Fred,

> I am using 1.5 RC4 and have checked the firebird dir for anything that

might

> be helpful but can find nothing that you could call a release notes file.

I

> take it from your answer that this is a known problem, though.

1) Upgrade your RC4 to RC6, i think there is a release notes inside this zip
file.
If not:

2) Latest Release Notes for Firebird 1.5:
http://www.ibphoenix.com/downloads/Firebird_v15.104_ReleaseNotes.pdf

Seek for information about security and external files. This is not a
problem, is a new feature to increase security at external tables level.

Small Advice: take your time reading the Release Notes. There are a lot of
news to be aware. The more info you've got, more time you will save. :-)

Artur