Tried to compile Art's latest dostats on a linux x86_64 machine, however both make and 'esql -o' got below errors,

I am not too sure if I missed something ( I also tried to update the make executable location and INSTALLDIR, issue persists).

Could I get advice?

Tried to compile Art's latest dostats on a linux x86_64 machine, however both make and 'esql -o' got below errors,

I am not too sure if I missed something ( I also tried to update the make executable location and INSTALLDIR, issue persists).

Could I get advice?

Tried to compile Art's latest dostats on a linux x86_64 machine, however both make and 'esql -o' got below errors,

I am not too sure if I missed something ( I also tried to update the make executable location and INSTALLDIR, issue persists).

Could I get advice?

Ke:

First, dostats.ec is the OLD version of the source, suitable for servers earlier than v10.00. You need to compile the dostats_ng.ec instead with:

esql -o dostats dostats_ng.ec getopt.c

I will look into that pointer comparison error in the old code anyway, but you should not be using it. It will work once compiled, but it is missing newer features including updates to the algorithms it uses to work out what UPDATE STATISTICS commands to execute.

As far as the problem compiling ul.ec and that process complaining about is8bitstr, that call is not in the code itself and is being inserted by the ESQL/C compiler, so you may be missing some libraries or you do not have LD_LIBRARY_PATH set correctly. Try executing this line before running "make":

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$INFORMIXDIR/lib:$INFORMIXDIR/lib/esql:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

I compile the utils2_ak package on Linux all the time as my own system runs Ubuntu. OK, I just ran make on the package using CSDK 4.50.FC13W1 and it compiles with no errors. There are warnings, but all can be ignored. Most are complaining about sprintf targets being too small. That's not true, it is just that while the source strings or functions are defined as returning maximum string lengths that are wider than the target string, the actual source strings are NEVER longer than the targets. 

Also, I do not know why your copy of esql is generating a .c file that references is8bitstr, as mine does not.

Art

Tried to compile Art's latest dostats on a linux x86_64 machine, however both make and 'esql -o' got below errors,

I am not too sure if I missed something ( I also tried to update the make executable location and INSTALLDIR, issue persists).

Could I get advice?

Thanks Art for your help, I tried again, the issue still persists.

Ke:

First, dostats.ec is the OLD version of the source, suitable for servers earlier than v10.00. You need to compile the dostats_ng.ec instead with:

esql -o dostats dostats_ng.ec getopt.c

I will look into that pointer comparison error in the old code anyway, but you should not be using it. It will work once compiled, but it is missing newer features including updates to the algorithms it uses to work out what UPDATE STATISTICS commands to execute.

As far as the problem compiling ul.ec and that process complaining about is8bitstr, that call is not in the code itself and is being inserted by the ESQL/C compiler, so you may be missing some libraries or you do not have LD_LIBRARY_PATH set correctly. Try executing this line before running "make":

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$INFORMIXDIR/lib:$INFORMIXDIR/lib/esql:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

I compile the utils2_ak package on Linux all the time as my own system runs Ubuntu. OK, I just ran make on the package using CSDK 4.50.FC13W1 and it compiles with no errors. There are warnings, but all can be ignored. Most are complaining about sprintf targets being too small. That's not true, it is just that while the source strings or functions are defined as returning maximum string lengths that are wider than the target string, the actual source strings are NEVER longer than the targets. 

Also, I do not know why your copy of esql is generating a .c file that references is8bitstr, as mine does not.

Art

Tried to compile Art's latest dostats on a linux x86_64 machine, however both make and 'esql -o' got below errors,

I am not too sure if I missed something ( I also tried to update the make executable location and INSTALLDIR, issue persists).

Could I get advice?

Ke:

OK, is8bitstr is defined in libgen, libixgen, and a couple of others. The thing is that the esql script that is included with the CSDK version 4.50 includes those libraries so you should not be having this issue. Please make sure that your PATH is seeing the copy of esql that resides in $INFORMIXDIR/bin and not some older version that may have different libraries included. This may show the problem:

which esql

On my system, with the environment set to point to the v4.50 compiler (I also have v15.0 compiler and a couple of older ones installed for testing) I get:

$ which esql
/opt/informix//HCL_CSDK_4.50/bin/esql

It is not enough to run "esql -V" because the esql script just passes that on to the binary compiler: 

${INFDIR}/lib/esql/esqlc

which may be the correct version (as your previous post noted) but the esql script may be an older one earlier in your PATH. If that's not the problem try adding "-lifgen" to the command line:

esql -lifgen -o ul ul.ec getopt.c

 Art

Thanks Art for your help, I tried again, the issue still persists.

Ke:

First, dostats.ec is the OLD version of the source, suitable for servers earlier than v10.00. You need to compile the dostats_ng.ec instead with:

esql -o dostats dostats_ng.ec getopt.c

I will look into that pointer comparison error in the old code anyway, but you should not be using it. It will work once compiled, but it is missing newer features including updates to the algorithms it uses to work out what UPDATE STATISTICS commands to execute.

