Ian:
I having a bit of a look at zope and database connectivity. One thing that I'm not sure about is if I have two platforms. An Oracle database, and a web server. Does the ZOracle module need access to oracle libs ie does oracle have to be installed on the web platform.
Yes, all of the Database Adapters (DAs) _wrap_ underlying database libraries. In the case of the ZOracleDA it wraps the Oracle client libraries. These libraries must be installed separately on the machine. The test to see if a machine is ready for Zope DA software is to test whether you can run the database vendor's command line tool (in Oracle's case this is sqlplus, for Sybase isql) and successfully connect to the database server.
Another thing is there any interest in a ZODBC module for Unix ( I don't think that there is one ). Just a wish of mine.
I think there is some work going on in this area somewhere in the Zope community.... can't recall exactly where tho. HTH, Rob Page