comp.databases.informix and informix-list@iiug.org FAQ

The comp.databases.informix news group is intended to be the primary news group for discussing how to use the IBM Informix database products. Jonathan Leffler maintains this list of frequently asked questions about comp.databases.informix (CDI) and informix-list@iiug.org.

Thanks to Mark Gassis for the U2 information, James Edmiston for the revised subscription information for the IIUG mailing list, and Jack Parker, Paul Mosser, Walt Hultgren, Andrej Falout, Christopher Coleman, Syed Kamal (for information about FourGen), Andrew Hamm, Stuart Litel and others for editorial corrections and additions.

• What is the informix-list@iiug.org mailing list?
• How can I subscribe to comp.databases.informix by email
• How can I unsubscribe from informix-list@iiug.org
• What else do I need to know about this?
• What rules exist regarding format, content, flame wars, etc.
• Can I ask about Universe, Unidata, Cloudscape, Red Brick?
• Can I ask about Perl, DBI and DBD::Informix? Other products?
• Can I ask about DB2?
• Can I make job postings, commercial announcements, etc?
• Which URLs should I know about?
• How do I notify Informix Technical Publications of errata?

What is the informix-list@iiug.org mailing list?

The informix-list@iiug.org mailing list is a bi-directional gateway to the comp.databases.informix (c.d.i) UseNet news group. Messages posted to the newsgroup are forwarded by mail to subscribers of the mailing list, responses sent to the informix-list@iiug.org email address are posted to comp.databases.informix, and the gateway manages to keep track of things so that postings do not repeat themselves.

The service is provided by the International Informix Users Group, IIUG, with the web site http://www.iiug.org. The IIUG web site also has a software repository with a lot of useful information in it -- check it out. The IIUG also provides a number of other mailing list services to IIUG members; details are available at the IIUG web site.

The Informix FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) is maintained by David Williams .

How can I subscribe to comp.databases.informix by email

In order to subscribe to the Informix List (informix-list@iiug.org), you must be a member of IIUG. Membership is free. Visit the IIUG web site, http://www.iiug.org, to join and subscribe.

If you are already a member of IIUG, you need your membership number, name and email address to log into the member area. Go to the web site and click on "Update Your Member Profile". If you don't know your membership number, there is a link on the login screen to have it emailed to you. Finally, if you can't obtain your member information, send an email to webmaster@iiug.org.

Once in the member area, click on the "Subscribe" button. There will be a lists of email discussion groups including informix-list. Also visit http://www.iiug.org/forums/ for more information.

You can no longer subscribe (or unsubscribe) by sending email to majordomo@iiug.org.

How can I unsubscribe from informix-list@iiug.org

Visit the IIUG web site once more, login to the the member area as above, and use the Subscribe button. This will show you the list of email discussion groups that are available, and you can unsubscribe yourself by removing the check-mark against the "informix-list" entry.

What else do I need to know about this?

When you subscribe to c.d.i, you should expect to receive 50-150 emails per day from the news group.

Currently, there is no digest service. A digest service would accumulate the messages over the course of a day (or part of a day) and then send out a single large email message to the digest subscribers.

What rules exist regarding format, content, flame wars, etc.

None; this is a news group! That is, there are no rules enforced by the software. There are periodically discussions on c.d.i about what should and should not be said. This is my FAQ, so it gets my spin on the rules that should be followed.