As far as the problem compiling ul.ec and that process complaining about is8bitstr, that call is not in the code itself and is being inserted by the ESQL/C compiler, so you may be missing some libraries or you do not have LD_LIBRARY_PATH set correctly. Try executing this line before running "make":

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$INFORMIXDIR/lib:$INFORMIXDIR/lib/esql:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

I compile the utils2_ak package on Linux all the time as my own system runs Ubuntu. OK, I just ran make on the package using CSDK 4.50.FC13W1 and it compiles with no errors. There are warnings, but all can be ignored. Most are complaining about sprintf targets being too small. That's not true, it is just that while the source strings or functions are defined as returning maximum string lengths that are wider than the target string, the actual source strings are NEVER longer than the targets. 

Also, I do not know why your copy of esql is generating a .c file that references is8bitstr, as mine does not.

Art

Tried to compile Art's latest dostats on a linux x86_64 machine, however both make and 'esql -o' got below errors,

I am not too sure if I missed something ( I also tried to update the make executable location and INSTALLDIR, issue persists).

Could I get advice?

Hi Art,

Thanks for advice, yes, '-lifsql -lifasf -lifgen -lifos -lifgls -lifglx' did work, I can compile without error now.

esql -o dostats2 dostats_ng.ec -lifsql -lifasf -lifgen -lifos -lifgls -lifglx

Ke:

OK, is8bitstr is defined in libgen, libixgen, and a couple of others. The thing is that the esql script that is included with the CSDK version 4.50 includes those libraries so you should not be having this issue. Please make sure that your PATH is seeing the copy of esql that resides in $INFORMIXDIR/bin and not some older version that may have different libraries included. This may show the problem:

which esql

On my system, with the environment set to point to the v4.50 compiler (I also have v15.0 compiler and a couple of older ones installed for testing) I get:

$ which esql
/opt/informix//HCL_CSDK_4.50/bin/esql

It is not enough to run "esql -V" because the esql script just passes that on to the binary compiler: 

${INFDIR}/lib/esql/esqlc

which may be the correct version (as your previous post noted) but the esql script may be an older one earlier in your PATH. If that's not the problem try adding "-lifgen" to the command line:

esql -lifgen -o ul ul.ec getopt.c

 Art

Thanks Art for your help, I tried again, the issue still persists.

Ke:

First, dostats.ec is the OLD version of the source, suitable for servers earlier than v10.00. You need to compile the dostats_ng.ec instead with:

esql -o dostats dostats_ng.ec getopt.c

I will look into that pointer comparison error in the old code anyway, but you should not be using it. It will work once compiled, but it is missing newer features including updates to the algorithms it uses to work out what UPDATE STATISTICS commands to execute.

As far as the problem compiling ul.ec and that process complaining about is8bitstr, that call is not in the code itself and is being inserted by the ESQL/C compiler, so you may be missing some libraries or you do not have LD_LIBRARY_PATH set correctly. Try executing this line before running "make":

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$INFORMIXDIR/lib:$INFORMIXDIR/lib/esql:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

I compile the utils2_ak package on Linux all the time as my own system runs Ubuntu. OK, I just ran make on the package using CSDK 4.50.FC13W1 and it compiles with no errors. There are warnings, but all can be ignored. Most are complaining about sprintf targets being too small. That's not true, it is just that while the source strings or functions are defined as returning maximum string lengths that are wider than the target string, the actual source strings are NEVER longer than the targets. 

Also, I do not know why your copy of esql is generating a .c file that references is8bitstr, as mine does not.

Art

Tried to compile Art's latest dostats on a linux x86_64 machine, however both make and 'esql -o' got below errors,

I am not too sure if I missed something ( I also tried to update the make executable location and INSTALLDIR, issue persists).

Could I get advice?

Ke:

Great! Just one thing. Those libraries should be included automatically by the esql script. Please make sure that you are running the copy of the script that is installed in $INFORMIXDIR/bin and not some older script that is elsewhere but earlier in your PATH. If so, deleting that older esql script or fixing your PATH to see the newest one first, will save you grief later on.

Art

Hi Art,

Thanks for advice, yes, '-lifsql -lifasf -lifgen -lifos -lifgls -lifglx' did work, I can compile without error now.

esql -o dostats2 dostats_ng.ec -lifsql -lifasf -lifgen -lifos -lifgls -lifglx

Ke:

OK, is8bitstr is defined in libgen, libixgen, and a couple of others. The thing is that the esql script that is included with the CSDK version 4.50 includes those libraries so you should not be having this issue. Please make sure that your PATH is seeing the copy of esql that resides in $INFORMIXDIR/bin and not some older version that may have different libraries included. This may show the problem:

which esql

On my system, with the environment set to point to the v4.50 compiler (I also have v15.0 compiler and a couple of older ones installed for testing) I get:

$ which esql
/opt/informix//HCL_CSDK_4.50/bin/esql

It is not enough to run "esql -V" because the esql script just passes that on to the binary compiler: 

${INFDIR}/lib/esql/esqlc

which may be the correct version (as your previous post noted) but the esql script may be an older one earlier in your PATH. If that's not the problem try adding "-lifgen" to the command line:

esql -lifgen -o ul ul.ec getopt.c

 Art

Thanks Art for your help, I tried again, the issue still persists.

Ke:

First, dostats.ec is the OLD version of the source, suitable for servers earlier than v10.00. You need to compile the dostats_ng.ec instead with:

esql -o dostats dostats_ng.ec getopt.c

I will look into that pointer comparison error in the old code anyway, but you should not be using it. It will work once compiled, but it is missing newer features including updates to the algorithms it uses to work out what UPDATE STATISTICS commands to execute.

