and Fernando Lozano <bl@blnet.com> have created the "mSQL PC Home-Page". Their work can be seen at: 

    http://blnet.com/msqlpc
NeXTSTEP EOF
Mark Onyschuk <ask-oa@oa.guild.org> has developed an NeXTSTEP EOF adaptor for mSQL.

An Enterprise Object Framework (EOF) is an object framework that allows object oriented access to relational databases, where each row is considered an object. Besides a few limitations, it basically makes a relational database look like an OO database to the developer. By means of an adaptor, EOF can be used with virtually any database. The adaptor is responsible to transform the generic OO messages in database specific queries by subclassing a generic adaptor and modifying its behaviour.

Object Oriented HTML API
Sol Katz <skatz@blm.gov> has developed an object oriented HTML API for mSQL.

It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://ftp.blm.gov/pub/gis/msql_api.tar.gz
    (10317 bytes)
An example can be found at 
    http://www.blm.gov/gis/msql/dbs6.html
OCX
Shayne Hughes <shayne@vgl.ucdavis.edu> has created a 32-bit OCX control that exposes all of the mSQL API (based on 1.0.12) with only slight modifications to make it work with pointer impaired languages like Visual Basic. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://vgl.ucdavis.edu/pub/mSQL/ocxmsql-0.90.zip
    (1685189 bytes)
Chin-Jin Phua <jojo@ttsh.gov.sg> has also developed a mSQL 32-bit OCX for Windows95 and WinNT. He has only tested it for Visual Basic. 
    ftp://Bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/mSQLwinapi/msqlocx.zip
    (17409 bytes)
ODBC

Onyx
Michael Koehne <kraehe@bakunin.north.de> has developed a rapid prototyping tool for database applications called Onyx.

Onyx consists of a transaction manager, a shell like 4GL and a Simple Database Transaction Protocol engine.

"Onyx is designed by the Model-View-Controller paradigm, so tables are the model, masks are the views and transactions are the controllers which can be bound to an input field, a menu, function keys or the change of the current record in a cursor."

It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://ftp.uni-bremen.de/pub/unix/database/Onyx/Onyx.2.45.src.tar.gz
    (195872 bytes)
(=) Open Systems Cafe
Rich Bryant <rbb@iseek.com> and Julian Pickard <julian@iseek.com> have established the Open Systems Cafe. "The Cafe is designed to be an up to date information clearing house for anything associated with open systems computing". The Cafe has a discussion area dedicated to mSQL. For more details see: 
    http://iseek.com/Cafe
OS/2
Dirk Ohme <dohme@transtec.de> has ported mSQL 1.0.16 to OS/2. This version now includes an ODBC-compliant manager/driver within the package. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://ftp.nerosworld.com/pub/msql/contrib/mSQLOS2/msql116e.lsm
    (1913 bytes)
 
    ftp://ftp.nerosworld.com/pub/msql/contrib/mSQLOS2/msql116e.zip
    (871729 bytes)
Dirk has also finished a beta version of mSQL 2.0 for OS/2. This release is based on mSQL 2.0B6. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://ftp.nerosworld.com/pub/msql/contrib/mSQLOS2/msql20b6.lsm
    (2228 bytes)
 
    ftp://ftp.nerosworld.com/pub/msql/contrib/mSQLOS2/msql20b6.zip
    (1865128 bytes)
This version also requires Dirk's intrinsic ODBC package. For details regarding this package see the "ODBC" section above.

Perl
Andreas Koenig <a.koenig@mind.de> has contributed a Perl 5 module which allows perl to interface to mSQL databases. The latest version is available via anonymous ftp from any of the CPAN archives, for example: 

    ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN/modules/by-category/07_Database_Interfaces/Msql
For more information about CPAN see: 

    ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN
There is a mailing list for MsqlPerl. Send postings to <msqlperl@franz.ww.tu-berlin.de>.

PHP - Home Page Construction Kit
Rasmus Lerdorf <rasmus@vex.net> has developed a package that allows users to create WWW sites with mSQL databases.

