From: Brent Rowland <tarod@...>
Date: 2001-08-13T06:54:52+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:19618] Interbase Database Driver

This message is for Matz and anyone else who is developing or using the 
Interbase driver.

I have a personal need for a fully-functional and up-to-date Interbase 
driver for Ruby.  In particular, I need support for blobs and Interbase 
6 dialect 3.

Before I undertake to add these features...

1) Is anyone else working on it? (I've got version 0.03)
2) What is the preferred vision for a blob API?

I use a lot of text blobs, so transparent access via strings like a 
varchar would be convenient.  However, I would also like to make less 
memory-intensive, stream-style access possible for larger blobs.

3) What platforms currently work besides x86 Linux?  
Windows?
64-bit?
Big-endian?

I wouldn't want to down-grade existing functionality.  I can test x86 
Linux and Win2K.  Would there be anyone interested in testing on other 
platforms?

4) What can I do to make it work well within the framework of Ruby DBI?
5) Is there anything I need to pay attention to license-wise?

The RAA module has Matz's name on it, but the interbase.c file says it 
was derived from Python and is copyright a couple other companies.  I 
don't mind any reasonable terms, and would be happy to "give something 
back."

Brent Rowland