As far as the problem compiling ul.ec and that process complaining about is8bitstr, that call is not in the code itself and is being inserted by the ESQL/C compiler, so you may be missing some libraries or you do not have LD_LIBRARY_PATH set correctly. Try executing this line before running "make":

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$INFORMIXDIR/lib:$INFORMIXDIR/lib/esql:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

I compile the utils2_ak package on Linux all the time as my own system runs Ubuntu. OK, I just ran make on the package using CSDK 4.50.FC13W1 and it compiles with no errors. There are warnings, but all can be ignored. Most are complaining about sprintf targets being too small. That's not true, it is just that while the source strings or functions are defined as returning maximum string lengths that are wider than the target string, the actual source strings are NEVER longer than the targets. 

Also, I do not know why your copy of esql is generating a .c file that references is8bitstr, as mine does not.

Art

Tried to compile Art's latest dostats on a linux x86_64 machine, however both make and 'esql -o' got below errors,

I am not too sure if I missed something ( I also tried to update the make executable location and INSTALLDIR, issue persists).

Could I get advice?

Hi Arts, 

I ran dostats on prod (dostats 2 -h ${INFORMIXSERVER} -m -v 2 -e -d ALL -Q 20 –p -P 0 -w 60),  got some warning message as below:

Warning: update statistics low using sampling may generate inaccurate index statistics for index xxxxxx  due to data skew

Can I safely ignore these?

By the way, I had turned off AUS (auto update stats).

Ke:

Great! Just one thing. Those libraries should be included automatically by the esql script. Please make sure that you are running the copy of the script that is installed in $INFORMIXDIR/bin and not some older script that is elsewhere but earlier in your PATH. If so, deleting that older esql script or fixing your PATH to see the newest one first, will save you grief later on.

Art

Hi Art,

Thanks for advice, yes, '-lifsql -lifasf -lifgen -lifos -lifgls -lifglx' did work, I can compile without error now.

esql -o dostats2 dostats_ng.ec -lifsql -lifasf -lifgen -lifos -lifgls -lifglx

Ke:

OK, is8bitstr is defined in libgen, libixgen, and a couple of others. The thing is that the esql script that is included with the CSDK version 4.50 includes those libraries so you should not be having this issue. Please make sure that your PATH is seeing the copy of esql that resides in $INFORMIXDIR/bin and not some older version that may have different libraries included. This may show the problem:

which esql

On my system, with the environment set to point to the v4.50 compiler (I also have v15.0 compiler and a couple of older ones installed for testing) I get:

$ which esql
/opt/informix//HCL_CSDK_4.50/bin/esql

It is not enough to run "esql -V" because the esql script just passes that on to the binary compiler: 

${INFDIR}/lib/esql/esqlc

which may be the correct version (as your previous post noted) but the esql script may be an older one earlier in your PATH. If that's not the problem try adding "-lifgen" to the command line:

esql -lifgen -o ul ul.ec getopt.c

 Art

Thanks Art for your help, I tried again, the issue still persists.

Ke:

First, dostats.ec is the OLD version of the source, suitable for servers earlier than v10.00. You need to compile the dostats_ng.ec instead with:

esql -o dostats dostats_ng.ec getopt.c

I will look into that pointer comparison error in the old code anyway, but you should not be using it. It will work once compiled, but it is missing newer features including updates to the algorithms it uses to work out what UPDATE STATISTICS commands to execute.

As far as the problem compiling ul.ec and that process complaining about is8bitstr, that call is not in the code itself and is being inserted by the ESQL/C compiler, so you may be missing some libraries or you do not have LD_LIBRARY_PATH set correctly. Try executing this line before running "make":

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$INFORMIXDIR/lib:$INFORMIXDIR/lib/esql:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

I compile the utils2_ak package on Linux all the time as my own system runs Ubuntu. OK, I just ran make on the package using CSDK 4.50.FC13W1 and it compiles with no errors. There are warnings, but all can be ignored. Most are complaining about sprintf targets being too small. That's not true, it is just that while the source strings or functions are defined as returning maximum string lengths that are wider than the target string, the actual source strings are NEVER longer than the targets. 

Also, I do not know why your copy of esql is generating a .c file that references is8bitstr, as mine does not.

Art

Tried to compile Art's latest dostats on a linux x86_64 machine, however both make and 'esql -o' got below errors,

I am not too sure if I missed something ( I also tried to update the make executable location and INSTALLDIR, issue persists).

Could I get advice?

Original Message:
Sent: 5/1/2026 11:48:00 PM
From: ke chen
Subject: RE: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Hi Arts, 

I ran dostats on prod (dostats 2 -h ${INFORMIXSERVER} -m -v 2 -e -d ALL -Q 20 –p -P 0 -w 60),  got some warning message as below:

Warning: update statistics low using sampling may generate inaccurate index statistics for index xxxxxx  due to data skew

Can I safely ignore these?

By the way, I had turned off AUS (auto update stats).

------------------------------
ke chen

Original Message:
Sent: Wed April 29, 2026 06:02 AM
From: Art Kagel
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Ke:

Great! Just one thing. Those libraries should be included automatically by the esql script. Please make sure that you are running the copy of the script that is installed in $INFORMIXDIR/bin and not some older script that is elsewhere but earlier in your PATH. If so, deleting that older esql script or fixing your PATH to see the newest one first, will save you grief later on.

