How do you identify Informix version on Solaris?

Question

We have Informix running on our Solaris server and under /usr/informix/bin there are several executables, such as 'dbaccess' and 'isql'.

Each of them produce different version information when typing 'isql -V' for example.

How do you identify the exact version of the SE running?

Output:

'esql -V' INFORMIX-ESQL Version 6.00.UH1

'isql -V' INFORMIX-SQL Version 6.03.UC1

'dbaccess -V' DB-Access Version 7.13.UC1

Then in /usr/informix/release directory there is a file named "SE_7.1". So is it accurate to say that the version of Informix SE we are running is 7.13?

Answer 1

Most likely, you are running SE 7.13; the definitive answer is obtained from:

$INFORMIXDIR/lib/sqlexec -V

However, DB-Access is distributed with SE and would give the correct version unless there was at some time a copy of Informix Dynamic Server (or Informix OnLine Dynamic Server as it would have been labelled back then).

All the software is seriously archaic. Version 6.03 of ISQL was released circa 1996; SE 7.13 would be a little earlier, if anything. The ESQL/C was probably released in 1995; 6.00.UE1 was released in 1994 or 1995, and the UH1 release would have been a little later (a couple of fix packs). Formally, none of the software is guaranteed Y2K-compliant; you'd be using SE 7.24 and ISQL 6.05 (or possibly 7.20) and ESQL/C 7.24 as minimum version numbers. However, the problems with SE and Y2K were far less serious than with other versions. The main issue is that the code will add 1900 to 2-digit years, not 2000.

The current version of SE is 7.26; the current version of ISQL is 7.50; the current version of ESQL/C is (don't ask) 3.50.

Answer 2

Just to add to Jonathan's typically exhaustive answer, DB-Access is bundled with the engine, but isql and esql are both separate products. That's why you're getting different answers to the version number request. They're all correct answers to different questions ;-)