Can I export an Informix 3 without Informix 3?

I need to obtain ascii files from tables of an Informix 3 database on SCO Unix, but I have got only Informix 4.11 for Unix. Is there a way to do this? Thank you a lot! Siro

Siro wrote: > > I need to obtain ascii files from tables of an Informix 3 database on SCO > Unix, > but I have got only Informix 4.11 for Unix. > Is there a way to do this? > > Thank you a lot! > > Siro If You use SE just copy the files from Your SCO-Box into a directory on Your unix-box called e.g. xxx.dbs. The set DBPATH correctly and it should work. wolfgang -- ******************************************************************************* * Any opinions written in this e-mail are my own. They may not correspond to * * those of my company. * ******************************************************************************* * Wolfgang Zager Berghauser Str. 104 * * BAB Data-Systems GmbH D-42349 Wuppertal * * Abt. Programmierung Tel. : +49 202 479870 * * Fax : +49 202 470035 * * E-Mail: zager@gmx.de * *******************************************************************************

Siro wrote: > I need to obtain ascii files from tables of an Informix 3 database on > SCO Unix, but I have got only Informix 4.11 for Unix. > Is there a way to do this? First of all, we need to verify which software you have. Informix carefully avoided releasing any SQL-based software with a version 3.x (ok; that is slightly over-simplifying it,but it will do for the discussion at hand), to avoid confusion with its previous product, Informix 3.30. This was a non-SQL database system. You can distinguish between these systems by observing that the Informix 3.30 software used a filename database.dbd to identify the schema of the database, whereas the SQL-based system using C-ISAM (which became Informix SE) uses a directory database.dbs. The SE system has C-ISAM files such as systables.dat and systables.idx; the Informix 3.30 system does not. Informix released 3.30.14 in 1985 or 1986, just FYI. It does have date types, but it does not have a concept of century, let alone whether it is 20th or 21st century (unless you have the Y2K patch that someone sent me -- which, perish the thought, is still in use by a major US airline). If you have indeed got Informix 3.30 data, then we're going to need to reverse engineer the schema from the dbd file. It is much easier if you have Informix 3.30 around. How big is the database you are working with? How many tables? The chances are that the quickest solution is for me to do the conversion since I have the source code for Informix 3.30 and a whole battery of utilities for dealing with these issues. Further, since SCO is Intel x86 based, and so are my Linux boxes, I can probably simply use my Linux port of 3.30 to unpack the data. I'll need you to give me FTP access to all the files (dat, idx, dbd) which should be bundled into a single gzipped tar file. I need hostname, i/p address, login, password and directory information. If you don't have Informix 3.30 but do in fact have, say, Informix SQL 2.10.03x, then the migration options are simpler. Chances are, you can simply run the ISQL 4.11 software (which is also not Y2K-compliant) against the older database, and then use dbexport and dbimport... -- Yours, Jonathan Leffler (Jonathan.Leffler@Informix.com) #include <disclaimer.h> Guardian of DBD::Informix v1.00.PC1 -- http://www.perl.com/CPAN "I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it!"

In article <3A0C3FDF.D37BB127@informix.com>, Jonathan Leffler <jleffler@informix.com> writes >Siro wrote: >> I need to obtain ascii files from tables of an Informix 3 database on >> SCO Unix, but I have got only Informix 4.11 for Unix. >> Is there a way to do this? > >First of all, we need to verify which software you have. Informix >carefully avoided releasing any SQL-based software with a version 3.x >(ok; that is slightly over-simplifying it,but it will do for the >discussion at hand), to avoid confusion with its previous product, >Informix 3.30. This was a non-SQL database system. Oh! The wonderful old days of 'Executing Informer' float before my eyes! <snip> -- Surfer!

