Comparison with unixODBC?

Comparison with unixODBC?

[TallTed]

I posted the following to StackOverflow a few years ago. So far as I know, it's all still accurate (modulo "latest version" details).

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iODBC and unixOBDC are basically API equivalent, both being cross-platform implementations of Microsoft's ODBC standard. iODBC's flexible Unicode support includes UCS-2, UTF-8, UCS-4. iODBC libraries are bundled into macOS Panther (10.3.0) through Big Sur (11.2.x), and may be built and/or installed on AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, any Linux distribution, *BSD, other Unix-like OS, and more. iODBC has been thread safe for a very long time, and is actively maintained and supported by OpenLink Software (my employer).

The table below covers the most common comparative questions (is there something I should add?), and is based on iODBC 3.52.14, as of February 2021 (reports version 03.52.1421.0217), and unixODBC 2.3.9, as of September 2020.

For a somewhat more detailed comparison, and a much more fancy and detailed table, see this spreadsheet

feature	iODBC	UnixODBC
Unicode support
UCS-2	YES	YES
UCS-4 (a/k/a UTF-32)	YES	NO
UTF-08 (a/k/a UTF-8)	YES	NO
UTF-16	YES	YES
UTF-32 (a/k/a UCS-4)	YES	NO
Supports drivers and apps developed using other SDKs
Supports drivers developed using iODBC SDK	YES	NO
Supports apps developed using iODBC SDK	YES	NO
Supports drivers developed using unixODBC SDK	YES	YES
Supports apps developed using unixODBC SDK	YES	YES
Supports drivers developed using DataDirect SDK	YES	NO
Supports apps developed using DataDirect SDK	YES	NO
OS default DM
macOS	YES	NO
Linux	partial	partial
Unix-like	partial	partial
OS support
macOS	YES	partial
Linux	YES	YES
Unix-like	YES	YES
User-friendly native GUI Administrator
macOS	YES	Qt-based
Linux	GTK-based and HTML-based	Qt-based
Unix-like	GTK-based and HTML-based	Qt-based
Thread Safe	YES	YES
Support
Mailing List(s)	YES	YES
Forum(s)	YES	YES
Github repository	YES	YES
SourceForge repository	YES	YES
Open Source Licensing
GPL	NO	programs
LGPL	YES	libraries
BSD	YES	NO

Notes

Unicode a/k/a Wide Characters

• iODBC supports and translates between all of UCS-2, UCS-4, UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32
• unixODBC follows MDAC, and SQLWCHARs are 2 bytes UCS2 encoded

SDK lock-in

• iODBC supports applications and drivers developed using unixODBC SDK and DataDirect SDK as well as those developed using iODBC SDK
• unixODBC only supports applications and drivers developed using unixODBC SDK