microsoft / microsoft/go-sqlcmd

Implement -D flag for ODBC DSN (Data Source Name) support

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enhancement
Dominant language
Go
Stars
595
Forks
91
Avg merge
9h 35m
Merged PRs (30d)
1

Description

Summary

The ODBC sqlcmd supports a -D flag that allows connecting using an ODBC Data Source Name (DSN) instead of specifying connection parameters directly.

Current State

  • The -D flag is not implemented in go-sqlcmd
  • Linux ODBC sqlcmd supports this for using pre-configured DSNs

Requested Behavior

When -D is specified, the -S parameter should be interpreted as a DSN name rather than a server name. The DSN would be looked up from the system's ODBC configuration (e.g., /etc/odbc.ini\ on Linux or ODBC Data Source Administrator on Windows).

Considerations

  • go-sqlcmd uses go-mssqldb directly, not ODBC, so implementing DSN support would require:
    • Parsing ODBC ini files to extract connection parameters
    • Or, using CGO to call ODBC APIs (which would add complexity)
  • This may require a design discussion to determine the best approach

References

  • ODBC sqlcmd usage: -S <DSN_name> -D\ indicates that -S\ refers to a DSN

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reviewing the command-line handling for -D and -S and how go-sqlcmd passes connection parameters to go-mssqldb. Compare parsing ODBC ini files with calling ODBC APIs through CGO, then clarify the design choice. Done means -D makes -S resolve a configured DSN on supported systems, with the connection behavior and platform scope defined.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
go
Domain
cli
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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