So, I've had some free time latley, and I've started back on the database API layers (DB2 and SQL Server currently).
However, I have found 2 disturbing issues.
Overview
First, I'm currently exploring the following 3 ways to connect to sql server:
1. FreeTDS
2. php_mssql driver
3. MSFT SQL Driver ( See pcorbetts posting for a link to the driver )
-
PHP 5.2.5 breaks support for SQL Server
I'm running PHP 5.2.5. I've had a perfectly good working SQL Server installtion, so I thought this was just a PHP upgrade and then I was going to continue to do some module dev. and bug fixing. Well, it seems that with PHP 5.2.5 neither the php_mssql extension OR the FreeTDS driver work with PHP any longer. I have submitted a bug report to PHP ( 43645 ). This has been verified by another developer also. -
MSFT SQL Driver works in 5.2.5...but still alpha
The MSFT SQL Driver DOES work in 5.2.5. However, the driver is still in alpha quality, and will prob. be Spring before I would say it's a stable beta ( reference the IIS FastCGI module for a MSFT timeline :) ).
It should also be noted that the ntwlib client ( this is the library that allows FreeTDS and the php_mssql libs to connect nativley to SQL Server using TDS [Tabular Data Stream]) is no longer going to be distributed with SQL Server. It's been deprecated. This kind of makes sense, given MSFT is prob. going to start branching it's product away from it's Sybase origins, so who knows what funky stuff they'll do with the TDS format. Anyway, I'm still trying to get my head around what direction they're going to take at this juncture. They must know there's a need for PHP+MSSQL connectivity, thus the development of the SQL Driver. I know that it is beta ( and as I've said before...definatly a TRUE beta, not a "google" beta :) ), but I'm confident this driver will get finished and supported...but I just can't say when.
With that said, I'm going to try and continue development by downgrading my PHP, and keeping an eye on the but I opened at php.net.
That's all for now, but just thought I'd give a heads up about PHP+MSSQL and esp. the 5.2.5 issue.
Comments
Can anyone else confirm
Can anyone else confirm this? I can, but so far no one working at PHP.net or here has... It's a huge issue if it can be confirmed.
works for me
I'm working with the mssql patch for Drupal, and after much fiddling I was able to get it to work just fine with php 5.2.5 and the stock mssql driver. (I'm looking into whether I can post the patch, but it might be a while before that's possible.)
Great
Are you at Drupalcon Boston this week? If so, we should definitely get together. If not, myself and others are definitely interested in your D6 work - is it working well for you? What drivers are you using?