• Format: HTML postings are strongly discouraged; so are MIME postings. Both cause problems with many frequently used news readers. That means that attachments aren't encouraged either. Also, sending the same information twice, once in HTML and once in plain text is downright wasteful.
• Content: straight technical answers to questions don't need any special treatment. When the subject under discussion changes sufficiently that the subject is no longer accurate, it is courteous to change the subject. The standard, time-honoured NetNews technique is "New Subject (was: Old Subject)". There is a strong tendency for discussions in c.d.i to veer from the technical into jocular commentary, often about the participants. It is courteous to change the thread subject when you do this, and the standard method used in most news groups is to add 'OT' to indicate 'off-topic' content. Marking off-topic messages makes it easier for those who don't want to read the banter to avoid it. If you feel compelled to put technical content into a thread currently marked off-topic, remove the tag.
• Quoting Posts: when you respond to a post, please trim as much of the quoted material as possible. However, do include enough of the question to ensure that your answer is comprehensible. Leave out the signature blocks (especially the obnoxiously irrelevant ones about how you should not abuse this message if it was sent to you in error) and any superfluous content. Be careful about misattributing information to the wrong poster.
• OCR - original content ratio. Dr Pablo has taken to posting a summary once a month of who has posted what in the news group. One of the statistics is the OCR. Don't worry too much about the statistic, but in general, the higher the OCR of your postings, the better. An OCR of 100% probably means that you are either only asking questions (which is OK), or you are not quoting any of the question in your answer (which is not such a good idea unless your answers indicate clearly what the questions said). An OCR under about 10% means you should be trimming the original content a lot more than you are. Anywhere in the middle and you are unlikely show up in the statistics at the end of the month.
• Versions: it is often helpful to include platform and version information for the software you are using. For example: Sun Solaris 7, IDS 9.30.UC1, CSDK 2.70.UC1. With Linux, both the version of the kernel and the version of the GLIBC library are relevant. It is often helpful to identify 64-bit hardware.
• Flame Wars: Don't! For the most part, the c.d.i group manages to maintain a civilized discourse (even with the contributors who work for Oracle) and ad hominem flame wars are strongly discouraged.
• Banter: largely covered under content. Banter cannot be prevented. Once you've been reading c.d.i for a week or two, it will be obvious that banter figures quite prominently in the content (and usually without any off-topic tag). Banter should be limited - more limited than it is (there speaks The Curmudgeon who is not entirely in tune with the regular posters of banter). Do it judiciously. If you do indulge, make sure you trim the quoted content of messages to the minimum and add the OT marker; someone passing two lines of jocular remarks on a posting of several hundred lines of quoted material is being discourteous to the other users of both c.d.i and the Internet in general.
• Cross-posting: is not encouraged. Cross-posting outside the comp.databases news group hierarchy is very seldom acceptable.
• Spam: don't do it. When spam postings arrive (they do), ignore them. There isn't anything else that is truly effective. Do not use the services or buy the products of companies that spam. From July 2002 onwards, there has been an outbreak of the Nigeria bank scam - lots of money for you if you allow them to use your bank account to transfer money through it. Do not give them your bank account information; you will (probably) lose lots of money.

Can I ask about Universe, Unidata, Cloudscape, Red Brick?

You are welcome to ask questions about Universe and Unidata databases, which are collectively known as U2, on the comp.databases.informix news group -- they are Informix databases. However, it is realistic to note that most people who read the news group are more familiar with the traditional Informix databases than with the multi-valued, Pick-based U2 systems. There are other places where you can also ask questions about these products:

• Multi-Value News Group:
  Point your news reader at comp.databases.pick or Browse to http://groups.google.com/groups?q=group:comp.databases.pick
• U2 External Mailing List:
  To subscribe send an empty mail to: informix-mv-subscribe@oliver.com
• SB Solutions External Mailing List:
  Browse to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sbsolutions

You may also ask questions about Red Brick and Cloudscape, but again, most people who read the news group are more familiar with the traditional Informix databases.

Can I ask about Perl, DBI and DBD::Informix? Other products?

You may ask questions about Perl, DBI and DBD::Informix, but only if an IBM or Informix database is involved, somehow -- it is not a general forum for arbitrary questions about Perl. However, there are alternative forums that you should also use, described in the product. However, those locations have changed in the last year, so you should be aware of the official home, http://dbi.perl.org/, which contains pointers to how to subscribe to the dbi-users@perl.org mailing list.

Similar comments apply to other products which use Informix databases but are not supplied by IBM/Informix. For example, Informix Dynamic 4GL (also known as 4J's Universal Compiler, and its heirs and successors) can be discussed on an unmoderated but monitored mailing list run by 4J's; see http://www.4js.com/ for information on how to join the fourjs-users@4js.com mailing list. The Aubit4GL open source project has its own discussion mailing list, aubit4gl-discuss@lists.sourceforge.net; you can find out how to subscribe at http://aubit4gl.sourceforge.net.

Can I ask about DB2?

You may ask questions about DB2, but you may get a better informed response if you ask the question on the comp.databases.ibm-db2 news group. Also, check out the International DB2 Users Group (IDUG) web site at http://www.idug.org.

Can I make job postings, commercial announcements, etc?

This is a contentious subject, and there are about as many views as there are readers of the news group. In general, it is preferred that you do not post job offers or other commercial announcements to the c.d.i news group. However, if you occasionally post a job offer, or pointers to where Informix-related job offers can be found, this breach of protocol will usually be ignored. If you choose to post several such messages in a week, expect to be inundated with objections. A short message, once a month, not on the first of the month, would probably be OK. Please ensure that the posting can be identified as a job offer, perhaps using '[JOB]' at the start of the subject line. Also, remember this is an international news group; be specific about where the job is (for example, saying 'the Bay Area' is not precise enough; it might be Tampa, FL or San Francisco, CA or various locations outside the USA) and list any visa requirements for people outside your country who might wish to apply. Similar comments apply to commercial announcements, where the subject line should probably start '[ADV]'.

Which URLs should I know about?

IBM:

As of 2003-03-01, the old Informix web site (http://www.informix.com) appears to be completely dead.

IIUG:

Other Informix-related sites:

How do I notify Informix Technical Publications of errata?

In older manuals, the documented email address is doc@informix.com, and this still works (unlike almost every other Informix email address). However, in newer manuals, the email alias is docinf@us.ibm.com, and you should now use this to report problems instead.