> In fact this is not quite correct. Sometime the read works and sometimes
> not. Sometimes I get a valid date and sometimes I get a strange string, but
> always with the format nnnnn-0n-2\x00. Sometimes it doesn't return at all.
> Numeric fields seem to have a similar problem. Could it be the DB driver do
> you think? I am using OdbcFb.so and Kubuntu 9.10.

Firebird server has no idea about locales. It keeps dates in binary
form. Formatting is completely client thing.
So - yes, it is problem in driver or your code.

SY, SD.