Build changes for 7176225: Remove JDBC-ODBC Bridge

[Lance Andersen - Oracle]

On Oct 26, 2012, at 5:39 PM, Alan Bateman wrote:

> On 26/10/2012 21:14, John Yeary wrote:
>> Hello All,
>> 
>> Out of curiosity what will replace it? I looked at the transitional
>> notification[1], but it leaves me feeling a little uneasy about it. At one
>> point, I worked on a number of "simple" applications which used MS Access
>> as the database for a Java Swing front end. The only driver to connect
>> these applications was the JDBC-ODBC bridge. A number of those applications
>> are still around today. Is it safe to assume that the users will not
>> upgrade their systems? When JDK 8 comes out, their applications will fail.
>> 
>> I realize that I have come late to the conversation on this since the
>> removal is almost completed, but I see an issue cropping up in the future.
>> 
>> John
>> 
> The JDBC-ODBC bridge has never been in OpenJDK, it's just the make files.
> 
> In any case, the JDBC-ODBC bridge has been on death row for a long time. Lance can confirm but I believe that it hasn't been updated beyond JBDC 2.0 whereas JDK7 moved to JDBC 4.1. I don't think it has been usable with any of the JDBC features that were added over the last few major releases.

That is correct, it has not been enhanced in close to 10 years.  It has been tweaked just enough to allow it to continue to build.  We do not test it, we do not fix bugs in it (and I have a long list of bugs) and it does not run on all of the platforms for which there is a JDK and is not part of the JRE.
> 
> Another thing is that I don't think it has ever been supported.
That is correct.
> The oldest documentation I found is JDK 1.3 where it was recommended only for experimental use. I don't think it has really been necessary for many years anyway as so many JDBC drivers available.

There are some databases, such as access, where you might be out of luck in the short term with Java SE 8 but again we have not been updating the bridge and it is sorely behind the times.

If someone sees a need for this, it provides an opportunity to create a driver that they might choose to support commercially.

Best
Lance
> 
> -Alan.

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