| Variant | Target | Unicode | Threading | Notes | |---------|--------|---------|-----------|-------| | | Legacy apps (ASCII) | No – uses char | Safe | For old VB6, Delphi, or Access 97. | | Unicode | Modern apps (UTF-16/8) | Yes – uses SQLWCHAR | Safe | Recommended for all new development. |
: The ANSI driver is effectively dead. Microsoft has deprecated ANSI ODBC APIs. Use the Unicode driver even for legacy ASCII data – the driver converts correctly. 10. Configuration Example for Production A well-tuned DSN entry ( /etc/odbc.ini ): odbc postgresql driver
1. Introduction Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) remains a cornerstone of enterprise data access, providing a language-independent, platform-independent API for connecting to database management systems. For PostgreSQL, the psqlODBC driver serves as this critical bridge, enabling legacy applications (e.g., Microsoft Access, Excel, FileMaker), BI tools (Tableau, Power BI, Qlik), and custom software written in languages like C#, C++, or Python (via pyodbc ) to interact with a PostgreSQL backend. | Variant | Target | Unicode | Threading
[PostgreSQL Unicode] Description = PostgreSQL ODBC driver (Unicode) Driver = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/odbc/psqlodbca.so Setup = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/odbc/libodbcpsqlS.so Driver64 = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/odbc/psqlodbcw.so Setup64 = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/odbc/libodbcpsqlS.so FileUsage = 1 The PostgreSQL ODBC driver ( psqlODBC ) is a battle-tested, production-grade bridge that effectively maps PostgreSQL’s rich type system and protocol to the rigid, 1990s-era ODBC specification. It excels at enabling legacy BI tools and Microsoft Office integration but reveals its age in async handling, timezone semantics, and cursor emulation. Microsoft has deprecated ANSI ODBC APIs
| Alternative | Protocol | Pros | Cons | |-------------|----------|------|------| | (Go) + PGX ODBC bridge | Custom | Type-safe, fast | Not ODBC | | Npgsql (.NET) | Native .NET | Async, NodaTime support | Only .NET | | PostgreSQL FDW + ODBC FDW | SQL/MED | Pushdown | Complex | | ADBC (Arrow Database Connectivity) | Columnar | Zero-copy | Very new |