> If this is correct, then also

> -- the client dll has no way of telling to which instance it belongs
> and would always read the 'DefaultInstance' entry, making different
> versions of the client library on the same machine use the same
> (default) firebird.msg.

> -- same applies to tools trying to locate the client dll - they always
> load the default

Yes. And that's also a big problem here (I have 3 Firebirds and IB6 on
my development machine).

> I hope I am wrong and someone tells me how.

You're not wrong. Sorry. Managing several Server instances on one
machine is tricky, managing several Clients on one machine is close to
impossible. Calling instreg i has become second nature for me ...

Best Regards

Stefan