PgAccess - FAQ

Versions of PostgreSQL prior to 6.5.1 couldn't reliably detect the presence of the crypt library on RedHat 5.x systems. That's why the libpgtcl library does not include reference to crypt. You will need to get a proper copy of libpgtcl.so library or to compile one. Go to the postgresql source directory into src/interfaces/libpgtcl and edit Makefile adding -lcrypt to the end of the line SHLIB_LINKS. Make clean and make again. Your libpgtcl.so is now prepare to run PgAccess. I strongly recommend you to upgrade to PostgreSQL 6.5.1 where this problem has been solved.

There may be two problems here. First of all, PgAccess running on the localhost is using two PostgreSQL dependent libraries, libpq and libpgtcl. Each of them are compiled for a specific PostgreSQL version. If the PostgreSQL version running on your server is different you might experience problems. The other problem is related to access rights. On the PostgreSQL server, in data directory there is a file pg_hba.conf that will grant access rights to users based on host authentication. Ask your database administrator to check if your workstation is listed there with the appropriate access rights. Try for the beginning the 'trust' mode, allowing full access to the databases.

No. There were NEVER reported crashes because of PgAccess. All of them were related to bad libraries usage. The most frequent was the installing of a new PostgreSQL on a RedHat 5.x server where the postgresql-clients rpm still exists. So, PgAccess was trying to use the old libpgtcl.so library suitable for an older version of PostgreSQL. Before installing a new PostgreSQL (either by compiling it ot by rpm packages) remove ANY TRACE of old PostgreSQL. PgAccess is fully relying on libpgtcl library in order to get access to the database so when you are experiencing that kind of problems, double-check libpq and libpgtcl libraries.

That kind of error was reported on some Linux RedHat 5.x systems when user has su - to root and tried to run PgAccess. Some unknown errors in login scripts are not defining the DISPLAY environment and the wish application cannot connect to the X display. Try typing export DISPLAY=localhost:0.0 and run PgAccess again.

In order to use PgAccess on Windows you must have installed two libraries libpq.dll and libpgtcl.dll suitable for your Tcl/Tk package and your PostgreSQL server. Note that libraries that work with Tcl/Tk 8.0.x won't work with Tcl/Tk 8.1.x and libraries that work with 6.4.2 backend won't work with 6.5.x. So, you must properly identify your Tcl/Tk package version and your PostgreSQL version and download from the Downloads section (or pick from the win32/dll directory of PgAccess distribution) the right files. Copy them into your Windows/System directory and try again. Also, you should be able to access over the network the machine running the PostgreSQL server (try ping-ing it) and have the proper access rights to the database.

PgAccess is a free tool. You won't have to pay anything in order to use it. It is protected by the following copyright as PostgreSQL is. I cannot guarantee technical support but I will try to answer to your questions as much as I can.

In the PgAccess distribution in lib/languages directory there are files with messages translated for different languages. Copy one of them and name it after your native language and then start editing it translating all the messages. Save it into the same directory and that's all. Don't forget to send me a copy in order to include it into the standard distribution.

8. I am receiving the following error: message invalid command name "namespace" while executing "namespace eval Mainlib  ..."

That means 100% that you have an older version of Tcl/Tk that don't recognize namespaces command. Please upgrade to Tcl/Tk 8.0.x minimum