These are instructions for building PMF on your on system. You can also download ready-to-run versions for both Linux and Windows.

If you get stuck at some point, drop me a mail (pmf [at] leipelt [dot] net) and I'll try to help.

Building PMF on Linux


PMF uses plugins to access databases. You can build PMF with one or more of these plugins:

To use PMF, at least one of these plugins has to be built.


Why are there two plugins for DB2?

DB2 ODBC requires less preparation on the client, but DB2 Native Client has more to offer:

If you want to use PMF with DB2, you should definitely build the plugin for the DB2 Native Client.


Here is a short overview of the build requirements, covered in more detail below.

  • g++ compiler
  • Qt5 or Qt6 development packages
  • make
  • zlib-dev
  • DB2 Application development tools (part of DB2)
  • A working database connection
  • IBM Data Server Client Packages
  • FreeTDS
  • unixOBDC-dev
  • unixOBDC
  • tdsodbc
Development
packages for
Postgres and MariaDB
(see below)



1. What you need:

  • g++ compiler: Search for 'gcc-c++' in your distribution's package manager
  • Qt5 (or Qt6 if you prefer) development packages: Search for 'libqt5-devel' (or 'lib64qt5-devel' on 64bit systems) in your distribution's package manager
  • make
  • zlib development files, which depending on your distribution may be contained in zlib1g-dev


    • 1.1 Preparation for DB2:

    If you want to build the DB2 plugins (both ODBC and native client):
  • DB2 for Linux, version 9 or higher: You can download the Express version directly from IBM. During DB2's setup, make sure to choose "Custom setup" and select "Application development tools" (this is not selected by default)
  • You need at least one working database connection on your system. The easiest way to achieve this is to install the "sample" database: Simply run 'db2sampl' (not: 'db2sample') to create this database.
  • It is possible to build only the ODBC plugin. For this you will need "IBM Data Server Client Packages", directly from IBM.

    • 1.2 Preparation for SQL Server:

    If you want to build the SQL Server plugin, you need to install these package groups:
  • FreeTDS including "development" (e.g. freetds-bin, freetds-common, freetds-dev, tdsodbc)
  • UnixODBC including "development" (unixodbc, unixodbc-dev

    • 1.2 Preparation for Postgres

    If you want to build the Postgres plugin, you need to install these package groups:
  • postgresql
  • libpq-dev

    • 1.3 Preparation for MariaDB

    If you want to build the MariaDB plugin, you need to install these package groups:
  • mariadb-server
  • libmariadb-dev
  • libmariadb-dev-compat



    • When everything is ready, unpack pmf.tar.gz in a suitable directory:
    $ mkdir pmf
    $ cd pmf
    $ tar -xzv pmf.tar.gz



    2. Makefile and Compiling

    This is not the usual "configure && make && make install". Instead, I'm using Qt's rather brilliant build system.
    It basically takes a configuration file ("pmf5.pro" in this case) and will create a Makefile from that.
    The Makefile will be generated when you run "qmake pmf6.pro" (if you installed Qt5) or "qmake6 pmf6.pro" (if you prefer Qt6)

    Whenever you want to re-generate the Makefile, make sure to run "$ make distclean" first

    OK, let's generate a Makefile. Here you have to decide which plugin to build.
    You can build PMF with plugins for DB2 using the native client, for DB2 using ODBC, and for SQL Server or all of them.

    Note: The commands below are case-sensitive.


    Creating a Makefile for PMF and plugins always takes this form:
    $ qmake pmf6.pro "target=plugin(s)" "[Connection Info]"

    Chose which plugins to build and set "target" accordingly:

    What to build Target Required Connection Info
    DB2 NativeClient + DB2 ODBC + SqlServer + Postgres
    		 "target=all" "db=sample" ["uid=..."] ["pwd=..."]
    DB2 NativeClient + DB2 ODBC "target=db2all" "db=sample" ["uid=..."] ["pwd=..."]
    DB2 NativeClient "target=db2cae" "db=sample" ["uid=..."] ["pwd=..."]
    DB2 ODBC "target=db2odbc" -
    SQL Server "target=sqlsrv" -


    Connection Info is required during build (a BIND file needs to be created), and you may pass this info like this (replace "sample" with an existing database): 
    Note: For Qt6, replace "qmake" with "qmake6"

    $ qmake pmf6.pro "target=..." "db=sample"                                <-- works if database is on the local machine
    - OR -
    $ qmake pmf6.pro "target=..." "db=sample" "uid=userName"                 <-- prompts for password during build
    - OR -
    $ qmake pmf6.pro "target=..." "db=sample" "uid=userName" "pwd=password"  <-- writes uid and pwd into the Makefile (not recommended)


    A few examples: 
    Note: For Qt6, replace "qmake" with "qmake6"

    -- Build all plugins:
    $ qmake pmf6.pro "target=all" "db=sample" "uid=db2inst1"

    -- Build both plugins for DB2:
    $ qmake pmf6.pro "target=db2all" "db=sample" "uid=db2inst1"
       
    --SqlServer only
    $ qmake pmf6.pro "target=sqlsrv"
    Finally, run 
    $ make

    This will build PMF and the plugin(s). Again, if you get stuck at some point, drop me a mail (pmf [at] leipelt [dot] net) and I'll try to help. 


    3. Building PMF on Windows

    Note: You can simply download a precompiled (ready-to-run) version. These instructions are intended for those who are looking for a challenge.

    I'm currently using MS Visual Studio 2010 Express Edition. It is possible to build PMF with MinGW but there are massive problems when linking against the libs of DB v7. If you intend to use only DB2 v9 (and presumbly higher), using MinGW is fine.