Thank you for your interest. 1 - The database directory is database.dbs 2 - I have installed Informix 4.11 but when I run isql (and select my database) or dbexport it gives me error "Cannot read system catalog (systables)" 3 - The database is quite big: 98 tables for about 10 Mb compressed (with pkzip) I think that if I find dbexport for Informix 3 I'll be good. Jonathan Leffler <jleffler@informix.com> wrote in message 3A0C3FDF.D37BB127@informix.com... > Siro wrote: > > I need to obtain ascii files from tables of an Informix 3 database on > > SCO Unix, but I have got only Informix 4.11 for Unix. > > Is there a way to do this? > > First of all, we need to verify which software you have. Informix > carefully avoided releasing any SQL-based software with a version 3.x > (ok; that is slightly over-simplifying it,but it will do for the > discussion at hand), to avoid confusion with its previous product, > Informix 3.30. This was a non-SQL database system. You can distinguish > between these systems by observing that the Informix 3.30 software used > a filename database.dbd to identify the schema of the database, whereas > the SQL-based system using C-ISAM (which became Informix SE) uses a > directory database.dbs. The SE system has C-ISAM files such as > systables.dat and systables.idx; the Informix 3.30 system does not. > Informix released 3.30.14 in 1985 or 1986, just FYI. It does have date > types, but it does not have a concept of century, let alone whether it > is 20th or 21st century (unless you have the Y2K patch that someone sent > me -- which, perish the thought, is still in use by a major US airline). > > If you have indeed got Informix 3.30 data, then we're going to need to > reverse engineer the schema from the dbd file. It is much easier if you > have Informix 3.30 around. How big is the database you are working > with? How many tables? > > The chances are that the quickest solution is for me to do the > conversion since I have the source code for Informix 3.30 and a whole > battery of utilities for dealing with these issues. Further, since SCO > is Intel x86 based, and so are my Linux boxes, I can probably simply use > my Linux port of 3.30 to unpack the data. I'll need you to give me FTP > access to all the files (dat, idx, dbd) which should be bundled into a > single gzipped tar file. I need hostname, i/p address, login, password > and directory information. > > If you don't have Informix 3.30 but do in fact have, say, Informix SQL > 2.10.03x, then the migration options are simpler. Chances are, you can > simply run the ISQL 4.11 software (which is also not Y2K-compliant) > against the older database, and then use dbexport and dbimport... > > -- > Yours, > Jonathan Leffler (Jonathan.Leffler@Informix.com) #include <disclaimer.h> > Guardian of DBD::Informix v1.00.PC1 -- http://www.perl.com/CPAN > "I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it!"

Matteo Sirotti wrote: > > Thank you for your interest. > > 1 - The database directory is database.dbs > 2 - I have installed Informix 4.11 but when I run isql (and select my > database) or dbexport it gives me error "Cannot read system catalog > (systables)" > 3 - The database is quite big: 98 tables for about 10 Mb compressed (with > pkzip) > > I think that if I find dbexport for Informix 3 I'll be good. > > Jonathan Leffler <jleffler@informix.com> wrote in message > 3A0C3FDF.D37BB127@informix.com... > > Siro wrote: > > > I need to obtain ascii files from tables of an Informix 3 database on > > > SCO Unix, but I have got only Informix 4.11 for Unix. > > > Is there a way to do this? > > > > First of all, we need to verify which software you have. [...] Working off-line from the news group, we've established that the application is written in I4GL 1.10.03, so the Informix 3.30 stuff does not apply. We're working on why the 4.10 (not 4.11) SE database won't access the 2.10.03 files; it should work, but there's a chance that the locking mode on Xenix (which is where 1.10.03 would have been running; this is circa 1988) was different from the locking mode on SCO Unix where 4.10 is running. Does anybody remember whether DB-Export was part of the I4GL 1.10.03 or ISQL 2.10.03 software, or did it arrive with version 4.00? What about DB-Schema? -- Yours, Jonathan Leffler (Jonathan.Leffler@Informix.com) #include <disclaimer.h> Guardian of DBD::Informix v1.00.PC1 -- http://www.perl.com/CPAN "I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it!"