Rasmus writes: 

    PHP/FI is a server-side html-embedded scripting language with
    built-in access logging, access restriction, as well as support for
    ndbm, gdbm and mSQL databases. It also implements the RFC-1867
    standard for form-based file uploads.
 
    The mSQL support is just a small set of functions supported by the
    package. A full set of string manipulation, regular expression,
    directory and file routines complement the script language.
The source distribution as well as more information is available at: 

    http://www.vex.net/php
PTS
Dave Shevett <shevett@homeport.org> has developed a web based project tracking system - PTS. It used mSQL and PHP/FI. For more details see: 

    http://www.homeport.org/~shevett/pts
Python
Anthony Baxter <anthony.baxter@aaii.oz.au> has provided an mSQL extension to the Python language. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/mSQLPython/PymSQL.tar.gz
    (7581 bytes)
Mark Shuttleworth <marks@aztec.co.za> has improved upon Anthony's original work. Mark's work is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    http://www.python.org/ftp/python/contrib/Database/mSQL.tar.gz
    (6000 bytes)
Jeffrey Ollie <jeff@ollie.clive.ia.us> has updated the Python module for use with both mSQL version 1.x and 2.x. More details can be found at: 

    http://www.ollie.clive.ia.us/python/msql
RADIUS
Tracy Snell <waz@enteract.com> has modified Livingston's RADIUS security server to place accounting records in an mSQL database. For more details see: 

    http://www.enteract.com/isp
According to Damian Hamill <damian@cablenet.net>, the RADIUS server bundled with Cablenet's PoP In A Box ISP server software also supports mSQL based accounting records. For more details see: 

    http://www.cablenet.net/cablenet/popinabox
REXX
Mark Hessling <m.hessling@qut.edu.au> has provided an mSQL extension to REXX under Un*x and OS/2. It is available via anonymous ftp from the following sites: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/mSQLREXX
    ftp://ftp.qut.edu.au/src/REXXSQL
    ftp://ftp.xylogics.com/pub/misc/REXXSQL
You'll need to download the following files: 

    rxsqldoc13.lsm (1014 bytes)
    rxsqldoc13.zip (39170 bytes)
    rxsqlmin13.lsm (1001 bytes)
    rxsqlmin13.zip (156525 bytes)
    rxsqlsam13.lsm (1014 bytes)
    rxsqlsam13.zip (25299 bytes)
Simple SQL
Brian Jepson <bjepson@janus.saturn.net> has developed a fairly full-featured database management system toolkit using PHP and mSQL. It is available from: 

    http://www.saturn.net/~bjepson/simple.html
Brian has begun work on the successor to Simple SQL. Msql-RDBMS "will eventually be a complete relational database management system for Msql. It uses HTML forms as an interface". It is available from: 

    http://www.perl.com/CPAN/modules/by-module/Msql
SQLBase
Klaus Thiele <kth@oblib.teuto.de> has provided a wrapper to allow SQLBase users to interface to mSQL databases. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/mSQLBase/mSQLBase-1.00.tgz
Tcl
Hakan Soderstrom <hs@soderstrom.se> has provided an mSQL extension to the Tcl language. It has been tested with Tcl 7.5, Tk 4.1 and mSQL 1.0.16 under SunOS 4.1.4. Successful ports to several other platforms have been reported. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/mSQLTCL/msqltcl-1.99.tar.gz
    (69356 bytes)
Brad Pepers <pepersb@cuug.ab.ca> has also provided an mSQL extension to Tcl. According to the documentation it supports tcl7.3 and tk3.6. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/mSQLTCL/tcl_msql.tar.gz
    (7998 bytes)
Time and date utilities
Pascal Forget <pascal@wsc.com> has contributed a library of time and date conversion utilities. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/mSQLtime/time_library.tar.gz
    (7989 bytes)
tkmSQL
Alligator Decartes <descarte@hermetica.com> is developing an mSQL interface that uses Perl 5, Tk, and DBD/DBD-mSQL. It is currently in alpha release for developers only but Alligator would appreciate feedback.

tkmSQL requires:

You may obtain tkmSQL via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://ftp.mcqueen.com/pub/databases/dbatools/tkmSQL
Unique sequence number generator
Pascal Forget <pascal@wsc.com> has contributed a unique sequence number generator that can be used by mSQL applications (and others) to provide unique identifiers. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/mSQLsgs/sgs-1.0.0.tar.gz
    (24216 bytes)
Virtual Database
Damian Hamill <damian@cablenet.net> has written a virtual database layer that sits between your application and mSQL. This provides a level of abstraction between your application and the database back end such that it becomes a fairly simple matter to change database systems without changing your application code. The current version is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/mSQLVdb/Vdb.tar.gz
    (61670 bytes)
Damian is working on the next release which will include support for a number of different database engines such as mSQL, mysql, Sybase and Informix.

VirtuFlex
VirtuFlex Software has added mSQL support to their web/database development tool VirtuFlex. More details can be seen at: 

    http://www.virtuflex.com
Visual Basic
Jim Gerace <kasi@dreamscape.com> has implemented a Visual Basic client API for MS Windows and mSQL. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 
    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/mSQLVB/msqlcvb.zip
    (42192 bytes)
WDB
Bo Frese Rasmussen <bfr@dtv.dk> has developed a Web database interface called WDB.

WDB is a software tool set that tremendously simplifies the integration of SQL based databases into the World Wide Web. WDB lets you provide WWW access to the contents of databases without writing a single line of code!

At the moment WDB supports Sybase, Informx and mSQL. However it is relatively easy to port it to other SQL based databases.

For more details on WDB see: 

    http://www.dtv.dk/~bfr/wdb
Jeff Rowe <beowulf@cscsun4.larc.nasa.gov> has published a tutorial on enhancing WDB. Details can be found at: 

    http://cscsun1.larc.nasa.gov/~beowulf/tutor/index.html
Websql
Henry Minsky <hqm@ua.com> has developed an mSQL Table WWW browser interface.

"This is a C web CGI script to examine and modify rows in tables of an mSQL database. You should use Netscape or another browser which supports HTML 3.0 tables."

More details and sample output are available from: 

    http://www.ua.com/websql
Source code is available from: 

    http://www.ua.com/websql/websql.tar.gz
    (24225 bytes)
Wojciech Tryc's Repository
Wojciech Tryc <wojtek@tryc.on.ca> has established a repository of mSQL and PHP contributed software. It can be found at: 

    http://solaris.tryc.on.ca/files/files.phtml
XfSQL
Mark Loveland <mark@zeus.mysticgrp.com> has developed an X interface to mSQL using the Xforms package. Mark's work is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/XfSQL/xfsql.tar.gz
    (74596 bytes)
Xforms is available for a number of different platforms via anonymous ftp from either of the following locations: 

    ftp://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/pub/xforms
Xsqlmenu
Kees Lemmens <lemmens@dv.twi.tudelft.nl> has also developed an X interface to mSQL using the Xforms package. Xsqlmenu can be obtained via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://ta.twi.tudelft.nl/pub/dv/lemmens/xsqlmenu_1.02s.tar.gz
    (14973 bytes)
A pre compiled binary for Linux is also available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://ta.twi.tudelft.nl/pub/dv/lemmens/xsqlmenu_1.02LinuxBin.tar.gz
    (130945 bytes)
Xforms is available for a number of different platforms via anonymous ftp from either of the following locations: 

    ftp://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/pub/xforms
Kees has upgraded Xsqlmenu to support mSQL 2.x. Source code is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://ta.twi.tudelft.nl/pub/dv/lemmens/xsqlmenu.2.01b.tar.gz
    (18601 bytes)
Z Classes for C++
Dean Fuqua <fuqua@niehs.nih.gov> has also contributed a set of C++ classes to provide access to both Oracle and mSQL databases. It is available via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://bond.edu.au/pub/Minerva/msql/Contrib/zmSQL/zmsql-2.1.tar
    (40960 bytes)

Web sites using mSQL

The following web sites are using mSQL as the database component of their pages.