Art

------------------------------
Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant
ASK Database Management Corp.
www.askdbmgt.com

Original Message:
Sent: Wed April 29, 2026 02:29 AM
From: ke chen
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Hi Art,

Thanks for advice, yes, '-lifsql -lifasf -lifgen -lifos -lifgls -lifglx' did work, I can compile without error now.

esql -o dostats2 dostats_ng.ec -lifsql -lifasf -lifgen -lifos -lifgls -lifglx

------------------------------
ke chen

Original Message:
Sent: Mon April 27, 2026 10:27 AM
From: Art Kagel
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Ke:

OK, is8bitstr is defined in libgen, libixgen, and a couple of others. The thing is that the esql script that is included with the CSDK version 4.50 includes those libraries so you should not be having this issue. Please make sure that your PATH is seeing the copy of esql that resides in $INFORMIXDIR/bin and not some older version that may have different libraries included. This may show the problem:

which esql

On my system, with the environment set to point to the v4.50 compiler (I also have v15.0 compiler and a couple of older ones installed for testing) I get:

$ which esql
/opt/informix//HCL_CSDK_4.50/bin/esql

It is not enough to run "esql -V" because the esql script just passes that on to the binary compiler: 

${INFDIR}/lib/esql/esqlc

which may be the correct version (as your previous post noted) but the esql script may be an older one earlier in your PATH. If that's not the problem try adding "-lifgen" to the command line:

esql -lifgen -o ul ul.ec getopt.c

 Art

------------------------------
Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant
ASK Database Management Corp.
www.askdbmgt.com

Original Message:
Sent: Mon April 27, 2026 08:51 AM
From: ke chen
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Thanks Art for your help, I tried again, the issue still persists.

------------------------------
ke chen

Original Message:
Sent: Mon April 27, 2026 06:53 AM
From: Art Kagel
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Ke:

First, dostats.ec is the OLD version of the source, suitable for servers earlier than v10.00. You need to compile the dostats_ng.ec instead with:

esql -o dostats dostats_ng.ec getopt.c

I will look into that pointer comparison error in the old code anyway, but you should not be using it. It will work once compiled, but it is missing newer features including updates to the algorithms it uses to work out what UPDATE STATISTICS commands to execute.

As far as the problem compiling ul.ec and that process complaining about is8bitstr, that call is not in the code itself and is being inserted by the ESQL/C compiler, so you may be missing some libraries or you do not have LD_LIBRARY_PATH set correctly. Try executing this line before running "make":

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$INFORMIXDIR/lib:$INFORMIXDIR/lib/esql:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

I compile the utils2_ak package on Linux all the time as my own system runs Ubuntu. OK, I just ran make on the package using CSDK 4.50.FC13W1 and it compiles with no errors. There are warnings, but all can be ignored. Most are complaining about sprintf targets being too small. That's not true, it is just that while the source strings or functions are defined as returning maximum string lengths that are wider than the target string, the actual source strings are NEVER longer than the targets. 

Also, I do not know why your copy of esql is generating a .c file that references is8bitstr, as mine does not.

Art

------------------------------
Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant
ASK Database Management Corp.
www.askdbmgt.com

Original Message:
Sent: Sun April 26, 2026 09:38 PM
From: Paul Watson
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Original Message:
Sent: 4/26/2026 9:24:00 PM
From: ke chen
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Tried to compile Art's latest dostats on a linux x86_64 machine, however both make and 'esql -o' got below errors,

I am not too sure if I missed something ( I also tried to update the make executable location and INSTALLDIR, issue persists).

Could I get advice?

------------------------------
ke chen
------------------------------

Hi Art,

It's been a couple of years since I last looked at this closely but I am sure that if you see the warning about sampling in the log what has happened is:

• the engine has detected more skew in the column data than it will tolerate when sampling is used; so
• it abandons sampling and starts again with a full scan of that index.

Therefore there would be no benefit in recollecting any statistics where you see the warning because the engine has already taken care of this. The main problem is the time and IO wasted attempting to collect statistics using the sampling method and then aborting. I worked with Jeff McMahon on this and it resulted in this RFE which suggests being able to set a flag at table level so that sampling can be better controlled.

https://ibm-data-and-ai.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-516

Ben.

------------------------------
Benjamin Thompson

Original Message:
Sent: Sun May 03, 2026 12:00 PM
From: Art Kagel
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Original Message:
Sent: 5/1/2026 11:48:00 PM
From: ke chen
Subject: RE: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Hi Arts, 

I ran dostats on prod (dostats 2 -h ${INFORMIXSERVER} -m -v 2 -e -d ALL -Q 20 –p -P 0 -w 60),  got some warning message as below:

Warning: update statistics low using sampling may generate inaccurate index statistics for index xxxxxx  due to data skew

Can I safely ignore these?

By the way, I had turned off AUS (auto update stats).

------------------------------
ke chen

Original Message:
Sent: Wed April 29, 2026 06:02 AM
From: Art Kagel
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Ke:

Great! Just one thing. Those libraries should be included automatically by the esql script. Please make sure that you are running the copy of the script that is installed in $INFORMIXDIR/bin and not some older script that is elsewhere but earlier in your PATH. If so, deleting that older esql script or fixing your PATH to see the newest one first, will save you grief later on.

