Ben:
I can't speak for anyone else here, but what you write on SQL abstraction here,
https://openacs.org/doc/sql-abstraction.html pretty well somes up what I would like to see in ACS/OpenACS.
I wish you had a link to this article on the OpenACS. At least I didn't find one. I had to search all over the aD site to find it. I couldn't remember where I saw it. But here is where I found it on the aD site. http://acs40.arsdigita.com/doc/acs40/
It would be nice for the Tcl to be able to call the query appropriate to the db in use. The SQL could still be optimized for each db, using the features if available and working around where not.
This would help open up the potential db pool and potential user pool. This would allow other issues which determine database choice to permit using ACS/OpenACS. I know aD believes in Oracle but other organizations have made other choices based their criteria. aD opened up the server choice some while keeping the SQL hardcoded to Oracle. I would have preferred the opposite. What was the purpose of opening up the server choice? Was it so that clients could choose the server based on their criteria. I think the db choice can be opened up without major compromise. Hopefully aD will listen to Ben and open up to making a change. If not hopefully it can happen here in OpenACS.
It seems this would be the easiest way to open up to InterBase and other future OpenSource databases. Who knows who will open up what in the future.
I also believe this could help make the code less fragile to changes in the database's version of SQL as they add or change features or syntax.
I am sure if I've made in errors in thought someone will help me out here. :)
