Thanks to everyone who helped me this :)

I've got it working from my local machine. Now I just have to get it
working from CD.
ie. the dataset, the application and Firebird are on the CD.
The trouble seems to be that I'm not able to make security2.fdb read
only
I'm using the line:

C:\Firebird\bin\gfix.exe -mode "read_only" -user sysdba -password
masterkey security2.fdb

But getting the response

no permission for direct access to security database
C:\FIREBIRD\SECURITY2.FDB


Thomas Clarke

trilogi Development Senior Analyst Developer

Email: thomas.clarke@...
<mailto:thomas.clarke@...>

Tel: (0117) 918 8879

Fax. (0117) 918 8043



Aerosystems International Limited
Registered Office: Lupin Way, Alvington, Yeovil, Somerset, BA22 8UZ, UK
Registered in England & Wales No: 1001553







________________________________

From: firebird-support@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:firebird-support@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Helen Borrie
Sent: 04 September 2009 02:44
To: firebird-support@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [firebird-support] Database files on a remote mapped drive
development


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At 02:11 AM 4/09/2009, Thomas Clarke wrote:

>Hi all,
>I'm new to Firebird so please forgive me if I appear naive in any way.
>I have been charged by my company to modify if necessary Firebird 2 so
>that we ma be able to access database files on the network.
>The safety issues listed wherever the issue is discussed (ie. the
>database gettting corrupted under such circumstances) would not seem to
>apply as there will be no writing to the database. It's purely read
>only.
>I tried to active RemoteFileOpenAbility in Firebird.conf but that did
>not help.
>I am therefore forced to consider modifying the source of the
>application.
>I would greatly appreciate it if anyone out there could give me a few
>pointers to help me on my way.

The first pointers would be get your people to understand that (a)
Firebird is client/server software...so turn around the other way and
recognise that users (clients) access databases, not "database files";
and (b) Firebird is a relational DATABASE management system, not an
Access wannabe.

For (a), access by clients to databases (note the plural) on a database
server is intrinsic to the client/server architecture. Data are accessed
through client connections to *databases* across a network transport,
not by accessing "files" in shared locations. A Firebird database
doesn't even have to be in a file at all (except on Windows, of course!)

For (b), the Firebird server (not humans) manages the data in the
databases. It gets disk space from the operating system as and when it
requires it. Beyond that, the operating system has no notion of what
data might be where inside that space. The engine keeps an internal
inventory that the filesystem doesn't understand. So - get these people
to understand that a Firebird database is nothing like an Access one,
which is just a specialised folder containing a mass of files.

Forget RemoteFileAbility: it's not what you need. But let's be clear
that a "read-only database" is NOT a database file with the read-only
file attribute set on. It's a database that has been made read-only by
having its "read only" attribute set on by the gfix utility.

>
>BTW: I'm working on a Windows XP box with VS.NET and 2005 installed.
>One of the main obstacles I've found is that there seems to be no easy
>way to step through the code in debug mode in Visual Studio.
>Do you know a way to set this up?

That question is off-topic in this forum. Depending on what you want to
work on, go back to firebird-devel for advice about hacking the engine
code in VS; or use the firebird-net-provider list for stuff related to
writing dot-net clients.

./heLen





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