Frequently Asked Questions on Ingres for Linux

Does Ingres Shut Down Automatically?

• I notice that Ingres starts automatically when the machine is started. Does it also stop automatically when the machine is shut down?

  Yes. The ingstop command is issued when the machine is shut down.

What Character Set Should I Use on Japanese SUSE Linux 9?

• I installed Ingres on Japanese SUSE Linux 9. Japanese SUSE's default encoding is set to ja_JP.UTF-8, which is not an Ingres-supported character set. What character set should I use?

  Use kanjieuc for Ingres non-Unicode data types (for example char and varchar). If you want to use the Ingres Unicode data types, you must convert your UTF-8 data to UTF-16 format for storage in Ingres (regardless of the Ingres character set setting). To convert to UTF-16 format, you can use, for example, iconv(3).

Which Linux Shell Should I Use?

• Linux provides multiple sh-type shells. Which should I use with Ingres?

  On Linux systems, the file /bin/sh is a link to a shell such as bash, ash, ksh, or zsh. This shell is invoked when a Bourne shell script is run. Ingres was developed and tested on a Linux system using GNU bash, version 2.05b-50. Limited, successful testing has also been done with the ksh and zsh shells.

Why Is Createdb Issuing Error Messages?

• I am having trouble creating databases with the createdb program. The program is issuing error messages. Why?

  Make sure that you are not running the "createdb" program that is provided by PostgreSQL. Make sure that the PATH setting for the shell from which you install and start Ingres includes Ingres executable directories before other executable directories.

How Do I Get the Function Keys to Work?

• How do I get the function keys to work with the forms-based Ingres applications on Linux?

  The TERM_INGRES environmental variable defines the type of terminal you are using, so that the function keys will work when using the forms-based tools, such as CBF or QBF. On Linux, setting TERM_INGRES to konsolel will work for most terminals.

  During installation, the value of TERM_INGRES is set to konsolel. You can change this value if it does not meet your needs.

How Do I Map Function Keys?

• How can I map function keys PFK1 through PFK4 for an xterm?

  Running Ingres in an xterm, set TERM to xterm and set TERM_INGRES to vt100fx. Then use xmodmap to determine and set your function keys. To show current settings, use the command xmodmap –pke . (To determine the syntax for your version of xmodmap, use man xmodmap.)

  You will probably find that there are no bindings for KP_F1 through KP_F4; you will need to bind them.

  For example: to bind keys Shift+F1 through Shift+F4, create a file "mykeys" that contains:

  keycode 67 = F1 KP_F1

  keycode 68 = F2 KP_F2

  keycode 69 = F3 KP_F3

  keycode 70 = F4 KP_F4

  Then issue the command:

  xmodmap mykeys

  Shift+F1 through Shift+F4 will now be defined as PFK1 through PFK4.

Should I Modify System Kernel Parameters?

• Do I need to modify system kernel parameters before running Ingres?

  No. Standard kernels and kernels compiled with default values (without modifying the Linux source headers) should provide adequate resources. For additional information, see the Readme file.

  You might, however, need to increase the maximum allowable size for shared memory segments. You can do this by running /sbin/sysctl –w kernel.shmmax=<new value> as root. Change is immediate and does not require a reboot.

  Ingres will fail to start if any of the kernel parameters do not meet required values. You can check these parameters using the syscheck utility in $II_SYSTEM/ingres/utility, as follows:

  syscheck

  If syscheck reports any potential problems, use the following to generate a list of suitable parameters:

  syscheck –c

  The output is in the format expected by /sbin/sysctl. If the output is written to a file, the new values can be applied as follows:

  syscheck –c > out.file
  /sbin/sysctl –p outfile

What Switches Do I Use to Compile C Applications?

• What compiler and compiler switches were used to create the Linux version of Ingres? Are additional switches needed for compiling C-language application programs?

  Ingres was compiled using the GCC compiler version 3.3.3 with the following switches:

  -fsigned-char -fno-strength-reduce -D_REENTRANT -DLINUX -D_GNU_SOURCE -DXLIB_ILLEGAL_ACCESS -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -fPIC -O

Do I Need to Change Permissions?

• Do I need to change the permissions for /dev/kmem to run Ingres on Linux?

  No. While this step is required on some UNIX systems, it is not required for this version of Ingres for Linux.

Why Does the Fortran Compiler Fail When Using G77?

• When I compile the Fortran code generated by the ESQLF pre-compiler using g77, it fails with 'Unrecognized statement name.....'. Why?

  The g77 compiler (which is bundled with many, if not all, Linux distributions) does not support some of the statements that the ESQLF pre-compiler generates. More information is available at gnu.org.

How Do I Get Characters to Display Properly?

• When using alternative Ingres character sets, must I do anything other than setting II_CHARSETXX, to get the characters to display correctly?

  If your terminal is using the same character set as Ingres, you should not have a problem. If characters are not displaying correctly, try starting the terminal with a specific character set.

  For example, if you are using SHIFTJIS (Japanese Double Byte character set) as the II_CHARSETXX setting in a kterm, start the kterm with the following command:

  kterm -km sjis

  If you encounter problems using double byte character sets and kterm, try using the rxvt terminal instead. For example, to start the rxvt terminal with the SHIFTJIS character set, issue this command:

  rxvt -km sjis