Python Driver and DBI Wrapper for IBM Databases
-----------------------------------------------
The ibm_db driver and ibm_db_dbi wrapper provide a Python interface for IBM 
databases.  The wrapper conforms to the DBI specification located here:
  http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0249/

The driver and wrapper have been developed and will be supported by IBM. 


Python ibm_db Driver Build and Installation
-------------------------------------------
1. Linux 
    
  Preparations (specific commands dependent on shell):
    If you are compiling against a DB2 instance, do the following
    (paths depend on system):
      . <path_to_sqllib>/db2profile
      export IBM_DB_HOME=<path_to_sqllib>
  
  Installation Commands for Linux:
    python setup.py build
    python setup.py install 
  
2. Windows 

  Preparations:
    Install Python from:
      http://python.org
    Install Visual C++ 2003, Platform SDK (latest), .NET SDK Version
    1.1 from:
      http://wiki.tcl.tk/11431
    Set envrionment:
      CALL "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK for Windows
        Server 2003 R2\SetEnv.Cmd"
      CALL "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit
        2003\vcvars32.bat"
      SET LIB=%LIB%;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET
        2003\Vc7\lib 
      (Use notepad to edit config.py to your DB2 settings)
      set IBM_DB_HOME=<path_to_sqllib>

  Installation Commands for Windows:
    setup.py build
    setup.yp install


Python ibm_db_dbi Wrapper Build and Installation
------------------------------------------------
There is no special build required to use the ibm_db_wrapper. However, the 
wrapper internally uses the driver. So the driver needs to be built and 
installed before you use the wrapper.


Setup to use ibm_db or ibm_db_dbi
---------------------------------
For Unix based systems:
Depending on your shell, source the db2profile or db2chsrc. Be sure to source 
the profile for the DB2 instance and not the profile under the DB2 product 
installation. For example:
  . <path_to_sqllib>/db2profile
                 or
  source <path_to_sqllib>/db2chsrc

Import ibm_db or ibm_db_dbi inside your Python application to use the driver or 
wrapper functionality
  import ibm_db
       or
  import ibm_db_dbi

Note: Please make sure that the directory containing the ibm_db_dbi.py file is 
added to the PYTHONPATH variable. This will ensure that the DBI wrapper can be 
accessed in your python applications.


List of Operating Systems tested
--------------------------------
SuSE Linux Server 9 32 bit
Ubuntu Linux 7.04 32 bit
Windows 32 bit


Supported Databases
-------------------
IBM DB2 Database on Linux, Unix and Windows 8.2 and onwards
Informix(IDS) Cheetah version 11.10 onwards
Remote connections to i5/OS (iSeries)
Remote connections to z/OS (DB2 UDB for zOS)
DB2 on Mac

Future Supported Databases
--------------------------
IBM Cloudscape
Apache Derby
Native DB2 for i5/OS (iSeries)
Native DB2 UDB for zOS


Testing
-------
Tests displaying Python ibm_db driver code examples are located in the tests 
directory.  These tests can be run by using 'python tests.py' on Unix based 
systems, and 'tests.py' on Windows based systems. Use vi to edit config.py to 
your DB2 settings.

The default config.py contains:

test_dir =      'tests'         # Location of testsuite file (relative to current directory)

database =      'test'          # Database to connect to
user     =      'db2inst1'      # User ID to connect with
password =      'password'      # Password for given User ID
hostname =      'localhost'     # Hostname
port     =      50000           # Port Number

Point the database to mydatabase as created by the following command.

The tests that ibm_db driver uses depends on a UTF-8 database.  This can be 
created by running:
    CREATE DATABASE mydatabase USING CODESET UTF-8 TERRITORY US
Some of the tests utilize XML functionality only available in version 9 or 
later of DB2.  While DB2 v8.x is fully supported, two of the tests 
(test_195.py and test_52949.py) utilize XML functionality.  These tests will 
fail on version 8.x of DB2.

Running the driver testsuite on Linux
  In order to run the entire python driver testsuite on Linux, run this 
  command at the command prompt:
    python tests.py
  To run a single test, set the environment variable, SINGLE_PYTHON_TEST, to 
  the test filename you would like to run, followed by the previous command.
    
Running the driver testsuite on Windows
  In order to run the entire python driver testsuite on Windows, run this 
  command at the command prompt:
    tests.py
  To run a single test, set the environment variable, SINGLE_PYTHON_TEST, to 
  the test filename you would like to run, followed by the previous command.


Known Limitations for the Python driver
---------------------------------------
1. The following tests are expected to fail:
   test_03a.py: 
     Fails due to an exception being thrown by the driver and not
     being caught by the test.
     
   In addition to these, if trusted context is not set up,
   there will be additional two failures related to trusted context.


Known Limitations for the Python wrapper
----------------------------------------
1. The rowcount for select statements can not be generated.
2. Some warnings from the drivers are not caught by the wrapper.
   As such these might go unnoticed.
