Hey guys, your reply's triggered my thinking.

for the time being i added
"export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/lib"
in my .bashrc and isql is working now (that is i got further in error message need some more libs ~"libicuuc.so.30", but it's hopefull.)

Thanks,
Derryck

--- In firebird-support@yahoogroups.com, Philippe Makowski <makowski@...> wrote:
>
> 2011/4/12 Paul Vinkenoog <paul@...>
> >
> > Assuming that all the copying and linking in step 1 was successful, it looks like /usr/lib is not in your standard library search path.
> >
> > AFAIK, PATH is only used to find executables, not shared libraries. Library paths should be added to /etc/ld.so.conf or its equivalent on your system.
> >
> > Alternatively, you can move the Firebird stuff from /usr/lib to a folder that _is_ in your system's default library search path.
> >
> yes,
> I don't know what distro you are using, but most of have client only packages
>