[Zope] Some help required but no sarcastic comments this time please

[Geoffrey L. Wright]

jpenny@universal-fasteners.com writes:

> On Tue, Jan 23, 2001 at 11:17:32PM -0000, alankirk wrote:
> > Hi there,
> >
> > i sent an email the other week regarding problems i've been
> > experiencing with zope and MySQL. I've set up a database
> > connection for zope and mysql and it sort of works. I can send
> > queries to add data to my database ok but when i send a query to
> > get data from my database i get one of 3 errors and my python
> > server that zope runs from stops. The errors i get are Python
> > experienced an error in (either nothing,MYSQL.DLL or
> > PYTHON15.DLL).
> >
> > I am using Zope 2.2.2 on windows(this time i'd appreciate no
> > sarcastic comments this time) I've sent a few emails about this
> > problem to various people (including to this address) and the
> > response has been pretty poor, i've even tried to email people
> > involved with the mysql database adaptors and got no response.

> > It is really important that i get this problem sorted now if
> > possible as my final year project for university depends on this
> > 'bug' getting fixed.
> > 
> > If you can give me help on this or point me in the direction of
> > someone who can, i'd be grateful
> >
> > Cheers
> > 
> > Alan
> 
> Alan:
> 
> This is not meant sarcastically.
> 
> You are probably the only person who has ever tried to do this!
> Probably no one can help you.  (In case people don't remember, Alan
> is working on Win9x; windows 98, as I recall.)

I thought it was ME.  But hopefully it was 98....

> You are working on a platform which is known for instability, with
> limited debugging capabilities.
> 
> I urge you to either change to NT/SQL Server or to Linux/MySql or to
> Linux/PostgeSQL.  I can help you with the last, I suspect others can
> help you with either of the first two.
[...]

I have to concur here.  I do a _lot_ of development against MySQL --
I've dealt with it on both Win32 and various *NIXes.  MySQL is really
much more at home in a *NIX environment.  If you're completely tied to
Win32, you'd likely save yourself a lot of grief by moving to Win NT.
And if you go that far, I have to agree with Mr. Penny that SQL Server
would be a much better choice on NT for a DB.  My experiences with
MySQL on NT have tended to be frustrating -- but then I'm a fairly
poor NT admin.  But on *NIX MySQL is both extremely easy to administer
and solid as a rock.

Of course, I was a college student not so long ago, and know well that
an NT license isn't cheap.  And neither is SQL Server.  But maybe you
have a rich relative.  If not and you still really want this to work,
here's my sarcasm-free suggestion.

Pick up a used low-end Pentium.  I just grabbed a P120 with 32 megs of
RAM, a 750 meg HD and a 3Com EtherLink III for 80 bucks for use as a
firewall.  You could probably do better if you shopped around.  If you
intend to put both Zope and MySQL on the this box, I would up the RAM
to 64 megs.  The whole thing should certainly set you back less than
100 bucks.

Now install Linux.  If you're new to it, pick an easy distro like
RedHat or Mandrake.  Both have a very strait-forward install process.
If the idea if installing Linux by yourself for the first time makes
your hands tremble, find your local Linux User Group (LUG).  If you're
at a big university, check with the CS department.  They can probably
give you a contact.  In all likelihood, somebody in the LUG will be
falling over himself (herself?) to help you out.  FreeNIX people are
usually like that.  Worst come to worst, a case of cheap beer should
buy you a working install of Linux/MySQL.  In fact, if you happen to
live in Alaska I'll do it for that price!

Once you're at that point you'll probably find a lot more help.  I
think your problem at this point is simply that you have a fairly
exotic configuration.  Most people haven't seen the problems you're
having because they aren't using the same platform.  Both Zope and
MySQL are server software packages, and server software usually finds
its home on server OSes.

And even though Zope seems to bridge the great MS/*NIX cultural divide
quite nicely, MySQL is really from a *NIX world.  I think it's just
not a common choice for databases amongst Microsoft devotees.  I
would guess that 95+ percent of people who have tried to connect Zope
and MySQL have been working with some UNIX variant, and of those the
majority are probably using some flavor of Linux.

So I guess I could distill all of this advice down to one simple
statement:

If you pick a software combination used by a large number of people,
you'll likely find yourself with a strong base of user support.  If you
use an unusual combination, you may have to tough it out on your own.


Best 'o luck!


//glw