Art

------------------------------
Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant
ASK Database Management Corp.
www.askdbmgt.com

Original Message:
Sent: Wed April 29, 2026 02:29 AM
From: ke chen
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Hi Art,

Thanks for advice, yes, '-lifsql -lifasf -lifgen -lifos -lifgls -lifglx' did work, I can compile without error now.

esql -o dostats2 dostats_ng.ec -lifsql -lifasf -lifgen -lifos -lifgls -lifglx

------------------------------
ke chen

Original Message:
Sent: Mon April 27, 2026 10:27 AM
From: Art Kagel
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Ke:

OK, is8bitstr is defined in libgen, libixgen, and a couple of others. The thing is that the esql script that is included with the CSDK version 4.50 includes those libraries so you should not be having this issue. Please make sure that your PATH is seeing the copy of esql that resides in $INFORMIXDIR/bin and not some older version that may have different libraries included. This may show the problem:

which esql

On my system, with the environment set to point to the v4.50 compiler (I also have v15.0 compiler and a couple of older ones installed for testing) I get:

$ which esql
/opt/informix//HCL_CSDK_4.50/bin/esql

It is not enough to run "esql -V" because the esql script just passes that on to the binary compiler: 

${INFDIR}/lib/esql/esqlc

which may be the correct version (as your previous post noted) but the esql script may be an older one earlier in your PATH. If that's not the problem try adding "-lifgen" to the command line:

esql -lifgen -o ul ul.ec getopt.c

 Art

------------------------------
Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant
ASK Database Management Corp.
www.askdbmgt.com

Original Message:
Sent: Mon April 27, 2026 08:51 AM
From: ke chen
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Thanks Art for your help, I tried again, the issue still persists.

------------------------------
ke chen

Original Message:
Sent: Mon April 27, 2026 06:53 AM
From: Art Kagel
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Ke:

First, dostats.ec is the OLD version of the source, suitable for servers earlier than v10.00. You need to compile the dostats_ng.ec instead with:

esql -o dostats dostats_ng.ec getopt.c

I will look into that pointer comparison error in the old code anyway, but you should not be using it. It will work once compiled, but it is missing newer features including updates to the algorithms it uses to work out what UPDATE STATISTICS commands to execute.

As far as the problem compiling ul.ec and that process complaining about is8bitstr, that call is not in the code itself and is being inserted by the ESQL/C compiler, so you may be missing some libraries or you do not have LD_LIBRARY_PATH set correctly. Try executing this line before running "make":

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$INFORMIXDIR/lib:$INFORMIXDIR/lib/esql:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

I compile the utils2_ak package on Linux all the time as my own system runs Ubuntu. OK, I just ran make on the package using CSDK 4.50.FC13W1 and it compiles with no errors. There are warnings, but all can be ignored. Most are complaining about sprintf targets being too small. That's not true, it is just that while the source strings or functions are defined as returning maximum string lengths that are wider than the target string, the actual source strings are NEVER longer than the targets. 

Also, I do not know why your copy of esql is generating a .c file that references is8bitstr, as mine does not.

Art

------------------------------
Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant
ASK Database Management Corp.
www.askdbmgt.com

Original Message:
Sent: Sun April 26, 2026 09:38 PM
From: Paul Watson
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Original Message:
Sent: 4/26/2026 9:24:00 PM
From: ke chen
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Tried to compile Art's latest dostats on a linux x86_64 machine, however both make and 'esql -o' got below errors,

I am not too sure if I missed something ( I also tried to update the make executable location and INSTALLDIR, issue persists).

Could I get advice?

------------------------------
ke chen
------------------------------

Ben:

You are correct that this was a message in the message log. I had it in my head that it was coming from dostats as one of the warnings that it puts out, but it is not. 

I'm not convinced that the engine will have regenerated the LOW stats without sampling when you have seen this message. I still would want to redo the LOWs at least with the USTLOW_SAMPLE set to zero in the runtime environment.

Any comments on this from the Informix Dev team?

Art

Hi Art,

It's been a couple of years since I last looked at this closely but I am sure that if you see the warning about sampling in the log what has happened is:

• the engine has detected more skew in the column data than it will tolerate when sampling is used; so
• it abandons sampling and starts again with a full scan of that index.

Therefore there would be no benefit in recollecting any statistics where you see the warning because the engine has already taken care of this. The main problem is the time and IO wasted attempting to collect statistics using the sampling method and then aborting. I worked with Jeff McMahon on this and it resulted in this RFE which suggests being able to set a flag at table level so that sampling can be better controlled.

https://ibm-data-and-ai.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-516

Ben.

------------------------------
Benjamin Thompson

Original Message:
Sent: Sun May 03, 2026 12:00 PM
From: Art Kagel
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Original Message:
Sent: 5/1/2026 11:48:00 PM
From: ke chen
Subject: RE: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Hi Arts, 

I ran dostats on prod (dostats 2 -h ${INFORMIXSERVER} -m -v 2 -e -d ALL -Q 20 –p -P 0 -w 60),  got some warning message as below:

Warning: update statistics low using sampling may generate inaccurate index statistics for index xxxxxx  due to data skew

Can I safely ignore these?

By the way, I had turned off AUS (auto update stats).

