History of FreeTDS
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## History of FreeTDS

FreeTDS was and is developed by observation and experimentation, which is to say, by trial and error.

In early 1997, the only option for connecting to a Sybase server from Linux or other free systems was an aging Sybase-released version of OpenClient. Unfortunately it had a few problems. The original release was a.out-based, although Greg Thain did a great service in converting the library to ELF. Secondly, it included only the newer `CT-Library` API. The older `DB-Library` API was missing.

Brian Bruns, a Sybase DBA and originator of the FreeTDS project, had some `DB-Library` programs he wanted to run under Linux, and thus began the FreeTDS project. The original work focused on `DB-Library` and version 5.0 of the protocol, but quickly expanded to include a `CT-Library` compatible layer and TDS version 4.2. Later support for `ODBC` and TDS 7.0 and 7.1 was added. Craig Spannring wrote a Java JDBC driver which became FreeTDS/JDBC.

As the project matured, it gained new participants. Frediano Ziglio greatly expanded the `ODBC` driver, and continues to improve both it and the underlying TDS library. Bill Thompson wrote most of the present BCP system and added cursors to our `CT-Library`. James K. Lowden joined the project to add documentation, and in 2002 became its maintainer. Such are the rewards for doing a good deed.

There have been many other contributions. Please see the `AUTHORS.md` in the distribution for a (we hope) complete list.

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