3D Planet ISP Listing
Allen's Flowers Kelloggs
Aussie Index Kids Health
Bishop Museum, Honolulu Matthew Ahrens' Address Book
Bond University Staff Index Mondo-DB Project
Borsen Nero's World
CanadaIT NetCal!
Cinema Brazil Newshare Corporation
Conservation Ecology North Carolina Insurance Database
CyberClip Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse
DMX Cable Systems Paulina Springs Book Company
Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer Physics Pilot
EUROPRACTICE QMS
European Wide Service Exchange QUERRI Bibliographic Server
First Byte Data Systems The Railway Exchange
Government Contractor Resource Center Used gear price list
(=) Internet Employment Cafe Web Ventures
The IQ NOW Member Directory Web Integrated Software metrics Environment

3D Planet
Mark Mazur <mark@opencad.com> uses mSQL and The Personal Home Page Construction Kit to enable users to find the nearest 3D Planet store. This page can be seen at: 

    http://www.3dplanet.com/d5.html
Allen's Flowers
As you might expect, Allen's Flowers sells flowers. They use mSQL to drive their ordering system. Their web site can be seen at: 

    http://www.allensflowers.com
Aussie Index
Aussie.com.au uses mSQL to collate its list of Australian Web sites. Their web page can be seen at: 

    http://www.aussie.com.au
Bishop Museum, Honolulu
Jeffrey Sue <jysue@aloha.net> has used mSQL and Rasmus Lerdorf's PHP package to create the first of several web based biology related databases. The first database is the arthropod checklist, a list of all known arthropods found in the Hawaiian Islands. The next databases will be additional checklists, starting with flowering plants. It can be seen at: 

    http://www.bishop.hawaii.org/bishop/HBS/arthrosearch.html
Bond University Staff Index
The staff index at Bond University, Queensland Australia uses mSQL to power its staff address database. See their web page for more details: 

    http://www.Bond.edu.au/Bond/General/MParse/mparse.html
Borsen
This Danish site uses mSQL as its databases for searches. I can't give more information as it is all in Danish and my Danish is truly awful. For more details visit: 

    http://www.borsen.dk
CanadaIT
CanadaIT limited uses mSQL. Their web page can be seen at: 

     http://www.CanadaIT.com
Cinema Brazil
Marcos Manhaes Marins <cinemabrazil@ax.apc.org> has used mSQL to power the search engine behind the Cinema Brazil web site. For more details see: 

    http://www.ibase.org.br/~cinemabrazil
Conservation Ecology Journal
Darryl Staflund <dstaflun@ccs.carleton.ca> uses mSQL behind the online journal Conservation Ecology. It can be seen at: 

    http://www.consecol.org
CyberClip
CyberClip uses mSQL to power its Shopper's Index search engine. Their web page can be seen at: 

    http://www.cyberclip.com
DMX Cables
Digital Music Express uses mSQL to allow users to search for DMX cable service providers in their area. Their web site can be seen at: 

    http://www.dmxmusic.com
Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer
Dave Gymer <dgymer@gdcarc.co.uk> has used mSQL and Dean Fuqua's zclass C++ classes to provide a web based database system for his collection of compact discs. The CD collection and the source code can be seen at: 

    http://www.mal.com/~dgymer/gizmo/music.html
EUROPRACTICE
EUROPRACTICE is an ASIC manufacturing service. Their home page can be found at: 

    http://www.imec.be/europractice/europractice.html
European Wide Service Exchange
The European Wide Service Exchange uses mSQL extensively. Apart from a user registration and customization service, complex relational tables allow context sensitive searching, both by geographic area as well as by 'free text'. Further functionality relying on mSQL includes urn->urc resolution services, calendars and an automatic 'what is new page'. What makes this site unique however is the ability for the user to add, modify or remove data entries from the databases through a web interface.