------------------------------
ke chen

Original Message:
Sent: Wed April 29, 2026 06:02 AM
From: Art Kagel
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Ke:

Great! Just one thing. Those libraries should be included automatically by the esql script. Please make sure that you are running the copy of the script that is installed in $INFORMIXDIR/bin and not some older script that is elsewhere but earlier in your PATH. If so, deleting that older esql script or fixing your PATH to see the newest one first, will save you grief later on.

Art

------------------------------
Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant
ASK Database Management Corp.
www.askdbmgt.com

Original Message:
Sent: Wed April 29, 2026 02:29 AM
From: ke chen
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Hi Art,

Thanks for advice, yes, '-lifsql -lifasf -lifgen -lifos -lifgls -lifglx' did work, I can compile without error now.

esql -o dostats2 dostats_ng.ec -lifsql -lifasf -lifgen -lifos -lifgls -lifglx

------------------------------
ke chen

Original Message:
Sent: Mon April 27, 2026 10:27 AM
From: Art Kagel
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Ke:

OK, is8bitstr is defined in libgen, libixgen, and a couple of others. The thing is that the esql script that is included with the CSDK version 4.50 includes those libraries so you should not be having this issue. Please make sure that your PATH is seeing the copy of esql that resides in $INFORMIXDIR/bin and not some older version that may have different libraries included. This may show the problem:

which esql

On my system, with the environment set to point to the v4.50 compiler (I also have v15.0 compiler and a couple of older ones installed for testing) I get:

$ which esql
/opt/informix//HCL_CSDK_4.50/bin/esql

It is not enough to run "esql -V" because the esql script just passes that on to the binary compiler: 

${INFDIR}/lib/esql/esqlc

which may be the correct version (as your previous post noted) but the esql script may be an older one earlier in your PATH. If that's not the problem try adding "-lifgen" to the command line:

esql -lifgen -o ul ul.ec getopt.c

 Art

------------------------------
Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant
ASK Database Management Corp.
www.askdbmgt.com

Original Message:
Sent: Mon April 27, 2026 08:51 AM
From: ke chen
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Thanks Art for your help, I tried again, the issue still persists.

------------------------------
ke chen

Original Message:
Sent: Mon April 27, 2026 06:53 AM
From: Art Kagel
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Ke:

First, dostats.ec is the OLD version of the source, suitable for servers earlier than v10.00. You need to compile the dostats_ng.ec instead with:

esql -o dostats dostats_ng.ec getopt.c

I will look into that pointer comparison error in the old code anyway, but you should not be using it. It will work once compiled, but it is missing newer features including updates to the algorithms it uses to work out what UPDATE STATISTICS commands to execute.

As far as the problem compiling ul.ec and that process complaining about is8bitstr, that call is not in the code itself and is being inserted by the ESQL/C compiler, so you may be missing some libraries or you do not have LD_LIBRARY_PATH set correctly. Try executing this line before running "make":

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$INFORMIXDIR/lib:$INFORMIXDIR/lib/esql:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

I compile the utils2_ak package on Linux all the time as my own system runs Ubuntu. OK, I just ran make on the package using CSDK 4.50.FC13W1 and it compiles with no errors. There are warnings, but all can be ignored. Most are complaining about sprintf targets being too small. That's not true, it is just that while the source strings or functions are defined as returning maximum string lengths that are wider than the target string, the actual source strings are NEVER longer than the targets. 

Also, I do not know why your copy of esql is generating a .c file that references is8bitstr, as mine does not.

Art

------------------------------
Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant
ASK Database Management Corp.
www.askdbmgt.com

Original Message:
Sent: Sun April 26, 2026 09:38 PM
From: Paul Watson
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Original Message:
Sent: 4/26/2026 9:24:00 PM
From: ke chen
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Tried to compile Art's latest dostats on a linux x86_64 machine, however both make and 'esql -o' got below errors,

I am not too sure if I missed something ( I also tried to update the make executable location and INSTALLDIR, issue persists).

Could I get advice?

------------------------------
ke chen
------------------------------

Hi Art,

When I ran this command (dostats 2 -h prdweb -m -v 2 -e -d ALL -Q 20 -p -P 0 -w 60),

I got two warnings that I don't really understand why:

1. dostats says "Extra arguments ignored!", I checked the syntax, I don't see any reason why it gives that warning.

      2. it says "Only Stored Procedures will be processed." , and it does not run update stats on tables.

Is it because of the followings?

$ (prdweb/primary) onstat -c|grep AUTO_STAT_MODE
AUTO_STAT_MODE  0
$ (prdweb/primary) onstat -c|grep STATCHANGE
STATCHANGE 10

I tried to set USTLOW_SAMPLE in environment variable to 0  (it's set to 1 in ONCONFIG),

then re-run same dostats command,

but I get same result ( it only update stored procedures).

Ben:

You are correct that this was a message in the message log. I had it in my head that it was coming from dostats as one of the warnings that it puts out, but it is not. 

I'm not convinced that the engine will have regenerated the LOW stats without sampling when you have seen this message. I still would want to redo the LOWs at least with the USTLOW_SAMPLE set to zero in the runtime environment.

Any comments on this from the Informix Dev team?

Art

Hi Art,

It's been a couple of years since I last looked at this closely but I am sure that if you see the warning about sampling in the log what has happened is:

• the engine has detected more skew in the column data than it will tolerate when sampling is used; so
• it abandons sampling and starts again with a full scan of that index.

