Morten, ODBC stands for "Open Database Connectivity". It's a connection layer (API) that is non-database-specific. This removes application dependence on one particular database, e.g. using ODBC instead of "native" functions allows you to write your application against MySQL and then deploy on Oracle, for instance.
On Linux and other *nix flavors, connecting to databases with ODBC using PHP requires that PHP be compiled with an ODBC Driver Manager, and that ODBC Drivers be installed. A HOWTO is available at www.iodbc.org as well as an Open Source Driver Manager and free commercial driver downloads. On Windows, only drivers need to be installed, as the Driver Manager is present (MDAC or ODBC Administrator) and PHP builds for Windows can use this by default. Hope this helps! Best regards, Andrew Hill Director of Technology Evangelism OpenLink Software http://www.openlinksw.com Universal Data Access & Data Integration Technology Providers office:781.273.0900 x 27 mobile:781.608.4217 > -----Original Message----- > From: Morten Nielsen [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2002 11:45 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [PHP-DB] ODBC > > > Hi, > > Could anybody explain to me what ODBC is. Should I install it when I use > mySQL? > > Thanks, > Morten > > > > -- > PHP Database Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To contact the list administrators, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > -- PHP Database Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