Their home page can be found at: 

    http://ewse.ceo.org
First Byte Data Systems
First Byte Data Systems uses mSQL to power its product search engine. Their home page can be seen at: 

    http://www.first-byte.com
Government Contractor Resource Center
The Government Contractor Resource Center provides information for companies wishing to provide contractual services to United States Government bodies. Their web site can be seen at: 

    http://www.govcon.com
(=) Internet Employment Cafe
The Employment Services Department of the University of Western Ontario has established an Internet Employment Cafe powered by mSQL. It can be seen at: 

    http://cafe.sdc.uwo.ca
The IQ Now Member Directory
IQ Now provides information on healthcare services. Their web site is at: 

    http://www.iqnow.com
ISP Listing
Rasmus Lerdorf <rasmus@vex.net> has used mSQL and PHP/FI to maintain a list of Internet Service Providers. His work can be seen at: 

    http://www.vex.net/isp
Kelloggs
Kelloggs (the Corn Flakes people) use mSQL. Their web site can be seen at: 

    http://www.kelloggs.com
Kids Health
KidsHealth is a resource centre for matters relating to children's health. See their home page at: 

    http://KidsHealth.org
Matthew Ahrens' Address Book
Matthew Ahrens <matt@callnet.com> has written a Web based address book. It uses Perl and mSQL. It can be found at: 

    http://www.callnet.com/~matt
Mondo-DB Project
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is using mSQL to manage much of its Unix networking data. Their work can be seen at: 

    http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~allard/Mondo-DB/oindex.html
Nero's World
David Perry <deperry@nerosworld.com> uses mSQL extensively to drive his web server. Examples of his work can be seen at: 

    http://www.nerosworld.com/realestate/
    http://www.nerosworld.com/business/
    http://www.nerosworld.com/tradingpost/
    http://www.nerosworld.com/fstop/
    http://www.nerosworld.com/nero/zipcode.htm
    http://www.nerosworld.com/romancing_the_web/
NetCal!
NetCal! is an interactive calendar system. It can be found at: 

    http://www.itribe.net/netcal
Newshare Corporation
Newshare Corporation is an internet news broker. Their home page can be seen at: 

    http://www.newshare.com
North Carolina Insurance Database
North Carolina Insurance Database provides a registry of insurance providers in North Carolina. They can be found at: 

    http://www.nc-insurance.com
Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse
Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse provides a resource centre for community based programs. Their home page can be found at: 

    http://www.opc.on.ca
Paulina Springs Book Company
The Paulina Springs Book Company uses mSQL and PHP/FI to help drive it's web site. Visit it at: 

    http://www.paulinasprings.com
Physics Pilot
Kenneth Holmlund <Kenneth.Holmlund@TP.UmU.SE> from the Department of Theoretical Physics at Umee University in Sweden has used mSQL and The Personal Home Page Construction Kit to create the "The Internet Pilot to Physics". It can be seen at: 

    http://www.tp.umu.se/TIPTOP
QMS
James Hill <james_hill@iscclink.is.qms.com> has used mSQL and The Personal Home Page Construction Kit to create a searchable web based FAQ for QMS printers. It can be seen at: 

    http://www.qms.com/www/faq
James has made the source code available via anonymous ftp. It can be downloaded from: 

    ftp://ftp.qms.com/pub/mktg/outgoing/SupportBase.tar.gz
    (5509 bytes)
QUERRI Bibliographic Server
QUERRI or "Questions on University Regional Resource Information" is an online database with bibliographic information on more than 15,000 educational resources within the United States. It can be accessed at: 

    http://idea.exnet.iastate.edu:8080
The Railway Exchange
Lester Hightower <hightowe@scri.fsu.edu> uses mSQL to power his web pages on model railway equipment. They can be seen at: 

    http://www.railwayex.com/
Used gear price list
Neil Bradley <neil@synthcom.com> has used mSQL to provide a price list for second hand music equipment. A demonstration of this system is available at 

    http://www.synthcom.com/cgi-bin/gear
and the source code can be obtained via anonymous ftp from: 

    ftp://ftp.synthcom.com/pub/stuff
Virtubank 
    http://w3.e-sense.net/e-sense/Experimental/Virtu
Web Ventures
Web Ventures provides WWW services to business. Their home page can be seen at: 

    http://www.webventures.com.au
Web Integrated Software metrics Environment
The Web Integrated Software metrics Environment (WISE) is a project management system with a WWW interface and an mSQL back end. Details can be found at: 

    http://research.ivv.nasa.gov/projects/WISE/wise.html