Therefore there would be no benefit in recollecting any statistics where you see the warning because the engine has already taken care of this. The main problem is the time and IO wasted attempting to collect statistics using the sampling method and then aborting. I worked with Jeff McMahon on this and it resulted in this RFE which suggests being able to set a flag at table level so that sampling can be better controlled.

https://ibm-data-and-ai.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-516

Ben.

------------------------------
Benjamin Thompson

Original Message:
Sent: Sun May 03, 2026 12:00 PM
From: Art Kagel
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Original Message:
Sent: 5/1/2026 11:48:00 PM
From: ke chen
Subject: RE: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Hi Arts, 

I ran dostats on prod (dostats 2 -h ${INFORMIXSERVER} -m -v 2 -e -d ALL -Q 20 –p -P 0 -w 60),  got some warning message as below:

Warning: update statistics low using sampling may generate inaccurate index statistics for index xxxxxx  due to data skew

Can I safely ignore these?

By the way, I had turned off AUS (auto update stats).

------------------------------
ke chen

Original Message:
Sent: Wed April 29, 2026 06:02 AM
From: Art Kagel
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Ke:

Great! Just one thing. Those libraries should be included automatically by the esql script. Please make sure that you are running the copy of the script that is installed in $INFORMIXDIR/bin and not some older script that is elsewhere but earlier in your PATH. If so, deleting that older esql script or fixing your PATH to see the newest one first, will save you grief later on.

Art

------------------------------
Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant
ASK Database Management Corp.
www.askdbmgt.com

Original Message:
Sent: Wed April 29, 2026 02:29 AM
From: ke chen
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Hi Art,

Thanks for advice, yes, '-lifsql -lifasf -lifgen -lifos -lifgls -lifglx' did work, I can compile without error now.

esql -o dostats2 dostats_ng.ec -lifsql -lifasf -lifgen -lifos -lifgls -lifglx

------------------------------
ke chen

Original Message:
Sent: Mon April 27, 2026 10:27 AM
From: Art Kagel
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Ke:

OK, is8bitstr is defined in libgen, libixgen, and a couple of others. The thing is that the esql script that is included with the CSDK version 4.50 includes those libraries so you should not be having this issue. Please make sure that your PATH is seeing the copy of esql that resides in $INFORMIXDIR/bin and not some older version that may have different libraries included. This may show the problem:

which esql

On my system, with the environment set to point to the v4.50 compiler (I also have v15.0 compiler and a couple of older ones installed for testing) I get:

$ which esql
/opt/informix//HCL_CSDK_4.50/bin/esql

It is not enough to run "esql -V" because the esql script just passes that on to the binary compiler: 

${INFDIR}/lib/esql/esqlc

which may be the correct version (as your previous post noted) but the esql script may be an older one earlier in your PATH. If that's not the problem try adding "-lifgen" to the command line:

esql -lifgen -o ul ul.ec getopt.c

 Art

------------------------------
Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant
ASK Database Management Corp.
www.askdbmgt.com

Original Message:
Sent: Mon April 27, 2026 08:51 AM
From: ke chen
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Thanks Art for your help, I tried again, the issue still persists.

------------------------------
ke chen

Original Message:
Sent: Mon April 27, 2026 06:53 AM
From: Art Kagel
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Ke:

First, dostats.ec is the OLD version of the source, suitable for servers earlier than v10.00. You need to compile the dostats_ng.ec instead with:

esql -o dostats dostats_ng.ec getopt.c

I will look into that pointer comparison error in the old code anyway, but you should not be using it. It will work once compiled, but it is missing newer features including updates to the algorithms it uses to work out what UPDATE STATISTICS commands to execute.

As far as the problem compiling ul.ec and that process complaining about is8bitstr, that call is not in the code itself and is being inserted by the ESQL/C compiler, so you may be missing some libraries or you do not have LD_LIBRARY_PATH set correctly. Try executing this line before running "make":

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$INFORMIXDIR/lib:$INFORMIXDIR/lib/esql:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

I compile the utils2_ak package on Linux all the time as my own system runs Ubuntu. OK, I just ran make on the package using CSDK 4.50.FC13W1 and it compiles with no errors. There are warnings, but all can be ignored. Most are complaining about sprintf targets being too small. That's not true, it is just that while the source strings or functions are defined as returning maximum string lengths that are wider than the target string, the actual source strings are NEVER longer than the targets. 

Also, I do not know why your copy of esql is generating a .c file that references is8bitstr, as mine does not.

Art

------------------------------
Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant
ASK Database Management Corp.
www.askdbmgt.com

Original Message:
Sent: Sun April 26, 2026 09:38 PM
From: Paul Watson
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Original Message:
Sent: 4/26/2026 9:24:00 PM
From: ke chen
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Tried to compile Art's latest dostats on a linux x86_64 machine, however both make and 'esql -o' got below errors,

I am not too sure if I missed something ( I also tried to update the make executable location and INSTALLDIR, issue persists).

Could I get advice?

------------------------------
ke chen
------------------------------

Ben:

You are correct that this was a message in the message log. I had it in my head that it was coming from dostats as one of the warnings that it puts out, but it is not. 

I'm not convinced that the engine will have regenerated the LOW stats without sampling when you have seen this message. I still would want to redo the LOWs at least with the USTLOW_SAMPLE set to zero in the runtime environment.

Any comments on this from the Informix Dev team?

