README
1WHAT IS GQLPLUS?
2
3gqlplus is a UNIX front-end program for Oracle command-line utility
4sqlplus. gqlplus is functionally nearly identical to sqlplus, with the
5addition of command-line editing, history, table-name and optional
6column-name completion. The editing is similar to tcsh and bash
7shells.
8
9
10BUILDING AND INSTALLING GQLPLUS
11
12GQLPLUS comes in 2 forms:
13A tar.gz of archived code and an RPM package.
14
15To unpack gqlplus tar.gz, download the tar/compressed file
16gqlplus-n.nn.tar.gz and type:
17
18$ gunzip -c gqlplus-n.nn.tar.gz | tar xvf -
19$ cd gqlplus-n.nn
20
21To unpack the gqlplus-n.nn-n.src.rpm type:
22$ rpm -ihv gqlplus-n.nn-n.src.rpm
23You can then build it by running:
24$ rpmbuild -ba /path/to/spec/files/gqlplus.spec
25
26NOTE: this requires the rpm-build package to be installed.
27
28The executable is called `gqlplus'. Prebuilt executables are provided
29for Linux 64bit in the form of an RPM file.
30One can also extract the contents of this RPM by issuing:
31$ rpm2cpio gqlplus-1.14-1.x86_64.rpm | cpio -idmv
32
33To build gqlplus for another UNIX-like platform, type:
34
35$ ./configure
36$ make
37
38The executable gqlplus will be built in the current directory.
39
40NOTE: I suggest you _don't_ run `make install' since it may overwrite
41your existing readline, and is useless anyway, since the only thing to
42be installed is the gqlplus binary. You can do this by hand.
43
44gqlplus uses the GNU Readline Library to achieve its
45functionality. Version 4.3 of the library is provided with gqlplus,
46therefore the distribution is self-contained (it does not depend on
47readline being installed on the system).
48
49
50USAGE
51
52To invoke the program, type
53
54$ gqlplus
55
56at the command line. You can also use any of the sqlplus command line
57arguments.
58
59Being a front-end for sqlplus, gqlplus needs the sqlplus executable to
60run. gqlplus looks for the full path to the sqlplus binary in $SQLPLUS_BIN
61first, then for a binary called 'sqlplus' in $PATH, followed by
62$ORACLE_HOME/bin, followed by the local directory.
63
64ENV VARIABLES
65 - SQLPLUS_BIN:
66 This is meant to support Oracle instantclient installations on 64bit
67 that do not call the binary sqlplus but rather sqlplus64.
68
69 - EMACS_MODE:
70 If setted, gqlplus is assumed to be launched from Emacs.
71 Emacs maps Ctrl-G to send SIGINT (instead of Ctrl-C).
72 So, during Emacs editing session we don't want to pass to it
73 sqlplus because it disrupts its' operation and does not make sense
74 since that is not the interrupt we want to catch.
75
76 - TMPDIR, TEMPDIR and TEMP:
77 GQLPlus respects these ENV vars as pointers to a temporary directory.
78 If not set, defaults to /tmp.
79
80To get help on using gqlplus, as well as version number, type
81
82$ gqlplus -h
83
84Usage is nearly identical to sqlplus, with the following additions:
85
86- cursor keys may be used to invoke and navigate previous gqlplus
87 (sqlplus) commands. The command-line editing is identical to bash
88 shell. By default, it uses Emacs key bindings; if you wish to use vi
89 commands, create a file containing the following line:
90
91 set editing-mode vi
92
93 Name the file .inputrc and put it in your home directory. Note that
94 if you use vi key bindings, you will be placed in the INSERT mode
95 after invoking a previous command using the up-arrow cursor key;
96 press Escape key to leave that mode and move around the line using
97 vi commands. See GNU Readline Library documentation for more
98 details.
99
100- gqlplus completes table and column names, similar to the way that
101 bash and tcsh complete filenames (i.e., using a TAB key). In order
102 to accomplish this, gqlplus has to read descriptions of all tables
103 and views available to the current user, at startup. This processing
104 may be somewhat lengthy (20, 30 seconds, perhaps even a few minutes for
105 large databases). If this is found to be inconvenient, use the '-dc'
106 (`disable completion') command-line argument to disable the column
107 name completion feature (table name completion is always enabled
108 since it does not cause a noticeable delay at startup).
109
110 To interrupt a hanging gqlplus, use SIGQUIT signal (Ctrl-\ on most
111 terminals).
112
113- from within gqlplus, use '--!h' to display command history, and
114 '--!r' to rescan tables (for the purpose of updating table- and
115 column-name completion).
116
117
118BUGS
119
120- Ctrl-C during a long query sometimes breaks synchronization between
121 gqlplus and sqlplus, causing the messages to show up with
122 delay. Restart the program to reset synchronization.
123
124The following functionality cannot be implemented, to the best of my
125knowledge, with a reasonable effort:
126
127- running a SQL script which redefines the prompt
128
129- gqlplus hangs if started with the /nolog command-line switch in the
130 presence of login.sql file which redefines the prompt
131
132- ACCEPT command without a prompt is not fully supported. Therefore,
133 if you use ACCEPT command, use a prompt.
134
135- gqlplus hangs if glogin.sql and/or login.sql files contain the
136 `pause' or `set pause on' statements.
137
138 This issue reported by Mathias Weyland.
139
140
141LICENSE
142
143gqlplus is licensed under the GNU General Public License. See file
144LICENSE for details.
145
146
147AUTHOR
148
149gqlplus is written and maintained by Ljubomir J. Buturovic of San
150Francisco State University, San Francisco, California and Jess Portnoy.
151For all comments and problem reports drop a line:
152ljubomir@sfsu.edu
153kernel01@gmail.com
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