ITP: unixODBC

[Jim Ziegler <jcz@ziplink.net>]

I intend to package unixODBC.

website: http://www.unixODBC.org

>From the web site:

   What is the unixODBC Project? 

       The unixODBC Project goals are to develop
       and promote unixODBC to be the definitive
       standard for ODBC on the Linux platform. 
       This is to include GUI support for KDE. 

   What is ODBC? 

       ODBC is an open specification for providing
       application developers with a predictable
       API with which to access Data  Sources. 
       Data Sources include SQL Servers and any 
       Data Source with an ODBC Driver.  

   Why use ODBC? 

       The two major advantages of choosing to code 
       an application to the ODBC API are; 

          Portable Data Access Code 

              The ODBC API, as outlined by X/Open 
              and ISO, is availible on all major 
              platforms. Microsoft platforms include
              many enhancements to this specification; 
              these enhancements are 

          Dynamic Data Binding 

              This allows the user or the system 
              administrator to easily configure an 
              application to use any ODBC
              compliant data source. This is perhaps
              the single biggest advantage of coding
              an application to the ODBC API and to 
              purchase these applications. Dyamic 
              binding allows the end-user to pick a 
              data source, ie an SQL Server, and use
              it for all data applications without 
              having to worry about recompiling the 
              application. 

   The unixODBC team has reached this objective by 
   providing the best technical solution to ODBC 
   demands on the Linux platform. Also; ALL unixODBC 
   development is and will be distributed under GPL 
   or LGPL. The LGPL on libs will ensure that 
   commercial solutions will be able to utilize 
   unixODBC.

This will result in two binary packages:

 Package: libodbc
 Source: unixODBC (1.8.5)
 Section: libs
 Priority: optional
 Depends: 
 Conflicts: 
 Maintainer: James Craig Ziegler <jcz@ziplink.net>
 Description: Provides odbc driver manager and
              drivers for various database systems.

 Package: unixodbc-tools
 Source: unixODBC (1.8.5)
 Section: X11
 Priority: optional
 Depends: libqt2 unixodbc
 Conflicts: 
 Maintainer: James Craig Ziegler <jcz@ziplink.net>
 Description: Provides graphical tools for
              configuring, installing, and testing
              odbc drivers and databases.

Note that upstream has specified GPL and LGPL, but
these tools use QT.  Upstream has agreed to add
additional wording to the license to specifically
allow linking and distribution with the QT
libraries.  Suggested wording would be appreciated.

I am not currently a Debian member, sponsorship
solicited.

-- 
jcz@ziplink.net (Jim Ziegler)