simon.mason / syngenta.com wrote:

>I'm trying to use the interbase driver from RAA but have no idea how to
>compile it on a win9x machine. If anyone has already done it I would
>appreciate it if they could send me the compiled version..
>
>Or failing that could someone give me some pointers on how to compile it
>myself.
>
>thanks,
>simon.
>
Are you using the cygwin or the ms Ruby?
I haven't gotten around to building Ruby on Windows yet, although I plan 
to.  If you're using the ms Ruby, I wouldn't know how to help you.  If 
you're using the cygwin Ruby, you'll need the cygwin tools from RedHat. 
 Then the process should be the same as in Unix:

ruby extconf.rb
make
make install

Delightfully simple, eh?  It allows for quick iterations when I'm 
hacking on it.  Thanks, matz.

Speaking of hacking: The Interbase Ruby driver isn't quite ready for 
prime time.  The version in RAA doesn't support blobs, dates before 1970 
or Interbase 6 dialect 3.  It's a great start--I feel fortunate not to 
have to start from scratch--but it's currently rather bare-bones.  I 
have a version that maps blobs to and from strings like varchars, floors 
retrieved dates at zero, and adds block syntax for #connect and 
#execute.  Ruby 1.7 supports negative dates on supporting platforms, so 
I can make the date munging conditional.  I have that and other good 
things on my todo list when Real Life stops interfering with my hacking 
schedule.

I haven't made any formal releases because a) there's so much left to do 
and b) it hasn't been tested on a wide variety of platforms, but what I 
have can be found at 
http://www.rowlandresearch.com/ruby/interbase-0.05.tar.gz.

Good luck,

Brent Rowland