Red Hat 6.4 can't install filePro 5.7.3 - missing libodbc.so.1 (Mostly Fixed!)

[Mike Schwartz]

> On 4/10/2013 9:11 PM, Fairlight wrote:
> > On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 11:31:10AM -0400, Mike Schwartz thus spoke:
> >>      I'm setting up a brand new 64-bit Red Hat Enterprise version 6.4
> >>      server.  The Red Hat installation went smoothly, but one of the
> >>      32-bit apps I'm trying to install (filePro version 5.7.3) says I
need
> >>      to install the "unix ODBC libraries".
> >
> > Why did they do this?  ODBC has been a Windows-only thing since it was
> > introduced.  Are they officially supporting it on Linux now?  If not,
> > this is an absurd bug/glitch on their end.
> 
> Apparently, you missed the fact that filePro has included ODBC access to
> MySQL files on *nix systems since 2011.
> --
> Kenneth Brody

      Well!!!   it's not *OUR* fault that you haven't had a filePro
convention for the past several years so that you could DEMONSTRATE all
these nifty new features, like ODBC in Unix,  to us!!!   :<)) 

      I know it's a heck of a lot of trouble to hold a convention, but it at
least fPtech could cut some You-Tube videos or maybe write some "white
papers".  A quick search of You-Tube shows three (3) videos that mention
filePro. One of those is a "static" Hudson Valley video that only shows a
color slide that says "filePro info and utilities" and two are old fpGI
videos that I didn't know existed until just now.    

       I am looking forward to working with the new features, especially the
direct PDF printing out of filePro without requiring any 3rd party software.
But I was as surprised as Mark was that ODBC is included in the Unix/Linux
version of filePro.  I probably did get an email from fpTech that listed new
features, but the fact that ODBC was now in the Unix/Linux version went
right past my head.

       As far as my loading problems, I kept hitting one missing library
after another, even though I installed the Red Hat with the "Developers
Workstation" options.

        In retrospect, I might not have had so many problems if I had
installed the 32-bit version of Red Hat, instead of the 64-bit version,
since filePro is still a 32-bit app.

      It took at least 5 installation attempts the past two days, each
attempt followed by a lot of research and then guessing at which RPM's to
load, before I finally got filePro to install.  

      filePro is *still* not fully installed, although I have at least made
it all the way through the installation script.  (Side note:  The
installation script did appear to clean everything up nicely after it
aborted.  Kudos to Jerry Rains or whoever maintains it...)

       The most important problem still remaining  is that my first attempt
to download and install a license failed. I got the license into place, but
filePro doesn't like it.   (Of course.)  Bill Randall did reset the license
on the web site again for me, so later this morning I will take another shot
at it.  (Bill has been VERY helpful the past couple of days.)

       There are also other problems remaining. For example, I wasn't
offered the option to install the filePro demo files, so I will have to read
the docs to see how to do that.  (Or maybe the filePro installation was
supposed to do that, and the installation still isn't done correctly.)

       At this point, I have the lion's share of two (2) full days spent
trying to get filePro installed, and I'm still not done.  I understand that
it's tough for a small company like fptech to keep up with all the flavors
of Linux.  I also understand that they need to have some sort of licensing
to protect their intellectual property.  And I understand that this might
have gone a little more smoothly if I had started with the 32-bit version of
Red Hat.  However, this was a LOT of grief to go through just to get native
PDF creation and the few other things I will need out of filepro 5.7.3.  So,
if any of you are thinking about upgrading, TIGHTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS and pad
your installation quotes by at LEAST an extra day or two!

Thanks,

Mike Schwartz