README

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   +----------------------------------------------------------------------+   
   |                                                                      |
   |                     OCILIB - C Driver for Oracle                     |
   |                                                                      |
   |                      (C Wrapper for Oracle OCI)                      |
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   +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
   |                                                                      |
   |                     Website : http://www.ocilib.net                  |
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   +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
   |                                                                      |
   |               Copyright (c) 2007-2015 Vincent ROGIER                |
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   +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
   |                                                                      |
   |                              (GNU PACKAGE)                           |
   |                                                                      |
   +----------------------------------------------------------------------+   

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DESCRIPTION 
===========

OCILIB is an open source and portable Oracle Driver that delivers really fast and reliable access to Oracle databases.

The OCILIB library :

    * offers a rich, full featured and easy to use API
    * runs on all Oracle platforms
    * is written in pure ISO C code with native ISO C Unicode support
    * encapsulates OCI (Oracle Call Interface)
    * is the most complete available OCI wrapper
 
VERSION 
========

see VERSION file.


FEATURES 
========
   
    * Full Ansi and Unicode support on all platforms (ISO C wide strings or UTF8 strings)
    * Full 32/64 bits compatibility
    * Comptabile with all Oracle version >= 8i
    * Automatic adaptation to the runtime Oracle client version
    * Runtime loading of Oracle libraries
    * Builtin error handling (global and thread context)
    * Full support for SQL API and Object API
    * Full support for ALL Oracle SQL and PL/SQL datatypes (scalars, objects, refs, collections, ..)
    * Full support for PL/SQL (blocks, cursors, Index by Tables and Nested tables)
    * Support for non scalar datatype with trough library objects 
    * Oracle Pooling (connections and sessions pools)
    * Oracle XA connectivity (X/Open Distributed Transaction Processing XA interface)
    * Oracle AQ (Advanded Queues)
    * Oracle TAF (Transparent Application Failover) and HA (High availabality) support 
    * Binding array Interface
    * Returning DML feature
    * Scrollable statements
    * Statement cache
    * Direct Path loading
    * Remote Instances Startup/Shutdown
    * Oracle Database Change notification / Continuous Query Notification
    * Oracle warnings support
    * Global and local transactions 
    * Describe database schema objects
    * Hash tables API
    * Portable Threads and mutexes API

DOWNLOAD 
========

Available at :

URL : http://www.ocilib.net

LICENSE
=======

see COPYING file.

COMPATIBILITY
=============

This current source is pure ISO C and should compile with any C90 Compliant compiler
for ansi version and C99 for unicode versions.
 
 Validated Platforms (32/64bits): 
 
 - Windows 
 - UP/UX 
 - Linux 
 - Solaris 
 - AIX
 - Mac OS X
 - OpenvMS (full validation pending)

 Validated Compilers : 

 - GCC / MinGW
 - MS Compilers 
 - XLC  
 - CCs 
 - LabView

 Validated Oracle versions : 
 
 - Oracle 8i 
 - Oracle 9i 
 - Oracle 10g 
 - Oracle 11g 

INSTALLATION AND LIBRARY BUILDS  
===============================

see INSTALL file for installation options.

To install, use GNU install :

>./configure
>./make
>./make install

you migth need to `su` to make install

Make sure Oracle library path and the ocilib library path are defined in
your shared library variable (LB_LIBRARY_PATH, LDPATH, SHLIB_PATH....)

Custom install options

`--with-oracle-charset'

     Specify charset uses with Oracle OCI libraries
     Possible values are : ansi|wide
     Default is : ansi

`--with-oracle-import'

     Specify how OCILIB is importing Oracle OCI libraries
     Possible values are : linkage|runtime
     Default is : linkage
     in runtime import mode, Oracle libraries and environment are 
     not checked during compilation time.

`--with-oracle-home'

     Specify your Oracle home location.  (for regular Oracle client installation)
     Default is $ORACLE_HOME
     Only used if import mode is linkage

`--with-oracle-headers-path'

     Specify your OCI public headers path (for Oracle Instant client)
     Only used if import mode is linkage

`--with-oracle-lib-path'

     Specify your OCI shared library path (for Oracle Instant client)
     this directory must contains the libclntsh library.
     You might need to create a symbolic link without version number.
     Only used if import mode is linkage

`--with-custom-loader'

     Specify the linker the flag for adding support for loaders other than ld
     Default value is '-ldl'.
     Only used if import mode is runtime


BUILD DEMO
==========

copy demo.c and Makefile_demo from the folder $(OCILIB_PREFIX)/share/doc/ocilib/demo

(OCILIB_PREFIX is the installation lib folder - default is /usr/local)

to any of our full access directory and then compile :

>make -f Makefile_demo

MAKE ANY PROGRAM WITH OCILIB
============================

Add the following to your makefile

1/ define charset

add -DOCI_CHARSET_xxxx  to your CFLAGS

where xxxx can be : ANSI | WIDE

2 / link OCILIB library

add -L$(OCILIB_PREFIX)/lib -locilib to your LDFLAGS

where OCILIB_PREFIX is the installation lib folder - default is /usr/local

2 / link Oracle library (if import mode = linkage which is default)

add -L$(ORACLE_HOME)/lib -lclntsh to your LDFLAGS


FEED BACK, BUG REPORTS
======================

URL : http://www.ocilib.net/support

DOCUMENTATION
=============

Included in the library archive, it's installed in $(OCILIB_PREFIX)/share/doc/ocilib/html/

Online : http://www.ocilib.net/documentation/html

USE OF OCILIB
=============

Please, Let me know about projects using OCILIB.

Send me a mail at <vince.rogier@ocilib.net> with a brief description of your project

Thanks.