    You can build PMF with a plugin for DB2 or a plugin for SQL Server or both. Building the plugin for DB2 requires that the application development tools for DB2 are installed.

    To use PMF, at least one of these plugins has to be built.

    3.1 What you need:

  • compiler: MinGW (for DB2 v9) or MS VS 2010 or above (DB2 v7 and above)
  • Qt5 or Qt6: depending on compiler, download directly from Trolltech

    • 3.2 Preparing for DB2

    If you want to build the plugin for DB2:
  • DB2 for Windows, version 7 or higher: You can download the Express version directly from IBM. Make sure to choose "Custom install" and install "Application development tools" (this option is not selected by default)
  • You need at least one working database connection on your system. The easiest way to achieve this is to install the "sample" database: Simply run 'db2sampl' (not: 'db2sample') to create this database.

    • 3.2 Preparing for SQL Server

    If you want to build the plugin for SQL Server:
  • "SQL Server development tools" (part of SQL Server install media) or  "Microsoft Data  Access SDK" (haven't tried that)

    • 3.3 Preparing the environment

    Unzip pmf5.zip into a suitable directory.

    To build PMF, the build environment variables for Qt and your compiler need to be set. One way to do this is to create a batch  file.
    This would look something like this:
    rem **********************************
    rem This is a template for setting the build environment
    rem for Qt and MS VC2010
    rem **********************************


    rem MS VC compilers need this.
    rem  You may have to provide the full path to vcvars32
    

rem *** EDIT THIS IF NECESSARY ***
    call [path to\]vcvars32.bat

    rem ONLY FOR DB2 v9 on WINDOWS: The environment variable DB2PATH apparently is not set.
    rem Set it here:
    rem *** EDIT THIS IF NECESSARY ***
    set DB2PATH=c:\Program Files (x86)\SQLLIB
    set LIBPATH=%LIBPATH%;%DB2PATH%\lib


    rem *** EDIT THIS IF NECESSARY ***
    SET QTDIR=e:\qt\Qt5.3.0_msvc2010\
    set path=%PATH%;e:\qt\Qt5.3.0_msvc2010\5.3\msvc2010_opengl\bin\

    rem QT needs to know which compiler is used
    rem *** EDIT THIS IF NECESSARY***
    SET QMAKESPEC=win32-msvc2010

    rem *** No need to edit this ***
    set path=%PATH%;%QTDIR%\;%QTDIR%\bin;
    set path=%PATH%;%QTDIR%\qt\bin;
    set include=%INCLUDE%;%QTDIR%\include\QtGui\;
    set include=%INCLUDE%;%QTDIR%\include\QtCore\;
    set include=%INCLUDE%;%QTDIR%\include\Qt\;
    set include=%INCLUDE%;%QTDIR%\include\;
    set include=%INCLUDE%;%QTDIR%\;

    In the directory where you unzipped PMF you will find 'pmf_MSVC.bat' which you can edit to fit your environment.

    3.4 Building PMF

    If you want to build the plugin for DB2 or both plugins, open a DB2 command line: run "db2cmd". This will open a "DB2 CLP", which looks like the normal command line but has additional environment settings.

    In the command line (DB2 or standard), navigate to the directory where you unzipped PMF and run the batch file from above to set the environment variables

    The following steps will generate a Makefile for the actual build process.

    Whenever you want to re-create the Makefile, make sure to run "make distclean" first

    3.4.1 PMF for DB2

    The next step will create a Makefile. Run one of the following commands in the DB2 CLP:
    qmake pmf6.pro "target=all" "db=sample" 
    - OR -
    qmake pmf6.pro "target=all" "db=sample" "uid=userName"
    - OR -
    qmake pmf6.pro "target=all" "db=sample" "uid=userName" "pwd=password"  <--careful with this, see below
    Replace "sample" with the name of an existing DB2 database.
    uid and pwd are needed to connect to the DB2 database. During the build process, a database connection is
    necessary for the precompiler to generate a BIND file.


    The first option (without uid/pwd) will work if the database "someDB2database" is installed locally.
    The second option will prompt you for the password during the build process.
    The third option will write uid and pwd into the Makefile, and this is probably not what you want.

    Finally, run 
    make
    or 
    nmake
    depending on your compiler.

    3.4.2 PMF for DB2, ODBC plugin only

    You can also build only one of the DB2 plugins. To build the ODBC plugin only, run
    $ qmake pmf6.pro "target=db2odbc"
    $ make

    3.4.3 PMF for DB2,  plugin for the native client

    If you do not want to build the ODBC plugin, run one of these commands:
    $ qmake pmf6.pro "target=db2cae" "db=sample" 
    - OR -
    $ qmake pmf6.pro "target=db2cae" "db=sample" "uid=userName"
    - OR -
    $ qmake pmf6.pro "target=db2cae" "db=sample" "uid=userName" "pwd=password"  <--careful, see above
    "sample" is the name of an existing database.

    Finally, run
    $ make

    3.4.2 PMF for SQL Server

    If you want to build only the plugin for SQL Server, open a standard command line and set the environment paramters for Qt and compiler (see above).
    Run this command:
    qmake pmf6.pro "target=sqlsrv"
    This will create a Makfile.

    Next, run 
    make
    or 
    nmake
    depending on your compiler.

    3.4.3 PMF for DB2and SQL Server

    This is the same as in 3.4.1, simply replace "target=db2" with "target=all"


    If everything worked as intended, which it sometimes does, you should now be able to start PMF.