Art

Hi Art,

It's been a couple of years since I last looked at this closely but I am sure that if you see the warning about sampling in the log what has happened is:

• the engine has detected more skew in the column data than it will tolerate when sampling is used; so
• it abandons sampling and starts again with a full scan of that index.

Therefore there would be no benefit in recollecting any statistics where you see the warning because the engine has already taken care of this. The main problem is the time and IO wasted attempting to collect statistics using the sampling method and then aborting. I worked with Jeff McMahon on this and it resulted in this RFE which suggests being able to set a flag at table level so that sampling can be better controlled.

https://ibm-data-and-ai.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-516

Ben.

------------------------------
Benjamin Thompson

Original Message:
Sent: Sun May 03, 2026 12:00 PM
From: Art Kagel
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Original Message:
Sent: 5/1/2026 11:48:00 PM
From: ke chen
Subject: RE: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Hi Arts, 

I ran dostats on prod (dostats 2 -h ${INFORMIXSERVER} -m -v 2 -e -d ALL -Q 20 –p -P 0 -w 60),  got some warning message as below:

Warning: update statistics low using sampling may generate inaccurate index statistics for index xxxxxx  due to data skew

Can I safely ignore these?

By the way, I had turned off AUS (auto update stats).

------------------------------
ke chen

Original Message:
Sent: Wed April 29, 2026 06:02 AM
From: Art Kagel
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Ke:

Great! Just one thing. Those libraries should be included automatically by the esql script. Please make sure that you are running the copy of the script that is installed in $INFORMIXDIR/bin and not some older script that is elsewhere but earlier in your PATH. If so, deleting that older esql script or fixing your PATH to see the newest one first, will save you grief later on.

Art

------------------------------
Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant
ASK Database Management Corp.
www.askdbmgt.com

Original Message:
Sent: Wed April 29, 2026 02:29 AM
From: ke chen
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Hi Art,

Thanks for advice, yes, '-lifsql -lifasf -lifgen -lifos -lifgls -lifglx' did work, I can compile without error now.

esql -o dostats2 dostats_ng.ec -lifsql -lifasf -lifgen -lifos -lifgls -lifglx

------------------------------
ke chen

Original Message:
Sent: Mon April 27, 2026 10:27 AM
From: Art Kagel
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Ke:

OK, is8bitstr is defined in libgen, libixgen, and a couple of others. The thing is that the esql script that is included with the CSDK version 4.50 includes those libraries so you should not be having this issue. Please make sure that your PATH is seeing the copy of esql that resides in $INFORMIXDIR/bin and not some older version that may have different libraries included. This may show the problem:

which esql

On my system, with the environment set to point to the v4.50 compiler (I also have v15.0 compiler and a couple of older ones installed for testing) I get:

$ which esql
/opt/informix//HCL_CSDK_4.50/bin/esql

It is not enough to run "esql -V" because the esql script just passes that on to the binary compiler: 

${INFDIR}/lib/esql/esqlc

which may be the correct version (as your previous post noted) but the esql script may be an older one earlier in your PATH. If that's not the problem try adding "-lifgen" to the command line:

esql -lifgen -o ul ul.ec getopt.c

 Art

------------------------------
Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant
ASK Database Management Corp.
www.askdbmgt.com

Original Message:
Sent: Mon April 27, 2026 08:51 AM
From: ke chen
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Thanks Art for your help, I tried again, the issue still persists.

------------------------------
ke chen

Original Message:
Sent: Mon April 27, 2026 06:53 AM
From: Art Kagel
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Ke:

First, dostats.ec is the OLD version of the source, suitable for servers earlier than v10.00. You need to compile the dostats_ng.ec instead with:

esql -o dostats dostats_ng.ec getopt.c

I will look into that pointer comparison error in the old code anyway, but you should not be using it. It will work once compiled, but it is missing newer features including updates to the algorithms it uses to work out what UPDATE STATISTICS commands to execute.

As far as the problem compiling ul.ec and that process complaining about is8bitstr, that call is not in the code itself and is being inserted by the ESQL/C compiler, so you may be missing some libraries or you do not have LD_LIBRARY_PATH set correctly. Try executing this line before running "make":

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$INFORMIXDIR/lib:$INFORMIXDIR/lib/esql:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

I compile the utils2_ak package on Linux all the time as my own system runs Ubuntu. OK, I just ran make on the package using CSDK 4.50.FC13W1 and it compiles with no errors. There are warnings, but all can be ignored. Most are complaining about sprintf targets being too small. That's not true, it is just that while the source strings or functions are defined as returning maximum string lengths that are wider than the target string, the actual source strings are NEVER longer than the targets. 

Also, I do not know why your copy of esql is generating a .c file that references is8bitstr, as mine does not.

Art

------------------------------
Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant
ASK Database Management Corp.
www.askdbmgt.com

Original Message:
Sent: Sun April 26, 2026 09:38 PM
From: Paul Watson
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Original Message:
Sent: 4/26/2026 9:24:00 PM
From: ke chen
Subject: Need advice on compiling dostats utility

Tried to compile Art's latest dostats on a linux x86_64 machine, however both make and 'esql -o' got below errors,

I am not too sure if I missed something ( I also tried to update the make executable location and INSTALLDIR, issue persists).

Could I get advice?

------------------------------
ke chen
------------------------------